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Ancient Myths, legends, and folk tales have played a huge role when it comes to modern media, especially in the film industry. A big example of the influence of mythology, specifically Greek Mythology, in today’s entertainment industry is the Harry Potter series. Many characters, creatures, and even storylines that have happened in Harry Potter are based on myths or even a legend from Ancient Greek Mythology. The characters have a very interesting role when it comes to similarities and differences between what happens in the books and movies and what happens in the actual Ancient Greek myths, but what I found most interesting was the similarities and differences with the animals and creatures of Greek Mythology in the Harry Potter world.
One of the biggest creature inspirations from Greek mythology that is in the Harry Potter world has to be the three-headed dog or Fluffy as they call him. In Greek mythology, Fluffy is known as Cerberus. In Greek Mythology, it was Cerberuses’ job to guard to entrance Hades, which was the underworld where only dead spirits were allowed to enter and were not allowed to leave. Not only was Cerberus considered a watchdog for the underworld, but he was a loyal servant for Hades and also welcomed new dead spirits to the underworld while also preventing the spirits from reentering the living world and keeping those who didn’t have permission to enter into the underworld.
The twelfth and final labor of Heracles was the rescue of Cerberus for the King of Tiryns, Euripides. There are many different versions of the story of how Heracles obtained Cerberus, two of the more popular versions of the myth I read on www.greekgodsandgoddesses.net stated, “Heracles was told by Hades he could have Cerberus if he defeated the animal using only the weapons he carried with him. In this version, Heracles uses his lion-skin shield to protect himself from two of the dog’s heads as he chokes the third one. Cerberus then submits to Heracles.” While Cerberus has a very interesting myth to it, the way it’s portrayed in Harry Potter isn’t as intense as it is in the mythology stories that are being told.
In the Harry Potter world, Cerberus is named “Fluffy” and is originally owned by Hagrid. Fluffy was loaded to Headmaster Dumbledore to help guard the Philosopher’s Stone. One big difference between the myth and the film adaptation was Fluffy’s inability to remain awake when a musical instrument is played, specifically a flute, which was used in the movie. Another change that was made in the movie to Fluffy’s characteristics was to give each of the three heads their own personability. The movie had one head as smart, one as sleepy, and the last one as alert. Besides the inability to stay awake and the three different personalities, Fluffy is portrayed similar to Cerberus in the sense that Fluffy is a ferocious, savage, and violent creature.
Along with Fluffy, another mirrored creature from the Greek Mythology world and the Harry Potter world is the Phoenix. The Phoenix is known to be a maestoso bird-like mythological creature living in a “paradise”. In the myth, it is said that the Phoenix never really dies, the Phoenix was known for being reborn. For the Phoenix to be reborn, it would have to leave “paradise” and fly into the mortal world where it would sing Apollo, the God of the Sun, the most beautiful and soul-stirring song, so powerful that Apollo had to stop his chariots to listen. After the song, Apollo continued on his journey and the flames from his path fell onto the Phoenix’s nest causing the Phoenix to ignite and flames and end the life cycle, but three days later, a new Phoenix would ascend from the ashes and emerge into the next life cycle.
Similar to the myth, the Phoenix rebirth story is similar in the sense they burst into flames and then rebirth through the ashes, the only difference is the time period. In the myth, it’s about three days later the Phoenix rises from their respective ashes, and in the Harry Potter world, it’s almost an instant rebirth. In the Harry Potter series, specifically in The Chamber of Secrets, we see the Phoenix play a big role in the movie. In the movies, Headmaster Dumbledore actually has a Phoenix as a pet, named Fawkes. In the film industry, it is quite common to take a classic story and add characteristics or a twist to have something fall into place with the plot, which in this case, happened with the Phoenix. Unlike the myth, in the Harry Potter series, the Phoenix’s tears are considered the only antidote to a Basilisk bite.
Films might not always integrate every aspect of a person, creature, or storyline they use as inspiration for a film, but sometimes they take something and make it so much better. Earlier I talked about how the Phoenix would sing to Apollo while he would ride his chariot in the sky, they used the song The Phoenix in a way that would honor Headmaster Dumbledore in the best way. In Goblet of Dire, mid-duel in the graveyard when Harry’s and Voldemort’s wand cores connected, it created a sound, similar to the song the Phoenix would sing giving Harry giving him the hope he needed.
Another mirrored creature from Greek Mythology that shows up in the Harry Potter world are centaur. Overall, they aren’t mirrored very well between Mythology and The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. In Mythology, Centaurs are creatures that settled in the mountains in Thessaly. Like most creatures, there are many different origin stories. One story of how Centaurs were created was the mating of a Centaur and Nephele, who is a nymph created by Zeus, and they produced offspring and left them with Chiron, who is an immortal centaur. Unlike how they are portrayed in Harry Potter, in Ancient myths centaurs were depicted as unruly, unrestrained, and disruptive. The most well-known centaur is Chiron, who was civilized, rich, and wise. Chiron was a very minor character in Greek Mythology, he was the son of Philyra and Cronus, as well as an aide for many heroes like Hercules and Achilles.
In Harry Potter, Centaurs are portrayed the complete opposite as they are in Greek Mythology. Centaurs in the Wizarding World are super chill and basically, mind their own business. They live in herds in the Forbidden Forest and observe events and what goes on instead of involving themselves. Centaurs were even once offered to be classified as beings and to take part of the government but declined and would rather not be a part of the government. Over the many books, we have gotten to know some centaurs, Magorian who was the leader of the centaurs in the forest, and Ronan who was the first centaur we were introduced to.
It was important that the portrayal of characters and creatures of Greek mythology could make or break the future of the mythological production of movies. The series took many inspirations from Greek mythology and made it their own while still respecting the original myth. They were able to go beyond simple storytelling and created something that will stick with people, who normally would never have gotten into Greek mythology. They were able to take myths modernize them and create an entirely different world that will forever be a stepping stone in what has become a cinematic universe.
Overall, I think what modern-day society has done with the Harry Potter series and how the incorporation of Greek Mythology has influenced today’s work will influence movies and books for the rest of time. They were able to take different aspects of an entire ancient world and make it their own while still including the original origin of their inspiration and combining it with a series. I don’t think anyone could think of anything to change or incorporate to change the Wizarding World as it’s so unique to itself, that any outside change wouldn’t make it what the world is today.
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