Harry Potter is one of the most popular series ever written JK
Rowling story is nearly flawless and is loved by so many, but how did Rowling write such a perfect story?
but one of the answers to that is that she followed one of the most classic and
Well-structured writing formulas the hero's journey, which was originally constructed by Joseph Campbell I myself from a film student in college
And I've taken multiple courses on script writing, and the hero's journey is by far my favorite writing technique
And I've been dying to make a video on it
I've done a lot of character origins and life stories for Harry Potter
Characters and a lot of you have asked me to do the same for Harry himself at first
I wasn't going to do this because if you've read the books or even seen the movies
You know a story, and it would probably be an hour long video however. I thought of a cool alternative
Which is a video where I'm still gonna? Go through Harry's life, but instead of telling his whole life story
I'm gonna break down Rowling's books and the writing formula that she used and explain the hero's journey for the boy who lived
So what is the hero's journey?
well
It's a twelve stage narrative arc that describes the typical
Adventure of the hero in this case Harry the hero in the journey is the one who goes out and achieves great deeds on behalf
Of a group of people in this case The Wizarding World this structure can be found in each and every book in the series
But I'm going to look at the broader story and go over Harry's journey for the entire series
Because of this some of the things might be a bit out of order from the original twelve point instruction
But we're still gonna hit all twelve points
So let's get started the first step to the journey is the ordinary world this is where the story starts before the journey begins for
The hero for Harry the ordinary world is the muggle world?
It's here that we learn crucial details about our hero such as his true nature
Capabilities and outlook on life the first few chapters. We learn how his true nature
He's a kind and selfless person for his capabilities
We learned that Harry is capable of doing some odd things this includes ending up on rooftops while being chased by Dudley
Being able to make glass
Disappear at the zoo to make Dudley fall into the display and of course we learned about his ability to talk to snakes
Which plays a big role later on in the series?
The first step anchors the hero s human, just like the reader
And it makes it easier for us to identify with the hero which in turn makes us more invested in the character as he completes
The rest of his journey we can expect great things from you the second step is the call to adventure
This step interrupts the comfort of the hero's ordinary world and presents a challenge or quest that must be
Undertaken how ru receives his call to adventure when Hagrid comes to him and finally gives him his Hogwarts letter
it
Disrupts his ordinary muggle life and changes his whole view on the world it presents him with the quest the quest being to go to
Hogwarts and to enter the Wizarding World
The next step is the refusal to the call in this stage of the journey the hero might have second thoughts or fears or personal
Doubts as to whether he is up for the challenge or moreover if he's actually the right person to take on that challenge
harry has personal doubts that he actually is a wizard I
Can't bail
I mean, I'm just
Harry
Just Hari
He doesn't think that he's the right person to take on the task and doesn't think he's able to go to Hogwarts
Harry's afraid to take on the huge Wizarding World and for a second thinks about staying in the comfort of the muggle world
Unless you'd rather stay of course
This step could also be applied to something later on in the series, which is Harry taking on the prophecy the prophecy
Said one of us is gonna have to kill the other
in the end once again
He's reluctant to take on that challenge
And isn't sure that he's able to do it or even that he's the right person to do it
he jumps at the
Possibility that the prophecy could be about Neville - that's really clinging on to that
Hoping that he's not the one that has to take on that task
Unfortunately one more did Markham Isis equal so the prophecy is about him now as I said we might be going a little bit out
Of order so right now
We're gonna skip ahead to step five and then come back to step four Step five is called crossing the threshold
here the hero commits to leaving the ordinary world and entering a new region with unfamiliar rules and values this applies to Harry when he
decides to leave the Dursleys and go with Hagrid he then enters the region of the Wizarding World when he goes to Diagon Alley and
Later when he goes to Hogwarts Harry's actions of crossing the threshold
Signifies his commitment to his journey this makes the audience bond with Harry because just like him we're entering this new world
He doesn't know any of the rules
Creatures or anything to do with the Wizarding World and neither do we?
What exactly are these things her goblins hurry now
We go back to the fourth step
Which is meeting the mentor in this step the hero could be given an object of great importance?
Insight into a dilemma. He faces wise advice training or even
Self-confidence, this is a big step for Harry the first thing to address is that he gets an object of great importance his wands this
For Harry is even more significant because that object shares the same core as the wand owned by the man who murdered his parents
This is the first insight he gets into the truth of how his parents died and why he was orphaned as a baby but the
Main purpose of this step is meeting the actual mentor
Which in Harry's case is Albus Dumbledore throughout the series Dumbledore gave Harry all of the things
I mentioned earlier first insight into a dilemma examples of this could be helping Harry discover why he?
Survived the night that Voldemort tried to kill him. It was because of your mother
She sacrificed herself for you
Leaves a mark
No, this kind of Mark cannot be seen he lives and you're very skilled
Another thing is giving Harry along with Hermione the idea and
Permission to go back in time and save both Buckbeak and his Godfather Sirius Black second
He helped Harry overcome his internal dilemma
But he and Voldemort were very similar and told him why he had such a connection to him he transferred some of his powers
And even after Dumbledore's death he helped Harry overcome the dilemma of how it could kill Voldemort third
He gave Harry an object other than his wand which was his dad's invisibility cloak and there were of course many
Examples of Dumbledore giving Harry wise advice it does not do to dwell on dreams
Do not create the dead Harry
Pretty to living
And above all all those who live without love Dumbledore also trained Harry
However it might not have been in the most classic way how he learned most of his magic from his professors
Hermione and just through life and the dilemmas to be at the face, but Dumbledore gave him training in the half-blood Prince
He gave Harry lessons these lessons were meant to Train Harry on how to defeat Voldemort
how to find all of his Horcrux is based on the wealth of information that Dumbledore provided it which of course
Focused on holding warts early life in other words Dumbledore the mentor trained Harry the hero to defeat his greatest task
Lord Voldemort and the final part of meeting the mentor staff was the mentor giving the hero confidence Dumbledore does this a number of times?
All right
You're wonderful boy
Brave
Brave man he a source Harry that he is a true Gryffindor would take a true Gryffindor
To pull that out of the hat, and he gives Harry the confidence to fight off Baltimore when he's possessing Harry's body
It's
How it feels like he's on his own many times throughout the series
But Dumbledore assures him that he's not and gives Harry the confidence to move on and embrace his
Relationships rather than push them away. Not only giving him confidence, but also some more advice you have friends here
Not alone well Dumbledore was definitely the most prominent mentor some other mentors, include Remus
Lupin who helped Harry with his Patronus and also gave him great advice
Also another mentor was his Godfather Sirius Black. Who Harry often turned to you for advice
He also gave Harry great confidence when he assured Harry that he was a good person
At a time when Harry was doubting this you're not a band cus
You're a very good person who bad things have happened to
You honest not
The next step is tests allies and enemies
This is where the hero faces a series of challenges
They test them in a variety of ways how he faces many obstacles
Throughout the series each presenting him with a new set of skills this includes stopping Quirrell and subsequently Voldemort from getting the philosopher's stone
facing a basilisk
Facing his ultimate fear the Dementors and gaining the ability to produce a Patronus
While those are the physical obstacles that he faced he also faced some internal obstacles one is him dealing with being famous
Famous Harry Potter can't even out of a book so without making the front page mr.
New
What makes this internal conflict
Even worse is that he's famous for something that constantly reminds him of what he lost that night in Godric's Hollow there are multiple times
Where Harry is so close to his parents, but it just won't become a reality he reaches out to touch his mother
But every time he gets close. He can't do it
You've been so great if sweetheart
Now focusing on the allies and enemies part of this step the people in his life for him throughout his journey
He has allies and enemies
Ron and Hermione are of course his allies who we trust over everyone and later in the series
He has Ginny
Neville Luna and the rest of the DA along with the order of the Phoenix all of whom have his back
Dobby the house-elf is another huge ally who helps Harry in the Triwizard Tournament it ultimately gives his life to save Harry and the others
Two people his friend
After
Looking at the enemies part. It's clear that his greatest enemy is the man who shares more than just a rivalry with come on
Let's finish this the way we started
Another enemy he has is Draco Malfoy someone
He constantly goes head-to-head with throughout his time at Hogwarts other enemies include Dolores Umbridge Dudley Dursley
Bellatrix Lestrange the person who murdered both his Godfather Sirius and his friend Dobby and of course his enemies with other Death Eaters as well
Moving on to the seventh step the approach to the inmost cave this is where the hero faces an inner
Conflict or faces an actual location in which lies
Terrible danger the inner conflict part of this step could be applied to Harry at several points throughout the series
He goes through a lot of inner conflict thinking that he's just like Voldemort this connection between me and Oldman
but if the reason for it is that I am becoming more like him I
Just feel so angry all the time
He thinks that because they can both speak to snakes both. He grew up parentless
No, thought of Hogwarts hasn't escaped and both were half-blood that his path would follow and Voldemort's footsteps
He starts to question everything and thinks that he should have been in Slytherin
His fear manifests even more when he talks to the sorting hat
I was just wondering if he put me in the right house, but I stand by what I said last year
You would have done well in
Another inner conflict that Harry faces is when the whole Wizarding World turns on it doesn't believe him that Voldemort had returned
He isolates himself and blocks everyone out even Ron and Hermione. He don't stop
Help us tick
He feels extremely alone and sort of falls into a depression in spite of paying back aha boots
I feel more alone than ever the second part of this step is facing an actual
Location which lies terrible danger this could be applied to the final book where Harry leaves the comforts of Hogwarts and looks for Voldemort's Horcruxes
there on the run and
Constantly in danger the location of the journey has changed completely they went from being safe at Hogwarts to being in more danger than ever
before
Shrieks kiss listen now once again. I'm gonna. Go a bit out of order
We're gonna skip ahead to step 10 and come back to eight and nine step. 10 is the road back
This is where the hero returns back to the ordinary world waiting the final step of his journey
which is not yet over this step for Harry is going back to the Dursleys one last time before he goes on his mission to
Find the Horcruxes. This is even more significant for Harry because once he leaves that house and turned 17 which is days away
He will no longer have the protective
Enchantment his mother gave him when she sacrificed herself to save them when she did this her protection lived on in her sister
petunia who shared the same bloodline once Harry leaves between his house and turn 17 that protection goes away making danger closer than ever
For the next part
I'm actually going to combine steps 8 and 11 step 8 is called the ordeal and step 11 is called the resurrection
Step eight states only through some form of death can the hero be reborn
Experiencing a metaphorical resurrection that somehow grants him greater power or insight necessary in order to fulfill his destiny
this is quite obviously applied to Herod when he literally faced his death when he
Sacrifices his own life so that Voldemort can be defeated
He talks to his fallen mentor and is reborn this now ties him to step 11 the resurrection how he literally is
resurrected in the final battle in this case in the Battle of Hogwarts
Now in step eight that part that says grants him greater power for Harry
He grants greater power after he sacrifices himself. This is because he put a protective and shan't man on everyone fighting for him
Just as his mother had done for him this allows Harry and his friends and allies to win the battle once and for all
No one fighting for Harry can die because of what Harry had done giving them a huge advantage or granting them a greater power
now going back to step 9
This one's called the reward in this step the hero emerges from the battle as a stronger person comes out with the prize this is
Applied to Harry as he comes back from the Battle of Hogwarts stronger than ever the prize
He attains is the Deathly Hallows the three objects that make the owner of all of them the master of death
He is the rightful owner of the Elder Wand the most powerful wand ever made
It's knowing he has the resurrection stone well until he dropped it in the forest
But he used it to see his loved ones before he gave his life
And he has the cloak of invisibility the cloak that was passed down in his family
And eventually given to him by Dumbledore and although Harry doesn't take on the mantle of being the master of death
he still attained it from his many years of conquering his journey making it his prize or reward and
Finally the last step step 12. This is the final stage of the hero's journey. He comes out a changed man
He has grown as a person learned many things and faced many terrible dangers and even death
But now looks forward to the start of his new life
Harry does just that he starts his new life
So what happened to Harry after both his journey and the series ended Harry did not go back to Hogwarts for a seventh year
But instead became an order or a Dark Wizard catchin the career
He'd wanted to pursue for many years
And he eventually became head of the order office
Harry also got his name on a chocolate frog card something that is a great honor in the Wizarding World
He eventually got married to the love of his life Ginny Weasley and had three kids
Albus James and Lily he mended his rivalries with both Draco Malfoy and his cousin Dudley Dursley
He and Dudley got their kids together every once in a while Harry
also
Helped race Teddy Lupin the son of one of his dear friends and mentors
Remus Lupin and his wife Nymphadora Tonks who was also great friends with Harry after he defeated, Voldemort
His scar didn't paint him ever again as JK said all was well
Harry story arc is one that will go down in history as one of the best story arcs ever written
Rowling perfectly applied the hero's journey to her incredible book series and showed us
How kind and selfless the hero of our favorite story really is?
Harry always put others before him and never gave up on the ones he loved he cherished each and every one of his friendships and
relationships
Throughout his journey Harry discovered the key to life, and that is love conquers all