Arthurian Legand & HP

[Renee Daniels]

No: HPFGUIDX 59855

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "constance_chi_town" 
<cssdarrow at h...> wrote:
> I re-read the first 4 books of Harry Potter and revisited 
> White's "Once and Future King".  I am looking at doing my Thesis on 
a 
> comparison of the Harry Potter series to the Arthurian Legend. I 
> believe that Harry is similar to Arthur and Dumbledore is his 
> Merlin.  I am curious to see if the future books in the series will 
> parallel the Camelot legend plot lines.  I find the similarity in 
the 
> stories very intriguing. 
> 
> Any thoughts?
> 
> I am new to the group and look forward to discussions on the 
> significance of Harry Potter to other literary works.
> 
> Connie
> F/43

So DD=Merlin, Harry=Arthur, Ron=Lanclot/Bedwyr... But, a lot of the 
Camelot plot line lies in Destiny. While Harry and Arthur follow the 
standard Heroic upbringing, Arthur takes his kingdom by 'right.' He 
is trained from childhood (one might cynicaly say brainwashed) to be 
the next king. Unlike Merlin, DD takes a hands off approach to 
Harry's early life and education. 

And then there is the question of Gweniever (wife/betrayer) and her 
counterpart Morgan/Morgause (nemisis/sister/lover). Which witch would 
play which part? At the moment the only major female chars are 
Hermoine and Ginny. Neither of which would actually fit well in 
either of those roles. the only one that is remotely possible is that 
Hermoine marrys Harry and then runs off with Ron. Ginny and Harry 
have an affair and than she becomes a Death Eater and raises her son 
to murder his father. Actually. now that I write it, it doesn't seem 
so impossible, expecially given the JKR's fixation on familial bonds. 
But at the same time it seems expecially unlikely for GINNY to become 
a Dark witch. She has already been between a rock and a hard place in 
PS/SS, and fought against the Dark.

I also dont see much possiblity for a grail quest. There isn't (I 
hope)going to be some great and ultimate magical object that will 
save the world. There will just be Harry and everybody who stands 
beside him.

I am obviously just hitting on the most obvious, and focusing on soap 
opera plot peices. Actually, this is hard to do, there are a LOT of 
congruences between AP and HP, but a lot of them are detail points. 
Like Evil Prince Mo-something (can't remember the name), who was a 
powerful war leader befor Arthur came, kidnaps Gweniever to show the 
other petty kings that he could best Auther in his stronghold. He 
takes her to the remains of his fortress as bait to get the king out 
of Camelot. This episode is a lot like Tom Riddle capturing Ginny 
(there by proving Hogwarts insecure)and luring Harry in to the 
Chamber of Secrets. But in A legend Lancelot(or equivelent) comes 
instead of Arthur. In HP, Harry does all of his own rescueing.

Yet there are simularities. COnnie, I have a feeling that you have a 
(several) partucular instances in mind. Would you care to share? 
Please?

~Calimora (who loves Arthurian legend)

p.s. which versions are you using?