The Beginning? – Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (novel)

Ever wonder how to set up a multiple book series? Why not study one of the most popular and famous series in print – Harry Potter. Now I know a lot of writers who look down on J.K. Rowling and her series, but I find them to be great reads and constantly entertaining and compelling. I think she did a good job not only telling her story, but laying it out. Reading the series through a second time I’ve been focusing on the way she constructs her tale. It goes without saying that I’m going to go into spoiler territory here. I’m also assuming you are familiar with most of the names and terminology here.

The fourth book in a seven book series, “Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire” (I’ll continue calling it “Goblet” for short), is the point where Rowling changes everything about the series. What started out as a playful series of adventures and fun takes its first real step into darkness. The most obvious are the death of student near the end of the book. In addition you have the return of the greatest force of evil in the series, now back to full power and prepared to wage war on the forces of goodness. But let’s take a look at some of the details that Rowling uses beyond these obvious points.

The first few chapters deal with Harry and the Weasley family enjoying the Quidditch World Cup. On the surface these scenes serve the basic function of providing Quidditch action in a book that won’t have any during the school year. But it also expands the scope of Rowling’s world in an entertaining way. We see that there are magical societies outside of the ones we are familiar with in England. This wider view not only fleshes out the world, but also makes the stakes of the later books higher. We understand that Voldemort’s desire for control of the magical world extends beyond the British Isles and into a larger world.

The other key element in this sequence is the appearance of The Death Eaters, Lord Voldemort’s followers. Up to this point, they’ve been kept as a vague idea, something that happened long ago. But we see them in action here, and Harry as well as the reader gets a sense of the fear they can generate. And when the Dark Mark appears and causes a frenzy of fear – things become even clearer.

At school Harry first hears about the wizards who battle the Dark Arts, called Aurors. These are embodied by Mad Eye Moody, a scarred, paranoid and dangerous wizard who teaches at the school. Moody in this book is a key element. Not only does he represent the tolls of battle against the dark arts, but he also shows the kind of will and personality needed in a time of war – something none of the children have ever considered. And beneath that is the secret that Moody hides – he’s not the real Moody at all, but an imposter. He’s a dark wizard working for Voldemort and doing his best to deliver Harry Potter to his master. This undermining of a dangerous Auror shows us very clearly how dangerous things are about to become.

It is the climax of this book that changes the tone of the series. The moment Cedric is killed in the cemetery nothing is ever the same for Harry Potter. He can’t turn aside from facing down Voldemort. He can’t ignore the consequences of his actions. In many ways, when Wormtail stabs Harry with the knife, he kills the child, and the adult Harry Potter is born.

The last chapter of the book is called “The Beginning” and it is fitting in many ways. This book marks the beginning of the war story that takes the rest of the series to complete. This marks the beginning of adult Harry and the final stages of his hero’s journey. From this book forward there is little time to be a child any more. The world has become too dangerous, and that danger is focused on Harry Potter.

What do you think of Rowling’s approach to this vital section of her Harry Potter story? Any other elements you can think of that reflect the major change in storytelling in this series? What did you think of this book in comparison to the others?

Dumbledore’s Big Secret

***Spoiler Warning***

I'll be discussing some of the plot points of the later Harry Potter novels. At this point, these books have not been made into films, so those of you who have only watched the movies and want to keep some of this knowledge hidden... wait for my next entry about classic horror films.

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This weekend J.K. Rowling said something to the effect of, "I've always envisioned Dumbledore as being gay". This little statement made the news. Its pretty telling that the sexual orientation of a fictional character made headlines in many major websites. Fans of the Harry Potter universe were abuzz. Hell, this is my first official Blog entry! The adventures of Harry Potter have really captured peoples imaginations. Children and adults have been devouring these books, propelling Rowling into the upper echelons of fiction writers. I admire Rowling's skill and her stories. I think she's created a memorable series and enjoy reading and listening to it (Jim Dale does a spectacular job reading the audio books).

I find two things very interesting about Rowling's comment. Up till this announcement I had never once thought about Professor Dumbledore's sexual orientation. Even the person who asked Rowling the question wasn't even asking if Dumbledore was a homosexual. The question was something to the effect of "Did Professor Dumbledore ever find true love?" For the entirety of the series sexuality is kept to a minimum (these are children/young adult books after all), and it certainly doesn't come up in the case of the teachers (what kid or teen wants to imagine their teachers having sex?).

This boils down to a simple fact: Dumbledore's sex life is immaterial. It has nothing to do with the plotting of the series. It has nothing to do with Harry's destiny. It has little to do with Dumbledore's character. That last statement may seem strange, but think about it. Its safe to say that up to this moment few people had even considered this aspect of Dumbledore. He was defined by other characteristics.

This is what makes Rowling's work so effective. She has mastered the art of show, don't tell. Almost all the characters in the Harry Potter universe are defined by their actions and reactions to others. While Rowling does give us some brief visual descriptions of characters, she does not simply tell us characterizations. She doesn't say "Hermione loves to study and is a bit of a nerd." She shows us Hermione answering every question in class. She shows Hermione always doing homework and going to the library.

In the same way she treats Professor Dumbledore. She shows him being friendly to Harry, looking out for him and defending him (even going so far as to shield Harry from the truth up to "Order of the Phoenix". She shows him facing down Voldemort and doing his best to fight the rising evil. All these actions and deeds define Dumbledore, and since they are viewed by Harry (and by us through Harry) we have a vivid picture of a great wizard. We don't think about Dumbledore's sex life because it is not relevant to the story and the actions the story requires. It took a direct question to the author to reveal this.

This tells me that Rowling has a vivid fully developed character sketch for her characters (and she has said as much in interviews). However instead of burdening the reader with every last detail of each character she has created, she let the actions reveal that character to us. She puts the characters in a situation and lets them react to it. To keep the character true (and this is the important thing) she has to know things about the character that may never come up. This is where small elements of the story may be affected. Why does Dumbledore treat Grindelwald the way he does? Rowling knew that Dumbledore fell in love with Grindelwald. This choice directed Dumbedore's actions and moved the plot in a different direction.

This seems obvious now, but after first reading it I didn't immediately think that Dumbledore loved Grindelwald. I saw a strong connection between the two young men, but I attributed this to Grindelwald's charisma and ideals. Dumbledore was obviously caught up in his friends fervor and I think most of us have experienced a friendship of that kind before. With the information that Rowling provides this is not an incorrect interpretation. Dumbledore being gay only changes the relationship between them slightly. The end result is the same.

Did Rowling choose to downplay Dumbledore's homosexuality? Possibly. No one would know except for her. Obviously she's aware that many people would have a problem with a character in a "children's" book being a homosexual. At the same time, it doesn't really affect the plot, so it could be easily left out. It doesn't have an immediate affect on Harry's story. If the book had been all about Dumbledore, this bit of characterization might have come up.

In the end I think this little piece of the puzzle is interesting, but not nearly as interesting as much of the other background information we learn in "The Deathly Hallows". Instead it allows me to appreciate Rowlings skill as a writer, and especially her work with characters. It is one of her great strengths, that she can create characters that the reader cares about and becomes deeply involved in. It's that skill combined with expert plotting and pacing that made her final Harry Potter novel such a intense, emotional and powerful read. It's that skill that puts her on my list of favorite authors