Books have been written on the subject of the Christian themes in the Harry Potter series. While anyone who argues that Rowling has deliberately woven Christian symbols in a directly allegorical sense has clearly not been reading Harry Potter, it is also undeniable that the series is replete with Christian symbolism and themes. However, that’s not surprising—few great books have ever been written in the English language without at least some references to the most influential story in the western world. It’s not possible to read or write English literature without being influenced by Christian symbols, and so it is perfectly reasonable, not only to evaluate the series in light of Christian themes, but even to make predictions about the final outcome in the seventh book based on Christian expectations.
If one were to draw any allegorical connections, perhaps the most obvious comparison to make is the one between Christ and Harry himself. Most mythic heroes have at least some Christ-like qualities, and Rowling has certainly been deliberate in her depiction of Harry as a mythic hero who follows the traditional hero’s journey to adulthood. But beyond the traditional requirements of a mythic hero, there are many direct parallels between Harry and Christ that deserve mention.
Like most heroes, Harry’s uniqueness is clear from the moment of his birth. His birth (like Christ’s) is prophesied, and, like Christ, he is endangered from childhood. When Voldemort tries to kill Harry as a baby, not only does he not succeed, but the attempt results in Harry’s inexplicable defeat of the evil wizard and the freeing of the wizarding world from a deadly, evil ruler. When Harry’s parents are killed and Harry is given his scar, Harry goes through a symbolic kind of death and resurrection that results in the freeing of the world from the dominion of an evil power. Not only that, but the prophecy predicts that Harry will defeat the dark power a second time and free the world from that evil for good—just as Christ will return to free the world for good from Satan.
The similarities continue as Harry grows. Like Christ, he is rejected and misunderstood by his family, but he finds a group of friends elsewhere who become even closer to him than family. (Remember Jesus saying who His true mother and brothers were?) In each of the books, Harry once again goes through a symbolic death and resurrection—descending into secret tunnels, graveyards, caves, and other places symbolic of death to battle Voldemort face-to-face. Each time, Harry defeats Voldemort once again and rises back to the real world victorious, though each time he suffers from his encounter. Thus, each book includes the symbolism of Christ’s death and resurrection.
There are other similarities besides the adventures that Harry undergoes; Harry as a character has many traits that make him similar to Christ. Like Christ, he bears a scar as evidence of his first defeat of Voldemort: he is a wounded hero who had to sacrifice something in order to save the world. Like Christ, he embodies two natures—he is a half-blood who bridges the Muggle and wizarding worlds. And most important of all, Harry’s blood has tremendous significance, as is shown when Voldemort uses Harry’s blood in the potion to restore himself to power. Harry’s blood has power that we don’t fully understand, and that power is inextricably connected with love.
It is love, of course, that is the most important similarity between Harry and Christ. God is love, and Christ’s sacrifice was entirely motivated by love. In the same way, Harry, despite his flaws and his youth, has “a power the Dark Lord knows not,” and that power is love. The ability to love is the thing that has saved him over and over again, and his motivation of love is the reason he’s been able to save so many others through the years he’s been battling the Dark Lord.
However, if we look more deeply into the love that gives Harry his power and his motivation, then the picture of Harry as a Christ figure begins to break down. Christ’s love comes from within Himself, because He is God, and His ability to save is intrinsic in Himself. Harry, however, nearly always needs help. In fact, the power of love that he carries in his blood comes not from him but from his mother, who died to save him. It is her love and her sacrifice that gives his blood its power. In the same way, each time he faces Voldemort one-on-one, he’s never really alone: someone comes to help him in the nick of time. Whether it’s his mother, Lily, Dumbledore’s phoenix, Fawkes, or Dumbledore himself, there’s always others who put themselves in danger in order to save Harry. Fawkes takes on the basilisk in Chamber of Secrets; by wounding the snake, he makes it possible for Harry to defeat it, and later the bird heals Harry with his tears. Dumbledore defeats Quirrell in Sorcerer’s Stone and finishes the battle with Voldemort in Order of the Phoenix; Lily, of course, gives her life to save Harry. And finally, in Half-Blood Prince, Dumbledore, too, dies to save Harry—probably in a deliberate choice to sacrifice himself.
So is Harry a Christ figure? Although he shares with Christ many characteristics that are common for all mythic heroes, I believe he is not. For Harry to truly become a Christ figure, the final showdown with Voldemort will have to involve him utterly sacrificing himself and dying in order to save the wizarding world. Since Rowling has made it clear that magic cannot bring people back from the dead, Harry’s actual death would not involve a Christ-like death and resurrection but a true human sacrifice and a terribly tragic ending for the series. It’s possible, of course, that this will happen, especially if Harry is (as is likely) the final Horcrux containing a piece of Voldemort’s soul. If that’s the case, then Harry might well have to die in order to defeat Voldemort. But if he can’t rise from the dead, then how will he defeat Voldemort after he’s dead?
And so, Harry will not be the symbol who ultimately represents Christ in the series. Instead, Harry is Everyman, the ordinary boy who must battle with evil in himself (by choosing love over revenge) and outside of himself (in the person of Voldemort) in order to defeat it. There will be at least one more person who will have to sacrifice themselves to save Harry—one more person who will fulfill the role of a Christ figure in the seventh book—and I believe that person will be Severus Snape.
The question of whether Snape is trustworthy or not has been the central mystery throughout the series. Over and over again, we have seen incontrovertible evidence that Snape is evil, only to discover, once again, that he is on the right side. But Half-Blood Prince seemed to change things forever; when he killed Dumbledore, it seemed that he was showing his true colors at last. However, as Ginna Baker demonstrates in her article, there is still a great deal of evidence that Snape is actually on the right side. In addition to Dumbledore’s unwavering trust of Snape, the evidence of Crouch’s foe-glass in Goblet of Fire, and Dumbledore’s pleading tone just before Snape kills him (for surely the idea that Dumbledore is pleading for his life is ludicrous), there is also the powerful scene at the beginning of Half-Blood Prince in which Snape takes the Unbreakable Vow to help Malfoy, and the scene in which Hagrid overhears Dumbledore and Snape arguing. Snape said “he didn’t want to do it anymore,” but Dumbledore insisted “he agreed to do it” (405-6). What could they be referring to, but the necessity of Snape’s going through with his vow and killing Dumbledore? Why else would Snape be so angry when Harry called him a coward?
If Snape is indeed still trustworthy, then it’s obvious that Snape will be a key player in Harry’s success in the final battle. Although Snape is a very unlikely candidate to fulfill the role of Christ figure—he was once a Death Eater, after all, and at best he’s still a turncoat spy—I believe that he will be the one to sacrifice himself to save Harry at the end of Deathly Hallows. By exchanging his life for Harry’s, he will become a picture of redemption. He will not only save Harry and make it possible for Harry to defeat the Dark Lord; he will also show how love can overcome even the most bitter of grudges, and he will redeem his own life by his sacrifice. Does it seem a little too far-fetched to think that greasy, slimy, Snape will turn out to be the hero of the final chapter? Maybe. But in a magical world like Harry Potter’s, anything is possible.
