Harry Potter and Jesus: Coincidence or Subtle Comparison?

J.K. Rowling is a genius. She deserves to be rich. She has written wonderfully imaginative, thought provoking books and made enough money to be ricer than the queen of England. Not bad. I think she might be a little sneaky too.

For fear of spoiling the plot twists that Ms. Rowling has worked so hard to create please heed this warning, if you have not read the entire last book please indulge in another article. For those who have finished the final book, please read on.

Assuming we all read the same book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, then we should all be familiar with the final chapters of Harry and Voldemorts struggle. After Harry discovers that he was always meant to die at the hands of Voldemort, at least according to Albus Dumbledore's plot, he bravely sacrifices himself. Harry is hit, for the second time in his very short life, by the Avada Kedava curse and yet he lives AGAIN! The reason this time, as is so thoughtfully explained by Albus Dumbledore, is that Harry just allowed Voldemort to kill the horcrux that was housed in Harry that fateful night his parents died. Harry has a choice at this point, as also explained by Dumbledore. He can either choose to move on or live. Harry chooses to live.

Okay, now we should all be on the same page, so to speak. Harry dies, willingly sacrifices himself, for the larger wizarding world. He dies for all of the countless witches and wizards, mudblood, pureblood, good, or evil. Harry dies and is resurrected. After his resurrection, he notices that the spells Voldemort casts on the wizarding community are not effective. At first, we may have wondered if the wand was to blame but it becomes clear as Harry and Voldemort circle around in the Great Hall. Harry explains the whole thing to Voldemort. His magic was ineffective because Harry had died for all of them, the wizarding community at large. Voldemort, smug as ever, disregards everything Harry says and attempts to kill him thus destroying himself. Amazingly tricky. Harry kills Voldemort without every uttering the killing curse. Nice.

Now, for the connections between Harry and Jesus. Admittedly, this is not entirely my own idea. Daniel Radcliffe said it himself in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. Please use the link below to read the article/interview dubbed "Mr. Wizard". In this interview Daniel compares Harry to Jesus. As is most befitting, he immediately blushes and rushes to explain his position.

This was the catalyst though for my reading carefully. As any English teacher will tell you, foreshadowing is evident in any book. For some reason, after reading the interview the idea of foreshadowing came to mind. The final chapters were the clincher for me.

Let us connect the dots. For those unfamiliar with the Bible, please ask a Christian or, as it may be safer, obtain a copy of the Bible and check for yourself. In the Bible, Jesus is killed, murdered, sacrificed, or martyred (the list is for those who are devout believers, surely one of those words is satisfactory). After the body of Jesus is removed from the cross he is entombed in a cave. (This is the generally accepted version.) After three days Jesus is resurrected. He supposedly died for all of our sins, to cleanse us.

Harry and Jesus both died for the "people". Both were resurrected. Both died to leave a lasting protection on the people. Isn't that interesting? Maybe Harry Potter really is like Jesus.

Entertainment Weekly article titled "Mr. Wizard"
http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20044270_20044274_20045416,00.html