JKR website - Quintaped

[Deb]

No: HPFGUIDX 149735



 Flop:
 > I have never seen metal referred to as an element, but
 > various other fantasy series that I have read have
 > introduced a fifth element. Elizabeth Haydon has Ether
 > as the fifth element, the substance her world's
 > legends say the stars are made from. My personal
 > favourite is in Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time, in
 > which the fifth element is Spirit. Or how about the
 > movie The Fifth Element, in which the fifth element
 > was... Mila Jovovich.
 
> Ceridwen:
> In Chinese Feng Shui, there are five elements: Earth, Water, Wood, 
> Fire, and Metal (not sure about the order, but the order counts).  
> The Western system has four elements: Fire, Earth, Air and Water.  
> Some New Age sites cite Ether as a fifth element or the 'center', 
the 
> person himself, and some cite Spirit.
> 
> If there is any symbolism to the five-legged Quintaped, then maybe 
> Hogwarts itself is the 'fifth', or the 'joining'?
Ceridwen

Deb here:

  Metal comes from the earth and in order to be made useable it must 
be melted with fire and formed through air and cooled with water. 
Imagine the forging of a sword - where the metal is heated red hot 
in a fire made hottest possible through the use of the bellows to 
fan the flames. And when the metal is glowing red hot the smith 
pounds it into shape then cools it by dunking it into cool water.  
The Chinese Feng Shui systems do include it as a separate element 
yet also refer to metal as the coming together of all the other 
elements. Someone up thread mentioned the movie "The Fifth Element" -
 in that film the fifth element is Love! Harry's capacity to love is 
a key element in the HP saga ... and we have seen him successfully 
wield metal in previous books - using Griffindor's sword to slay the 
basilisk is one example. 
 So the 5th "leg" of the metaphorical Quintaped might be metal. On 
the other hand if it is referring more to the 4 houses ... I think 
the 5th part is Hogwarts Castle itself! I've always thought the 
castle is a very important character - with a very important role to 
play in the education of young wizards. At times the castle is like 
another professor - teaching students to be wary of hiding vanishing 
steps, teaching them to look for alternative routes to their goals, 
teaching them to look for the hidden treasures that are all around 
them. It shelters, protects, informs, and gathers together all 
houses, all students, all teachers... and contains the elements of 
all with in its walls.   

Deb (aka djklaugh) who wonders which rooms in the castle were 
created by Rowena Ravenclaw  and Helga Hugglepuff - Chamber of 
Secrets= Slytherin, Headmaster's office= Griffindor (IMO)... maybe 
library and kitchen respectively?