1. Harry Potter Was Intended To Have Christian Parallels On Death, Resurrection, And The Afterlife
Warner Bros.The amount of anger and opposition that Harry Potter has generated among religious fundamentalists for promoting witchcraft makes this final point deliciously ironic: Rowling, a practicing Christian, has stated that there are obvious religious themes and Biblical parallels in Harrys story. The Christian imagery comes mainly through the concept of resurrection, which is driven home at the end of book seven when Harry dies at the hands of Lord Voldemort only to be brought back to life because of sacrifices in the name of love: first, his mothers for him, and then his own for his friends and the rest of Hogwarts. One can go so far as to call Harry a Christ figure, swapping stigmata for a lightning scar. But more broadly than that, Harry Potter deals extensively with themes of death: the last few books, specifically, with Harrys struggle regarding the afterlife after Sirius death, which culminates in Harry becoming the Master of Death and coming to terms with death and the afterlife. In this way, Rowling has said that the scripture quoted on the Potters gravestone in Godric's Hollow epitomises the series: the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death (Corinthians 15:26). Souls are also crucial to this symbolism with the idea of the immortal soul, shown through Voldemorts corrupt desire to immortalize his soul by destroying it, and Harrys converse acceptance of death and the afterlife.