Harry Potter: Modern Myth

One great thing about the Harry Potter series is that it builds upon real mythology to create a world that is so different from our own, yet seems almost familiar. Various creatures from our myths and fairy tales exist in Harry's world, including werewolves, unicorns, dragons, and centaurs. The wizarding world's relationships with the various creatures, both sentient and feral, are varied and reflects real-world concepts like racism and fear of the unknown.

Humans have long enjoyed a position of superiority over most of the other magical creatures, which probably derives from the fact that humans can walk among muggles and not be thought of scary or different. Wizards do everything possible to keep their world a secret, which includes keeping muggles blissfully unaware of the existence of dragons and such (which probably has to be especially hard with the dangerous and/or wild creatures). Centaurs, which are sentient, are highly resentful of humans because of the way centaurs and other "half-breeds" are treated. Werewolves, another "half-breed" species are second-class citizens due to fear of uncontrolled bouts at the full moon. In a way, this is a rational fear, but as we come to learn, there are potions that mitigate the effects of the full moon. Not only that, but one of the most moral and pure-hearted characters in the series is a werewolf. Goblins, which are not half-breeds, are tolerated for their shrewdness at banking, but I doubt a single wizard has ever been friends with a goblin. Then again, the goblins don't really try and change things themselves; they are very happy with their selfish practices, and wouldn't change them to try and improve relations with humans.

Things get complicated with feral beasts, like dragons, boggarts, and basilisks. In his seven (sort of) years at Hogwarts, Harry had more than a few encounters with exceptionally dangerous creatures. In our world, we have animals like lions, tigers, and bears (um, sorry), which are extremely dangerous, but things like dragons and basilisks make our beasts look like kittens. Harry's battles with the dangerous creatures were definitely exciting, but there were some times when I thought that no one with the kind of experience Harry had could have survived. I guess that is why this is fiction. In addition to the incredibly dangerous beasts, there were also feral creatures that were more pest than beast. Pixies and gnomes seemed to exist in order to annoy the hell out of wizards.

One thing that I thought Rowling handled well was that she reminded us that Europe isn't the only area of the world with mythology, and creatures from different mythologies are native to those regions. For example, Asian dragons, which are more serpent-like, are found in Asia, while the more dinosaur-esque European dragons are found in Europe.

There were a few creatures that Rowling created for the series, most of which served symbolic or thematic purposes. Dementors represented the concept of fear and emptiness; they were the guards of the wizard prison and they were extremely effective at their job because they could suck the hope and lifeforce out of the inmates. Thestrals, on the other hand, served as a juxtoposition for the meaning of death; only people who had witnessed a death occur could see them, and they were in many ways horrific in appearance. On the other hand, they are extremely gentle and have a kind of twisted beauty to them. Death is something that most people fear, but it is a natural part of life, and is required for us to move on as a society.

Rowlings vast imagination allowed her to recreate various fantastic creatures and create a few of her own to make the world of her stories incredibly interesting and diverse. But these creatures served not only as escapism into another world, they also reflected our own.

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