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TheHarry Potterbooks and films introduced a propagation to a charming macrocosm living alongside the macrocosm of human race ( or muggles ) . Teeming with mythical animal and in - world traditional knowledge , the Wizarding World is also rife with allusions to Greek , Norse , Slavic , and other mythology .
Whether it ’s like a shot evident in their names or argue by their action at law , many type inHarry Pottercome flat from the page of myth and legend . These representative only scratch the Earth’s surface of the fabulous , literary , and historical parallel of latitude present in the Wizarding World .
Merope Gaunt
The mother of Lord Voldemort had a troubled life . hungriness to head for the hills her tyrannous father , she bewitched Tom Riddle , the muggle piece she loved , to get hitched with her . When the honey potion wore off , Riddle left his pregnant married woman with nothing , and she died short thereafter .
Merope Gaunt shares more than a name with her Greek mythology analogue . One of the Pleiades , daughters of the titan Atlas , Merope was the only one of her sisters to marry a mortal . Because of her wedding , some myth suggest that when the seven Pleiades became maven , Merope beam dimmer than the rest , shroud her side in shame ( viaTheoi ) . Her husband , Sisyphus , was famously punished by the gods for repeatedly cheating Death , an achievement Merope Gaunt ’s son would one twenty-four hour period aspire to .
Remus Lupin
Making an impressivemagical first depression inThe Prisoner of Azkaban , Remus Lupin ’s name propose multiple related to mythological association . The marauding lycanthrope moonlights as a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts , then assumes a leadership role in the reconstituted ordering of the Phoenix .
His first name evokes one of the legendary twin beginner of Rome , Romulus and Remus , who were nursed and raise by a mother Hugo Wolf ( perHistory Channel ) . His last name drives home the allusion , deriving from the Latinlupinus , for " beast . " Meanwhile , the cave in which Romulus and Remus know with their wolf mother was called , according to the legend , the Lupercal .
Pomona Sprout
Professor Pomona Sprout , the merry Herbology teacher and Head of Hufflepuff House , derives her first name from Roman mythology . Pomona was a goddess of copiousness , fruitfulness , and orchard . The goddess Pomona was a best-loved subject of ancient poets like Ovid , and later of Renaissance and pre - Raphaelite artists .
Rather than a goddess of the crop , like the Greek Demeter and other nature deities , Pomona was concerned with the care , nurture , and flourishing of fruit trees ( viaGreekMythology.com ) . besides , Pomona Sprout teach the fear and properties of wizard works life , keeping a robust nursery at Hogwarts .
Fenrir Greyback
Standing in contrast to Remus Lupin ( a lycanthrope who regrets his condition ) is Fenrir Greyback . Bloodthirsty and sadistic , Greyback relishes his lycanthropy , maintaining a permanently monstrous appearance and demeanor .
In Norse mythology , Fenrir is a giant , monstrous wolf and son of the god Loki , whodiffers from Marvel ’s Loki importantly . Fenrir figures heavily in the myths ring Ragnarök , the Norse apocalypse , and the death of the gods . Just as Greyback eludes seizure by the Aurors of the Wizarding World , the Norse Fenrir is jug in vain , for he is prophesy to separate his chain and participate in the topsy-turvyness of Ragnarök ( perHistory Channel ) .
Sirius Black
Alternately make out as Padfoot , the Grim , and even Snuffles , Sirius Black , afan favoriteHarry Pottercharacter , is an unregistered Animagus who takes the form of a large black dog . Named for a wiz within the constellation Canis Major , representing the dog of the Grecian mythological hunter Orion , Sirius signifies a cornucopia of eyetooth folklore .
Ominous smutty dogs seem in legends across England . In West Yorkshire , there are tales of Padfoot , a black dog who walk thinly alongside a person , signaling their imminent death . Widespread folklore of the Church Grim describes a black dog who guards God’s acre against evil spirits and ill - intentioned adult male . Other edition , harmonise toThought Catalog , admit the terrific Black Shuck and the spectral Barghest . Like Sirius , the mordant dogs of English folklore can be fearsome , but in some permutation , they are loyal protectors .
Sybill Trelawney
While her power of divination frequently resemble quackery , Sybill Trelawney proves herself capable of true sight at primal moments in theHarry Potterseries . In a enchantment - similar state , she hand over the prophecy that spurs Lord Voldemort to target the infant Harry , and inThe Prisoner of Azkaban , she predicts Wormtail ’s return to Voldemort ’s side .
Trelawney ’s first name touch to a deed granted to oracles or prophetess in Ancient Greece . As explain byAtlas Obscura , the famous sibyl at Delphi would inhale vapors to make a delirium , from which she deliver the vaticination of Apollo . It ’s also mentioned in the book that Professor Trelawney ’s ancestor Cassandra was a famous seer . In Greek mythology , Cassandra was a Trojan princess and prophetess who , spurning the advances of Apollo , was curse to have her prophecies disbelieved .
Albus Dumbledore
think the mostpowerful wizard in theHarry Potterfranchise , Albus Dumbledore is a dedicated battler against the Dark Arts and Headmaster of Hogwarts . Despite the pristine reputation he gains with age , Dumbledore ’s past is blue than he lets on . He takes cues from the legendary figure of Merlin , who serves as a wizard and consultant to King Arthur .
Merlin ’s beginner was an incubus , create his access to magic the result of his fiend ancestry . Like Merlin , Dumbledore struggle with ignominy about his family and retiring connections . Both exceed their offensive origin , however , and develop into steadfast mentors for the young contemporaries . Dumbledore and Merlin usher Harry and Arthur , severally , from puerility into adulthood , helping shape the untested men into compassionate , up to loss leader .
Minerva McGonagall
The first name of Hogwarts ' long - serving Transfiguration instructor and Deputy Headmistress suppose it all . Minerva is the name of the Roman goddess of knowledge and warfare and counterpart to the Greek goddess Athena . The association with fight is signaled by Professor McGonagall ’s position as Head of Gryffindor House , the home of Hogwarts ' braw students , but Athena is more than just a wartime goddess .
She ’s a passe-partout of crafts like weaving , and she ’s the patron and benefactor of Athens . Athena bestow the European olive tree to mankind , which offered solid food , wealth , and a symbol of peace ( viaCulture Trip ) . McGonagall , though externally rigid , serve as a counselor and fierce defender of her students . McGonagall is one of the near mavin in theHarry Pottermovies , always offering insight , advice , or a rallying cry . When the time comes to take a stand , McGonagall , like Athena , strategically leads Hogwarts ' effect in conflict .
Lord Voldemort
The evil Lord Voldemort , born Tom Riddle , has one goal in mind , immortality . His select name , in French , render to " flight from destruction . " While his hike to power and political agenda resembles historic dictator like Adolf Hitler , his single - minded quest to conquer death corresponds to an immortal thaumaturgist from Slavic folklore .
According toAncient Origins , Koschei the Deathless appear in numerous Russian folks and fairy fib , unremarkably as an antagonist to a young hero . Koschei ’s immortality is confirm by an unusual practice , using a magic magic spell to hide his soul inside a phonograph needle , which he nests inside an egg , inside a duck , inside a lapin , inside a breast , which he buries on a distant island . This convoluted ritual is echoed in Voldemort ’s universe of Horcruxes , objects that computer storage sherd of the soul outside the body .
Harry Potter
The Boy Who Lived carry a multitude of mythological and literary parallels . He ’s at once a Christ figure , an larger-than-life hero the the like of Theseus and Heracles , and more . Perhaps Harry Potter ’s most fitting counterpart in legend , however , is King Arthur .
Both Harry and Arthur are descend from large families , but both grow up away from their home , incognizant of their truthful inheritance . Harry wields the Sword of Gryffindor , which he first pulls from the Sorting Hat , test his place in Gryffindor , and later discovers at the bottom of a lake . Arthur pulls his first sword from a Harlan F. Stone , raise his right to the throne , and receives Excalibur from the Lady of the Lake . Furthermore , while Arthur marries Guinevere , Harry wed Ginny Weasley , whose full first name is Ginevra , the Italian form of Guinevere .
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