Harry Potter As A Christ Figure Analysis

Could there be parallels between a novel series filled with witchcraft and wizardry such as Harry Potter and the literal Son of God, Jesus Christ? Of course. There are several ways in which you could interpret the character Harry Potter as a Christ figure. Really, even if J.K Rowling didn’t have Harry as a Christ figure in mind while writing the series, there is no denying the extreme similarities between the two. Also, according to Thomas C. Foster’s book How to Read Literature Like a Professor, any book can have a Christ figure if there are enough clues. Even though Harry Potter has been deemed unholy by most Christians for encouraging witchcraft and having unholy/Satanic symbols, there is still that Christ parallel with Harry that really …show more content…
What’s really important is that it is located on his forehead. In Foster’s list of criteria for a Christ figure, he includes “wounds in the hands, feet, side, and head”. These indicate crucifixion. We must also take a look at the shape of the scar, a lightning bolt, and who gave it to him, Voldemort. Voldemort can be seen as a Devil figure as well because of his reputation of being able to speak to snakes and his associations with the Slytherin house. So the fact that it is a lightning bolt that came from the “Devil” is extremely important in that Jesus said in Luke 10:18, “I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven,” which ties it all back into the correlations between his scar’s location, shape, and …show more content…
In his confrontation with Voldemort and his gang, Harry sacrifices himself so that the last Horcrux of Voldemort may die. Harry had the chance to come back when he meets Dumbledore, who died before Harry, at King’s Cross in the afterlife. Voldemort was still out there, so Harry did the obvious and came back to life. This is especially important because it is what really ties him to Jesus, who also sacrifices himself for the greater good and comes back to life after being sent back by God. This is also addressed by Foster when he mentions Jesus’s resurrection as one of the points of similarity. You may even be able to extend this train of thought to Dumbledore’s Phoenix as a symbol of Jesus’s death and return as well. So it may even be viable to say that Dumbledore is a Christ figure since the Phoenix belonged to him and there may be even more similarities to Jesus with Dumbledore as well. This Phoenix parallel was also brought on by Foster when explaining why an unlikely character in another book could be a Christ