Lockhart as Pullman?

[Hitomi]

No: HPFGUIDX 91155

> I'm in the midst of John Granger's The Hidden Key to Harry 
Potter.  
> Don't worry, don't worry--I'm not going to bring up the 
Christianity 
> stuff in this post!
> 
> What I am intrigued by is Granger's contention that Gilderoy 
Lockhart 
> is likely patterned on Philip Pullman.  NOTE:  I HAVE NOT YET READ 
> THE PULLMAN BOOKS, which is why I am turning to you all wise 
> people!!  What I'd like to know is:

Hitomi:
Hey Susan!  I've read all of Pullman's books, except for "Tin 
Princess," which is the fourth book of the Sally Lockhart series, 
and has nothing to do whatsoever with "His Dark Materials."  Now, 
some of the things I'm going to say are from the mind of a twelve-
year-old girl, because that is the last time I picked up "The Ruby 
in the Smoke" and its sequels.  I read "His Dark Materials" when I 
was thirteen, and "Amber Spyglass" came out when I was fifteen, so 
that was the last time I read anything by Pullman.  So, if my 
opinions don't seem overly researched, then it is because I can't 
remember everything.

Gilderoy being fashioned after Sally and her father doesn't make any 
sense.  "His Dark Materials" is fantasy, the Sally Lockhart series 
are historical mystery, taking place primarily in London, and 
referring to such events as the Opium War and Industrial 
England.  "His Dark Materials" Oxford was an alternate universe in 
which Lyra existed, Will being from the world we know.  

I always assumed Rowling named her character for his "Locked Heart," 
for his conceit, much like Dickens named his character Harthouse, 
who seduces the married and miserable Louisa in "Hard Times." (which 
I haven't read since I was fourteen, so just bear with me)

But Sally is nothing like Gilderoy, and the themes of the books are 
vastly different, which is why I really don't understand the 
comparison, nor the need for conjecture.


> 1) whether any of you agree this is a likelihood, given a) that 
JKR 
> said GL is "an exaggeration of someone [she] once knew" 
[purportedly 
> someone she met at a book show?] and b) that GL is portrayed as 
> arrogant, vain, vacuous, cowardly, attractive primarily to 
females, 
> and in spite of his harmless facade someone who can be seen as 
> dangerous to young people

Hitomi:
Again, I think that's why Rowling named him as such.  A "Gilded 
Locked Away Heart."  The appearence of all things amiable and good, 
but internally quite the opposite.  Sort of like Wickham and Darcy, 
or Willoughby (though I know Willoughby actually loved Marianne, at 
least as much as he was capable of loving, the bastard) and Colonel 
Brandon, or Churchill and Knightley.  

But Sally Lockhart is the protagonist, a woman, who is nothing at 
all like Gilderoy.  She loved her daughter's father very much, whose 
name was Frederick (he dies in the second book, I believe, before 
they marry), and she ends up pregnant.  Sally's father was not her 
actual father, but her adopted father, but he loved her very much.  
(his death is the mystery that instigates the plot in "The Ruby in 
the Smoke")  I don't see similarities, or a least, reasons for why 
Granger would try to find any, except for the obvious use of the 
name "Lockhart," which is a pretty common surname in literature.
 
 
> 2) whether Pullman's books seem to be something JKR might possibly 
> see as "dangerous" [one of Granger's assertions], because they are 
so 
> materialistic and because of his alleged personal aversion to 
> anything spiritual or otherworldly or afterlife-y or higher plane-
y.

Hitomi:
Well, considering I've read interviews when Rowling recommended 
reading his work, I doubt it.  And there is nothing dangerous about 
the Sally Lockhart series, well no more dangerous than reading 
something as real-world as say, Grisham (I absolutely hated "The 
Firm," immoral book, but "A Time to Kill" and "The Chamber" I 
loved).  

"His Dark Materials" can be seen as a religious statement, or at the 
very least, a political religious statement, which is more along the 
lines of how I read the series.  There are more references to 
Catholicism (I was raised Catholic), than actual calumination of 
Christianity.  I wouldn't be surprised if Pullman did except Christ 
as his savior, I just think I would have vastly different beliefs 
concerning the fact.  And all the Adam and Eve references... well, 
they did fall from grace into sin, and were forced out of paradise.  
Pullman gives a sympathetic view.  I have a love/hate relationship 
with a lot of the underlying themes in an "Amber Spyglass."

It's really how you choose to read the series, though he is blatant 
about some of his opinions.  Just as it is how you choose to 
interpret "Harry Potter."  I don't think JKR meant anything overly 
Christian to come through in her writing, she's not preaching her 
religious beliefs.  She's just trying to write about good vs. evil, 
which I think she succeeds in doing, especially considering she grew 
up in the Western hemisphere, and must have been influenced by that 
accepted thought (a.k.a. Heaven vs. Hell, God vs. Satan, every 
spirit is independent to itself - unlike Eastern thought, which is 
Man vs. World, acceptance of reincarnation and karma, that there is 
no such thing as "self").  She probably is Christian, she has said 
she believes in God, but I don't think she's trying to portray that 
through "Harry Potter."  She's just writing her story, and I highly 
doubt she was influenced by Pullman.

All in all, Granger's arguments make no sense to me, except for the 
fact I think he was grasping for straws.  (which I think most of us 
have done concerning "Harry Potter" and its author)

~ Hitomi, who is now Episcopalian, much to her mother's horror