Hiding the Diadem - Extra Piece

As an addendum to my first post entitled "Hiding the Diadem," I recently noted this from http://www.jkrowling.com/. In the "Wizard of the Month" archive, no. 40/42 is Hogwarts founder, Rowena Ravenclaw. Her description reads:

"Medieval (precise dates unknown). One of the four famous Founders of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Rowena Ravenclaw was the most brilliant witch of her time, though legend has it that a broken heart - cause unknown - contributed to her early demise." [emphasis added]

Now, that information was added to the website on 8 January 2007, seven months before the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Who could have guessed how significant that little piece of information would be. I think we now know exactly why Rowena had a broken heart - this was over her daughter Helena. Just how early her demise was, we may never know.

Analysis Post #1: Hiding the Diadem

Perhaps it would be strange to ponder over particular elements of the Harry Potter series (and not write of my general understanding of Rowling's themes and seeming philosophy) at the beginning of my positing on this blog. However, particular questions seem to pop up in my mind more frequently than the former; perhaps after reading much Potter analysis myself, I take some of it for granted, and will have to explore the larger issues with more time and reflection. As such, the reader will have to bear with me as subsequent posts become a crash course in Harry Potter analysis, from the smallest elements to the larger themes. My first post is one that I believe led to some of the motivation to start this blog, and it is a question that I only could have developed after the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. So if you have not read Book 7, I suggest that you stop following this blog, because spoilers will abound ahead.

In Book Seven, Harry is on his quest to destroy Voldemort's Horcruxes and one of the Horcruxes turns out to be Ravenclaw's Diadem, hidden at Hogwarts in the Room of Hidden Things (a.k.a. the Room of Requirement). Tom Riddle, Jr. (a.k.a. Lord Voldemort) had hidden the Diadem there, believing that nobody else would know where to find it. But until very near the end of the story, Harry doesn't even know that the Horcrux in question was Ravenclaw's Diadem. Speaking during the Battle of Hogwarts with the Gray Lady, the Ghost of Ravenclaw, Harry figures out that the Diadem is in fact one of Voldemort's Horcruxes, and that he had retrieved it from its legendary hiding place and hidden it in Hogwarts during his request for employment from Dumbledore.

But during the few pages in which Harry figures this out, we get the interesting side story of the Gray Lady herself, Rowena Ravenclaw's daughter, Helena Ravenclaw, and, by consequence, the story of Slytherin House's ghost, the Bloody Baron. As for the other ghosts at Hogwarts, we know some things about Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington (a.k.a. "Nearly Headless Nick"), the Gryffindor House ghost, especially from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the JKR.com website (the ballad of his nearly-headless history), and The Tales of Beedle the Bard, where a footnote indicates that in the fifteenth century, Nick had been killed by Muggle persecution, after having once been a member of the Royal Court) (Beedle 12). We don't really know that much about the Fat Friar (the Ghost of Hufflepuff House). The question I wish to ponder today is a small one, but may relate to a larger theme in the Potter series, and that question is the following:

Why did the Gray Lady, Helena Ravenclaw, hide the Ravenclaw Diadem in a hollow tree in Albania?

Why the hollow tree?
Why did she (and J. K. Rowling for her story) choose Albania?

First of all, we must backtrack and find out what Helena did tell Harry in those hectic moments during the Battle of Hogwarts. That information is located on pages 615-617 in the American hardcover edition of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. To summarize, the Gray Lady's story goes like this:

1. The Ravenclaw Diadem originally belonged to Helena's mother, Rowena. (p.
615)

2. "...the diadem bestows wisdom..." (p. 615)

3. Helena had stolen the diadem from her mother out of jealousy. "I
sought to make myself cleverer, more important than my mother." (p.
616)

4. Helena ran away from her mother, Rowena. Rowena Ravenclaw,
herself, pretended that the diadem was not missing, and none of the other
founders knew this. (p. 616)

5. Rowena Ravenclaw, on her deathbed, wished to see her daughter one more
time and sent the Bloody Baron (the Slytherin House ghost) to find Helena. (p.
616)

6. The baron was obsessed with Helena (unrequited love) for some time;
Rowena knew this. (p. 616)

7. Helena is found by the Baron, refuses him, and is stabbed by him to
death. "He tracked me to the forest where I was hiding. When I
refused to return with him, he became violent. The Baron was always a
hot-tempered man. Furious at my refusal, jealous of my freedom, he stabbed
me." (p. 616)

8. The Baron then committed suicide, and his ghost wears chains as
penitence for his actions in life. "When he saw what he had done, he was
overcome with remorse. He took the weapon that had claimed my life, and
used it to kill himself. All these centuries later, he wears his chains as
an act of penitence... as he should." (p. 616)

9. Helena had hidden the diadem in a hollow tree when she heard the Baron coming towards her. "[The diadem] remained where I had hidden it when I heard the Baron blundering through the forest toward me. Concealed inside a hollow tree." (p. 617) This implies that the diadem did not usually remain hidden, or she did not have the time to retrieve it, or that she chose to conceal it.

10. Helena reveals that the hollow tree was in a forest in Albania, a place in her words which was "a lonely place I thought was far beyond my mother's reach." (p. 617)

There are very big themes in this small passage that Rowling is sharing with her readers through Helena's story. Themes of jealousy, love, passion, betrayal, penitence, the power of will and of knowledge, depression and loneliness. One has to read between the lines here: what was Rowling asking us, as readers, to really ponder here?

We have to deal with the major points of this story, the first two points of which is that the Ravenclaw Diadem had belonged to one of the Four Founders of Hogwarts, and was rumored to "bestow wisdom." In Geo Athena Trevarthen's book, The Seeker's Guide to Harry Potter, there is a discussion on the Hogwarts Houses in the third chapter, entitled "Four Houses, Four Elements." Professor Trevarthen discusses the totemic animal, of Ravenclaw, the eagle, and the raven (from the name of the house) and their traditional meanings in various folk cultures. She then begins a discussion of Ravenclaw house and its key characters in the books, notably Cho, Luna and Professor Flitwick. She doesn't really mention Helena, or Rowena, the founder. But what she does say about Ravenclaw relates to Ravenclaw's motto engraved on the diadem, "Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure." Her explanation of Ravenclaw's house qualities and magical precept is this:

"Wizards must know themselves, know magic, and know the world. Their
knowledge must encompass the unpleasant curses they may be hit with 'out there'
and other unsavory information, like their own deepest fears... What's
more, the knowledge must be of a specific kind, personal and practical..."
(Trevarthen 65).

Professor Trevarthen later goes on to say that to be a wizard means "someone who has personal knowledge, often, knowledge of the sacred. A wizard is a person who can see spiritual reality personally and vividly and who is informed by this experience, so that he becomes wise." (Trevarthen 66).

An object, like the Ravenclaw diadem, that bestows consciousness of oneself so that they become wise, instead of the person themselves journeying through life to become wise (and so not needing such an object), is both a symbol of power and beauty and on a practical level, a dangerous object indeed. To bestow wisdom... perhaps before a person is ready for that kind of understanding? In the summary of the story, point three (above) reminds us that Helena had stolen the diadem from her mother out of jealousy. What stopped her from wearing it? And as noted above, Rowling's words imply that the diadem may not have always been hidden. Why did Helena really flee? Was she fleeing her mother's anger at her thievery? This seems improbable; Rowena never made any mention of it being missing (point four).

And then Helena fled to a lonely place. The diadem had bestowed wisdom upon Helena of, as Prof. Trevarthen noted, "knowledge of the sacred... to see spiritual reality personally and vividly and who is informed by this experience." But Helena didn't become wise by figuring this out herself. She was granted wisdom, and hence learned this about herself. What was her spiritual reality on a personal level? Out of jealousy (greed and envy come to mind) she stole from her own mother a great item so that she could become better than her mother. Her want of knowledge stemmed directly from the will to be better, more clever, more powerful than her own family.

So why did she flee? She fled to a lonely place, where she thought the diadem could be hidden, where she could hide. I believe that she fled because upon learning so much, so quickly about herself, she was ashamed, and depressed, and her penitence was to spend the remainder of her life alone in that forest in Albania.

For how do you stumble upon a hollow tree? You don't. Helena spent a long time hiding there.

Her mother, on the other hand, became wise through the course of her long life. She didn't send the Baron to find her daughter in any immediate time after the diadem was stolen (though of course, we don't know how much time elapsed between the thievery and Rowena's fatal illness). But I believe that the writing implies that much time had passed. She only sent the Baron when she was on her deathbed and wished to see her daughter. She had, no doubt, become wise without the aid of the diadem, figured out what her daughter had done, and figured the one place on the earth (note Prof. Trevarthen's words "know the world") where her daughter would be.

So the question is mostly answered about "why the hollow tree?" Helena had been in that forest for quite a while. And the symbolism of a hollow tree is also a big point here - Helena, upon being granted wisdom from the diadem knew herself to be shallow and empty for the deed she had done - she herself was hollow. Trees can certainly symbolize natural life and knowledge; for a tree to be hollow... I am sure you will like to ponder this point for yourself. But to understand why Rowling chose Albania as the location of the forest, we have to "know the world." What do we know about Albania?

I read in an essay entitled "The Peasant, the Tramp and Hepzibah Smith: A Horcrux Cas Study" by WaggaWaggaWerewolf (available at http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/features/essays/issue22/HorcruxCaseStudy) that "[t]he Sorting Hat gives some clues when it associates Ravenclaw with mountains and eagles. Albania is a small, isolated, and rather poor country, named for its mountainous terrain, which is heavily forested in places. The people who live there speak a language similar to the one spoken by hardworking Ancient Trojans, and in that language, Albania... translates as the Land of the Eagles. Albanian members of the cult of the snake consider it an important household benefactor." The author then goes on to ponder whether or not this is where the idea for the snake nailed to the door at the Gaunt house came from and what exactly drew Voldemort to stay there in isolation for ten years.

Rowena, becoming wise on her deathbed, no doubt knew that her "wise" daughter would go to the "Land of the Eagles." It is also no wonder why her daughter, then, is named Helena. The story of "Helen of Troy" comes to mind here. And in the Gray Lady's story, Rowena may have considered "the snake" a.k.a. the Bloody Baron, a "household benefactor," whom she hoped to use to repair her household, alas to no avail.

But to bring us back to the original question? Why did the Gray Lady hide the Ravenclaw Diadem in a hollow tree in Albania? Because she was ashamed of herself, and what she had done. She had gained this personal knowledge by becoming wise, and fled to the ancient "Land of the Eagles" to repent her sin. Later, upon forgiving her daughter, Rowena (at the end of her life) sent the Baron (the "household benefactor" snake) to retrieve her daughter, for she had become wise as to the same premature knowledge Helena had gained of the "Land of the Eagles." She probably also fully understood, at that point in her life, the words "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." Didn't Rowling state that out of the two biblical passages she presents in Deathly Hallows, that one sums up about half of the whole story?

This doesn't even skim the surface, though, of the whole story between the Baron and the Gray Lady, of which I haven't even begun to analyze, and I won't do right now. But I do believe that there are parallels, and very obvious ones here, between the character of the Bloody Baron and Severus Snape. With the exception that Snape, I believe, "will have gone on" in Nick's words (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix). I'll leave that discussion for another time.

I hope you've enjoyed my efforts at analysis. :)

"Potter Analysis" Books: A List of References

The following is a list of "Potter Analysis" books that I have read and intend to refer to in subsequent blog postings. I will provide as much publishing information (as well as cover art) as I can about each so that others may look to reading these fine works of writing and hence further their understanding of the Potter series. I hope to update this list as accurately as possible. Of the titles listed below, I believe that most are not officially authorized by J. K. Rowling or Warner Bros., except perhaps Harry, A History by Melissa Anelli, as it contains a foreward by Rowling. Also, I believe all of the titles are only available as paperback editions, with the exception of Logospilgrim's work, bring forth the best robes.

Post-Deathly Hallows publications:

How Harry Cast His Spell

by John Granger

Published in September 2008 by Tyndale House Publishers.
Available through Zossima Press, Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.com to name a few. It is 302 pages long. This is without a doubt the best book that I have read on the subject matter. Of course, I am biased as having met the author, lol.
ISBN: 1414321880

The Deathly Hallows Lectures
by John Granger

Published in July 2008 by Zossima Press.
Available through Zossima Press, Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.com to name a few. It is 312 pages long. This is, to date, the only book I know of which focuses exclusively on the final installment of the Potter series. It is absolutely superb.
ISBN: 0972322175

The Seeker's Guide to Harry Potter
by Geo Athena Trevarthen

Published in March 2008 by National Book Network.
I know that this book is available through both Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.com to name a couple of ways to get it. It is decently lengthy. I found this to be an intersting read. I especially loved her elemental descriptions of the four houses and notes on the more villainous characters of the series. I believe she is a professor in the United Kingdom; I wish I could have attended one of her classes.
ISBN: 1846940931



Harry Potter & Imagination: The Way Between Two Worlds

by Travis Prinzi

Published in December 2008 by Zossima Press.
I know that this book is available through both Amazon.com and the Zossima Press website to name a couple of ways to get it. I believe that I heard Prinzi speak at a lecture at my university; it was excellent. Although some of it could have been better edited (grammatically) and it takes a few chapters to really get into the book after having read John Granger's works, Chapter Three, "Hogwarts, A (Haunted) History" seals the deal in this book being necessary to those who read "Potter analysis." The subsequent chapters are excellent.
ISBN: 0982238517



Harry, A History
by Melissa Anelli (Foreward by J. K. Rowling)

Published in November 2008, published by Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group.
I can't tell you how much I enjoyed this book, and I couldn't put it down. I read it in a few days, and her treatment of the history not as a biography of Rowling or of the publications of the books, but as a general global phenomenon is well thought-out and felt complete. I am sure we will see more books on the Harry Potter phenomenon in general, but this book just feels right. At the end of Anelli's book, it was as if I was again at the bookstore at 10 PM on July the 20th, 2007, anticipating the release of the final installment, and hoping against hope that "all would be well." On a side note, this book did make it, at one point, to the New York Times bestseller list of paperback non-fiction. It is also being published in German in May 2009.
ISBN: 1416554955


bring forth the best robes
by Logospilgrim

Published in September 2008 by Lulu.com
Available on Amazon.com and Lulu.com, to name a couple of places. I had been searching for more Potter analysis books on Amazon.com and stumbled upon this little book (it is about 100 pages long) on Severus Snape. Not only did I quickly order it because of its subject, but because I recognized the author's pseudonym from a website visited. Plus the book had also garnered some favorable reviews from others, which are all correct in what they state. This "Spiritual Understanding of Severus Snape" is exactly what it portends to be, and it is an uplifting little book to read. I eagerly await the publication of her second book on Snape's character. On a side note, the layout of the book is also intriguing - the topic of the spiritual lessons and themes are arranged by the ordering of the Harry Potter books themselves. In some ways, it adds to the character of the book. The editing was also well done, which is unexpectedly admirable for a small publication.
ISBN: 1435736532


The Gospel According to Harry Potter (Revised and Expanded Edition):
The Spiritual Journey of the World's Greatest Seeker
by Connie Neal

Published in February 2008 by Westminster.
Available on Barnes and Noble.com and Amazon.com to name a couple of places. At 305 pages long, this is a delightful little book and it is useful in the fact that it recognizes its writing as being reductionist, mostly in response to other anti-Potter books that are reductionist in their own way. In this sense it is objective, but the content is subjective itself. This is a well-written, easily read bok on some of the Christian content of the Potter series, but probably not as complex as some of the themes tackled by John Granger or Logospilgrim's work. However, this is not to its detriment. It would probably be a useful introductory work, prior to reading the other two authors.
ISBN: 0664231233


Critical Perspectives on Harry Potter (2nd Edition)
by Elizabeth Heilman (editor)

Published in August 2008 by Taylor & Francis Inc.
Available on Barnes and Noble.com and Amazon.com, to name a couple of places, this is an excellent compilation of essays well-arranged and ordered to get multiple perspectives on the themes in and utilization of the Potter series in general. The essays, however, read at a college level, so this book may be more difficult to digest for anyone who is not at least in high school (but it would be a good challenge for developing minds). The essays I have read in this book have opened up in my mind discussions on how to view and use the Potter series, especially from an educational standpoint. To those who are teachers (or would be teachers) and also parents who wish to use the Potter books as a bridge to discussions of other subjects, I suppose that this book would be a useful guide. On a side note, I much enjoyed Peter Applebaum's essay on "The Great Snape Debate." The book is 356 pages long.
ISBN: 0415964849



Prejudice in Harry Potter's World
by Karen A. Brown


Published in March 2008 by Virtualbookworm.com.
This is one of the socio-political study books that I am sure will not be the last of its kind, dealing with a specific issue that runs throughout the Potter series. In its short 300 pages, the author analyzes prejudice and discrimination in the "wizarding world" and links it to real-world issues on the same subject. Well-written and decently edited, it is a nice little book on one very relevant subject.
ISBN: 1602641536

Pre-Deathly Hallows publications:

The Hidden Key to Harry Potter: Understanding the Meaning, Genius, and Popularity of Joanne Rowling's Harry Potter Novels
by John Granger

Published in November 2002 by Zossima Press.
I know that this book is still currently available through Amazon.com's used book service, and may be available at other websites. Please note that this book does not include any information and analysis from Order of the Phoenix, Half-Blood Prince or Deathly Hallows, but its essays can still be well appreciated. I especially enjoy in this book Granger's argument about Quidditch, especially when he analyzes Goblet of Fire. I do not recall reading this point in his How Harry Cast His Spell (2008). The predictions are also startling. Granger did manage, in this book, to almost perfectly predict the fates of at least two characters: Neville Longbottom and Severus Snape.
ISBN: 0972322108

Potter Analysis Books that I have ordered and intend to examine next:

Repotting Harry Potter: A Professor's Book-by-Book Guide for the Serious Re-Reader

by James W. Thomas

Published in January 2009 by Zossima Press.

Available through Zossima Press and Amazon.com, at the very least.

It is 376 pages long.

ISBN: 0982238525

The Great Snape Debate

by Amy Berner, Orson Scott Card and Joyce Millman

Published in January 2007 by Benbella Books.

Available through Amazon.com used books and probably other used book retailers.

It is 192 pages long.

ISBN: 1933771356

The Reason for Writing and a Tribute to John Granger

I honestly would not have even considered writing this blog if it were not for the inspiring lecture delivered by John Granger (which I had the pleasure of attending at my graduate school, La Salle University in Philadelphia, PA) entitled "Who Killed Albus Dumbledore?" in the early spring of 2007. Though already having been a fan of the series, my admiration of the books as great works only began in the months that followed and was decided by the final installment of Rowling's masterpiece, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

I have read a number of Granger's books, including The Hidden Key to Harry Potter (2002), How Harry Cast His Spell (2008) and The Deathly Hallows Lectures (2008). I eagerly anticipate his publication of Harry Potter's Bookshelf, forthcoming for this year.

John Granger's thoughts on Potter set the gears in my brain into motion. This is not to say that they were not already in full-swing; at the time of his lecture, I was preparing to begin my Master's Thesis and a summer of historical research. "Potter Analysis" (as I've come to call it) was merely a worthy distraction from everday life. An intellectual debate over a fun subject which I could look at for free at hogwartsprofessor.com.

And then Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was released on July 21st, 2007, and everything changed. I went back to my second year of graduate school, and while working on my thesis, debated Potter with some undergraduate friends. I argued over the virtues of several of the characters. And I watched as another friend in late November read the last chapters of Deathly Hallows in the graduate work-study office for the first time. I knew that she was reading the chapter entitled "The Forest Again" as did everyone else in the office; for once, it was absolutely silent out of pure respect for the literature.

I continued to debate Potter, but again, I had other pressing matters to finish. This was wise - I completed my Master's Thesis with flying colors and a second research project over the summer. When I returned home from graduate school and finally had some time to myself, I got to read John Granger's 2008 publications.

And again, I was blown away. I've come to read a lot of "Potter analysis" books and articles in the recent past, and I've found that I cannot continue my admiration for the series without giving something back to the phenomenon. And so I am beginning this blog, partially in tribute to the others who have gone before me in their efforts, so as to join this great discussion of what I truly believe is the best literature of the turn of the 21st century.