The Existence of Fairytale, Folklore, and Myths in Fantasy: A
Study Based on J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter Series
Dr. Vijayan A. V.
Research Supervisor
&
Mohammad Kawish Haider
Research Scholar
English Department, Bharathiar University
Research and Development Centre
Coimbatore
India
Abstract
Fantasy is a genre of literature which gives flexibility and scope to writers to explore their
thoughts and ideas. Fantasy depends upon the imagination and creativity of the writer. We
can define fantasy as a genre of literature that is far removed from reality, set in a world
beyond our thinking and reach, such as a house on the moon or any other planet, a place in
the middle of ocean. The characters of fantasy are often uncanny, non-human creatures such
as elfs, werewolves, giants, trolls, dragons, and so on. Almost every fantasy story includes the
elements of fairytales, folklores and is based on ancient and cultural myths of different age
and dynasty.
J. K. Rowling has attractively incorporated the elements of fairytales and folklores in her
work Harry Potter. Myths are forever. She has refashioned the various ancient myths in
Harry Potter series. The existence of fairy tales, folklores, and myths are unavoidable in
Harry Potter series. This article attempts to throw new insights on the use of elements of
fairytale, folklore, and exploration of myths in fantasy literature along with Harry Potter
series.
Key words: Fantasy, Fairytale, Magic, Mythology, Supernatural
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“If you take myth and folklore, and these things that speak in symbols, they can be
interpreted in so many ways that although the actual image is clear enough, the interpretation
is infinitely blurred, a sort of enormous rainbow of every possible colour you could imagine”
- Diana Wynne Jones.
Fantasy is a genre of literature dealing with abilities, creatures, and settings that are not found
or feasible in the real world. A fantasy story is a story of impossible things and improbable
happenings depicted in a realistic narrative by a master craftsman creating verisimilitude, awe
and wonder in the reader. Fantasy writers immensely use the supernatural, heart throbbing
phenomenon and settings that make the story fascinating and enjoyable. According to Colin
Manlove, “A fiction evoking wonder and containing a substantial and irreducible element of
the supernatural with which the mortal characters in the story or the readers become on at
least partly familiar terms” (1).
There are many writers who use the word “impossible” in the context of fantasy. C. S.
Lewis defines fantasy as, “any narrative that deals with the impossible or preternatural” (50).
In the fantasy story, there are so many scenes, events, characters that are contrary to the laws
of nature as we understand them impossible in reality. Fantasy is a story woven out of
imagination and saturates with fantastic characters, places and creatures which are never
encountered in the real world. A fantasy story conveys its readers to a spooky world of its
own rules where anything is possible. The connoisseur of fantasy and children‟s literature, J.
R. R. Tolkien interprets fantasy in his famous essay, “On Fairy-Stories” as “the making or
glimpsing of Other-worlds” (64).
Since fantasy is a genre imbued and saturated with extraordinary and freak settings, it
should not be conceptualized or depicted as any inferior genre. It is a very creative art which
requires skills and has to be treated with great caution and care; otherwise it would have
calamitous consequences. Tolkien thinks that “fantasy is not a lower but a higher form of art,
indeed nearly the most pure form, and so (when achieved) the most potent” (45). Fantasy
writers treat it very earnestly in order to avoid any adverse outcome.
Fairytales, folklores, legends, and myths have been an intrinsical part of fantasy genre
through ages and centuries, for instance, The Oxford Companion to Fairy Tales by Jack
Zipes, Touch Magic: Fantasy, Faerie, and Folklore in the Literature of Childhood by Jane
Yolen, Myth and Fairytale in Contemporary Women’s Fiction by Susan Seller, and so on in
ancient as well as contemporary literature. Fantasy is a prolific amalgam of different sources,
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like fairytales, folklores, and myths. Quoting the authors like Mollie Hunter and Beth
Greenway, “There is only a succession of folk memories filtered through the story‟s tellers
imagination, since all mankind shares in these memories, they are the common store on
which the modern story teller must draw in his attempts to create fantasy” (3).
Fantasy is grounded to a great extent on the roots and history of fairytales, folklores
and mythology. Almost every genre of literature has some essence in fantasy; directly or
indirectly they are connected to fantasy genre. It is usually conceptualized as something
imaginary and does not survive in the real world. Though both children and adults have the
faculty to fantasize, scholars animadvert that children‟s imagination and fantasies are more
pictorial than adults. Human mind is capable of seeing and imagining objects in one way or
other. Tolkien has colligated fantasy with generalization and abstraction, “The human mind,
endowed with the powers of generalization and abstraction, sees not only green grass,
discriminating it from other things (and finding it fair to look upon), but sees it is green as
well as being grass” (24).
Fairytale is one of the most important constituents of fantasy. The term “Fairy tales”
first appeared in the Oxford dictionary in 1749 (14). Fairytales are fantastic stories about
fairies, generally a fairy legend. Fairy tale is not a new term; it has been prevalent across
centuries and ages. Steven Jones has defined fairytales as, “the fairy tale is a subgenre of the
folktale alongside novel as, jokes and fables: each subgenre uses everyday narratives and
protagonists, but fairy tales are quintessentially magical, as opposed to moralistic (fables),
humorous (jokes) or romantic (novellas)” (8). Like fantasy, fairy tales also do not take place
in our time; they take place in the secondary world or sub-creation, comprising mysterious
and extraordinary made-up settings, magical creatures, especially fairies. All fairy tales are
founded on the perspective of fantasy.
Fairytale has been an indispensible part of fantasy since the time of its genesis. It is a
task for one to assume any fantasy story without considering fairytale. Fairytale contains a
peculiar world of its own. Max Luthi states that, “The fairytale is a universe in miniature”
(25). France and Germany was the good source of Fairytales. Charles Perrault, a French man,
was the first to write some of the most popular Fairy tales told today (21). Madame D
Aulnoy, a French woman who moved to England, has coined the term fairytale with her book
Contes des fees. The Grimm brothers, the first serious collectors of fairy tales, have their first
book published in Berlin (26).
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Folklores are traditional oral story about legends, conventions, and spiritual entities.
Folklores include almost all the myths, epics, fables, and legends. Folklores are stories
originated from the lives and imaginations of the folk or people. Folklore is an imposing
amalgam of different noesis, feelings, beliefs etc. In the opinion of Jan Halord, “Folklore is
the traditional, unofficial, non-institutional part of culture. It encompasses all knowledge,
understandings, values, attitudes, assumptions, feelings, and beliefs translated in traditional
forms by word of mouth or by customary examples [...] Folklore manifest itself in many oral
and verbal forms (“mentifacts”), in kinesiological forms (customary behaviour, or
“sociofacts”), and in material forms (“artifacts”) but folklore itself is the whole traditional
complex of thought, content, and process which ultimately can never be fixed, or recorded in
its entirety; it lives on its performance or communication as people interact with one another”
(4).
Basically, folklores are oral stories and belong to the mythical past, so their authors
are usually anonymous and untraceable. These folklores have been passed down from one
generation to another, orally. These folklore stories have been in existence because these are
some underlined and indispensable truths which have inspired people for centuries and the
basis of their belief or we can say that these stories have underpinned their beliefs and
understanding. According to Dorothy Noyes, “Folklore is a metacultural category used to
mark certain genres and practices within modern societies as being not modern. By extension,
the word refers to the study of such materials. More specific definitions place folklore on the
far side of the various epistemological, aesthetic and technological binary oppositions that
distinguish the modern from its presumptive contraries. Folklore, therefore typically evokes
both repudiation and nostalgia” (375).
Generally, people use Folklores and Fairytales interchangeably, as some folklore
contains fairy stories. There are some folklores that are closely related to the fairytales
through impulse, material, and subject matter, for instance, Tales of Mother Goose by Charles
Perrault, Nursery and Household Tales by Wilhelm and Jakob Grimm, English Fairytales by
Joseph Jacob, and so on. Folklore has long been a great source of inspiration for authors of
fantasy literature.
In the literature of fantasy, myth plays an important role in constructing the plot of
the story. Myths are stories of legends, Gods, heroes, and beliefs of people. Writers of these
stories are unknown or untraceable. According to Webster‟s dictionary, Myth is, “A
traditional story of unknown authorship, ostensibly with a historical basis, but serving usually
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to explain some phenomenon of nature, the origin of man, or the customs, institutions,
religious rites, etc. of a people: myths usually involve the exploits of Gods and heroes.” Myth
is an umbrella term with multiple significations and among other things; it also signifies
ideas, thoughts, and images and is related to folklores, fairy tales, spiritual stories, stories of
Gods and legends. Donna Rosenberg has expressed her thoughts on myths in her introduction
to the World Mythology:
Myths symbolize human experience and embody the spiritual values of a
culture...Some explain origins, natural phenomenon, and death; others describe the
nature and function of divinities; while still others provide models of virtuous
behaviour by relating the adventures of the heroes or the misfortunes of arrogant
humans (xv).
Fantasy genre faces a quantum leap forward with the advent of J. K. Rowling‟s Harry
Potter series. Rowling is a literary tycoon, who has woven fascinating tales of love, coming
of age, friendship, adventure, and the fight between good and evil in Harry Potter series.
From the publication of the first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, it has
become a brand of fantasy. These books abound with fairytales, folklores, and myths.
The traditional genre for children is fairy tales and Harry Potter series is considered
to be stories for children. Fairies, goblins, werewolves, and monsters are main constituents of
fairytales, and Harry Potter series abound with these creatures. In spite of this, one cannot
categorize Harry Potterseries as fairy tales; it would be more accurate to claim that a few
elements of fairy tales can be traced in them. In Harry Potter and Chamber of Secrets we see,
a flying car, Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort speaks a mysterious language (parseltongue),
and a big talking spider. In Harry Potter and Half-Blood Prince, the Headmaster, Albus
Dumbledore has to drink a potion, a magic potion, because fairy tales usually involve magic.
In fairy tales, supernatural characters test the intelligence, character and skills by
appearing before them in various guises and disguises. Rowling has used this feature of fairy
tales in her novels. For example, a common motif is the fairy‟s appearance disguised as an
ugly old woman, who rewards or punishes people according to how they treat her. Frogs turn
into princess. Fairy tale characters succeed if they distrust appearances, and if they can value
someone regardless of how that person looks. Rowling would like her readers to learn this
lessen, as her presentation of Hagrid as a gentle giant show (94).
Exclusiveness is an important characteristic of fairy tales. In fairy tales, fairies are
endowed with certain magical skills that are exclusively their privileges. For example, they
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can bless, curse, appear in various forms and know and predict the future. Rowling has used
this exclusiveness in her novels. The world of wizard, Hogwarts, is founded on the
conception of exclusiveness, irrespective of the fact that the most of its dweller have the
different characteristics and powers (97). Rowling has equipped Harry Potter with some
exclusive qualities and power that no other character has.
Rowling has employed a good proportion of mythology in each book of the series.
The kernel of Harry Potter series is undoubtedly mythic. The fancied world of Harry Potter
is unique and extraordinary; it springs up from a deep foundation of myths and folklore.
Rowling has proclaimed:
I have taken horrible liberties with folklore and mythology, but I‟m quite ashamed
about that, because British folklore and British mythology is a totally bastard
mythology. You know, we‟ve been invaded by people, we‟ve appropriated their gods,
we‟ve taken their mythical creatures, and we have soldered them all together to make,
what I would say, is one of the richest folklores in the world, because it‟s so varied.
So I feel no compunction about borrowing from that freely, but adding a few things of
my own. (Interview with Stephen)
Harry Potter series provide an introduction to mythology as well as to magic. The
world of Harry Potter abounds with non human creatures like werewolves, houseelves,
centaurs, dragons, trolls, phoenixes, goblins, hippogriffs. These semi – divine creatures also
exist inEgyptian, Roman, Greek mythologies, Arthurian legends, and European folklore. She
has made a conscious choice in selecting myths, reworking it, and then adapting it into her
novel series.
Myths are usually created to explain the world, culture, customs, and our pre- rational
values. The material of Harry Potter series is heavily drawn from British folklore and
mythology. And if one goes through the mythology, folklore, and literature of Britain, one
would find a lot of references to witch craft, the occult, wizards, magic, spells, and those sort
of things.On the study of ancient Greeks, one would find that the ancient Greeks had many
cyclic, rebirth/death myths. Greeks had a firm belief in rebirth. Rowling has taken the idea of
rebirth/death from Greek mythology. In Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, the death
of Harry‟s Parents starts the whole story. The magical mirror provides an opportunity to
Harry to meet his lost parents. He asks Albus Dumbledore about the death of Nicholas Flamel
to solve the mystery of Chamber of secrets (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets). In
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Harry Potter and Half-Blood Prince, Rowling has showed the death of Albus Dumbledore as
a major turning point of the novel and his death is the greatest loss of the series so far.
Not only the plot, but many characters and magical creatures have mythological
references too. Almost all the characters have a mythical history behind them like Harry
Potter, Hermione Granger, Albus Dumbledore, Rubis Hagrid, Minerva, Petunia, Lily Potter,
and so on. Nymphodra Tonks is a shape shifting wizard, whose first name refers to
“nymphs”, a minor nature goddess in Greek mythology, usually depicted as a beautiful
maiden. Hermione Granger, whose first name is a form of “Hermes”, refers to the Greek God
of communication and eloquence. Minerva McGonagall, her first name “Minerva” refers to
Roman goddess of wisdom and the arts (170-172).
Rowling has coined the term “Animagus”, a wizard who can become an animal yet
retain magical powers. The ability of a wizard to transform into an animal is an old legend
from mythology. In Celtic mythology, transformation into stags, swans, eagles, and ravens is
common. Shamans in Native American cultures often transform into animals, and usually
birds (23). She has created a few animagus in her books, such as Minerva McGonagall
becoming a cat; James Potter becoming a stag, leading to his nickname “Prongs”; Peter
Pettigrew disguising himself as Ron‟s pet rat Scrabbers.
Symbols also have mythological background. Rowling has employed a number of
symbols throughout the series, relating to alchemy, gender, power, time, culture, and history.
Symbols have been used right from the arrival of Harry at Hogwarts. All the four houses have
symbolic significance and these symbols reflect the specific characteristics of the particular
house. The lion of Gryffindor symbolises courage, „daring, nerve and chivalry; the snake of
Slytherine symbolises ambition; the badger symbolises Hufflepuff‟s qualities of being loyal,
hardworking and true; the eagle symbolises the virtues prized by Ravenclaw of wisdom, „wit
and learning‟ (88).
Myths, Fairytales, and Folklores have become common to all cultures and races, and
constitute a major part of the fantasy stories. Rowling has immensely and effectively
employed the elements of fairy tales, folklores, and different myths of ancient cultures to
make this story fascinating and readable to people of all age stations. Rowling has adopted a
very simple and clear technique in adopting the different important characteristics of
fairytales, and folklores and in giving the name to her characters. In the light of above
discussion it is appropriate to say that she has dominantly employed the legacy of fairy tales,
folklores, and myths in her series. With a memorable vision of L. Frank Baum, the study can
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be concluded: “Folklore, legends, myths and fairytales have followed childhood through
ages, for every healthy youngster has a wholesome and instinctive love for stories fantastic,
marvelous, and manifestly unreal” (3).
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