CoS irrelevant?

[erisedstraeh2002 <erisedstraeh2002@yahoo.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 48758

Laura wrote:
 
> Am I missing some major plotline, or is CoS fairly irrelevant?

Now me:

JKR herself has said that important things happen in CoS, but that we 
don't know how important those things are just yet. 

CoS was my least favorite of all of the books until I re-read it 
enough times to realize just how many fabulous clues JKR provided to 
us in Book 2. 

I firmly believe in the "Harry as Heir of Gryffindor" theory, and I 
think there are many clues in CoS that support this theory.

In CoS, Fawkes, who I believe to have once been Gryffindor's phoenix, 
helps Harry fight the basilisk. In legend, the griffin was believed 
to be the "adversary of serpent and basilisks, both of which were 
seen as embodiments of satanic demons" (from the What's in a Name 
website – paraphrased from the Dictionary of Symbolism). I believe 
this to be a parallel to Gryffindor's Fawkes and Slytherin's 
basilisk, and perhaps a clue to a possible good-against-evil fight 
between Gryffindor and Slytherin 1,000 years ago. When I brought this 
up once before, Judy Shapiro added her theory that this could also be 
a foreshadowing of Harry's eventual defeat of Voldemort.

Other clues in CoS that support the "Fawkes was once Gryffindor's 
phoenix" theory are that Fawkes lives in Dumbledore's office, which 
has a griffin-shaped doorknocker, and also contains Gryffindor's 
sword and the Sorting Hat, which we learn in GoF was once 
Gryffindor's hat. In support of the "Harry as Heir of Gryffindor" 
theory, in CoS, Fawkes brings two items previously owned by 
Gryffindor to Harry's aid in the Chamber - the Sorting Hat and the 
sword.

And it's in CoS that we first learn that Gryffindor's first name 
was "Godric", and can make the connection to the Potters living in 
Godric's Hollow. In addition, if you parallel the life of St. Godric 
with Harry, there are all sorts of connections which support the Heir 
of Gryffindor theory - there are legends about St. Godric protecting 
a hunted stag which parallel the workings of the Fidelius Charm (and 
of course, the stag is both James' animagus and Harry's patronus), 
and St. Godric, like Harry, was able to know of events happening at 
great distances.

~Phyllis