My Harry Potter Hero

This is probably going to be a popular topic for this essay, but the Hero’s Journey narrative that has impacted me the most is the Harry Potter series. The series is focused around an 11 year old orphaned boy, Harry Potter, who lives with his aunt and uncle. He is then introduced to the wizarding world, where his parents went to school, and informed that he is the only person who has been able to resist the killing curse of Voldemort, the darkest wizard of the time. There are seven books in the series, and most of them take place while Harry is at Hogwarts, one of the finest wizarding schools in the world.

            I read the first Harry Potter book when I was 10, so around the age that Harry was in the story. I was drawn to the book because of the vibrant and complex wizarding world that Rowling, the author, created. There are magical creatures, sports, hobbies, and customs that the readers get to learn about through the eyes of Harry, who is also a newcomer to this world. Even before I saw the movies, I was able to picture scenes like feasts in the Great Hall, or students flying around the Quidditch pitch. Rowling even includes negative aspects of the wizarding world, like pure-wizarding blood superiority and political corruption that mirror conflicts in our world. Another thing that I loved while reading Harry Potter was feeling like I grew up with the characters. The books span Harry and his friend’s lives from when they are 11 to 17, so it is easy to get to know them as characters and see their personal journeys as they mature.

            The main conflict of the series revolves around Voldemort’s return to power, and the corruption and destruction the wizarding world faces as that happens. Harry is referred to as “The Boy Who Lived” and a sense of responsibility is placed upon him, as people expect him to be the one to defeat Voldemort once and for all. Harry is undeniably intended to be the main hero in this narrative. Each book starts with him exiting his normal world with his aunt and uncle, traveling to the wizarding world where he has friends/sidekicks Ron and Hermione, and facing some sort of conflict. However, the character that I found the most heroic wasn’t Harry but Ginny Weasley.

            Ginny is Ron’s sister, who is a year younger than Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Her first major role in the series is in the second book, when she is a first year at Hogwarts and gets trapped by Voldemort, who essentially wants to kill her to return his power. Harry saves Ginny and defeats Voldemort temporarily. Thus, the first major portrayal of Ginny readers see is in a damsel-in-distress situation. She is not a big factor in the story again until the fifth book, when she joins a Defense Against the Dark Arts group led by Harry. She quickly proves herself to be more than capable in producing complicated hexes and spells, often being the first in the class to master them. She goes with Harry at the end of the fifth book to fight Voldemort’s allies at the Ministry of Magic, is selected as one of the most talented witches in the school in the sixth book, and helps fight against Voldemort’s followers at the Battle of Hogwarts in the last book.

            Growing up, I looked up to Ginny because she was a girl who proved that she was strong and capable. Hermione is also undeniably strong and capable—and extremely intelligent—but she was often perceived as “one of the boys” because of her close friendship with Harry and Ron. Ginny was the only daughter in a family with seven children, so I think that being a girl was a defining aspect of her while she grew up. Her brothers and people at Hogwarts often focus on the boys that she dates, asking questions about them or even complaining that she is dating. However, even with her status of little sister and damsel in distress that Ginny entered Hogwarts with, she proved herself as more than that with her talent and drive to help fight in the wizarding war.