It's funny how no matter what an authors personal beliefs are, God has a way of sneaking into almost every fantasy story one could read. It is really amazing, actually. Everything from the obvious Chronicles of Narnia, and Lord of the Rings; to even stories like the Golden Compass (Yes, I'm aware that it was written by an overt atheist, stay with me please), and Harry Potter.
I came across one such glimpse of God, this past week. As nerdy as it sounds, some friends and I were looking up the etymology of various phrases and saw the Latin derivative for Harry potters famous patronus charm. "expecto patronum". For those of you not into Harry Potter, that is the name of a spell Harry learned, which uses a powerful memory from the caster to protect them from evil, mostly dark deadly creatures known as dementors.
The words themselves are so cool because they come from Latin literally meaning "I await a protector!" even cooler to note it's not just a phrase of wishful thinking, but also carries within the first word the derivative for "expectation" To imagine that when Harry was facing his darkest demons and has no where else to turn, he lifts his wand to heavens and shouts with all his might "I await a protector. Not only that, I EXPECT it!". If you ask me it sounds a lot like the story of a man in psalms who was experiencing a dark time, and when it had become the darkest He raised up a prayer. "Hosanna!" he shouted. In his language, it meant "save me" but to his people it become more, because with it there was a air of hope and expectation. "I await salvation. It Expect it!" this was the hope that carried the Jewish people through their darkest centuries, await the coming of the "Patronus" the Protector. The savior. Speaking of which here is an interested part that second word.
Who is the Protector?
When Harry shouts expect patronum (I await a protector), his protector or "patronus" takes the form of his Dads animagus form. A stag.
Interestingly, the very word "patronus" in Latin has a DOUBLE meaning. Not just protector, but also (from the root "patros") it means "FATHER". Think "patriarch" or even "lord".
Sound familiar?
In Hebrew we would say "jehovah nissi" which mean "the Lord, our Protector" or even the Father, our protector. Amazing! Not to hard to come to the conclusion that God is our Patronus. Our Father, Lord, Protector.
Did JK Rowling know writing the book, the etymology of the words? Probably. Did she know the connection between those words our Lord? Probably not. Does that make the truth in these words less true. Absolutely not. Grab truth where you find it. And expel lies in the same manner.
I hope you fellow Harry potter nerds enjoyed this, have a great day"
Monday, November 22, 2010
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Wow! Great job!!! I sooo sharing this around. Awesome post!
ReplyDelete~your lil sis