Hagrid, Keeper of the Keys

[finwitch]

No: HPFGUIDX 36735

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "davewitley" <dfrankiswork at n...> wrote:
> In message no 36547, I introduced a pile of predictions and tried 
to 
> pass them off as being vaguely supported by symbolic 
> interpretations.  This is the first of my wacky interpretations.
> 
> Most of the canon interpretation that I have done here has been 
> analytical, trying to get the main outlines from a riot of 
colourful 
> detail.  This feels to me to be the opposite, deliberately turning 
up 
> the gain on the colour knob and ignoring the logic, playing up the 
> trees and ignoring the wood.
> 
> Hagrid is introduced in PS as the Keeper of the Keys at Hogwarts, 
and 
> that is the title of the relevant chapter.  In practical terms, we 
> never see him exercise this role in the first four books.  In 
> *symbolic* terms, however, he does this a great deal both for Harry 
> and the reader.  If we think of him as introducing Harry to new 
> themes and places, he is constantly popping up.

Monsterbook of Monsters - introduction not only to Monsters, but to 
books that need a *trick* of sorts to open. He shows the trick to the 
kids - but why, oh why, the shop-keeper doesn't know?
 
> He introduces Harry to the Dursleys, and then to the magical 
world.  
> He introduces all new students to Hogwarts - this is emphasised as 
> there is no practical reason for them not using the carriages like 
> the older students.

None - except to get the older students there FIRST so they can 
applaude to the first-years in the sorting - and to give first-years 
a good look at the castle, plus information only first-years need, 
don't want them blundering into dangerous places before they're 
sorted... A good way to welcome them.

> He is the first to tell Harry of Voldemort.  He is instrumental in 
> Harry's first Hogwarts meeting with Voldemort, in the Forbidden 
> Forest.  Indeed he introduces Harry to the FF itself, a metaphor 
for 
> the unconscious if ever I saw one: dark, secret, forbidden, full of 
> mysteries and monsters. (I will try to address the implications of 
> meeting V first there another time.)
> 
> It is from him we first learn of Hogsmeade.  When Harry gets lost 
in 
> Knockturn Alley, it is Hagrid who provides the way back.
> 
> He starts the process of Harry getting to know his parents, by 
> getting the photo album at the end of PS.
> 
> In PS he raises the issue of wizarding blood, central to COS.
> 
> He goes to Azkaban late in COS, introducing a key theme for POA.
> 
> In POA he goes to London to get Buckbeak off, and is treated 
> unjustly, foreshadowing the Pensieve scenes (which I see as central 
> to GOF).
> 
> His function can be used for bad as well as good: he is the key for 
> Quirrell to get to the stone.
> 
> There are some interesting consequences of this.  Fifty years 
> earlier, Riddle framed him, and Dumbledore intervened to keep him 
at 
> Hogwarts.  In other words, right from before the start of the 
series, 
> there was an attempt to damage this role.

Yes - the worst was in GoF by Rita Skeeter because Hagrid refused to 
give her a key to harm Harry!

> Three times he has introduced Harry to dragons: at Gringotts, with 
> Norbert, and then the Horntail.  I would therefore expect dragons 
to 
> play a crucial role in a future book. (People have already pointed 
> out that dragons guard Gringotts, one Weasley works there and 
another 
> works with dragons suggesting a future plot tie-in.)

It is... And Hagrid gave Harry the Gringotts golden key.
 
> At the end of GOF he is sent on a mission by Dumbledore, with 
> Maxime.  That signals to me that Harry will go on a mission, most 
> probably in the next book, and likely accompanied by a companion, 
> outside Hogwarts.  I will pick this up in a future post about Harry 
> and the feminine.

Hmm... The feminine being... Not Cho who's grieving over Cedric. Not 
Hermione who'll be pairing with Ron. My best guess is Fleur. She 
*was* in the Tournament. And she, also, has a special way against 
Voldemort that has to do with the core of her wand: Veela-charm. 
Voldemort is only a man, after all...

> What of his bumbling and drinking?  I believe this is related to 
> Voldemort's early attack on him.  The Keeper of the Keys is 
damaged, 
> and functions defectively, still mostly but not always for good.

Scary-looking and dangerous habits but kind heart.
 
> Most portentously of all, one of his guises in PS is as a ferryman 
in 
> charge of a three-headed dog, suggesting to me that he is 
> foreshadowing the full arc of Harry's life and death.  To emphasise 
> this properly, he ought by rights to die himself, either just 
before 
> Harry, or as foreshadowing at the end of Book 6.

Hagrid is also the *first* person Harry trusts since his parents died.

All in all... For the all the nice things Harry ever had, the first 
taste always came from Hagrid. Hogwarts letter, birth-day cake, 
kindness, friend, birthday-gift, positive info of his parents, 
answers, notion that sometimes one *can* break rules and nevermind 
when it's standing up for someone else, Gringotts key to a vault with 
lots of money in it, shops, wizard-world, "ticket" to Platform 9 
3/4... even flying! (on motorcycle).

Even Hagrid's lack in giving info on how to get into the platform 
proves *Good* - Harry meets Weasleys! Knowing them wizards by having 
an *owl* - not a co-incidence that Hagrid gave Harry an owl...