Harry Potter and The
Hero Pattern
The hero pattern based upon The Hero: A
study in Tradition, Myth and Dreams by Lord Raglan is here applied to the life of Harry Potter as
developed by J. K. Rowling, especially in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
(Scholastic Press, 1998).
Click here to see Lord Raglan's pattern and to compare Harry
Potter as a hero to other mythic heroes.
Harry Potter's mother is a witch (1) and his father is a wizard (2). As an infant
he is almost killed by Voldemort (6), but he is spirited away through the efforts of
Dumbledore and Hagrid (7) and reared by his Muggle relatives the Dudley's (8). We are told
nothing of his childhood (9) until, at the age of 11, Harry returns to the wizard world
and enters Hogwarts School of Wizardry (10), where he has his first victory over Voldemort
and his followers (11).
Due to the young age of Harry Potter his
story reaches only as far as #11.
8 out of 11 points (through #11).
For more on Harry as a hero, see "Harry
Potter" at Mythichero.com.
This document was placed on the web by Professor Thomas
J. Sienkewicz for his students in CLAS230 Classical Mythology at Monmouth College,
Monmouth, Illinois. If you have any questions, you may contact him at toms@monm.edu..
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