Harry and Achilles

[carin_in_oh]

No: HPFGUIDX 104704

Earlier today, I tagged a message with a throwaway line about comparing Harry to 
Achilles. Now, I have no theory about this, but I thought for fun I'd just line up a few 
Achilles factoids and see if anyone bites. The parallels are not complete, but some of 
them are suggestive. (Suggestive of what, I'm not sure!) 

Achilles was:

- A descendent of Zeus on his father's side; a product of a
mixed mortal/immortal marriage.
- Educated, according to variant legends, either by a man
named Phoenix or by the Centaur Chiron.
- Rendered *almost* immortal by his mother: she held him by the
heel and dipped him the Styx, the river of hell, which amounts
to protection from death by immersion in death; but of course
the un-wet heel left him with a crucial weak spot.
- The subject of a double prophecy: that he would die at the
gates of Troy, because of which his mother had the bright idea
of hiding him away (disguised as a woman, incidentally) to
keep him safe, and that he was the only one who could bring
about the fall of Troy, because of which he was recalled by
Odysseus to resume his true identity and join the war.
- Prone to adolescent petulance, a.k.a. the famous Wrath of
Achilles (although I wouldn't carry the comparison to Harry's
otherwise sterling temperament any further). 
- Regarded by all as a warrior of superhuman power because of
his apparent invincibility.

Carin