Why is Harry Potter so great?
Sup! It’s Nate here with the final post of the year! It’s strange to think that school has gone by so fast. While in quarantine, I’ve been going back through the Harry Potter series that I first read as a kid. And it’s been great. But why is it so great?
Spoilers throughout, if you’re one of the 5 people who haven’t read Harry Potter
I’m not gonna do a detailed summary for this one since the series is so popular, but here’s the gist: Harry lives with his aunt, uncle, and cousin (who aren’t so nice) because his parents are dead. Then, he finds out he’s a wizard and his parents were murdered by Vold--I mean You-Know-Who--, the most powerful Dark wizard, but who was defeated (not killed; sort of taken out of his body i guess) when he tried to kill Harry. Harry goes to Hogwarts (a magical school) and makes friends with Ron and Hermione. Hogwarts’ headmaster is Dumbledore, who will be important later. With the power of plot armor, he foils a few of Voldemort’s attempts to come back to his body until Voldemort finally succeeds. Dumbledore tells him that Voldemort made a bunch of Horcruxes (i.e. he split his soul a bunch), causing him to be mostly immortal. His Horcruxes need to be destroyed to kill him. Plot twist! Dumbledore gets murdered and now Harry, Ron, and Hermione have to find and destroy the Horcruxes on their own. They manage it, Voldemort tries to kill Harry but fails again, and Harry finally kills him and they all live happily ever after (except for the like 100 people who died). Fun!
First, let’s talk about the genre. The Harry Potter series pretty clearly falls into fantasy, and is one of the flagship books of the genre. It exemplifies many qualities that make fantasy books fantasy--a protagonist with special powers, a magical world and community, and races other than humans. One of my favorite fantasy-type things about HP is the complexity and depth of the wizarding world. There are many spells, potions, and magical creatures, and they’re all well-thought-out and most play a minor role in the plot. The Ministry of Magic, which makes laws and sets precedents for wizards, is also a great addition that makes the world feel more believable, even though it’s fantasy. HP paves the way for a lot of books that come after it, which is always a sign of an excellent series. Because fantasy is one of my favorite genres, it’s natural that HP would be one of my favorite series.
Next up, the plot. I love it. It has the perfect balance of action, character interaction, and character development. Let’s start with the action/overall plot line. As I discussed in the summary, the major conflict is between Harry and Voldemort. Already, there’s an aspect of the plot that makes this stand out: Harry both wants to defeat Voldemort for killing his parents and because he sees what horrors Voldemort inflicts on the magical community. This twofold anger at Voldemort makes for a deeper conflict. The overall path of Voldemort’s rise to power and Harry’s defeat of him is engaging due to Harry’s character development (which I’ll discuss more later) as well as the many twists and turns. The series does a good job of communicating Voldemort’s sheer power and cruelty, putting readers more firmly on Harry’s side--especially during the later books where the Ministry of Magic is trying to hide Voldemort’s attempted takeover and stifle the (true) rumors that he returned. Harry’s journey to defeat Voldemort never feels like a slog even though it’s over the course of 7 books, due to well-implemented subplots and minor conflicts.
Next is the character development. Almost every character develops somewhat over the course of the series, but I would say that Neville Longbottom develops the most. For those of you who don’t remember, Neville is a Gryffindor in Harry’s year whose parents were tortured into insanity by Voldemort. Neville starts out the series as fairly clumsy and inept, but with the help of his friends, he learns a lot about dueling and becomes much more formidable. This development culminates in him killing Nagini the snake, one of Voldemort’s Horcruxes. Harry also undergoes a great deal of development as the protagonist through Dumbledore’s mentoring. Dumbledore teaches Harry a lot about himself; both about his powers and his emotions. As Harry walks to face Voldemort in the final book, intending to sacrifice himself to stop Voldemort once and for all, you can feel how much Harry has changed since the cold night when Hagrid told him he was a wizard.
Something else that HP does well is creating an intriguing “daily life” setting at Hogwarts. Everything from the building itself to the classes are extremely detailed and well-described. HP manages to juxtapose Harry’s ordinary life at school (can going to a school of magic be called “ordinary”?) and the larger conflict with Voldemort by doing an excellent job of describing the more ordinary setting. It feels very much like actual school does, and both the friendships and stresses at Hogwarts serve to spice up the books.
Finally, there are a couple minor criticisms I have. First, a lot of the deaths seem unnecessary, especially in the final book. The deaths of people like (spoilers!!!) Lupin, Tonks, and Fred didn’t really seem to add much to the plot; they just made me sad.
*moment of silence for Lupin, Tonks, and Fred*
I suppose if no one close to Harry had died, the war against Voldemort might have felt too perfect, and the deaths could have been trying to accentuate the cruelty of Voldemort and the Death Eaters. Next is a common criticism of fantasy/adventure books: Harry’s plot armor (basically he can do things that he really shouldn’t have the power to do, for the purposes of the plot). For example, he’s able to stop Voldemort from getting the Sorcerer’s Stone, and from reopening the Chamber of Secrets, all in his first two years of magical education. However, many books do this and without it, there would be a lot fewer options for the plot.
And that concludes my review! There’s much more I would like to talk about, like the intricate backstory and lore and the interaction between characters, but this is pretty long already. Thanks for reading, and I hope you check out HP if you haven’t already! Overall, I would give it a 9.925/10 for being a wonderful fantasy series that’s still great to reread many years later.
Spoilers throughout, if you’re one of the 5 people who haven’t read Harry Potter
I’m not gonna do a detailed summary for this one since the series is so popular, but here’s the gist: Harry lives with his aunt, uncle, and cousin (who aren’t so nice) because his parents are dead. Then, he finds out he’s a wizard and his parents were murdered by Vold--I mean You-Know-Who--, the most powerful Dark wizard, but who was defeated (not killed; sort of taken out of his body i guess) when he tried to kill Harry. Harry goes to Hogwarts (a magical school) and makes friends with Ron and Hermione. Hogwarts’ headmaster is Dumbledore, who will be important later. With the power of plot armor, he foils a few of Voldemort’s attempts to come back to his body until Voldemort finally succeeds. Dumbledore tells him that Voldemort made a bunch of Horcruxes (i.e. he split his soul a bunch), causing him to be mostly immortal. His Horcruxes need to be destroyed to kill him. Plot twist! Dumbledore gets murdered and now Harry, Ron, and Hermione have to find and destroy the Horcruxes on their own. They manage it, Voldemort tries to kill Harry but fails again, and Harry finally kills him and they all live happily ever after (except for the like 100 people who died). Fun!
First, let’s talk about the genre. The Harry Potter series pretty clearly falls into fantasy, and is one of the flagship books of the genre. It exemplifies many qualities that make fantasy books fantasy--a protagonist with special powers, a magical world and community, and races other than humans. One of my favorite fantasy-type things about HP is the complexity and depth of the wizarding world. There are many spells, potions, and magical creatures, and they’re all well-thought-out and most play a minor role in the plot. The Ministry of Magic, which makes laws and sets precedents for wizards, is also a great addition that makes the world feel more believable, even though it’s fantasy. HP paves the way for a lot of books that come after it, which is always a sign of an excellent series. Because fantasy is one of my favorite genres, it’s natural that HP would be one of my favorite series.
Next up, the plot. I love it. It has the perfect balance of action, character interaction, and character development. Let’s start with the action/overall plot line. As I discussed in the summary, the major conflict is between Harry and Voldemort. Already, there’s an aspect of the plot that makes this stand out: Harry both wants to defeat Voldemort for killing his parents and because he sees what horrors Voldemort inflicts on the magical community. This twofold anger at Voldemort makes for a deeper conflict. The overall path of Voldemort’s rise to power and Harry’s defeat of him is engaging due to Harry’s character development (which I’ll discuss more later) as well as the many twists and turns. The series does a good job of communicating Voldemort’s sheer power and cruelty, putting readers more firmly on Harry’s side--especially during the later books where the Ministry of Magic is trying to hide Voldemort’s attempted takeover and stifle the (true) rumors that he returned. Harry’s journey to defeat Voldemort never feels like a slog even though it’s over the course of 7 books, due to well-implemented subplots and minor conflicts.
Next is the character development. Almost every character develops somewhat over the course of the series, but I would say that Neville Longbottom develops the most. For those of you who don’t remember, Neville is a Gryffindor in Harry’s year whose parents were tortured into insanity by Voldemort. Neville starts out the series as fairly clumsy and inept, but with the help of his friends, he learns a lot about dueling and becomes much more formidable. This development culminates in him killing Nagini the snake, one of Voldemort’s Horcruxes. Harry also undergoes a great deal of development as the protagonist through Dumbledore’s mentoring. Dumbledore teaches Harry a lot about himself; both about his powers and his emotions. As Harry walks to face Voldemort in the final book, intending to sacrifice himself to stop Voldemort once and for all, you can feel how much Harry has changed since the cold night when Hagrid told him he was a wizard.
Something else that HP does well is creating an intriguing “daily life” setting at Hogwarts. Everything from the building itself to the classes are extremely detailed and well-described. HP manages to juxtapose Harry’s ordinary life at school (can going to a school of magic be called “ordinary”?) and the larger conflict with Voldemort by doing an excellent job of describing the more ordinary setting. It feels very much like actual school does, and both the friendships and stresses at Hogwarts serve to spice up the books.
Finally, there are a couple minor criticisms I have. First, a lot of the deaths seem unnecessary, especially in the final book. The deaths of people like (spoilers!!!) Lupin, Tonks, and Fred didn’t really seem to add much to the plot; they just made me sad.
*moment of silence for Lupin, Tonks, and Fred*
I suppose if no one close to Harry had died, the war against Voldemort might have felt too perfect, and the deaths could have been trying to accentuate the cruelty of Voldemort and the Death Eaters. Next is a common criticism of fantasy/adventure books: Harry’s plot armor (basically he can do things that he really shouldn’t have the power to do, for the purposes of the plot). For example, he’s able to stop Voldemort from getting the Sorcerer’s Stone, and from reopening the Chamber of Secrets, all in his first two years of magical education. However, many books do this and without it, there would be a lot fewer options for the plot.
And that concludes my review! There’s much more I would like to talk about, like the intricate backstory and lore and the interaction between characters, but this is pretty long already. Thanks for reading, and I hope you check out HP if you haven’t already! Overall, I would give it a 9.925/10 for being a wonderful fantasy series that’s still great to reread many years later.
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ReplyDelete(Deleted and reposted to fix typos)
DeleteThis was a really detailed, well-written review! I had a lot of fun reading your lighthearted, somewhat sarcastic summary, and you brought up a lot of really good points about what makes the series so phenomenal. One additional aspect of the series that sticks out to me is that, despite being targeted generally towards kids and teens, the writing is fairly sophisticated, and the stories don’t feel overly simple or dumbed down, (a good example of this would be the Hitler/Holocaust allegory with the bad guys throughout the series, and especially in the last book). In addition, I was always impressed by how well the super intricate details of the plot are planned out from the earliest few books, and there’s always some detail that merits a rereading (or a rerererererereading...). Even though I definitely enjoyed these books more when I was younger, they’re still always a fun read, and they never feel too immature or predictable. Overall, this was a really thorough post that did a great job identifying what aspects making a series like Harry Potter good, and I had a lot of fun reading it!
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