crusader1234 Posted April 25, 2004 Share Posted April 25, 2004 If you read the books and look at names and spells... I'd say more than half have special meanings. I can't remember off of the top of my head but Joanne Rowling certainly does have a gift for plays on words. Heres a list: Voldemort: Flight of Death Beauxbatons: Beautiful Wands Fleur Delacoeur: Flower of the Heart Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus (The schools motto): Never tickle a sleeping dragon Hedwig: Was a 13th century German Saint... Patron of Oprhans? Malfoy: Mal Foi is French for Bad Faith Mirror of Erised: Desire spelled backwards Diagon Alley: Say it fast... Knockturn Alley: Say it fast... Theres way more I cant name them all those are just my favourites. Note Hedwig... patron saint of orphans - harrys an oprhan. and then voldemort and malfoy and stuff all have religious ties. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thy Geekdom Come Posted April 25, 2004 Share Posted April 25, 2004 I can testify to the spells. Many of those who are against the books and burning them say that the spells are real spells and that they shouldn't be read. The problem with this, however, is that the VAST majority of the spells are straight from or closely related to Latin. It would make sense that organizations such as Wicca would use ancient Latin words, words which few tongues have spoken in centuries, but are easy to understand. It is more than likely, therefore, that the spells in the book only look like wiccan spells (if they do...I've never read any wiccan stuff) by coincidence, since J.K. Rowling likely wanted to use Latin for hidden meanings (and there are Latin hidden meanings as well). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
voiciblanche Posted April 25, 2004 Share Posted April 25, 2004 ::wrinkles nose:: Eh. I never saw anything religious about Harry Potter. Rowling had said in the beginning that she hadn't meant for them to be for kids, and that they'd get more and more violent as she wrote more. And the whole story line is witchcraft, which seems like one of the biggest religious oppenents. But you guys are probably right, I guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crusader1234 Posted April 25, 2004 Share Posted April 25, 2004 About the spells... I read books on wicca a few years back and the spells are way different. So complicated! But the meanings of the 'spells' which I can guarantee don't work (if youve ever babysat kids whove read the books you'll notice this) are interesting in a way. They more/less just pay homage to Latin, and arent as inspired as other hidden meanings. Ex... Expecto Patronum Kind of means Expect Protection. I don't think people should read too much into the 'witchcraft'... Rowling isnt a witch and the spells arent real. The books about a boy growing up and ecountering good and evil/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thy Geekdom Come Posted April 25, 2004 Share Posted April 25, 2004 Even if the books weren't meant to have Christian parallels, I think they do. Many ancient pagan texts had Christian parallels. Most civilizations had some reason to look for a hero who would liberate a people from an evil tyrant or would save them all from some natural disaster. I tend to think that God had a hand in this to make them proto-Christian...that is, to use those texts and myths to prepare the people to receive Christianity. Then, when the stage was set ("in the fullness of time" you might say), Christ came. You must know that everything, EVERYTHING that had happened in history up to the coming of Christ, God had used to prepare the world for Christ. The interesting thing is that Christ didn't fulfill any of the pagans myths. He did more. They were all about temporal salvation and happiness. Christ brings eternal happiness and overthrows a spiritual tyrant. It's an interesting thought, really... [quote]Ex... Expecto Patronum Kind of means Expect Protection.[/quote] Actually, it means something even more. A patron was a defender, not just in a sense of protecting a person from violence, but in legal matters. A patron would intercede on behalf of a defendant before the authorities. Expecto Patronum literally means "I expect a patron". What did a patronus do in Harry Potter? It fought off the "prosecuting authorities", the dementors, who were supposed to bring about eternal punishment. I'm not completely sure how this fits in with Christianity, but it has some parallel that is obvious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colleen Posted April 25, 2004 Author Share Posted April 25, 2004 [quote name='crusader1234' date='Apr 24 2004, 07:42 PM']If you read the books and look at names and spells... I'd say more than half have special meanings. I can't remember off of the top of my head but Joanne Rowling certainly does have a gift for plays on words. Heres a list: Voldemort: Flight of Death Beauxbatons: Beautiful Wands Fleur Delacoeur: Flower of the Heart Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus (The schools motto): Never tickle a sleeping dragon Hedwig: Was a 13th century German Saint... Patron of Oprhans? Malfoy: Mal Foi is French for Bad Faith Mirror of Erised: Desire spelled backwards Diagon Alley: Say it fast... Knockturn Alley: Say it fast... Theres way more I cant name them all those are just my favourites. Note Hedwig... patron saint of orphans - harrys an oprhan. and then voldemort and malfoy and stuff all have religious ties.[/quote] I never thought of that! That is so cool. [quote]I can testify to the spells. Many of those who are against the books and burning them say that the spells are real spells and that they shouldn't be read. The problem with this, however, is that the VAST majority of the spells are straight from or closely related to Latin.[/quote] Yeah. I think J.K. Rowling probably had a lot of fun coming up with words like the truth-serum, "veritaserum," -- veritas meaning truth. I like Harry Potter, though I think Lord of the Rings and Narnia are superior. However, I think that very young children should not read HP, unless their parents are there to help them distinguish between truth and fiction. What I find really disturbing about the Harry Potter craze is the marketing. When I go into Barnes and Noble or some other store, there is usually a HP book display, but they also put books on witchcraft and Wicca and magic, etc. RIGHT THERE where children can pick them up and be misled. :angry: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thy Geekdom Come Posted April 25, 2004 Share Posted April 25, 2004 [quote]What I find really disturbing about the Harry Potter craze is the marketing. When I go into Barnes and Noble or some other store, there is usually a HP book display, but they also put books on witchcraft and Wicca and magic, etc. RIGHT THERE where children can pick them up and be misled.[/quote] They don't do that at the Barnes and Noble or at the Borders in Omaha...but I can certainly see why that angers you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crusader1234 Posted April 25, 2004 Share Posted April 25, 2004 I wouldnt be surprised if Harry becomes the new Narnia for our generation. Both will have 7 books, both have Christian themes... Yeahhh. My favourite is Draco Dormiens Nunquam Tittilandus or whatever, just becuase it sounds so dignified but means something funny. That or Hedwig just because of the parton saint thing. I never liked LOTR books that much though, but the movies were good. I bought mine at McNally Robinson (a local chain with HUGE stores) and they had it next to Narnia and LOTR. Near the back it was stacked next to Pilgrims Progress (Great book!). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thy Geekdom Come Posted April 25, 2004 Share Posted April 25, 2004 Narnia was much more obviously Christian, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crusader1234 Posted April 25, 2004 Share Posted April 25, 2004 has anyone read pilgrims progress? i think it sould be required reading... kidn of gives oyu an idea of how theres a 'path' and you can stray from it and it wont alwyas be easy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qfnol31 Posted April 25, 2004 Share Posted April 25, 2004 [quote name='Raphael' date='Apr 24 2004, 07:55 PM'] Even if the books weren't meant to have Christian parallels, I think they do. Many ancient pagan texts had Christian parallels. [/quote] Actually they probably have more than Christian parallels. St. Augustine believed that even pagans hold some part of the truth in what they believe. I like Harry Potter because it got my brother to read more intelligent books. Eventually he went on to read Lord of the Rings and others and so he got more of the Christian beliefs (even if he didn't realize it). I think that any book that gets someone to read more (good books) is a good book. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colleen Posted April 25, 2004 Author Share Posted April 25, 2004 I found [url="http://www.shadowmancer.com/"]the official site[/url] of the Shadowmancer books (the Christian Harry Potter-like books). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Homestarlover85 Posted April 25, 2004 Share Posted April 25, 2004 is it just me or does that cover just look really scary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CreepyCrawler Posted April 25, 2004 Share Posted April 25, 2004 Don't necessarily have a problem with the Shadowmancer books, but why is it always an evil priest? why can't some nice protestant pastor try and take over the world? or some other religion?... it's always the priest that goes bad.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CreepyCrawler Posted April 25, 2004 Share Posted April 25, 2004 (edited) sorry double post Edited April 25, 2004 by CreepyCrawler Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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