Durmstrang et al

[Julie Stevenson]

No: HPFGUIDX 87561

<I, too, am changing the thread title, since I'm not going to be discussing 
the possible geography of Durmstrang>

>"Arya" wrote:
>For me, it's the fact that they arrive in a that huge ship that rings of 
>being some
>traditional Viking Longship vessel.  The name "Durmstrang" is indeed *
>Germanic* in nature, but both Norway and Sweden are actually considered to
>be Germanic.

In "Goblet of Fire" chapter 15, p246 (American hardback edition) we read 
this description of the boat that Durmstrang students arrive in:

"Slowly, magnificently, the ship rose out of the water, gleaming in the 
moonlight. It had a strangely skeletal look about it, as though it were a 
resurrected wreck, and the dim, misty lights shimmering at its portholes 
looked like ghostly eyes."

With all due respect to Arya, I really don't get the image of a Viking 
Longship from that description since longships didn't have upper and lower 
decks or portholes (an illustration and explanation of longship construction 
can be found at 
http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~jasen01/texts/longship.htm).

However, given that the name 'Durmstrang' is a spoonerism for 'Sturm und 
Drang' and one of the most famous operas from that musical movement is 
Wagner's 'The Flying Dutchman' -- an opera about a ragged, ghostly galleon 
and its captain doomed to sail the seas for all eternity unless true love 
breaks the curse -- it seems to me that this opera is the inspiration for 
the Durmstrang mode of transit.

Although it's been said in interview that American illustrator Mary 
Grandpre' is not given any special hints by Rowling towards the drawings she 
makes for the chapters, it's clear from the Chapt. 15 illustration that 
Grandpre envisions something along the Dutchman's lines, as well.

Being an opera buff myself, I giggled and thought immediately of the Flying 
Dutchman the first time I read 'Goblet of Fire'. But I'm not the only one 
who made that connection -- David Colbert mentioned the same thing in his 
commentary book "The Magical Worlds of Harry Potter: A Treasury of Myths, 
Legends, and Fascinating Facts" 
(http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0425187012/qid=1072275455/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/102-8503892-7360907?v=glance&s=books).

-- Julie