J.R.R. Tolkien himself said, in his essay On Fairy-Stories, that “the Consolation of the Happy Ending” is needed at the end of any complete fairy-story (2001, 68). Fantasy, the genre under which the fairy-story falls, is notable for the way in which the adventure or quest is brought to a close by the distribution of rewards (Marquis, 2017), and it is from this reward distribution that the happy ending commonly comes. However, Tolkien’s own story, The Hobbit, has a distinct and unusual way of offering this ending to the reader. Although The Hobbit does indeed incorporate a very literal ‘distribution’ of rewards and does also finish with what can definitely be defined as a happy ending, this ending is not brought about via the obvious rewards’
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Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. As the story draws to a close, the ‘Golden Trio’ of Harry, Ron, and Hermione successfully complete their quest – namely to discover and protect the Philosopher’s Stone. In the same manner as The Hobbit, tangible rewards are distributed to our heroes at the completion of this quest; alongside Neville Longbottom, the trio are awarded a total of 170 house points, winning Gryffindor the Hogwarts house cup (220-222). On the surface this seems to be almost a direct mirror of the events at the end of The Hobbit, but, from this particular distribution of rewards the reader does in fact gain the satisfaction that seems to be missing from Tolkien’s ending. Why do these rewards, so similar in outward appearance, impart what The Hobbit’s fails to? It is because the satisfaction given in Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, this “Consolation of the Happy Ending” (Tolkien, 2001, 68), does not in fact come from the actual awarding of points, even as it appears to. It comes instead from the reverberations of this event. The consequences of losing or gaining house points are not limited to the winning or losing of the house cup, the deeper consequences are the winning or losing of the approval of classmates, peers, and friends. Harry, Hermione, and Neville’s loss of a cumulative 150 points for being caught out of their dormitory after hours is when this first becomes noticeable (178-179); not only do they destroy “any chance Gryffindor had had for the house cup” (178), in the aftermath they earn themselves the hatred and resentment of nigh on three quarters of the school. House points at Hogwarts matter, not just in the overall perspective, but intensely and personally to each student. Consequently, after the trio’s ‘rewards’ are distributed they are cheered and embraced by their classmates, they
Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. As the story draws to a close, the ‘Golden Trio’ of Harry, Ron, and Hermione successfully complete their quest – namely to discover and protect the Philosopher’s Stone. In the same manner as The Hobbit, tangible rewards are distributed to our heroes at the completion of this quest; alongside Neville Longbottom, the trio are awarded a total of 170 house points, winning Gryffindor the Hogwarts house cup (220-222). On the surface this seems to be almost a direct mirror of the events at the end of The Hobbit, but, from this particular distribution of rewards the reader does in fact gain the satisfaction that seems to be missing from Tolkien’s ending. Why do these rewards, so similar in outward appearance, impart what The Hobbit’s fails to? It is because the satisfaction given in Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, this “Consolation of the Happy Ending” (Tolkien, 2001, 68), does not in fact come from the actual awarding of points, even as it appears to. It comes instead from the reverberations of this event. The consequences of losing or gaining house points are not limited to the winning or losing of the house cup, the deeper consequences are the winning or losing of the approval of classmates, peers, and friends. Harry, Hermione, and Neville’s loss of a cumulative 150 points for being caught out of their dormitory after hours is when this first becomes noticeable (178-179); not only do they destroy “any chance Gryffindor had had for the house cup” (178), in the aftermath they earn themselves the hatred and resentment of nigh on three quarters of the school. House points at Hogwarts matter, not just in the overall perspective, but intensely and personally to each student. Consequently, after the trio’s ‘rewards’ are distributed they are cheered and embraced by their classmates, they