Magic is might

Spellbound!

(An insight into why I like Harry Potter series)

Magic, fantasy, sorcery has never fascinated me. I am more of a rational, science-supporting person. Hence, fairy tales about princesses, magicians, flying carpets never really managed to captivate me. Even comic book heroes based on science like Batman, Iron-man, G.I.Joe used to grab my attention than the likes of Superman, He-Man, Green Lantern, Wonder woman, Thor who had supernatural powers. With this background, there was a higher probability of me listening to rock music than becoming a Harry Potter fan (People who know me would testify the extent of my hatred for rock music). However, Joanne Kathleen Rowling had other plans…

It was the summer of 2003. 12th std. exams were long over and engineering college admissions were unusually delayed that year resulting in inordinate late joining dates. In retrospect, I was free from March end to early September. Since I never get sick of vacations, looking for new avenues to pass time is never an option. But there was a huge hype around the release of Harry potter book 5- The Order of the Phoenix which was slated for 20 June. This hype coupled with my deep hatred for fantasy was unsettling me. Why was everyone so excited about a fifth book on some stupid boy magician written by some English woman? Compounding my woes, not just the kids, but even adults were keenly awaiting the release. My level of intrigue had reached disbelieving proportions. I wanted to get to the root of this phenomenal success of this series. However, at no point was I ready to get involved in it. It was at this time that I ran out of my stock of books. While looking for stuff to read, a friend of mine, 4-5 years younger, coerced me to try Harry Potter. I resisted strongly for around a week but finally relented since I couldn’t get anything else to read. So while the world was gearing up for book 5, I had picked up book 1. Thus began a strong romance between me and the Potter series…

What really fascinated me has been the totally uncharacteristic portrayal of magic and its semblance to our world. Most of it actually is so plausible that you actually feel there is parallel world of magic around us. To begin with, not everyone is magically empowered. Muggles (if you don’t know what a Muggle is, don’t read this) can give birth to wizards or witches and wise-versa (squib). There can be half-blood wizards and even amongst magical folk, there is a parallel to racism with the concept of pureblood and mudblood.

Interestingly, there is no single dominant person like a king or queen. The magical world is governed by a Ministry of Magic like our own Governments. There are rules, decrees and law-order as well as enforcers of law. People have to work to make a living; no one can magically conjure wealth or food. There are ministry employees, secretaries, councillors and aurors. There are rules on usage of magic and restrictions based on location, age. A Magical Law Enforcement Squad exists to take care of this. Then there is Gringotts, the Wizarding Bank where people have accounts, lockers and safe deposits. Diagon Alley is a marketplace bursting with activity with shops lined up selling all kinds of magical stuff from wands, robes, cauldrons, animals, brooms, potions to antiques, jokeshops, school books and what not. Hogsmeade village houses all kinds of eateries, shops, inns, pubs and bars. The high security Azkaban prison is used to hold people who violate laws. And to care for the sick & injured, there is no better place than St. Mungo’s. There are various forms of media, competing newspaper publishers as well as departments of International Magical Co-operations. An owl-mail delivery system, the Knight Bus and the Leaky Cauldron complete the fascinating world.

Transport modes are unique in the wizardry world. You can fly on brooms, travel via portkeys or use ministry approved floo network. Skilled wizards can apparate from a place to another instantaneously.

Unlike a typical fairy-tale, a witch is merely a woman who can do magic and is not inherently an evil person. To do magic, a wand is essential. Even with that, there are varying capacities of what kind of magic one can perform. It is like various skills possessed by persons in our world. Skills cannot be learnt by magic, one has to practice, learn, and persevere to get them. To change form or transform into animals, one needs to be either an Animagus or use potions made up of exotic stuff. Not anyone can prepare the perfect potion and there is an art involved in brewing them. Magic can forestall death, but it cannot resurrect the dead. Wizards are able to extend the normal human lifespan; the Elixir of Life, a by-product of the Philosopher's Stone, can make its drinker immortal. However, the Elixir is exceedingly rare and difficult to obtain and when the Philosopher's Stone was destroyed, the Flamels had to surrender to their mortality.

Another aspect I liked about the books was the engaging level of detail used to describe places, characters, events etc. This has ensured that you can actually feel the things. Even the entire system of education has been so neatly laid out right from selection for Hogwarts at the age of 11, the train travel, list of stuff to buy, various subjects, the professors, classrooms, dormitories, examinations (O.W.L.s & N.E.W.T.s) to house sorting, student rivalries, inter-house competitions, teacher prejudices and finally, the development of relationships amongst the students. It’s so much similar to our world. Coming to the characters, almost all major characters have been so vividly described that one can easily visualise them while reading.

We can’t talk about Potter world without spells, can we? There are multiple spells in the forms of charms, hexes, jinxes, curses, counter curses. Charms are generally used in a good way while curses are the evilest of the lot with jinxes & hexes lying somewhere in between. The names of most of them are pointers to what action the spell can perform. This is so unlike some long mumbo-jumbo that is prevalent in various other fantasies. Correct state of mind, proper pronunciation & accurate wand movement are integral to executing a perfect spell. Besides, one can’t perform magic without a wand. There are complexities in using a wand too, since some wands work fine for a particular person, others don’t. You can’t simply pick up any damn wand. Certain basic elements have to be correct for one to execute magic – intention, concentration, wrist position, wand movement, correct pronunciation of the incantation and a strong memory of an event in case of certain spells like Expecto Patronum, Riddikulus.

Agreed that Harry is the central character, but no chapter could have been complete without the various other characters (calling them ‘supporting’ would be an insult). It is this very nature that separates Harry Potter from other fictional characters and heroes. Harry is as ordinary as one can be, and requires aid from someone in every task of his, whether mundane or life-threatening. In fact, leaving aside Quidditch, in virtually every other respect he is outshone by Hermione Granger. Hermione is academically more gifted and informed than Harry, intellectually more curious and hardworking, morally more mature, tactically more incisive and bold, and actually more effective as a model worth emulating than any other character in the series. Young readers easily identify with Harry, but not because they aspire to be like him but because they are like him- reckless with deficient fear or rationale.

And finally, the various complexities interwoven in the storyline are amazing manifestations of the intellectual capacity of Rowling. It all starts with a lovely concept how love repels a killing curse. Then there are various intricacies like Occlumency, Legilimency related to blocking memories. The wand-master behaviour has been splendidly demonstrated through the Elder Wand concept while Priori Incantatem shows the relationship between two wands. Time turners, prophecies, horcruxes & hallows add to the complexities. Marauder’s Map was another fantastic item. But what I liked most was the Pensieve, a way to extract memories so that your mind is clear but you can revisit memories anytime you want!

Every coin has two sides. So, everything in the books couldn’t appeal to me. Presence of dragons, elves, goblins was a bit too fairy-tale like. Then, cutting up one’s soul and placing in other objects is way too clichéd. Invisibility cloaks and broom-riding added to the rigmarole. But then, such things are few and can hardly influence my strong goodwill towards the books.

All said and done, I can never thank Rowling enough for the immeasurable joy that she has brought in my life through these 7 books and the plethora of other avenues it gave rise to. The only problem that she has created is that all future reading material I take up unintentionally gets compared to her works. Grossly unfair but can’t help it…!

MISCHIEF MANAGED!