Massive Mythological Horcrux Hunt.. Really Quite Long.

[M.Clifford]

No: HPFGUIDX 140750

After some incessant teasing of the list with the notion that the
story of Harry's Horcrux quest might be revealed in ancient Mythology
I have finally prepared a submittable compilation of the findings.

To begin with, I will confess, I am going to make some out of the box
- outer space even, claims that contradict many things we think we
know about the story so far. Who killed Dumbledore, who will kill
Sirius, what we can expect in Book seven, whats in the forbidden
forest.. are all among these. Be prepared for a lot of stuff that is
just going to seem to come from nowhere.

The first Myth I looked into was the twelve Labours of Heracles:
As I warned I am going to make a bold (insidious even <eg>) claim here. 

In Heracles first task he uses his bare hands to defeat the Nemean
Lion. From this conquest he recieves the reward of the Lions
impenetrable skin. This Heracles is said to have worn throughout the
rest of his life.

Like it or hate it, the Nemean Lion myth, draws an incredibly strong
parrallel with Dumbledore's death. In the Myth of the Labours, the
Hero in a sealed cave uses his bare hands to take on an invincible and
greatly feared Legendary Lion. Harry in a sealed cave uses his bare
hands to slowly poison the invincible and greatly feared Legendary
Gryffindor, Albus Dumbledore. Heracles then carries the lion back to
Eurytheses strung over his shoulders. Harry carries Dumbledore to
Hogsmeade, slung over his shoulders. When Heracles returns to
Eurytheses he gains the lions skin coat, an impenetrable shield, and
its head, and impenetrable helmet. What legacy did Albus leave his
young protege? Maybe it's the thick skin and hard head as Dumbledores
Man that we see in him when he stands up to Scrimgeour and tells
Macgongall she can't know the secret. <g> 
 
So what's my bold claim?.. Snape didn't kill Dumbledore. Harry did. 
Snape was brave scapegoat who covered the whole thing up for them all
so Voldemort would never realise that one of his Horcruxes died in
that fall from the tower.

It's plausible. Dumbledore does not say that he destroyed the ring
Horcrux piece. He says he destroyed the ring, and that it was no
longer a Horcrux. He said that his hand was a good trade for 1/7th of
Voldemorts soul, but never specified whether that soul was traded live
or dead. My bet, alive, and only once choice remained. Dumbledore
could kill and remove the soul from him, die and set the soul free or
get Harry to kill him and get it done with right in one shot. 

He chose to order Harry to kill him with Voldemorts poison. It was the
only way to do the job properly. Snape, the poor git, is falsely
accused, but hats off to him for doing something so self sacrificing
for the greater good.


The second Labour of Heracles is to defeat the Hydra. A many headed
Snake like creature with poison breath and venom that is so deadly it
kills on contact. It lives in Lerna, a watery place. 

The best thing about this being the second labour.. it looks to me
like Book seven will get straight into the action scenes from the get
go. The worst part... I have trawled the mythology of something like
six nations dredging up the full story on it.. IMO, it's definitely a
Horcrux, a Battle with some Death Eaters, and possibly the payment of
Peter Pettigrews life debt. I have collected it under the heading of
Ravenclaw Horcrux and you'll some find more about this Horcrux below
under the heading Ravenclaw Horcrux.

In Heracles third Labour he hunts for a year for the golden horned
hind. An animal sacred to Diana, Artemis, Aphrodite.. depending on
whose account you are reading. This one I think quite simply
parrallels Harry's Vendetta with Snape, and will likely play out over
the course of the book. I think this story is worthy of a post all its
own.

The Fourth Labour is the capture of the Erymanthian boar. This myth I
believe will bring Harry back to Hogwarts for Christmas. The Boar, it
seems to me belongs somewhere under the heading of Hufflepuff Horcrux,
with the myth of Chimaera and Bellerophon, among others. You will read
more of it below under the heading Hufflepuff Horcrux.

The Fifth, Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Labours, are consecutively the
cleaning of some very smelly stables, taking on some man eating bird
creatures, catching and relocating a raging giant bull, and the
conquest of a herd of man eating horses.

If Harry is to be like Heracles and complete these labours during his
quest then I would say he *is* going to bail the MOM out of their
stupidity after all.

The smelly fumes of the stables that will overcome the population -
Dementors Breeding. Heracles enlists the help of a local boy to divert
rivers to wash the stables. I'd make a hesitant guess that this might
be the return of Viktor Krum. I especially think it would be good to
see them achieve something great as a team. 

The Stymalian Birds and the Wild Bull, I think might be two halves of
the situation with the giants. In the Titan war Heracles defeats Cacus
 great big man eater of a giant. 

The Flesh eating Horses, are almost as good as given. The uprising of
the malcontent Werewolves looks to fit. Fenrirs crowd, will need to be
returned to their place. Heracles in some accounts employs a chariot
in this labour. This could signal the return of the Flying Ford Anglia
and Motorbike. There is also a younger counterpart involved in this
labour, Abderos, who dies overcome by the flesh eaters when he is
given the task of watching over them. Heracles named a city in the
honour of his young ally. Alas tragedy may strike during Harry's
encounter with Werewolves in Book seven.

The ninth labour, we go back to Horcruxes again. And, I dare say, back
to timeturning. We may see the death of Sirius over. Not much to like
about that, except that I think we will understand this time around,
why Sirius had to die. Heracles ninth Labour involves crossing the
seas to reach the Amazon Queen. There he must ask her for her belt,
which it appears she would willingly give. Hera interferes and
Heracles realises he is under attack. His only recourse is to kill the
Queen, which he does, then takes the belt and flees the Amazon Army. I
am going on a hunch here, but I think Sirius' death borrows from this
myth. 

Another straighter reading of the ninth Labour could be to consider
the possibility that Harry will go to Beauxbatons. I abandoned it
myself, it seemed to uncessarily close to the Greek mythology, but
anyone else can speculate as they like on this.

On the way back from the Amazons Heracles rescues Hesione, as it
happens in HP I think that this part of the story will probably have a
lot of likeness to its equal mythology in Alchemy and the Grail Quest.
Percy should be involved here, I believe.

The tenth Labour of Heracles involves him herding the cattle of Geryon
from the ends of the earth. I believe that this Labour can be
translated into the third part of the Hufflepuff Horcrux destruction
so see below. 

The Eleventh Labour stretches across mythology, there are too many to
name here that are essentially the same story. However the Basilisk in
the Chamber of Secrets, seems to borrow heavily from Cadmus, another
Greek Myth. Cadmus, like Heracles, used Lions hide for his armour, and
he assaulted the great serpent of Thebes much like Harry's assault on
the Basilisk:

"Cadmus retreated before him, holding
his spear opposite to the monster's opened jaws. The serpent
snapped at the weapon and attempted to bite its iron point. At
last Cadmus, watching his chance, thrust the spear at a moment
when the animal's thrown back came against the trunk of a tree,
and so succeeded in pinning him to its side. His weight bent the
tree as he struggled in the agonies of death.

While Cadmus stood over his conquered foe, contemplating its vast
size, a voice was heard (from whence he knew not, but he heard it
distinctly), commanding him to take the dragon's teeth and sow
them in the earth. He obeyed. "

http://www.online-mythology.com/cadmus/

The Quest for Hera's golden apples echoes Harry's defeat of the
basilisk in other ways:

Hercules enlists the help of Atlas to retrieve the golden apples.
Atlas is a Titan who carries the weight of the world on his shoulders.
Dumbledore (who has been likewise equated to Atlas in other
comparisons) also has the weight of the world on his shoulders.
Heracles defeats the Ladon for Atlas, and then holds the weight of the
world while Atlas goes to retrieve the apples. Harry likeise defeats
the Basilisk, and hands Dumbledore the Horcrux, Dumbledore then goes
about uncovering the meaning of the mysterious diary, he
metaphorically retrieves the gold for the hero. A neat match.

It is known that a good number of mythological epics repeat this
conquest at the end. And I find it very likely that this myth will
repeat in Book seven. 

The Serpent Ladon, will be in this case Nagini. Another LV pet and
companion. Harry will enlist the help of the Titan with the weight of
the world on his shoulders, who in this case would be Severus Snape,
as long as the theory above holds and Sevvie is the overburdened Atlas
of Book Seven thanks to his covering up of Harry's victory over
Voldemort. Ginny will also be involved, which is very Alchemical (the
battle as Foes and Lovers) so I give it a 98% chance easily if not 100%. 

I don't know if I have posted it to this list, but I think Snape will
get the literary credit for saving Ginny's life, and shortly after he
will die himself, with Nagini, leaving Voldie alone with only his last
piece of tattered soul to defend.

The Final Labor of Heracles is to travel to the Underworld to retrieve
the Dog Cerberus. This is the final battle, so it will get a post of
its own too. There are ten time as meny myths listed under the heading
of final confrontation, so it wouldn't fit here even if I wanted to try.

OKay on to the Horcruxes...

The Ravenclaw Horcrux.

The list of things that belong:

Evander - Archon of Athens 382BC ---> Oll(E)vanders - Makers of fine
wands since 382BC ---------> King Evander - Friend of Aeneas (Roman
equivalent of Heracles) 

Pallas - Son of Evander -----> Pallas Athena - Goddess and bearer of
the Aegis (A shield with the head of Medusa {Many Serpent Heads} on
the front) 

The Raven - Trickster Animal, Shapeshifter

The Hydra -----> another many headed Serpentine creature. 

The mythology of Pallas and Evander tend to hint strongly at a good Mr
Ollivander. In the story of Athena Pallas was a Titan. Which I'm
reading as a possible family connection with a Hogwarts founder. 

The Aegis and the Hydra are obviously similar symbols, The Aegis
relates to Pallas which connects by coincedence to Evander, The Hydra
relates to Heracles and comes from the river of Lerna( Learner?) from
which I draw possible links to the Ravenclaw Object. As I have posted
in a previous note, there is canon that backs all these assumptions,
so the connections essentially rest on those premises, although they
seem to work in an abstract way, in and of themselves. 

Heracles encounters and ally of the Hydra, the Crab. More coincedental
connections such as D.A. = Diagon Alley, Dumbledores Army, and the
Dark Arts; Raven the Trickster and the Weasley Tricksters; Crabbe and
Crab, all seem to culminate together into a fine looking scenario
multilayered with mythology, book hints and collective cryptic
likenesses. 

Scaling it back to a very basic theory, The Ravenclaw object is in
Diagon alley hidden in secret magic at Ollivanders, It's probably a
wand and an attack on Harry by some Death Eaters can be expected.
Dumbledores Army might regroup to battle in the streets while Harry
goes after this Horcrux. 

Oh yes, and Peter Pettigrew, I believe he might show here. Heracles
finds himself at the mercy of the Hydra during his encounter, he is
almost crushed by it when his nephew who hears his cries for help and
cannot bear to leave him to die, helps Heracles defeat the monster. It
sounds somewhat like a myth that suits repayment of a life debt. But
thats only IMO.

The Hufflepuff Object:

This one is very very complex, and I am not sure it will be finished
all in one piece. The myths that belong are:

Caradoc: see Saraquels post -
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/140685

Caradoc - Snake drawing life from his arm --------> The Yule Boar --->
Christmas ------> Boar's Head Meade ------> Hogs Head at Hogsmeade
---> Aberforth Dumbledore? possibly involved?

Beowulf - Jut Hero who overcomes a dragon Grendel (Grindelwald<g>), in
three encounters. He first destroys one giant dragon and it's hand is
pinned to a castle wall as a trophy. (Hufflepuff Cup as a Trophy in
Hogwarts?  <g>)

His second encounter involves him wading deep into blood tinged waters
after a mass of writhing serpents. It takes him a long time to reach
the lair of the dragon at the bottom. While he is gone so long he is
given up for dead. (Caradoc Dearborn?)

Years later he reemerges from hiding to destroy one final Dragon this
time he is assisted by a younger warrior named Wiglaf together they
slay it and throw it over a cliff. Beowulf dies a hero.

Another myth fits in this category, also played out in a few acts:

The Chimaera and Bellepheron:

Bellepheron is a handsome young gent, but he rebukes the advances of a
vengeful queen. She sets her husbnd upon him in her spite and he is
requested by the king to take a letter to the king of another nearby
land. This is a Bellerophontic letter, meaning tht Bellerophon is the
bearer of his own order to be killed (a matter prejudicial to
himself). The second king, aware of religious custom to be kind to
guests doesn't really want to kill Bellepheron himself and invoke the
wrath of gods upon him so he sends Bellepheron to slay the Chimaera. 
The Chimaera is a beast which is part Lion, Part Goat and Part Snake.
The child of Typhus, a giant Dragon and Echidna a part woman part
snake creature - this has Alchemical similarity to Voldemorts
character lending a good basis for examining the Chimaera as one of
Voldemorts Horcruxes.

Bellerophon is given  golden bridle by Minerva, which he uses to tame
Pegasus. He can fly over using Pegasus to locate the Chiamera and
destroy it for the king, returning unharmed.

Minerva of HP, Professor MacGonagall, gave Harry a Nimbus 2000
broomstick in his first year, a special concession that only he
recieved. Later in Goblet of Fire Harry used his Bromstick to fly ver
a vicious dragon and capture its Golden egg. I am fairly sure that
Harry will fly his broomstick in this quest to destroy the Hufflepuff
Horcrux (Chimaera), The Firebolt, will be his Pegasus.
 
The Chimaera's Lion - Goat - Snake mixture brings Aberforth Dumbledore
into the equation again, coinciding with the Beowulf scenario above.
So it tends to convince me that we are on the right track with this one.

Finally Heracles quest for the Boar takes him into battle with
Centaurs, the Centaur Chiron is injured by Heracles and eventually
gives up his immortality to relieve Prometheus of his burden
(Promethus is bound to a rock to be eternally eaten by the Caucasian
eagle which again suggests a long suffering hero being freed from his
burden).

So what does this all add up to?
I think it adds to another multilayered, thrilling action sequence,
covering the grounds and interior of Hogwarts, the Forbidden Forest,
and Hogsmeade, a much larger look into the world of the Centaurs and
Mermaids, and possibly some background on the war against Grindelwald.
As well as all that there is definitely a three stage destruction of
the Hufflepuff Horcrux, in which Harry aids old Order members
(possibly Grindelwalds old enemies) including Caradoc and Aberforth
(one of which is mortally wounded by the Horcrux and fated to die with
Voldemort). 

Some peripheral coincedences to these mythologies are:
Argus Filch - Argus was credited with slaying Echidna (The mother of
the Chimaera) 

Filus Flitwick - Philus the Centaur dies accidentally during Heracles
quest for the boar.

Gadflies - These appear frequently in the equal mythologies of this
general archetype. A stinging bug or beetle could turn up on this
occasion. Rita Skeeter perhaps? Maybe a Bumblebee Animagus?

This is not all there is, believe it or not, but I could barely fit
the Horcruxes in after going through Heracles adventures. It's
eminently possible that less than 20% of my theories are even close to
the mark, but as you can see, there's definitely something to be
gained from looking into the myths anyway.

I hope it's fuel for a lot of fires. And I look forward to *heaps* of
alternative interpretations which are seriously better than mine!

<bg>
Valky