Godric's Hollow/Godric Gryffindor any relation?

[erisedstraeh2002]

No: HPFGUIDX 42256

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Richelle Votaw" <rvotaw at i...> wrote:
> Jennifer writes:
> 
> > I was just thinking about this similarity in names.  .  Was 
Godric's
> Hollow named after Godric Gryffindor?  Is there any canon evidence 
of this,
> or is this just thrown in to make us wonder? 

and Richelle responds:

> I think it is.  There's no direct canon (that I know of) to support 
it, but
> how many Godrics can there be? 

now me:

I read in one of JKR's interviews that her editor (who she referred 
to as "brilliant") had not noticed that there is a relationship 
between Godric Gryffindor and Godric's Hollow.  So I would take that 
as direct canon to support that there is a relationship! 

In a post I did yesterday (#42191), I provide some fascinating info I 
found on St. Godric which I think shows many parallels to Harry and 
James (I'm still waiting for an on-the-board response, although I 
have received several nice off-the-board notes!).  I think there is 
some sort of protection inherent in Harry's bloodline, and I think 
it's because he is Gryffindor's descendant.  One of the stories about 
St. Godric involves him protecting a stag from hunters seeking to 
kill it - as baby Harry is protected from death by *something* 
(either his mother's sacrifice or something we have yet to find out 
about).  Perhaps this is why Voldemort refers to Lily's sacrifice 
as "old magic?"  Perhaps it only works in certain places, like 
Godric's Hollow?  Moreover, St. Godric's hermitage is protected by 
a "well-nigh impenetrable brushwood of thorms and briars" which to me 
is a strong parallel to the privet hedge, which offers a protection 
when Harry is with the Dursleys that Voldemort refers to as "ancient 
magic" (once again, the protection only works in a certain place).  
In an interview, JKR said that Harry won't know "for a little while 
the *whole truth* about why he is protected as long as he lives with 
his family," so we know there's more to this than we've found out so 
far.  And when Harry needs protection from the dementors, he conjures 
a stag with the "expecto patronus" charm, which was James' animagus 
and was also the animal St. Godric protected from the hunters (plus 
the Medieval Latin etymology of patronus is "patron saint").

In another interview (I just love trying to piece this together - 
thanks to Aberforth's Goat for the great interview compilation!), JKR 
said that "Book 4 is the end of an era for Harry.  He's been very 
protected until now."  If my "protection is in the bloodline" theory 
is accurate, then does this mean that Harry's lost some of his 
protection now that his blood is in Voldemort?  But why would 
Dumbledore look triumphant at this (I refuse to believe he's a 
baddie!)?

Where my theory falls down, however (and I'd love any thoughts on 
this), is - if the protection is in the bloodline, why was Voldemort 
able to kill James in Godric's Hollow?   Was James perhaps killed 
elsewhere?  I read a neat piece on the Lexicon about that theory, 
which notes the look of surprise on Lupin's face when Harry tells him 
that he's heard his father's voice when the dementors approach, and 
also notes that we don't see James in the scene in the film that JKR 
added herself.  But then I think about how at the end of PoA, Sirius 
says that he saw Harry's parents' bodies (*plural*) when he went to 
their destroyed house.  Seems a bit farfetched to think that James 
was killed elsewhere and then brought back to the Godric's Hollow 
house, but in this universe, anything's possible!

Phyllis
who's dying to read the next 3 books but will be very sad not to have 
any more to look forward to