Harry Potter as a “Hero Journey”
If a hero journey is attractive to us, speaks to us and teaches us values, it is necessary
to ask if the Harry Potter series is a hero journey. As previously stated a number of critics
(Applebaum, 2003, Nikolajeva, 2003, Alton, 2003, Schafer, 2002, et al.) have referred to this
aspect of the series. Schafer (2002) feels that Harry fulfils many of the criteria required to be
called a mythical hero including that he acquires self-knowledge, matures during his ordeal
and that readers are able to “identify with Harry’s experiences and recognize parallels in their
own lives” (p. 130). Pharr (2002) sees Harry as a hero in progress, a potential representative
of Campbell’s monomyth (p. 54) while Nikolajeva (2003) writes that “the movement of
Campbellian monomyth, . . . corresponds exactly to the master plot of children’s fiction . . .
most tangible in all Harry Potter novels to date” (p. 127). If we accept Harry Potter as a hero
in the sense of the monomyth it is necessary to relate directly some incidents in the Harry
Potter series to Campbell’s monomyth pattern.
Harry Potter and the “Hero Journey” form
There is no great surprise that the Harry Potter series draws from the hero journey
form because a large number of popular stories, both in the written media and other media,
draw on this pattern; it speaks to us psychologically as we are connected to this pattern
through our collective unconscious (Segal, 1999, p. 135). Campbell felt that a new set of hero
journey narratives was needed that drew on the world as we knew it, that allowed us to enjoy
the great stories of mythology in a new setting. “. . . mythology shows itself to be as
amenable as life itself to the obsessions and requirements of the individual, the race, the age”
(Campbell, 1993 p. 382). Some critics see the Harry Potter series and other works, such as
Star Wars (1977), as examples of these new narratives (Milum, 2003).
Throughout the Harry Potter series it is easy to connect events in the stories with the
hero journey or monomyth pattern as described by Campbell and others. Written below is a
depiction of the hero journey in PS. The structural outline and terminology used is taken from
Vogler (1999, p. 12).
Ordinary World
Harry lives at the residence of Mr and Mrs Dursley, 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging,
Surrey. The creation of this address by Rowling indicates her desire to portray the Dursley
family as comical and distasteful early in the series. Privet refers to a shrub, which is
frequently planted in some numbers to be turned into hedges that are trimmed into
uniformity. Vernon and Petunia Dursley wish to be seen as conventional, in uniformity with
the rest of their neighbours (PS, p. 7), not connected with anything strange or mysterious,
especially witchcraft. They tend to be boring people rather than excitement seekers. The term
“whinging” is commonly used in the English language to describe the action of constant complaining which is one of the characteristics of Dursley family especially in regard to
Harry (PS. pp. 19-27). Harry is an orphan, small and skinny, with wild hair and a lightning
bolt scar. He is given old clothes to wear, requires glasses and is forced to live in the
cupboard under the stairs. Mr and Mrs Dursley reluctantly look after him and he has to put up
with his spoiled cousin Dudley, who is a bully. Both Vernon and Petunia do not wish Harry
to know about his origins as they lie to him about how his parents died (PS, pp. 19-27).
Call to Adventure
Harry is called to his adventure, initially a life of wizardry, through strange
occurrences. His hair grows back almost instantly after it is cut, one of Dudley’s large
jumpers refuses to fit over his head and he strangely ends up on the school roof when he was
only seeking to jump behind some bins. He has a dream about a flying motorbike then, on the
visit to the Zoo for his cousin Dudley’s birthday, Harry gets physical responses from a snake
he is talking to, the glass on the snake’s enclosure vanishes and while the snake escapes
Harry swears he heard it talk to him (PS, pp. 23- 26).
Refusal of the Call
Harry then receives strange letters that he is not allowed to open. On behalf of Harry,
but without his consent, Uncle Vernon refuses the call to wizardry by trying to stop the letters
arriving even though they now number in the hundreds. The Dursleys try to avoid the call by
fleeing with Harry to an old house on an isolated rock in the sea but Hagrid arrives and the
call is taken up (PS, p. 30-51).
Meeting with the Mentor
Harry has met one of his mentors, Hagrid, but he is yet to formally meet his dominant
mentor, Dumbledore. However, Dumbledore has already been involved in mentoring Harry’s
life, as he was responsible for Harry’s placement in the Dursley household when his parents
were slain. This action was undertaken to protect Harry (PS, pp. 15-16).
Crossing the First Threshold
In PS Harry must pass a number of thresholds rather than just one, to enter his new
wizarding world. These thresholds are not the dramatic episodes that occur in many hero
journeys but they do show Harry’s commitment to a new life. In London Harry is assisted by
Hagrid to get into Diagon Alley, a witches shopping area, which is hidden away from the
muggle world. He is also assisted by Hagrid to get some of money left to him by his parents
from Gringotts, a bank run by goblins that is positioned in the Alley, which will help him
break the shackles of poverty and enter a world of economic independence. He purchases
items that will assist him to live effectively in the wizarding world. These include a wand and
an owl. At King's Cross he is taught how to get through the protective barrier at Platform 9
3/4, so that he can get the Hogwarts train, the formal means of entering his new world/life.
Here he meets Ron Weasley and many of the Weasley family. On the train Draco Malfoy
threatens him with the same fate as his parents. Draco may be seen here as a Threshold
Guardian (Vogler, 1999, p. 129). Harry then has to travel over water, a common symbolic
threshold, to arrive at his new home, Hogwarts. Finally Harry must pass the Sorting Hat
ceremony. This hat takes some time in deciding whether Harry will go in the Gryffindor or
the Slytherin house. With his acceptance into the Gryffindor House Harry has now crossed
from the Dursley family into a new surrogate family (PS, 55-97).
If a hero journey is attractive to us, speaks to us and teaches us values, it is necessary
to ask if the Harry Potter series is a hero journey. As previously stated a number of critics
(Applebaum, 2003, Nikolajeva, 2003, Alton, 2003, Schafer, 2002, et al.) have referred to this
aspect of the series. Schafer (2002) feels that Harry fulfils many of the criteria required to be
called a mythical hero including that he acquires self-knowledge, matures during his ordeal
and that readers are able to “identify with Harry’s experiences and recognize parallels in their
own lives” (p. 130). Pharr (2002) sees Harry as a hero in progress, a potential representative
of Campbell’s monomyth (p. 54) while Nikolajeva (2003) writes that “the movement of
Campbellian monomyth, . . . corresponds exactly to the master plot of children’s fiction . . .
most tangible in all Harry Potter novels to date” (p. 127). If we accept Harry Potter as a hero
in the sense of the monomyth it is necessary to relate directly some incidents in the Harry
Potter series to Campbell’s monomyth pattern.
Harry Potter and the “Hero Journey” form
There is no great surprise that the Harry Potter series draws from the hero journey
form because a large number of popular stories, both in the written media and other media,
draw on this pattern; it speaks to us psychologically as we are connected to this pattern
through our collective unconscious (Segal, 1999, p. 135). Campbell felt that a new set of hero
journey narratives was needed that drew on the world as we knew it, that allowed us to enjoy
the great stories of mythology in a new setting. “. . . mythology shows itself to be as
amenable as life itself to the obsessions and requirements of the individual, the race, the age”
(Campbell, 1993 p. 382). Some critics see the Harry Potter series and other works, such as
Star Wars (1977), as examples of these new narratives (Milum, 2003).
Throughout the Harry Potter series it is easy to connect events in the stories with the
hero journey or monomyth pattern as described by Campbell and others. Written below is a
depiction of the hero journey in PS. The structural outline and terminology used is taken from
Vogler (1999, p. 12).
Ordinary World
Harry lives at the residence of Mr and Mrs Dursley, 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging,
Surrey. The creation of this address by Rowling indicates her desire to portray the Dursley
family as comical and distasteful early in the series. Privet refers to a shrub, which is
frequently planted in some numbers to be turned into hedges that are trimmed into
uniformity. Vernon and Petunia Dursley wish to be seen as conventional, in uniformity with
the rest of their neighbours (PS, p. 7), not connected with anything strange or mysterious,
especially witchcraft. They tend to be boring people rather than excitement seekers. The term
“whinging” is commonly used in the English language to describe the action of constant complaining which is one of the characteristics of Dursley family especially in regard to
Harry (PS. pp. 19-27). Harry is an orphan, small and skinny, with wild hair and a lightning
bolt scar. He is given old clothes to wear, requires glasses and is forced to live in the
cupboard under the stairs. Mr and Mrs Dursley reluctantly look after him and he has to put up
with his spoiled cousin Dudley, who is a bully. Both Vernon and Petunia do not wish Harry
to know about his origins as they lie to him about how his parents died (PS, pp. 19-27).
Call to Adventure
Harry is called to his adventure, initially a life of wizardry, through strange
occurrences. His hair grows back almost instantly after it is cut, one of Dudley’s large
jumpers refuses to fit over his head and he strangely ends up on the school roof when he was
only seeking to jump behind some bins. He has a dream about a flying motorbike then, on the
visit to the Zoo for his cousin Dudley’s birthday, Harry gets physical responses from a snake
he is talking to, the glass on the snake’s enclosure vanishes and while the snake escapes
Harry swears he heard it talk to him (PS, pp. 23- 26).
Refusal of the Call
Harry then receives strange letters that he is not allowed to open. On behalf of Harry,
but without his consent, Uncle Vernon refuses the call to wizardry by trying to stop the letters
arriving even though they now number in the hundreds. The Dursleys try to avoid the call by
fleeing with Harry to an old house on an isolated rock in the sea but Hagrid arrives and the
call is taken up (PS, p. 30-51).
Meeting with the Mentor
Harry has met one of his mentors, Hagrid, but he is yet to formally meet his dominant
mentor, Dumbledore. However, Dumbledore has already been involved in mentoring Harry’s
life, as he was responsible for Harry’s placement in the Dursley household when his parents
were slain. This action was undertaken to protect Harry (PS, pp. 15-16).
Crossing the First Threshold
In PS Harry must pass a number of thresholds rather than just one, to enter his new
wizarding world. These thresholds are not the dramatic episodes that occur in many hero
journeys but they do show Harry’s commitment to a new life. In London Harry is assisted by
Hagrid to get into Diagon Alley, a witches shopping area, which is hidden away from the
muggle world. He is also assisted by Hagrid to get some of money left to him by his parents
from Gringotts, a bank run by goblins that is positioned in the Alley, which will help him
break the shackles of poverty and enter a world of economic independence. He purchases
items that will assist him to live effectively in the wizarding world. These include a wand and
an owl. At King's Cross he is taught how to get through the protective barrier at Platform 9
3/4, so that he can get the Hogwarts train, the formal means of entering his new world/life.
Here he meets Ron Weasley and many of the Weasley family. On the train Draco Malfoy
threatens him with the same fate as his parents. Draco may be seen here as a Threshold
Guardian (Vogler, 1999, p. 129). Harry then has to travel over water, a common symbolic
threshold, to arrive at his new home, Hogwarts. Finally Harry must pass the Sorting Hat
ceremony. This hat takes some time in deciding whether Harry will go in the Gryffindor or
the Slytherin house. With his acceptance into the Gryffindor House Harry has now crossed
from the Dursley family into a new surrogate family (PS, 55-97).
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