The Complete Idiot's Guide to the World of Harry Potter (5 page)

Like the Blacks, the Malfoys are a powerful wizarding family obsessed with their pureblood heritage. Malfoy is French for “bad faith” (
mal
is bad;
foy
is faith).

Professor Severus Snape, who taught both Potions and Defense Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts, is notable because he was a former Death Eater who joined The Order of the Phoenix and became a double (or possibly triple) agent. The word
severus
is Latin for grave, strict, austere, stern, severe, and forbidding, which fits Snape’s character perfectly. In addition, Imperial Roman Emperor Severus was known to be a cruel and calculating leader. In an interview, Rowling said Snape’s surname comes from a village in Suffolk County.

Although the preceding wizards are the inventions of J.K. Rowling, the wizards in this section either really did exist or were so entrenched in folktales and literature that we feel as though they existed. All of the following wizards are represented on the cards that are found within a package of Chocolate Frogs in Harry Potter’s world.

Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim was a sixteenth-century German
alchemist
, physician, theologian, and legal scholar. He wrote a manifesto on the occult,
De occulta philosophia libri tres.
Like Sirius Black’s transfigured form (see Chapter 13 for more on transfiguration), Agrippa was said to have taken the form of a black dog upon his death.

Greek daughter of the sun god (Helios) and mother of the sun goddess (Aega), Circe (pronounced SIR-cee) was a sorceress who could turn people into animals with a single flick of her wand. She lived on the island Aeaea, where Odysseus and his men landed during their journey, and Circe promptly turned the crew into pigs. Fortunately, Odysseus had taken an herb given to him by Hermes, so he alone retained his human form. When Circe saw that he had resisted her spell, she lifted the pig spell from the rest of the men. A bit later, the child Telegonus was born to Circe and Odysseus, and as the crew was about to set off to finish their journey, it was Circe who warned them of the sirens who would try to lure the men to their death on the rocky coast with their beautiful singing.

Cliodna (CLEEV-nah), the daughter of the last druid of Ireland (an order of holy priests), was the Celtic goddess of the sea, the afterlife, and beauty. She was also said to be a shapeshifter who sometimes turned into a bird.

Nicolas Flamel and his wife, Perenelle, figure prominently in Harry Potter’s first novel. Incidentally, Nicolas is also mentioned in
The Da Vinci Code.
A noted fourteenth-century French alchemist, Flamel was first a bookseller and scribe who bought a unique manuscript from a man in need of cash. The book, which discussed alchemy, led to his subsequent interest in all things alchemical.

The story of Flamel has taken on mythological proportions, however; he is reputed to have both lived an exceedingly long life and died very wealthy (much wealthier than a bookseller would have been), leading to rumors that he succeeded in both alchemy goals: the philosopher’s stone and the elixir of life.

In Harry Potter’s world, Flamel was also an opera lover and good friend to Albus Dumbledore.

Hengist of Woodcroft is perhaps best known as the man who founded the County of Kent. He was a king just before King Arthur’s time, which is his likely link to wizardry. Otherwise, he was just a regional king who helped other kings in their battles.

Entire books have been written about Merlin, the wizard famous for his role in the King Arthur stories. In T.H. White’s
The Once and Future King,
Merlin tutors Wart (young Arthur) and helps him fulfill his destiny as king. Many believe Merlin was the basis for J.R.R. Tolkien’s Gandalf, both being wise and noble wizards. Note that this wizard’s name is frequently spelled Merlyn.

Nearly as famous as Merlin, Morgana, the famous witch, was also an important figure in the King Arthur stories. Wart encounters Morgana (also called Morgan le Fay) in a castle. He later learns that they are half-brother and sister: Arthur’s father (Uther Pendragon) seduced Morgana’s mother, Igraine. Although both Morgana and Merlin are powerful, Morgana is angry and bitter, and she often uses her powers for evil.

Auroleus Phillipus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim, whose nickname was Paracelsus (pair-a-SELL-sus), was a noted fifteenth-century physician and alchemist. He was one of the few alchemists who sought the powers of chemicals not for riches or immortality but to improve the abilities of physicians to heal. He contributed much to the medical field, including the idea that wounds can heal on their own, if free from infection. He also named the element zinc. Hogwarts Castle has a bust of Paracelsus.

Claudius Ptolemy (TOE-lehm-mee) was a second-century geographer and astronomer who first proposed the idea that the sun circles the earth. His ideas became known as the Ptolemaic system. He was wrong, of course, but his ideas prevailed for over 1,000 years and gave Copernicus and Galileo something to work with and, later, disprove.

The Witch of Endor is mentioned in the Old Testament (1 Samuel 28: 4-25) when she conjures up the spirit of Samuel at the request of King Saul. Samuel’s ghost then predicted Saul’s losing his kingdom.

All literature influences the novels, poems, and plays that come after it, and fantasy literature is no different. As mentioned throughout this book, Rowling was deeply inf luenced by fantasy greats C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, as well as by Greek, Roman, and Celtic mythology; British folklore; and nonfantasy literature, from Shakespeare to Jane Austen.

In addition, there’s no denying that the
Harry Potter
series owes a great debt to British fantasy author Diana Wynne Jones, who started writing novels in the early 1970s (when J.K. Rowling was a young girl) and continues to publish today. Jones is considered one of the great fantasy authors of the twentieth century; as an undergrad, she even attended lectures at Oxford taught by Lewis and Tolkien (lucky girl!). Some fans fiercely believe Jones is a far more imaginative writer than Rowling, but on the flip side, the popularity of the
Harry Potter
novels has recently put many of Jones’s earliest novels back into print after a long hiatus. Both authors create fantasy worlds that, because they are so painstakingly detailed, become utterly believable. Yet both also relish silliness and absurdity in their stories.

Regardless of who’s the better writer, Jones invented magical fantasy worlds that likely made a deep impression on Rowling. In Jones’s novels, wizards and witches practice magic through spells; wear robes and cloaks; attend schools that train wizards; work as seers and healers; invite guests into a Great Hall for meals; stretch the insides of their houses to accommodate more people; plant annoying (attacking) flowers; drink from goblets; and live in a world with dragons, griffons, flying horses, serpents, owls, and other magical creatures. You’ll even find a Dark Lord in
Dark Lord of Derkholm
(HarperCollins, 1998). Do all those features sound familiar? If not, read on!