McGargoyle

Personally, I think, he's more closely related to Luke Skywalker:

Parents dead, allegedly killed by the evil villain; raised by aunt and uncle, who don't want him to discover his powers; wise character coming to the rescue...

I wouldn't be surprised, when somewhere in the final book Voldemort came and told him "I am your father." *breathe*.

ScarletBea

Nooooooo!

Don't tell us the end


(Btw I LOVE Harry Potter )

Mageth

Lucas, in writing Star Wars/the Skywalker character, Lucas was apparently heavily influenced by Joseph Campbell's conception of the "hero's journey" from The Hero with a Thousand Faces. See the following, for example:

http://www.jitterbug.com/origins/myth.html

That site also parallels The Matrix with the "hero's journey".

Search for "star wars joseph campbell" or similar strings for more info, if you're interested.

Note that Campbell's work was based on the works of earlier thinkers, esp. anthropologist Adolph Bastian and Carl Jung.

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Also note that others have compared Harry Potter to Campbell's "Hero's Journey". See the following, for example:

http://www.januarymagazine.com/kidsb...icalharry.html
http://elt.britcoun.org.pl/b_hpmyth.htm
http://www.litkicks.com/BeatPages/pa...at=HarryPotter

The Evil One

Yup, Harry is not based on Jesus, or on Luke: Harry, Jesus and Luke are all based on the Mythic Hero Archetype.

Why the hell is the Mythic Hero never a girl? Buffy the Vampire Slayer maybe. She came back from the dead once or twice.

All right, let's give it a shot:

Comparisons between Jesus/Harry and Buffy TVS:

Jesus/Harry: Born to mysterious parents
Buffy: well, not quite. Born in the normal way, Buffy becomes the Hero at age 16 or so by some mystical process which is never quite explained, in the process acquiring a mystical surrogate "father".

Jesus: Miracle child born which will save us from evil
Buffy: Miracle chick born which will save us from evil

Jesus: Raised in secrecy
Buffy: has secret identity

Jesus: Attracts a group of loyal followers
Buffy: Attracts a group of loyal followers, not all of whom are total nerds

Jesus: Performs miracles
Buffy: Performs miracles, mostly of the "kicking ass" kind

Jesus: Has a destiny to face and defeat evil
Buffy: Has a destiny to face and defeat evil

Jesus: Willing to sacrifice self for the greater good
Buffy: Willing to sacrifice self for the greater good

Jesus: Broke the rules when necessary for the greater good.
Buffy: Broke the rules when necessary for the greater good.

Jesus: Helped the downtrodden. (Mary the prostitue)
Buffy: Helped the downtrodden. (Jonathon the geek)

Jesus: Caused outrage among those who blindly followed their religious ideologies
Buffy: Caused outrage among the Watcher's council (it kinda matches)

Jesus: Dies but arises from his tomb
Buffy: Has died and been resurrected twice. Once by reinvigoration of her wizened corpse after months buried deep under ground. Top that, Junior!

The main departure of Jesus from the Mythic Hero is that he has no mentor (Merlin/Obi-Wan/Dumbledore/Giles). John the Baptist is kinda going that way, but not quite.

McGargoyle

Thanks, I didn't know that, but now that you mention it...
The whole rest of the story is a classical fairy tale. I just thought, that bit was original.

Well, another book for my already too long wishlist.

The Evil One

Another thing the Hero often has is an adversary who is closely related to them or otherwise linked - their "dark mirror" as it were. Luke has Vader, Arthur has Mordred, Harry is linked to Voldemort by blood and magic, Buffy has Faith. Jesus misses out here a bit. Judas - sort of. But again, only sort of.

Loki

Yay! Joseph Campbell. I love his work. I personally live by "The Power of Myth." It's transcripts from interviews he did with Bill Moyers. This book changed the way I look at life.

Corgan Sow

Oh how I long for such a day.