Star Gazing

[houyhnhnm102]

No: HPFGUIDX 154026

Randy:

> The constellation of Draco the Dragon has an interesting 
> mythology.  Draco guarded the golden apples in the garden of 
> the Hesperides.  Hercules was tasked to steal these golden 
> apples.  This was the most difficult of Hercules' 12 tasks 
> because he did not know where to find the apples.

houyhnhnm:

Can amateurs play?  I did a little review of Greek mythology.  
Hercules was never my favorite character, I was more into Theseus, and 
I can't remember all that much of his story.  But I looked up the 
twelve labors and found some amusing parallels.  Of course Harry isn't 
working out a penance, so the fit isn't going to be exact.
  
I connected the task of acquiring the apples of the Hesperides with 
Harry's task of obtaining Slughorn' memory.  At first I thought of the 
first task in the TWT because of the dragon guardian, but then I 
thought the essence of the task in both cases was having to use 
cleverness to get someone to give you something they didn't want to 
give you.  I'm not sure where Draco fit's into it, though, and I agree 
he ought to play a role.

I have come up with a few others.  Some tasks will have to be left for 
book 7, but if we can eliminate the tasks Harry has already performed, 
maybe it is a clue to how he will uncover the remaining horcruxes.

They can't occur in the same order, for Harry of course, that they 
occur in the Hercules myths because Harry had completed the twelfth 
task, getting past the three headed dog in order to journey to the 
Underworld (even if he didn't have to wrestle it), by the end of his 
first year.

I haven't decided about the Nemean Lion

Snape's description in DADA class of the "many-headed monster" makes 
it sound like something Harry will have to face in book 7.  I think 
the Hydra is Voldemort.

The Hind of Ceryneia must be the unicorn killed by Wormtail, although 
the correspondance isn't perfect.  Although the unicorn, like the 
Hind, is something that should have been protected from harm but 
wasn't, Harry didn't shoot it (but then he didn't kill his family, 
either).  The Centaurs are unable to heal the unicorn, unlike the 
Hind.

The Erymanthean Boar and the Augean Stables are two I'll have to give 
more thought to, but the task of the Stymphalian Birds definately 
equates with driving off the Dementors.

The Cretan Bull I must give some more thought to, also, but 
Hippolyte's Belt must be Harry's fight with Bellatrix at the Ministry. 
Fighting the "Amazon Star".  Except that he didn't kill her or capture 
anything.  Maybe his showdown with Bella is yet to come, over a 
horcrux.

The man-eating Mares of Diomedes do cause me to think of the 
Thestrals, except for the fact that the Thestrals never hurt anyone 
that we know of, and so far, no one has hurt them.

Does anyone else want to play?  If not I may think some more about 
some of the other tasks tomorrow.