Myth or Reason: Harry Potter the New King Arthur?

With the world caught up in the Harry Potter mania that's swept through it the last few years, I couldn't help but be swept up in it as well. One day I sat down and began to read a novel about King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table when the similarities between them struck me. Both take place in a world filled with magic, heroism, chivalry, betrayal, and love but there's more to the folklore of both characters than plot ideas. Each one delves into the inner workings of people's minds and the circle of friends they keep. As their respective stories unfold before them each character faces their own trials and choices that bring them closer to their own destiny.

Through adversity and calm times even the greatest of legends needed someone to be their emotional anchor or rudder as they navigated their way through life. This has always been a thankless job and for the most part will always remain so but these two shared in that experience as they guided their respective heros not through force of arms or great knowledge but by their quiet loyalty and strength. Throughout literature every hero surrounded themselves with confidants and champions as they struggled to find their way through life. From the time they first met, Ron Weasley became Harry's best friend and his most trusted confidant, often times risking his own life in the hope of helping Harry. Because he was not extrememly gifted in the use of magic, Ron relied more on his loyalty, heart and skill at chess to aide Harry.

Arthur wasn't yet a king when he met his first true ally in his future queen Guenevere. To most, she's looked on as the tool that drove a wedge between Arthur and his most trusted knight, Lancelot, but she was more than that in many ways. Even while in the midst of her affair, her love and loyalty never wavered as she stood beside her king through much of their lives. Even after she had left to live the remainder of her life in a convent her heart still belonged to Arthur as evidenced by the fact that in some legends she gave him back excalibur before his final battle with Mordred.

Hermione Granger is a bookworm in nearly every sense of the word. She lives to read about new spells and to study anything related to magic that crosses her path. It's this strength that is what enables her to give aide to one of her best friends Harry Potter. Both in the books and the movies you can tell she has a huge heart and only wishes to help when the going gets tough. In many ways she resembles a soldier on the front line of a battle, ready to lay her life on the line for a cause she believes in. When weighed with the skills of Harry and Ron she adds a potent power all her own which helps to balance out the group. With a friendly and loving nature she tries to please everyone around her but deep in her own heart she knows that she is alone, few if any others would dream of putting in the time she does in study and practice to find the answer to any problem that she may encounter. Currently, a romance between her and Ron is in the early stages, but it could cause a rift between the friends as they sacrifice Harry's love for the love of each other.

While Hermione's strength is in the books and disciplines therein, her counterpart from Arthurian legend is cut from a different cloth but yet they remain the same. Lancelot boasted the greatest skill of any knight to ever walk the Earth but that skill was tempered with a steel resolve to practice and restrain himself from becoming overconfident. He kept to himself and refused to allow himself to enjoy any of the many pleasures in life save one, the queen Guenevere. While his loyalty and love rested solely with Arthur in the beginning, it slowly became divided between his king and best friend and the woman they both loved. As the affair continued, for many years by certain accounts, Lancelot never failed to lend his sword and unparraleled skill to defend the king and his land. His loyalty was so great that he ran off at one point so as not to face his friend but would later return to aide in the defeat of Mordred. While not the purest of the knights, Lancelot was by far the greatest. His work ethic and restraint on most things allowed his loyalty to never waver.

With the aide of their closest friends, the heroes are almost ready for anything that their enemies can throw at them. However, there is one final componant that gives the hero his true strength, the courage to continue the path that destiny has set him on. The most powerful figure in any story isn't the villain or even the hero, but the wise teacher that uses his power to help guide the hero on his journey. Albus Dumbledore and the wizard Merlin are the epitome of these teachers, they each took the heroes when they were infants after their repsective parents had been killed by one way or another. When the child had grown of age they were recovered by their future teachers and brought into the fold of their destiny.

The Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Wichcraft and Wizardry was the single most gifted wizard in the world. His decades of knowledge and practice have lifed him to a whole different plateau in the world of magic. In each novel and movie, he would either aide Harry or give him some off hand advice that wold prove to be important. As each chapter of the books progressed Harry tried to become more and more like Dumledore. It seemed to be an underlying quest throughout the story as Harry looked to Dumbledore as a father figure, a sentiment that the Headmaster seemed to return on nearly every occasion. From the time Dumbledore arranged for Harry to remain with the Dursleys he protected the boy with various spells and agents against the evil that lurked in the shadows and wished to kill the child. This protection was almost perfect until Harry's last few years at Hogwarts and finally culminated when the Headmaster's final spell protected Harry from detection as Dumbledore was murdered.

As with Dumbledore, Merlin claimed Arthur and placed him under the care of a kind and gentle knight Sir Ector. Arthur's father, Uther Pendragon, had been slain shortly after Merlin had safeguarded the baby to his family until the time was right for him to take his place as the King of Britain. While Merlin had been careful to leave the baby Arthur with a knight worthy of the charge, he also spent most of his time watching over the boy as he grew. With the guidance of Ectar and the watchful eye of Merlin over him, Arthur grew into a fine young man.

After Arthur pulled Excalibur from the stone and became King, Merlin continued to guide the young man through the early years of his rule as Arthur relied on Merlin to help guide him on conquest of the heart, the sword, and the knowledge to be a better king than his father before him. As Arthur entered the golden age of his rule Merlin foresaw that he would have to leave his friend, a fact that would be painful to them both. Once he was imprisoned by the Lady of the Lake, the lessons Merlin had taught Arthur as a young King helped to guide him through his final years. The wizard even went so far as to come back as a dream to the King on the eave of his final battle to teach one final lesson.

Throughout history a vast majority of heroes surrounded themselves with powerful allies, some as was the case of Merlin and Dumbledore, gave their lives so that the ones they loved and watched grow could take their places within the vastness of their destiny. Along with their teachers, the heroes had champions with them such as Hermione and Lancelot who could find the answer to any problem either through their actions or through their intellect. Without thier emotional guides, Ronald Weasley and Guenevere, the heroes most likely would've lost their way along the journey they embarked on. While they each had great power in their own right, each would've been lost without the hero to bind them together, even their teachers would've had to search for another path. Whether it be through their champions, their teachers, or their emtional guides the stories of Harry Potter and King Arthur have taken on a life of their own and in time may meet face to face as two of the better known mythologies throughout history.