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{{Short description|Series of fantasy novels by J. K. Rowling}}
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{{About|the novel series|the character|Harry Potter (character)|the film series|Harry Potter (film series){{!}}''Harry Potter'' (film series)|the franchise|Wizarding World|the universe|Fictional universe of Harry Potter|other uses|Harry Potter (disambiguation)}}
[[Image:Harry Potter Logo.jpg|right|200px|The official Harry Potter logo]]
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{{Use British English|date=April 2012}}
'''Harry Potter''' is the name of a popular series of [[fantasy]] [[novel]]s by [[United Kingdom|British]] writer [[J. K. Rowling]]. Depicting a world of [[witch]]es and [[wizard]]s (the protagonist being the eponymous young wizard [[Harry Potter (character)|Harry Potter]]), the series has since the release of its first novel, ''[[Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone]]'' (retitled ''Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone'' in the [[United States]]) in [[1997 in literature|1997]], been criticised, both literarily and otherwise. Despite this, the series has succeeded in gaining immense popularity and commercial success world wide and across age demographics, spawning in addition to its original medium, books, [[movies]], [[video games]], and a wealth of other commercial items.
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2017}}
{{Infobox book series
| name = ''Harry Potter''
| books = {{Plainlist|
* <!--Please do not change the title of the first book. It was published as "Philosopher's" first --> ''[[Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone|Philosopher's Stone]]'' (1997)
* ''[[Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets|Chamber of Secrets]]'' (1998)
* ''[[Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban|Prisoner of Azkaban]]'' (1999)
* ''[[Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire|Goblet of Fire]]'' (2000)
* ''[[Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix|Order of the Phoenix]]'' (2003)
* ''[[Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince|Half-Blood Prince]]'' (2005)
* ''[[Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows|Deathly Hallows]]'' (2007)}}<!-- Please do not add "Cursed Child" to this list of the novels. It is primarily a theatrical play. Discuss on talk page if you disagree. -->
| image = [[File:Harry Potter wordmark.svg|frameless|class=skin-invert]]
| alt = The ''Harry Potter'' logo first used for the American edition of the novel series (and some other editions worldwide), and then the film series.
| author = [[J. K. Rowling]]
| translator =
| cover_artist = <!--1st edition artist--> [[Thomas Taylor (artist)|Thomas Taylor]]<!--book 1 -->, [[Cliff Wright (illustrator)|Cliff Wright]]<!--books 2 and 3-->, Giles Greenfield<!--book 4-->, Jason Cockcroft<!--books 5, 6, 7-->
| country = United Kingdom
| language = English
| genre = [[Fantasy literature|Fantasy]]
| publisher = <!--1st edition publisher-->[[Bloomsbury Publishing|Bloomsbury]]
| pub_date = 26 June 1997 – 21 July 2007
| media_type = {{Plainlist|
* Print ([[hardback]] and [[paperback]])
* [[Audiobook]]
* [[E-book]]
}}
| number_of_books = 7
| website = {{URL|https://www.harrypotter.com/}}
}}


'''''Harry Potter''''' is a series of seven [[fantasy literature|fantasy novels]] written by British author [[J. K. Rowling]]. The novels chronicle the lives of a young [[Magician (fantasy)|wizard]], [[Harry Potter (character)|Harry Potter]], and his friends, [[Hermione Granger]] and [[Ron Weasley]], all of whom are students at [[Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry]]. The main [[story arc]] concerns Harry's conflict with [[Lord Voldemort]], a [[Black magic|dark wizard]] who intends to become immortal, overthrow the wizard governing body known as the [[Ministry of Magic]], and subjugate all wizards and [[Muggle]]s (non-magical people).
The majority of the series' action takes place between 1991–1998, focusing on Harry Potter’s journey toward manhood over the course of his education, interactions, journeys, and adventures. Through the course of these, the series also explores themes of friendship, ambition, choice, prejudice, and love against the backdrop of the expansive magical world with its long and complex history, diverse inhabitants, unique culture, and parallel society.


The series was originally published in English by [[Bloomsbury Publishing|Bloomsbury]] in the United Kingdom and [[Scholastic Corporation|Scholastic Press]] in the United States. A series of many genres, including [[fantasy]], [[drama]], [[Coming-of-age story|coming-of-age fiction]], and the British [[school story]] (which includes elements of [[mystery (fiction)|mystery]], [[thriller (genre)|thriller]], [[adventure novel|adventure]], [[Horror and terror|horror]], and [[romance novel|romance]]), the world of ''Harry Potter'' explores numerous themes and includes many cultural meanings and references.<ref name="meanings" /> Major themes in the series include prejudice, corruption, madness, love, and death.<ref name="Geordie Greig">{{cite news |first=Geordie |last=Greig |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1507438/There-would-be-so-much-to-tell-her....html |title=There would be so much to tell her... |newspaper=The Telegraph |access-date=4 April 2007 |date=11 January 2006 |location=London |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070311032026/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=%2Fnews%2F2006%2F01%2F10%2Fnrowl110.xml |archive-date=11 March 2007 }}</ref>
As of 2006, six of the seven planned books have been published. The latest, ''[[Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince]]'', was published in its English-language version on [[16 July]] [[2005]]. The first four books have been made into successful films, and the [[Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film)|fifth]] began filming in February [[2006]]. English language versions of the books are published by [[Bloomsbury Publishing Plc|Bloomsbury]], [[Scholastic Press]], and [[Raincoast Books]].


Since the release of the first novel, ''[[Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone]]'', on 26 June 1997, the books have found immense popularity and commercial success worldwide. They have attracted a wide adult audience as well as younger readers and are widely considered cornerstones of modern literature,<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/2996578.stm|title=Potter's place in the literary canon|work=BBC News|last=Allsobrook|first='Marian|date=18 June 2003|access-date=15 October 2007|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080109162755/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/2996578.stm|archive-date=9 January 2008|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.chronicle.com/article/harry-potters-place-in-literature/|title=Harry Potter's place in literature|work=The Chronicle of Higher Education|last=Bartlett|first=Kellie|date=6 January 2005|df=dmy-all|access-date=18 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230313053821/https://www.chronicle.com/article/harry-potters-place-in-literature/|archive-date=13 March 2023|url-status=live}}</ref> though the books have received mixed reviews from critics and literary scholars. {{as of|2023|February}}, the books have sold more than 600&nbsp;million copies worldwide, making them the [[List of best-selling books#List of best-selling book series|best-selling book series in history]], [[List of Harry Potter translations|available in dozens of languages]]. The last four books all set records as the fastest-selling books in history, with the final instalment selling roughly 2.7 million copies in the United Kingdom and 8.3 million copies in the United States within twenty-four hours of its release.
''Please note, most links lead to spoilers. Those that are noted will carry the following tag:''{{spoiler}}


[[Warner Bros. Pictures]] adapted the original seven books into an eight-part [[Harry Potter (film series)|namesake film series]]. In 2016, the total value of the ''Harry Potter'' franchise was estimated at $25&nbsp;billion,<ref name="Time25">{{cite magazine |last1=Meyer |first1=Katie |date=6 April 2016 |title=Harry Potter's $25 Billion Magic Spell |url=https://money.com/billion-dollar-spell-harry-potter/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210514014809/https://money.com/billion-dollar-spell-harry-potter/ |archive-date=14 May 2021 |access-date=4 November 2016 |magazine=[[Money (magazine)|Money]]}}</ref> making it one of the [[List of highest-grossing media franchises|highest-grossing media franchises of all time]]. ''[[Harry Potter and the Cursed Child]]'' is a play based on a story co-written by Rowling. A television series based on books is in production at [[HBO]].
===Publishing history ===
In 1990, Rowling was on a crowded train from Manchester to London when the idea for Harry simply “fell” into her head. Rowling gives an account of the experience on her website:


The success of the books and films has allowed the ''Harry Potter'' franchise to expand with numerous derivative works, a travelling exhibition that premiered in Chicago in 2009, a studio tour in London that opened in 2012, [[Pottermore|a digital platform]] on which J. K. Rowling updates the series with new information and insight, and a trilogy of [[Spin-off (media)|spin-off]] films premiering in November 2016 with ''[[Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (film)|Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them]]'', among many other developments. Themed attractions, collectively known as [[The Wizarding World of Harry Potter]], have been built at several [[Universal Destinations & Experiences]] amusement parks around the world.
<blockquote>"I had been writing almost continuously since the age of six but I had never been so excited about an idea before. To my immense frustration, I didn't have a functioning pen with me, and I was too shy to ask anybody if I could borrow one. I think, now, that this was probably a good thing, because I simply sat and thought, for four (delayed train) hours, and all the details bubbled up in my brain, and this scrawny, black-haired, bespectacled boy who didn't know he was a wizard became more and more real to me. I think that perhaps if I had had to slow down the ideas so that I could capture them on paper I might have stifled some of them (although sometimes I do wonder, idly, how much of what I imagined on that journey I had forgotten by the time I actually got my hands on a pen)." <ref name="Harry falls into author's head">{{
cite news
|url=http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/en/biography.cfm
|publisher=JKRowling.com
|title=Biography
|date=May 21, 2006}}</ref></blockquote>


{{TOC limit|limit=3}}
That evening J.K. Rowling began the pre-writing for her first novel, ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'' (''[[Sorcerer's Stone]]'' in the [[U.S.]]), planning that would include the plot to each of her seven envisioned books, in addition to an enormous amount of historical and biographical information on her [[List of characters in the Harry Potter books|characters]] and [[Wizarding world|universe]]. <ref name="J.K. Rowling interview transcript, The Connection">{{
cite news
|url=http://www.quick-quote-quill.org/articles/1999/1099-connectiontransc.html
|publisher=Quick Quote Quill
|title=J.K. Rowling interview transcript, The Connection
|date=October 12, 1999}}</ref> Eventually Rowling relocated to [[Portugal]], where in 1992 she married her first husband, and in 1993 had her first child, Jessica, all the while continuing her writing of ''Stone''. When the marriage dissolved, Rowling returned to Britain with her daughter and settled in [[Edinburgh]] to be near her sister, famously continuing her writing of ''Philosopher's Stone'' in local [[coffee]] shops. Bringing in only £90 a week (£70 of which were from [[Welfare (financial aid)|income support]]) and unable to secure a place for her daughter in a [[nursery]], the sleeping infant Jessica would be a constant companion to her mother as Rowling laboured to finish the book that she had at this point begun to fear would never be completed.


== Plot ==
In 1996, ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'' was completed and the manuscript was sent off to an agent.
{{Further|Fictional universe of Harry Potter}}
<!-- Per [[MOS:NOVELPLOT]], "a novel is a primary source for its own plot summary", and citations are not needed for purely descriptive plot details. -->


=== Early years ===
<blockquote>"The agent sent the manuscript back to my despair without the folder, which had cost me $7, saying writing 80,000 words made it much too long for a children's book."</blockquote>
[[File:The Elephant House.jpg|thumb|left|[[The Elephant House (Edinburgh Café)|The Elephant House]] was one of the cafés in [[Edinburgh]] where Rowling wrote the first part of ''Harry Potter''.|alt="The Elephant House", a small, painted red café where Rowling wrote a few chapters of ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'']]


The series follows the life of a boy named [[Harry Potter (character)|Harry Potter]]. In the first book, ''[[Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone]] ([[Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone]]'' in the US), Harry lives in a cupboard under the stairs in the house of the [[List of supporting Harry Potter characters#The Dursleys|Dursleys]], his aunt, uncle and cousin, who all treat him poorly. At the age of 11, Harry discovers that he is a [[Magician (fantasy)|wizard]]. He meets a half-giant named [[Hagrid]] who gives him a letter of acceptance to attend the [[Hogwarts|Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry]]. Harry learns that his parents, [[Lily Potter|Lily]] and [[James Potter (character)|James Potter]], also had magical powers and were murdered by the dark wizard [[Lord Voldemort]] when Harry was a baby. When Voldemort attempted to kill Harry, his curse rebounded, seemingly killing Voldemort, and Harry survived with a lightning-shaped scar on his forehead. The event made Harry famous among the community of wizards and [[Witchcraft|witches]].
The second agent she tried, Christopher Little, wrote back immediately to say he liked it and wanted to take her on. He sent the manuscript to Bloomsbury...<ref name="Spell Binder">{{
cite news
|url=http://www.quick-quote-quill.org/articles/1999/0799-people-plummer.html
|publisher=Quick Quotes Quill
|title="Spell Binder" People Magazine
|date=July 12, 1999
}}</ref>


Harry becomes a student at Hogwarts and is sorted into [[Hogwarts|Gryffindor House]]. He gains the friendship of [[Ron Weasley]], a member of a large but poor wizarding family, and [[Hermione Granger]], a witch of non-magical, or [[Muggle]], parentage. The trio develop an enmity with the rich [[Fictional universe of Harry Potter#Blood purity|pure-blood]] student [[Draco Malfoy]]. Harry encounters the school's headmaster, [[Albus Dumbledore]]; the [[potion]]s professor, [[Severus Snape]], who displays a dislike for him; and the [[Defence Against the Dark Arts]] teacher, [[Quirinus Quirrell]]. Quirrell turns out to be allied with Voldemort, who is still alive as a weak spirit. The first book concludes with Harry's confrontation with Voldemort, who, in his quest to regain a body, yearns to possess the [[Sorcerer's Stone|Philosopher's Stone]], a substance that bestows everlasting life.
At [[Bloomsbury Publishing Plc|Bloomsbury]], at the time a fairly small independent publisher, ''Philosopher's Stone'' landed in front of the uninterested eye of [[Nigel Newton]], the [[chairman]] of the company. The unenthused Mr. Newton took the manuscript home but did not read it, giving it instead to his eight-year-old daughter, Alice.<ref name="Eight year old saves Potter">{{


''[[Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets]]'' describes Harry's second year at Hogwarts. Students are attacked and petrified by an unknown creature; wizards of Muggle parentage are the primary targets. The attacks appear related to the mythical [[Chamber of Secrets]] and resemble attacks fifty years earlier. Harry discovers an ability to speak the snake language [[Parseltongue]], which he learns is rare and associated with the [[Black magic|Dark Arts]]. When Hermione is attacked and Ron's younger sister, [[Ginny Weasley]], abducted, Harry and Ron uncover the chamber's secrets and enter it. Harry discovers that Ginny was possessed by an old diary, inside which the memory of [[Lord Voldemort|Tom Marvolo Riddle]], Voldemort's younger self, resides. On Voldemort's behalf, Ginny opened the chamber and unleashed the [[Basilisk (Harry Potter)|basilisk]], an ancient monster that kills or petrifies those who make direct or indirect eye contact, respectively. With the help of Dumbledore's [[Phoenix (mythology)|phoenix]], Fawkes, and the [[Sword of Gryffindor]], Harry slays the basilisk and destroys the diary.
cite news
|url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/6/story.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=10333960
|publisher=New Zeland Herald
|title= Revealed: The eight-year-old girl who saved Harry Potter
|date=July 3, 2005
}}</ref>
Showing great excitement over what she had read, Ms. Newton would go on to 'nag' her father for months until Bloomsbury, after eight other [[publishers]] had rejected ''Philosopher's Stone'', offered Rowling a £2,500 advance.


In the third novel, ''[[Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban]]'', Harry learns that he is targeted by [[Sirius Black]], an escaped convict who allegedly assisted in his parents' murder. [[Dementors]], creatures that feed on happiness, search for Sirius and guard the school. As Harry struggles with his reaction to the dementors, he reaches out to [[Remus Lupin]], a new professor who teaches him the [[Patronus charm]]. On a windy night, Ron is dragged by a black dog into the [[Shrieking Shack]], a haunted house, and Harry and Hermione follow. The dog is revealed to be Sirius Black. Lupin enters the shack and explains that Sirius was James Potter's best friend; he was framed by another friend of James, [[Scabbers|Peter Pettigrew]], who hides as Ron's pet rat, Scabbers. As the full moon rises, Lupin transforms into a werewolf and bounds away, and the group chase after him. They are surrounded by dementors, but are saved by a figure resembling James who casts a stag Patronus. This is later revealed to be a future version of Harry, who traveled back in time with Hermione using a device called a [[Time Turner]]. The duo help Sirius escape on a [[Hippogriff]], while Pettigrew escapes.
Despite Rowling's statement that she did not have any particular age group in mind when she began to write the ''Harry Potter'' books, the publishers initially targeted them at children aged around 9 to 11. On the eve of publishing, like [[Harper Lee]] (''[[To Kill a Mockingbird]]'') and [[S.E. Hinton]] (''[[The Outsiders (novel)|The Outsiders]]'') before her, Joanne Rowling was asked by her publishers to adopt a more gender-neutral [[penname]], in order to appeal to the males of this age group, fearing that they would not be interested in reading a novel they knew to be written by a woman. She elected to use J.K. Rowling (assuming the "K" from her grandmother Kathleen).


=== Voldemort returns ===
The first Potter book was published in the [[United Kingdom]] by Bloomsbury in July [[1997]] and in the United States by Scholastic, [[September]] of [[1998]], but not before Rowling received a six-figure sum for the American publishing rights, an unprecedented amount for a children's book. Among the prizes the series went on to earn, the first three books, ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', ''[[Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets]]'' and ''[[Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban]]'', all won the [[Nestlé Smarties Book Prize]] for the 9 to 11 age group in [[1997]], [[1998]], and [[1999]], respectively.<ref name="Nestlé Smarties Book Prizes">{{
[[File:The former 1st floor Nicholson's Cafe now renamed Spoon in Edinburgh.jpg|thumb|The former 1st floor Nicholson's Cafe now renamed Spoon in Edinburgh where J. K. Rowling wrote the first few chapters of ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'']]


In Harry's fourth year of school (detailed in ''[[Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire]]''), Hogwarts hosts the [[Triwizard Tournament]], a contest between Hogwarts and the schools Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. Harry is unwillingly entered into the contest, becoming Hogwarts' second participant after [[Cedric Diggory]], an unusual occurrence that causes his friends to distance themselves from him. Harry claims the Triwizard Cup with Cedric, but he is teleported to a graveyard where Pettigrew kills Cedric, then resurrects Voldemort using Harry's blood. Voldemort convenes his supporters, the [[Death Eater]]s, and Harry manages to escape after a duel with Voldemort. Upon returning to Hogwarts, it is revealed that a Death Eater, [[Barty Crouch, Jr]], in disguise as the new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, [[Mad-Eye Moody|Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody]], engineered Harry's entry into the tournament, secretly helped him, and had him teleported to Voldemort.
cite news
|url=http://www.booktrusted.co.uk/nestle/pw.html
|publisher=Nestle Smarties Prize
|title=Past winners
|date=May 21, 2006


In the fifth book, ''[[Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix]]'', the [[Ministry of Magic]] refuses to believe that Voldemort has returned. Dumbledore re-activates the [[Order of the Phoenix (organisation)|Order of the Phoenix]], a secret society to counter Voldemort; meanwhile, the Ministry tightens control of Hogwarts by appointing [[Dolores Umbridge]] as High Inquisitor of Hogwarts, and she gradually increases her powers. When Umbridge bans practical teaching of Defence Against the Dark Arts, Harry, Ron and Hermione form "[[Dumbledore's Army]]", a secret group to continue the teachings. Harry has recurring dreams of a dark corridor in the Ministry of Magic, eventually dreaming that Sirius is being tortured there. He races to the Ministry with his friends, but it is a trap, planted in his head by Voldemort. The group are attacked by Death Eaters and saved by the Order of the Phoenix, but Sirius is killed in the battle. A duel between Dumbledore and Voldemort convinces the ministry of Voldemort's return. A prophecy concerning Harry and Voldemort is revealed: one must die at the hands of the other.
}}</ref>


In the sixth book, ''[[Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince]]'', Snape teaches Defence Against the Dark Arts while [[Horace Slughorn]] becomes the Potions master. Harry finds an old textbook with annotations by the Half-Blood Prince, due to which he achieves success in Potions class. Harry also takes lessons with Dumbledore, viewing memories about the early life of Voldemort in a device called a [[Pensieve]]. Harry learns from a drunken Slughorn that he used to teach Tom Riddle, and that Voldemort divided his soul into pieces, creating a series of [[Horcrux]]es. Harry and Dumbledore travel to a distant lake to destroy a Horcrux; they succeed, but Dumbledore weakens. On their return, they find Draco Malfoy and Death Eaters attacking the school. The book ends with the killing of Dumbledore by Professor Snape, the titular Half-Blood Prince.
By [[2000]], the series had become very high-profile due in part to marketing strategy by Rowling's publishers, but also due to word-of-mouth buzz among readers, especially young males. The former is notable because for years, interest in literature among this demographic had lagged behind other pursuits like video games and the Internet. Rowling's publishers were able to capitalise on this fervour by the rapid successive releases of the first three books that allowed neither Rowling's audience's excitement nor interest to wane, along with quickly solidifying a loyal readership. The culmination of this initial Potter excitement was the huge media coverage surrounding the 2000 release of the fourth book, ''[[Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire]]''.


In ''[[Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows]]'', the seventh and final novel in the series, Lord Voldemort gains control of the Ministry of Magic. Harry, Ron and Hermione learn about the [[Deathly Hallows (objects)|Deathly Hallows]], legendary items that lead to mastery over death. The group infiltrates the ministry, where they steal a locket Horcrux, and visit [[Godric's Hollow]], where they are attacked by Nagini, Voldemort's snake. A silver doe Patronus leads them to the Sword of Gryffindor, with which they destroy the locket. They steal a Horcrux from Gringotts and travel to Hogwarts, culminating in a battle with the Death Eaters. Snape is killed by Voldemort out of paranoia, but he lends Harry his memories before he dies. Harry learns that Snape was always loyal to Dumbledore, and that Harry is himself a Horcrux. Harry surrenders to Voldemort and is killed. The defenders of Hogwarts continue to fight on; Harry is resurrected, faces Voldemort and kills him.
In [[2001]], two slim spin-off volumes called ''[[Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them]]'' by [[Newt Scamander]] and ''[[Quidditch Through the Ages]]'' by [[Minor characters associated with Quidditch|Kennilworthy Whisp]] were published. All proceeds went to the British charity organization [[Comic Relief]] (not to be confused with the American organisation of the same name). The hype escalated with the publication of the next two books in the series, ''[[Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix]]'' and ''Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince'', with midnight launch parties at hundreds of bookshops in the UK, simultaneous launch events around the English-speaking world, and intense media interest, leading to unprecedented first-day sales in the UK, US and elsewhere.


An epilogue titled "Nineteen Years Later" describes the lives of the surviving characters and the impact of Voldemort's death. Harry and Ginny are married with three [[James Sirius Potter|children]], and Ron and Hermione are married with [[Rose Granger-Weasley|two children]].
Over nearly a decade the books have garnered fans of all ages, leading to two editions of each Harry Potter book being released, identical in text but with one edition's cover artwork aimed at children and the other aimed at adults. The series is also immensely popular around the world in its many translations. Such was the global clamour to read the book that the English-language edition of ''Order of the Phoenix'' became the first English-language book ever to top the bookseller list in France.<ref name="OOTP is best seller in France - in English!">{{


== Style and allusions ==
cite news
===Genre and style===
|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/world/newsid_3036000/3036350.stm
The novels fall into the genre of [[fantasy literature]], and qualify as a type of fantasy called "[[urban fantasy]]", "contemporary fantasy", or "[[low fantasy]]". They are mainly dramas, and maintain a fairly serious and dark tone throughout, though they do contain some notable instances of [[tragicomedy]] and black humour. In many respects, they are also examples of the ''[[bildungsroman]]'', or [[coming of age]] novel,<ref>{{cite news |last=Anne Le Lievre |first=Kerrie |year=2003 |title=Wizards and wainscots: generic structures and genre themes in the Harry Potter series |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0OON/is_1_24/ai_107896944/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081206041643/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0OON/is_1_24/ai_107896944/ |archive-date=6 December 2008 |access-date=1 September 2008 |publisher=CNET Networks}}</ref> and contain elements of [[mystery (fiction)|mystery]], adventure, [[horror fiction|horror]], [[thriller (genre)|thriller]], and [[romance novel|romance]]. The books are also, in the words of [[Stephen King]], "shrewd mystery tales",<ref name="Wild About Harry">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/00/07/23/reviews/000723.23kinglt.html|title=Wild About Harry|last=King|first=Stephen|date=23 July 2000|newspaper=The New York Times|quote=...the Harry Potter books are, at heart, satisfyingly shrewd mystery tales.|author-link=Stephen King|access-date=9 August 2010|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090417021723/http://www.nytimes.com/books/00/07/23/reviews/000723.23kinglt.html|archive-date=17 April 2009|df=dmy-all}}</ref> and each book is constructed in the manner of a [[Sherlock Holmes]]-style [[Mystery fiction|mystery]] adventure. The stories are told from a [[third person limited]] point of view with very few exceptions (such as the opening chapters of ''[[Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone|Philosopher's Stone]]'', ''[[Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire|Goblet of Fire]]'' and ''[[Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows|Deathly Hallows]]'' and the first two chapters of ''[[Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince|Half-Blood Prince]]'').
|publisher=BBC
|title=OOTP is best seller in France - in English!
|date=July 1, 2003


The series can be considered part of the British children's [[School story|boarding school genre]], which includes [[Rudyard Kipling]]'s ''[[Stalky & Co.]]'', [[Enid Blyton]]'s ''[[Malory Towers]]'', ''[[St. Clare's series|St. Clare's]]'' and the ''[[Naughtiest Girl]]'' series, and Frank Richards's ''[[Billy Bunter]]'' novels: the ''Harry Potter'' books are predominantly set in [[Hogwarts]], a fictional British boarding school for wizards, where the curriculum includes the use of [[magic (Harry Potter)|magic]].<ref name="Harry Potter Boarding">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/563232.stm|title=Harry Potter makes boarding fashionable|work=BBC News|access-date=1 September 2008|date=13 December 1999|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081228112231/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/563232.stm|archive-date=28 December 2008|df=dmy-all}}</ref> In this sense they are "in a direct line of descent from [[Thomas Hughes]]'s ''[[Tom Brown's School Days]]'' and other Victorian and Edwardian novels of [[Public school (UK)|British public school]] life", though they are, as many note, more contemporary, grittier, darker, and more mature than the typical boarding school novel, addressing serious [[theme (narrative)|themes]] of death, love, loss, prejudice, coming-of-age, and the loss of innocence in a 1990s British setting.<ref>{{cite book |last= Ellen Jones |first= Leslie |title= JRR Tolkien: A Biography |publisher= Greenwood Press |year= 2003 |isbn= 978-0-313-32340-9 |page= [https://archive.org/details/jrrtolkienbiogra0000jone/page/16 16] |url= https://archive.org/details/jrrtolkienbiogra0000jone/page/16 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last= A Whited | first = Lana | title=The Ivory Tower and Harry Potter: Perspectives on a Literary Phenomenon | publisher=University of Missouri Press|year=2004|isbn=978-0-8262-1549-9|page=28}}</ref>{{Failed verification|date=October 2023}}
}}</ref> With the 2005 release of ''Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince'' selling nearly nine million copies in the first 24 hours of its release, the series' popularity shows no signs of fading. <ref name="Potter book smashes sales records">{{


In ''Harry Potter'', Rowling juxtaposes the extraordinary against the ordinary.{{Sfn|Natov|2002|p=129}} Her narrative features two worlds: a contemporary world inhabited by non-magical people called [[Muggles]], and another featuring wizards. It differs from typical [[portal fantasy]] in that its magical elements stay grounded in the mundane.{{sfn|Butler|2012|pp=233–34}} Paintings move and talk; books bite readers; letters shout messages; and maps show live journeys, making the wizarding world both exotic and familiar.{{Sfn|Natov|2002|p=129}}{{sfn|Butler|2012|p=234}} This blend of realistic and romantic elements extends to Rowling's characters. Their names are often [[onomatopoeic]]{{clarify|date=January 2024}}: Malfoy is difficult, Filch is unpleasant, and Lupin is a werewolf.{{sfn|Park|2003|p=183}}{{Sfn|Natov|2002|p=130}} Harry is ordinary and relatable, with down-to-earth features such as wearing broken glasses;{{sfn|Nikolajeva|2008|p=233}} the scholar Roni Natov terms him an "everychild".{{sfn|Ostry|2003|p=97}} These elements serve to highlight Harry when he is heroic, making him both an [[everyman]] and a fairytale hero.{{sfn|Nikolajeva|2008|p=233}}{{sfn|Ostry|2003|pp=90, 97–98}}
cite news
|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/4692093.stm
|publisher=BBC
|title=Potter book smashes sales records
|date=July 18, 2005
}}</ref>


Each of the seven books is set over the course of one school year. Harry struggles with the problems he encounters, and dealing with them often involves the need to violate some school rules. If students are caught breaking rules, they are often disciplined by Hogwarts professors. The stories reach their climax in the [[summer term]], near or just after [[Final examination|final exams]], when events escalate far beyond in-school squabbles and struggles, and Harry must confront either [[Voldemort]] or one of his followers, the [[Death Eaters]], with the stakes a matter of life and death—a point underlined, as the series progresses, by characters being killed in each of the final four books.<ref name="Harry Potter Last Adventure" /><ref>{{cite news|url= https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/two-characters-to-die-in-last-harry-potter-book-j-k-rowling-1.598355 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20060630023326/http://www.cbc.ca/arts/story/2006/06/26/rowling-potter-deaths.html | archive-date=30 June 2006|title=Two characters to die in last 'Harry Potter' book: J.K. Rowling|publisher=CBC|access-date=1 September 2008 |url-status= live | date=26 June 2006}}</ref> In the aftermath, he learns important lessons through exposition and discussions with head teacher and mentor [[Albus Dumbledore]]. The only exception to this school-centred setting is the final novel, ''[[Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows]]'', in which Harry and his friends spend most of their time away from Hogwarts, and only return there to face Voldemort at the ''[[dénouement]]''.<ref name="Harry Potter Last Adventure">{{cite news|url=http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1637886_1637891,00.html|title=Harry Potter's Last Adventure|last=Grossman|first=Lev|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|access-date=1 September 2008|date=28 June 2007|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080827145911/http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1637886_1637891,00.html|archive-date=27 August 2008|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
==Overview==
{{spoiler}}
The story opens on the morning of [[November 1]], [[Dates_in_Harry_Potter#Timeline_of_the_Harry_Potter_Series|1981]], a day that has been, for many British citizens, filled with both the peculiar and the incomprehensible: shooting stars, an inordinate number of owls, and oddly dressed strangers joyously accosting bewildered [[muggles]] on the street. The source of these strange events is the rare, unrestrained, celebratory mood of a carefully secretive [[Wizarding World]] that had for years been [[Terrorism|terrorized]] by [[Lord Voldemort]] in his decades long bid for power. However, the previous night, Lord Voldemort, who had for months sought the hidden Potter family, discovered their refuge and killed [[Lily and James Potter]]. When he turned his wand against their infant son, Harry, his curse rebounded upon him and he was ripped from his body, and was forced into hiding, leaving Harry with his distinctive lightning bolt scar on his forehead, the only physical sign of Voldemort's attack. Harry's defeat of Voldemort in the course of the mysterious events of that [[Halloween]] night was met with a mix of awe and fear, but mostly joy by the magical community, resulting in them dubbing Harry, who had survived where so many others had fallen, "The Boy Who Lived".


===Allusions===
The orphaned Harry Potter was subsequently raised by his cruel relatives, the [[Dursleys]], in ignorance of his magical heritage — they despising his "unnaturalness". However, as his eleventh birthday approaches, Harry has his first contact with the magical world when he is notified by [[Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry]] that he is in fact a wizard and has been chosen to attend. Each book chronicles approximately one year in Harry's life at Hogwarts, where he learns to use [[magic (Harry Potter)|magic]] and brew [[Magical objects in Harry Potter|potions]]. Harry also learns to overcome many magical, social, and emotional obstacles as he struggles through his adolescence. There are seven books in the series, each slightly darker than its predecessor, as Harry ages and his nemesis, Lord Voldemort, gains power.
The ''Harry Potter'' stories feature imagery and motifs drawn from [[Arthurian myth]] and [[fairytales]]. Harry's ability to draw the [[Sword of Gryffindor]] from the [[Sorting Hat]] resembles the Arthurian [[Excalibur|sword in the stone]] legend.{{sfn|Alton|2008|p=216}} His life with the Dursleys has been compared to [[Cinderella]].{{sfn|Gallardo|Smith|2003|p=195}} Hogwarts resembles a medieval university-cum-castle with several professors who belong to an Order of Merlin; Old Professor Binns still lectures about the International Warlock Convention of 1289; and a real historical person, a 14th-century scribe, Sir [[Nicolas Flamel]], is described as a holder of the Philosopher's Stone.<ref name="Scriptorium Press">{{cite journal|last1=Arden |first1=Heather |last2=Lorenz |first2=Kathryn |title=The Harry Potter Stories and French Arthurian Romance|journal=Arthuriana|volume=13 |issue=12|pages=54–68|date=June 2003|jstor=27870516|doi=10.1353/art.2003.0005 |s2cid=161603742 | issn=1078-6279}}</ref> Other medieval elements in Hogwarts include coats-of-arms and medieval weapons on the walls, letters written on parchment and sealed with wax, the Great Hall of Hogwarts, which is similar to the Great Hall of Camelot, the use of Latin phrases, the tents put up for Quidditch tournaments, which are similar to the "marvellous tents" put up for knightly tournaments, imaginary animals like dragons and unicorns that exist around Hogwarts, and the banners with heraldic animals for the four Houses of Hogwarts.<ref name="Scriptorium Press"/>


Many of the motifs of the Potter stories, such as the hero's quest invoking objects that confer invisibility, magical animals and trees, a forest full of danger and the recognition of a character based upon scars, are drawn from medieval French Arthurian romances.<ref name="Scriptorium Press"/> Other aspects borrowed from French Arthurian romances include the use of owls as messengers, werewolves as characters, and white deer.<ref name="Scriptorium Press"/> The American scholars Heather Arden and Kathrn Lorenz in particular argue that many aspects of the Potter stories are inspired by a 14th-century French Arthurian romance, ''Claris et Laris'', writing of the "startling" similarities between the adventures of Potter and the knight Claris.<ref name="Scriptorium Press"/> Arden and Lorenz noted that Rowling graduated from the University of Exeter in 1986 with a degree in French literature and spent a year living in France afterwards.<ref name="Scriptorium Press"/>
===Characters in ''Harry Potter''===
*'''[[Harry Potter (character)|Harry James Potter]]''': The only child of James and Lily Potter, with whom he shares many distinct characteristics, most notably James' unruly black hair and Lily's green eyes. He achieved fame at the age of one when Lord Voldemort, the most feared wizard of the age, attacked his home, murdering his parents but failing to kill him, though leaving him with his instantly recognisable scar, and in turn was hit and ripped from his body by his own backfiring [[Unforgivable_Curses#Avada_Kedavra_.28The_Killing_Curse.29|Killing Curse]]. At Hogwarts, Harry has shown himself to be a gifted wizard, excelling both at [[Defence Against the Dark Arts]] and [[Quidditch]], along with being recognised as a capable leader within his house, [[Gryffindor]], and the school in general. Despite his best attempts, he has been unable to downplay his fame and his inability to do so has at times been a source of great frustration to him, making him the target of unwanted media attention, rumours, gawking (chiefly at his scar), and the ire of professors and classmates alike. However, despite all external pressures, he remains overall courageous, noble, and high minded, though at times these qualities have been shown to negatively manifest themselves in what Hermione Granger termed his "saving-people thing".


Like C. S. Lewis's ''The Chronicles of Narnia'', ''Harry Potter'' also contains Christian symbolism and [[allegory]]. The series has been viewed as a Christian moral fable in the [[psychomachia]] tradition, in which stand-ins for good and evil fight for supremacy over a person's soul.{{Sfn|Singer|2016|pp= 26–27}} Children's literature critic Joy Farmer sees parallels between Harry and [[Jesus Christ]].{{Sfn|Farmer|2001|p=58}} Comparing Rowling with Lewis, she argues that "magic is both authors' way of talking about spiritual reality".{{Sfn|Farmer|2001|p=55}} According to [[Maria Nikolajeva]], Christian imagery is particularly strong in the final scenes of the series: Harry dies in self-sacrifice and Voldemort delivers an "[[ecce homo]]" speech, after which Harry is [[Resurrection of Jesus|resurrected]] and defeats his enemy.{{sfn|Nikolajeva|2008|pp=238–39}}
*'''[[Ron Weasley|Ronald "Ron" Bilius Weasley]]''': Harry Potter's best friend and sixth of the seven children of the widely respected (though extremely poor) [[Weasley family]]. He befriended Harry almost immediately upon meeting him during their first journey on the [[Hogwarts Express]]. However, a serious rift did once develop between them, due in part to his frustration at being forced to live in Harry's shadow — no doubt magnified by his position as youngest brother in his large family. Despite this, he and Harry have remained close through the years, with him being a constant companion through Harry's trials and adventures.


Rowling stated that she did not reveal ''Harry Potter''{{'}}s religious parallels in the beginning because doing so would have "give[n] too much away to fans who might then see the parallels".<ref name="Adler2007">{{cite web|url=http://www.mtv.com/news/1572107/harry-potter-author-jk-rowling-opens-up-about-books-christian-imagery/|title='Harry Potter' Author J.K. Rowling Opens Up About Books' Christian Imagery|last=Adler|first=Shawn|date=17 October 2007|publisher=[[MTV]]|language=en|access-date=3 April 2018|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171014091806/http://www.mtv.com/news/1572107/harry-potter-author-jk-rowling-opens-up-about-books-christian-imagery/|archive-date=14 October 2017|df=dmy-all}}</ref> In the final book of the series, ''[[Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows]]'', Rowling makes the book's Christian imagery more explicit, quoting both [[Matthew 6:21]] and [[1 Corinthians 15:26]] ([[King James Version]]) when Harry visits his parents' [[kirkyard|graves]].<ref name="Adler2007"/> [[Hermione Granger]] teaches Harry Potter that the meaning of these verses from the [[Christian Bible]] are "living beyond death. Living after death", which Rowling states "epitomize the whole series".<ref name="Adler2007"/><ref name="SedlmayrWaller2014">{{cite book|last1=Sedlmayr|first1=Gerold|last2=Waller|first2=Nicole|title=Politics in Fantasy Media: Essays on Ideology and Gender in Fiction, Film, Television and Games|date=28 October 2014|publisher=[[McFarland & Company]]|language=en|isbn=9781476617558|page=132|quote=During this press conference, Rowling stated that the Bible quotations in that novel "almost epitomize the whole series. I think they sum up all the themes in the whole series" (reported in Adler).}}</ref><ref name="Falconer2008">{{cite book|last=Falconer|first=Rachel|title=The Crossover Novel: Contemporary Children's Fiction and Its Adult Readership|date=21 October 2008|publisher=[[Routledge]]|language=en|isbn=9781135865016|page=69|quote=These New Testament verses (Matthew 6:19 and 1 Corinthians 15:26) together denote the promise of resurrection through the Son of God's consent to die.52 In interview, Rowling has stressed that these two quotations 'sum up{{snd}}they almost epitomize the whole series'.}}</ref> Rowling also exhibits Christian values in developing Albus Dumbledore as a God-like character, the divine, trusted leader of the series, guiding the long-suffering hero along his quest. In the seventh novel, Harry speaks with and questions the deceased Dumbledore much like a person of faith would talk to and question God.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Cooke |first=Rachel |title=ProQuest Ebook Central |journal=[[The Charleston Advisor]] |doi=10.5260/cca.199425|doi-broken-date=1 November 2024 }} {{subscription required}}</ref>{{Full citation needed|date=August 2024}}
*'''[[Hermione Granger|Hermione Jane Granger]]''': The close friend of Harry Potter and Ron Weasley who is generally held to be the best student of Harry's year. Her high [[intelligence]] and reason-based way of tackling challenges have often been a great asset to Harry and Ron throughout their Hogwarts careers, though her sometimes bossy and interfering manner has at times been a source of contention between them. Her status as a [[Muggle-born]], along with her intelligence and assertive manner, have on occasion made her a prime target for disapproving prejudiced classmates.


== Themes ==
*'''[[Lord Voldemort]]''': The chief series [[antagonist]] and evil wizard bent on securing unmatched power and achieving [[immortality]] through the practice of Dark [[Magic (Harry Potter)|Magic]]. After years of slaughter in pursuit of his goals he met his match when he attempted to kill Harry Potter and failed, being ripped from his body and forced to flee into hiding. So feared was he at the height of his prodigious powers that even following his downfall most wizards feared to speak his name, referring to him instead as "You-Know-Who" or "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named".
[[File:J. K. Rowling 2010.jpg|left|thumb|The novelist, [[J. K. Rowling]] |alt=J.K. Rowling, a blond, blue-eyed woman, who is the author of the series]]


''Harry Potter''{{'s}} overarching theme is death.{{Sfn|Ciaccio|2008|pp=39–40}}{{Sfn|Groves|2017|pp=xxi–xxii, 135–136}} In the first book, when Harry looks into the Mirror of Erised, he feels both joy and "a terrible sadness" at seeing his desire: his parents, alive and with him.{{sfn|Natov|2002|pp= 134–36}} Confronting their loss is central to Harry's character arc and manifests in different ways through the series, such as in his struggles with [[Magical creatures in Harry Potter#Dementors|Dementors]].{{sfn|Natov|2002|pp=134–36}}{{sfn|Taub|Servaty-Seib|2008|pp=23–27}} Other characters in Harry's life die; he even faces his own death in ''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows''.{{Sfn|Pharr|2016|pp=20–21}} The series has an [[existentialism|existential]] perspective—Harry must grow mature enough to accept death.{{Sfn|Los|2008|pp=32–33}} In Harry's world, death is not binary but mutable, a state that exists in degrees.{{Sfn|Stojilkov|2015|p=135}} Unlike Voldemort, who evades death by separating and hiding his soul in seven parts, Harry's soul is whole, nourished by friendship and love.{{Sfn|Los|2008|pp=32–33}}
*'''[[Albus Dumbledore|Professor Albus Dumbledore]]''': Harry's most trusted advisor and headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He is perhaps one of the most respected men in the Wizarding world, holding high ranking positions in both national and international magical government, along with being an accomplished [[alchemist]] and master of an assortment of magical disciplines. He is also said to be the only known sorcerer whom Lord Voldemort ever feared. Despite, or perhaps because of his magical power, intellect, and status in the magical world, Dumbledore often finds himself socially isolated and is as a result, not invulnerable to reckless emotional mistakes.


Love distinguishes Harry and Voldemort. Harry is a hero because he loves others, even willing to accept death to save them; Voldemort is a villain because he does not.{{Sfn|Pharr|2016|pp= 14–15, 20–21}} Harry carries the protection of his mother's sacrifice in his blood; Voldemort, who wants Harry's blood and the protection it carries, does not understand that love vanquishes death.{{Sfn|Farmer|2001|p=58}}
*'''Professor [[Severus Snape]]''': A gifted wizard, Hogwarts staff member, and since his youth, a bitter enemy of [[James Potter]] and Sirius Black. As Hogwarts [[Magical objects in Harry Potter|Potions]] master he sought to exact his revenge on the deceased James Potter by verbally abusing his son Harry. A former spy employed by both Voldemort and Dumbledore, Snape's loyalty is constantly under question though Dumbledore maintains that he unequivocally trusts him for reasons that he has declined to reveal. There are those who still remain sceptical, Harry Potter chief among them.


Rowling has spoken about thematising death and loss in the series. Soon after she started writing ''Philosopher's Stone'', her mother died; she said that "I really think from that moment on, death became a central, if not the central theme of the seven books".{{sfn|Groves|2017|p=138}} Rowling has described Harry as "the prism through which I view death", and further stated that "all of my characters are defined by their attitude to death and the possibility of death".{{sfn|Groves|2017|p=135}}
*'''Professor [[Rubeus Hagrid]]''': Son of a wizard and a [[Minor_Harry_Potter_characters#Fridwulfa|giantess]], he is both surprisingly gentle and nurturing. One of Harry Potter's biggest supporters and most steadfast friends, he is also the Hogwarts [[groundskeeper]] and Professor of [[Care of Magical Creatures]] and it was he who reintroduced Harry back into the magical world. Hagrid also went to school at Hogwarts, but was expelled for reasons explained in the second book.


While ''Harry Potter'' can be viewed as a story about good vs. evil, its moral divisions are not absolute.{{sfn|Shanoes|2003|pp=131–32}}{{sfn|McEvoy|2016|p=207}} First impressions of characters are often misleading. Harry assumes in the first book that Quirrell is on the side of good because he opposes Snape, who appears to be malicious; in reality, Quirrell is an agent of Voldemort, while Snape is loyal to Dumbledore. This pattern later recurs with Moody and Snape.{{sfn|Shanoes|2003|pp= 131–32}} In Rowling's world, good and evil are choices rather than inherent attributes: second chances and the possibility of redemption are key themes of the series.{{sfn|Doughty|2002|pp= 247–49}}{{Sfn|Berberich|2016|p=153}} This is reflected in Harry's self-doubts after learning his connections to Voldemort, such as Parseltongue;{{sfn|Doughty|2002|pp=247–49}} and prominently in Snape's characterisation, which has been described as complex and multifaceted.{{sfn|Birch|2008|pp=110–13}} In some scholars' view, while Rowling's narrative appears on the surface to be about Harry, her focus may actually be on Snape's morality and character arc.{{sfn|Nikolajeva|2016|p=204}}{{sfn|Applebaum|2008|pp=84–85}}
*'''[[Sirius Black]]''': Best friend to James Potter and former rebellious youth who fled his pure-blood supremacist parents' home in his youth. Following the murders of James and Lily he was arrested for involvement in their murders though he later escaped.


Rowling said that, to her, the moral significance of the tales seems "blindingly obvious". In the fourth book, Dumbledore speaks of a "choice between what is right and what is easy"; Rowling views this as a key theme, "because that ... is how tyranny is started, with people being apathetic and taking the easy route and suddenly finding themselves in deep trouble".<ref>{{cite news |first=Wyman |last=Max |title="You can lead a fool to a book but you cannot make them think": Author has frank words for the religious right |newspaper=[[The Vancouver Sun]] |date=26 October 2000 |page=A3 |id={{ProQuest|242655908}}}}</ref>
*'''[[Draco Malfoy]]''': A pure-blood supremacist and member of Slytherin house known for his white-blonde hair and grey eyes, in addition to his sharp tongue that often targets Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger. As Harry and Ron became fast friends, Harry and Draco quickly became enemies, with the two facing off in various confrontations, including Quidditch, on numerous occasions throughout the series. He and his two cronies, [[Vincent Crabbe|Crabbe]] and [[Gregory Goyle|Goyle]], serve as the [[antithesis]] to the main trio.


Academics and journalists have developed many other interpretations of themes in the books, some more complex than others, and some including [[politics of Harry Potter|political subtexts]]. Themes such as [[Normality (behavior)|normality]], oppression, survival, and overcoming imposing odds have all been considered as prevalent throughout the series.<ref name="Greenwald2005">{{cite journal|last1=Greenwald|first1=Janey|title=Understanding Harry Potter: Parallels to the Deaf World|journal=The Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education|volume=10|issue=4|pages=442–450|date=Fall 2005|doi=10.1093/deafed/eni041|pmid=16000691|last2=Greenwald|first2=J |format=Free full text|doi-access=free}}</ref> Similarly, the theme of making one's way through adolescence and "going over one's most harrowing ordeals—and thus coming to terms with them" has also been considered.<ref name="Duffy2002">{{cite journal|last=Duffy|first=Edward|title=Sentences in Harry Potter, Students in Future Writing Classes|journal=Rhetoric Review|volume=21|issue=2|year=2002|page=177|doi=10.1207/S15327981RR2102_03|s2cid=144654506}}</ref> Rowling has stated that the books comprise "a prolonged argument for tolerance, a prolonged plea for an end to [[bigotry]]" and that they also pass on a message to "question authority and... not assume that the establishment or the press tells you all of the truth".<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7053982.stm|title=JK Rowling outs Dumbledore as gay|access-date=21 October 2007|date=21 October 2007|work=BBC News|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071022052510/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7053982.stm|archive-date=22 October 2007|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
{{see|List of characters in the Harry Potter books}}


== Development history ==
==Content and writing style==
{{Main|Harry Potter influences and analogues}}
The books are written in [[Grammatical person|third person]] [[Third person limited omniscient|limited omniscient]] mode, with Harry as the central character. They are generally written from Harry's point of view, with short exceptions in ''Philosopher's Stone'', ''Goblet of Fire'' and ''Half-Blood Prince''. The telling of the story through Harry Potter's perspective is perhaps one of the reasons that many readers feel so close to the character.


In 1990, Rowling was on a crowded train from [[Manchester]] to [[London]] when the idea for Harry suddenly "fell into" her head. Rowling gives an account of the experience on her website saying:<ref name="Harry falls into author's head">{{cite web|publisher=JKRowling.com|url=http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/en/biography.cfm|title=Biography|first= JK |last = Rowling |access-date=21 May 2006|year=2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060421032312/http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/en/biography.cfm <!--Added by H3llBot-->|archive-date=21 April 2006}}</ref>
Rowling's main strengths as a writer include her ability to drive elaborate and largely seamless [[plot]]s over a very wide canvas and to create a [[verisimilitude|convincing internal logic]] of her fantasy world. These are largely accomplished by virtue of her extensive pre-writing for the series' universe, characters, and plot (whose construction she has said to glory in <ref name="J.K. Rowling: The Wizard Behind Harry Potter">{{
cite news
|url=http://www.quick-quote-quill.org/articles/2000/1200-readersdigest-boquet.htm
|publisher=Reader's Digest
|title=J.K. Rowling: The Wizard Behind Harry Potter
|date=December 2000}}</ref>), along with her masterful use of the [[red herring]] to subtly introduce planned characters or objects that will later be of much importance to the book in which it is contained or succeeding books. While these unexpected plot twists are often to the chagrin and bewilderment of unsuspecting readers, they are also to the amelioration of the series, making them seem well crafted and planned rather than cheap and superficial.


{{blockquote|I had been writing almost continuously since the age of six but I had never been so excited about an idea before. I simply sat and thought, for four (delayed train) hours, and all the details bubbled up in my brain, and this scrawny, black-haired, bespectacled boy who did not know he was a wizard became more and more real to me.}}
The series is lent further credibility in Rowling's portrayal of adolescence. While not throughly exploring her characters' sexualities, she does not ignore them either, refusing to leave Harry, as she has said, "stuck in a state of permanent pre-pubescence". Along the same lines is her realistically abrasive approach to evil. According to the author, "Evil is not something you can deal with lightly", and as a result, the consequences of the wizarding world's first war are shown painfully and irreversibly when Harry stands before the [[Mirror of Erised]] and sees his heart's greatest desire — his unreachable, deceased parents. <ref name="Who hasn't met Harry?">{{
cite news
|url=http://www.quick-quote-quill.org/articles/1999/0299-guardian-carey.htm
|publisher=Guardian Unlimited
|title=Who hasn't met Harry?
|date=February 16, 1999}}</ref>


Rowling completed ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'' in 1995 and the [[manuscript]] was sent off to several prospective [[literary agent|agents]].{{sfn|Kirk|2003|p=73}} The second agent she tried, [[Christopher Little]], offered to represent her and sent the manuscript to several publishers.{{sfn|Smith|2002|pp=156, 159–161}}
The series also appears to contain some elements of [[satire]] with Rowling humorously (though often unflatteringly) dealing with celebrity (Gilderoy Lockart, the acclaimed narcissist who, according to Ron, will "sign anything if it stands still long enough"){{HP2}}, tabloid media (Rita Skeeter, whose stories on Harry give Hermione cause to call her a "cow"){{HP4}}, and government (Cornelius Fudge, who, in spite of his short comings, manages to gain magical government's highest post).


=== Publishing history ===
In addition to satire and the believability of the series and its characters, there is much [[morality|moral]] subtlety in many scenes, though the central clash between good and evil is drawn in largely black-and-white terms. Nevertheless, as the series develops, several characters have faced a choice between doing what is right or what is easy (a central theme), and moral "shades of grey" have been presented. This is especially relevant to characters such as [[Dolores Umbridge]], some [[Ministry of Magic]] employees, Draco Malfoy, and Severus Snape.
[[File:Harry Potter wordmark (British).svg|thumb|The logo used in British, Australian, and Canadian editions before 2010, which uses the typeface [[Cochin (typeface)|Cochin Bold]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bloomsbury.com/media/bookseller_image_tandcs.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070710055833/http://www.bloomsbury.com/media/bookseller_image_tandcs.pdf |archive-date=10 July 2007 |title=Harry Potter Books (UK Editions) Terms and Conditions for Use of Images for Book Promotion |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing Plc |date=10 July 2007 |access-date=7 September 2012}}</ref>]]


After twelve other publishers had rejected ''Philosopher's Stone'', [[Bloomsbury Publishing|Bloomsbury]] agreed to publish the book.{{sfn|Smith|2002|pp=159–160}} Despite Rowling's statement that she did not have any particular [[Demographic profile|age group]] in mind when beginning to write the ''Harry Potter'' books, the publishers initially targeted children aged nine to eleven.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.newsobserver.com/308/story/637623.html |title=The magic years |last=Huler |first=Scott |work=The News & Observer |access-date=28 September 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081218170339/http://www.newsobserver.com/308/story/637623.html |archive-date=18 December 2008 }}</ref> On the eve of publishing, Rowling was asked by her publishers to adopt a more [[Epicenity|gender-neutral]] pen name in order to appeal to the male members of this age group, fearing that they would not be interested in reading a novel they knew to be written by a woman. She elected to use J. K. Rowling (Joanne Kathleen Rowling), using her grandmother's name as her second name because she has no [[middle name]].{{sfn|Kirk|2003|p=76}}<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1349288/Harry-Potter-and-the-mystery-of-J-Ks-lost-initial.html|title=Harry Potter and the mystery of J K's lost initial|last=Savill|first=Richard|date=21 June 2001|work=The Daily Telegraph|access-date=27 September 2008|location=London|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081220012350/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1349288/Harry-Potter-and-the-mystery-of-J-Ks-lost-initial.html|archive-date=20 December 2008|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
While ideas of [[racism]], [[genocide]], [[anti-establishment]] and [[prejudice]] are, as J.K. Rowling states, "deeply entrenched in the whole plot", the writer prefers to let themes "grow organically," rather than sitting down and consciously attempting to impart such ideas to her readers.<ref name="Mzimba, Lizo, moderator. Interview with Steve Kloves and J.K. Rowling">{{


''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'' was published by Bloomsbury, the publisher of all ''Harry Potter'' books in the United Kingdom, on 26 June 1997.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/harry-potter-and-the-philosophers-stone-9780747532699/|title=Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|access-date=27 November 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150626181223/http://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/harry-potter-and-the-philosophers-stone-9780747532699/|archive-date=26 June 2015|df=dmy-all}}</ref> It was released in the United States on 1 September 1998 by [[Scholastic Press|Scholastic]]—the American publisher of the books—as ''Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone'',<ref>{{cite news|url= http://www.nypost.com/seven/07022007/news/nationalnews/wild_about_harry_nationalnews_.htm|title=Wild about Harry|publisher=NYP Holdings, Inc.|access-date=27 September 2008 | date=2 July 2007|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090821084927/http://www.nypost.com/seven/07022007/news/nationalnews/wild_about_harry_nationalnews_.htm |archive-date=21 August 2009}}</ref> after the American rights sold for US$105,000—a record amount for a children's book by an unknown author.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/21/business/web21interview.html|title=A Brief Walk Through Time at Scholastic|last=Rozhon|first=Tracie|work=The New York Times|date=21 April 2007|access-date=21 April 2007|page=C3|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090416133919/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/21/business/web21interview.html|archive-date=16 April 2009|df=dmy-all}}</ref> Scholastic feared that American readers would not associate the word "philosopher" with magic, and Rowling suggested the title ''Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone'' for the American market.{{sfn|Errington|2017|p=145}} Rowling has later said that she regrets the change.{{sfn|Whited|2015|pp=75}}
cite news
|url=http://www.quick-quote-quill.org/articles/2003/0302-newsround-mzimba.htm
|publisher= Quick Quotes Quill
|title=Mzimba, Lizo, moderator. Interview with Steve Kloves and J.K. Rowling
|date= February 2003}}</ref>


The second book, ''Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets'', was originally published in the UK on 2 July 1998 and in the US on 2 June 1999. ''Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban'' was published a year later in the UK on 8 July 1999 and in the US on 8 September 1999.<ref name="Harry Potter UK Release Dates">{{cite news|url=https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/article/235354|title=A Potter timeline for muggles|date=14 July 2007|work=Toronto Star|access-date=27 September 2008|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081220001353/http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/article/235354|archive-date=20 December 2008|df=dmy-all}}</ref> ''Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire'' was published on 8 July 2000 at the same time by Bloomsbury and Scholastic.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2000/jul/19/jkjoannekathleenrowling|title=Speed-reading after lights out|date=19 July 2000|publisher=Guardian News and Media Limited|access-date=27 September 2008|location=London|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131231101931/http://www.theguardian.com/books/2000/jul/19/jkjoannekathleenrowling|archive-date=31 December 2013|df=dmy-all}}</ref> ''Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix'' is the longest book in the series, at 766 pages in the UK version and 870 pages in the US version.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/14/business/harry-potter-and-the-internet-pirates.html |title=Harry Potter and the Internet Pirates |work=The New York Times |access-date=21 August 2008 |first=Amy |last=Harmon |date=14 July 2003 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090403074718/http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/14/business/harry-potter-and-the-internet-pirates.html |archive-date=3 April 2009 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> It was published worldwide in English on 21 June 2003.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2003/jan/16/harrypotter.books|title=Harry Potter and the hottest day of summer|last=Cassy|first=John|date=16 January 2003|work=The Guardian|publisher=Guardian News and Media Limited|access-date=27 September 2008|location=London|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131231091101/http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2003/jan/16/harrypotter.books|archive-date=31 December 2013|df=dmy-all}}</ref> ''Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince'' was published on 16 July 2005.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/4113663.stm|title=July date for Harry Potter book|date=21 December 2004|work=BBC News|access-date=27 September 2008|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081229024606/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/4113663.stm|archive-date=29 December 2008|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref name="finale sales">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6912529.stm|title=Harry Potter finale sales hit 11&nbsp;m|work=BBC News|access-date=21 August 2008|date=23 July 2007|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081225034725/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6912529.stm|archive-date=25 December 2008|df=dmy-all}}</ref> The seventh and final novel, ''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows'', was published on 21 July 2007.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6320733.stm|title=Rowling unveils last Potter date|date=1 February 2007|work=BBC News|access-date=27 September 2008|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081228101051/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6320733.stm|archive-date=28 December 2008|df=dmy-all}}</ref> Rowling herself has stated that the last chapter of the final book (in fact, the epilogue) was completed "in something like 1990".<ref name="last chapter">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/5119836.stm|title=Rowling to kill two in final book|work=BBC News|date=27 June 2006|access-date=25 July 2007|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090803133633/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/5119836.stm|archive-date=3 August 2009}}</ref>
===Love===
The theme of love is perhaps the most enduring throughout the series, being portrayed as a powerful form of magic in and of itself. When Lily Potter willfully stepped in front of the curse meant for Harry, her sacrifice put in place an ancient and powerful magic grounded in love. Later in the series, the theme continues when it is revealed to the skeptical Harry that he possesses a "power the Dark Lord knows not," a force that, according to Dumbledore, Voldemort detests: the ability to love. It is Dumbledore's belief that it was this power that allowed Harry to resist Voldemort's temptations of power during their second encounter, prevented Voldemort from being able to possess him during their fifth encounter, and will eventually lead to Voldemort's downfall.{{HP5}} {{HP6}}


Rowling retained rights to digital editions and released them on the Pottermore website in 2012. Vendors such as Amazon displayed the ebooks in the form of links to Pottermore, which controlled pricing.{{sfn|Clark|Phillips|2019|p=47}} All seven ''Harry Potter'' novels have been released in unabridged [[audiobook]] versions, with [[Stephen Fry]] reading the British editions and [[Jim Dale]] voicing the series for the American editions.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Rich |first1=Mokoto |title=The Voice of Harry Potter Can Keep a Secret |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/17/books/17dale.html |work=The New York Times |date=17 July 2007 |access-date=6 September 2019 |archive-date=6 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190906002232/https://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/17/books/17dale.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Harry Potter Audiobooks and E-Books |url=http://www.mugglenet.com/harry-potter/harry-potter-series/audiobooks-and-e-books/ |website=Mugglenet |publisher=Dose Media |access-date=6 September 2019 |archive-date=6 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190906002235/http://www.mugglenet.com/harry-potter/harry-potter-series/audiobooks-and-e-books/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> On [[Audible (service)|Audible]], the series has been listened, as of November 2022, for over a billion hours.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/63794444 |title=Harry Potter: Fans have listened to books for one billion hours |work=BBC Newsround |date=30 November 2022 |access-date=8 February 2023 |archive-date=6 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230206180533/https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/63794444 |url-status=live }}</ref>
Aside from its power, love is also displayed as a central motivating factor for many of the series' more virtuous characters. Lily Potter, Harry, his friends, Dumbledore, and the Order are generally motivated in their opposition to Voldemort by their love for others, contrasting with the motivations of the more morally grey Ministry (see Power & Ambition) and the still more malevolent Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters, who are generally motivated by anger, hate, and individual gain.


===Friendship & loyalty===
=== Translations ===
{{Main|Harry Potter in translation}}
Friendship and loyalty are perhaps the most "organic" of the series' themes. Their main conduit is the relationship between Harry, Ron, and Hermione, which allows these motifs to naturally develop as the three age, their relationship matures, and their accumulated experiences at Hogwarts test their trueness to each other. These ordeals become progressively difficult, keeping in line with the series' increasingly darker tone, and the general nature of adolescence.
[[File:RIAN archive 168852 The seventh book about Harry Potter goes on sale.jpg|thumb|The Russian translation of ''The Deathly Hallows'' goes on sale in [[Moscow]], 2007]]


The series has been translated into more than 80 languages,<ref name="Harry Potter copies">{{cite press release |author=<!--Not stated--> |title=Scholastic Marks 25 Year Anniversary of The Publication of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone |url=http://mediaroom.scholastic.com/press-release/scholastic-marks-25-year-anniversary-publication-jk-rowling-s-harry-potter-and-sorcere |location=New York, New York |publisher=Scholastic |agency= |date=2023-02-06 |access-date=2023-02-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230313054050/http://mediaroom.scholastic.com/press-release/scholastic-marks-25-year-anniversary-publication-jk-rowling-s-harry-potter-and-sorcere|archive-date=13 March 2023|url-status=live}}</ref> placing Rowling among the most translated authors in history. The books have seen translations to diverse languages such as [[Korean language|Korean]], [[Armenian language|Armenian]], [[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]], [[Arabic language|Arabic]], [[Urdu language|Urdu]], [[Hindi language|Hindi]], [[Bengali language|Bengali]], [[Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]], [[Welsh language|Welsh]], [[Afrikaans]], [[Albanian language|Albanian]], [[Latvian language|Latvian]], [[Vietnamese language|Vietnamese]] and [[Hawaiian language|Hawaiian]]. The first volume has been translated into [[Latin]] and even [[Ancient Greek]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~loxias/harry_potter.htm|title=Harry Potter in Greek|last=Wilson|first=Andrew|year=2006|publisher=Andrew Wilson|access-date=28 July 2008|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080621122227/http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~loxias/harry_potter.htm|archive-date=21 June 2008|df=dmy-all}}</ref> making it the longest published work in Ancient Greek since the novels of [[Heliodorus of Emesa]] in the 3rd century AD.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://playalicious.com/reference/news/greek_harry.html |title=Harry Potter? It's All Greek to Me |last=Castle |first=Tim |date=2 December 2004|agency=Reuters |access-date=28 July 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080119214752/http://playalicious.com/reference/news/greek_harry.html |archive-date= 19 January 2008}}</ref> The second volume has also been translated into Latin.<ref>{{cite web|title = Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Latin)|url = http://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/harry-potter-and-the-chamber-of-secrets-latin-9780747588771/|website = Bloomsbury Publishing|access-date = 13 August 2015|first = Skyron|last = LTD|url-status=live|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150905162802/http://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/harry-potter-and-the-chamber-of-secrets-latin-9780747588771/|archive-date = 5 September 2015|df = dmy-all}}</ref>
"The trio" are for the most part portrayed as warm, supportive and quick to come to each other's aid. Though they do, over the course of the series, experience significant falling-outs, they quickly recover, once a greater crisis arises (or becomes apparent, where its obviousness was initially obscured by personal concerns) and the need to respond in unity supercedes the spat. Their mutually supportive and generally warm nature is in stark contrast to the relationship that Draco Malfoy shares with Crabbe and Goyle, who are better described as cronies than as friends. They are commonly portrayed as dim witted and dependent on Malfoy, who in turn uses them mostly for his own purposes. The result is a lack of genuine emotional support, which Malfoy discovers as he struggles through his sixth year at Hogwarts virtually alone. Harry, who has always dealt with his friends on equal terms, never experiences such isolation. Throughout his many trials at Hogwarts, he draws on the support of both Ron and Hermione, and also many more friends including Hagrid, the Weasleys, other Gryffindors, and Albus Dumbledore.


Some of the translators hired to work on the books were well-known authors before their work on ''Harry Potter'', such as [[Viktor Golyshev]], who oversaw the Russian translation of the series' fifth book. The [[Turkish language|Turkish]] translation of books two to seven was undertaken by [[Sevin Okyay]], a popular literary critic and cultural commentator.<ref>{{cite web|title=Not lost in translation: Harry Potter in Turkish |last=Güler |first=Emrah |url=http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=29054|year=2005|work=The Turkish Daily News|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930171135/http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=29054|archive-date=30 September 2007 |access-date =9 May 2007}}</ref> For reasons of secrecy, translation on a given book could only start after it had been released in English, leading to a lag of several months before the translations were available. This led to more and more copies of the English editions being sold to impatient fans in non-English speaking countries; for example, such was the clamour to read ''Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix'' that its English language edition became the first English-language book ever to top the best-seller list in France.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/world/newsid_3036000/3036350.stm|work=BBC News|title=OOTP is best seller in France—in English!|date=1 July 2003|access-date=28 July 2008|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170613202533/http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/world/newsid_3036000/3036350.stm|archive-date=13 June 2017|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
===Prejudice & discrimination===
[[Prejudice]] in the Harry Potter series first begins to be addressed in the earliest chapters of the first book. The Dursleys loathe any and all things abnormal, leading them to shun their magical relatives, the Potters, and abuse their son when he is delivered into their care. As the reader enters her world, J.K. Rowling shows that prejudice continues to exist in the wizarding community, as Harry learns that there are wizards and witches who hate Muggles and view them as inferior because of their lack of magical ability. Furthermore, the magical world utilises a system of designations, Muggle-born, half-blood, and pure-blood, to indicate a wizard's heritage. The more prejudiced within the magical community take these designations a step further, viewing them as a system of ranking to illustrate a wizard's worth, pure-bloods being the preferred sorcerers, and [[Muggle-born]]s (alternatively known by the slur "Mudblood") as the most despised. In addition to prejudices held for fellow humans, there is also a common shunning of non-humans and even part-humans (commonly known by the offensive [[epithet]], "half-breeds").


The United States editions were adapted into [[American English]] to make them more understandable to a young American audience.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.uta.fi/FAST/US1/REF/potter.html |title=Differences in the UK and US Versions of Four Harry Potter Books |date=21 January 2008 |publisher=FAST US-1 |access-date=17 August 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150319041313/http://www15.uta.fi/FAST/US1/REF/potter.html |archive-date=19 March 2015}}</ref>
At every turn, Rowling dispells these prejudicial views of marginalized magical groups. Hermione Granger, the so called "Mudblood", is made to be the brightest young witch at Hogwarts; Hagrid, derided by some as a dangerous "half-breed" for his giant blood, is shown to be a gentle lover of all creatures; half-bloods including Harry Potter, Severus Snape and Voldemort himself (though the theme is made more complex when one considers that Voldemort heads the [[Death Eaters]], an organisation that subscribes to the supremacists' beliefs), are shown to be among the most magically powerful in the wizarding world. The subscribers of prejudiced views are often cast in a negative light, with characters like the [[Dursleys]], [[Lucius Malfoy]], and even Ministry of Magic officials as high as the Minister himself being portrayed as greedy, power-hungry, and at times, incompetent. {{see|Blood purity}}


===Choice===
=== Cover art ===
For cover art, Bloomsbury chose painted art in a classic style of design, with the first cover a watercolour and pencil drawing by illustrator [[Thomas Taylor (artist)|Thomas Taylor]] showing Harry boarding the Hogwarts Express, and a title in the font [[Cochin (typeface)|Cochin Bold]].<ref name="Me and Harry Potter">{{cite web|last1=Taylor|first1=Thomas|title=Me and Harry Potter|url=http://www.thomastaylor-author.com/me-and-harry-potter/|website=Thomas Taylor (author site)|date=26 July 2012|access-date=23 September 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923144627/http://www.thomastaylor-author.com/me-and-harry-potter/|archive-date=23 September 2015|df=dmy-all}}</ref> The first releases of the successive books in the series followed in the same style but somewhat more realistic, illustrating scenes from the books. These covers were created by first [[Cliff Wright (illustrator)|Cliff Wright]] and then Jason Cockroft.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2002/jan/20/books.booksnews|title=Harry Potter beats Austen in sale rooms|last=Thorpe|first=Vanessa|date=20 January 2002|work=The Observer|publisher=Guardian News and Media Limited|access-date=21 November 2010|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140613021140/http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2002/jan/20/books.booksnews|archive-date=13 June 2014|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
One of the most significant recurring themes is that of choice. In ''Chamber of Secrets'', Dumbledore makes perhaps his most famous statement on this issue: "It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."{{HP2}} He confronts the issue again in ''Goblet of Fire'', when he tells Cornelius Fudge that what one grows up to be is far more important than what one is born. {{HP4}}


Due to the appeal of the books among an adult audience, Bloomsbury commissioned a second line of editions in an 'adult' style. These initially used black-and-white photographic art for the covers showing objects from the books (including a very American Hogwarts Express) without depicting people, but later shifted to partial colourisation with a picture of Slytherin's locket on the cover of the final book.{{citation needed|date=June 2021}}
Many pairs of characters with similar backgrounds throughout the series are presented with comparable situations but their choices with respect to handling them distinguishes them from each other, making them foils to one another. Both Sirius Black and Draco Malfoy were born into prejudiced pure-blood families but Black chose to reject his family's ideology, while Malfoy embraced it. Dobby and Winky were both born into slavery as house-elves, but Dobby aspired to freedom while Winky aspired only to servitude. [[Hagrid]] and [[Madame Maxime]] were each born half-giants, but only Hagrid chose to publically and unabashedly embrace his heritage while Madame Maxime chose to hide for fear of what others would think of her, declaring herself to be "big-boned." {{HP4}}


International and later editions have been created by a range of designers, including [[Mary GrandPré]] for US audiences and [[Mika Launis]] in Finland.<ref>Rowling, J.K. ''[[Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows]]''; American edition; [[Scholastic Corporation]]; 2007; Final credits page</ref><ref name=msnbc>{{cite news|agency=Associated Press|title=Illustrator puts a bit of herself on Potter cover: GrandPré feels pressure to create something special with each book|publisher=Today.com|date=8 March 2005|url=https://www.today.com/popculture/illustrator-puts-bit-herself-potter-cover-wbna7127158|access-date=12 February 2007|df=dmy-all|archive-date=7 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200407112748/https://www.today.com/popculture/illustrator-puts-bit-herself-potter-cover-wbna7127158|url-status=live}}</ref> For a later American release, [[Kazu Kibuishi]] created covers in a somewhat anime-influenced style.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://archive.wired.com/geekdad/2013/02/new-harry-potter-covers/ |title=New Harry Potter Covers by Kazu Kibuishi |last=Liu |first=Jonathan H. |date=13 February 2013 |magazine=Wired |access-date=6 July 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150712183204/http://archive.wired.com/geekdad/2013/02/new-harry-potter-covers/ |archive-date=12 July 2015 |df=dmy-all }}</ref><ref name='reading'>{{cite web|url=http://www.reading.org/literacy-daily/literature/post/books/2014/08/15/5-questions-with-kazu-kibuishi-(amulet-series) |title=5 Questions With... Kazu Kibuishi (Amulet series) |last=Hall |first=April |date=15 August 2014 |website=www.reading.org |access-date=6 July 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150418145444/http://reading.org/literacy-daily/literature/post/books/2014/08/15/5-questions-with-kazu-kibuishi-%28amulet-series%29 |archive-date=18 April 2015 }}</ref>
One of the most powerful choices of the series was that presented to Lily Potter the night she died and Voldemort was defeated. After killing her husband, Voldemort ordered her to step aside so that he could dispatch the infant Harry. She refused, stepping in front of the curse meant for her son. Thinking that she was only buying Harry a few more seconds of life, her choice unknowingly gave him a magically powerful protective shield rooted in love that prevented Voldemort from doing him harm, causing Voldemort's curse to backfire.


== Reception ==
As it has been for many characters throughout the series, what Dumbledore termed the "choice between what is right and what is easy" has been a staple of Harry Potter's career at Hogwarts and his choices are among his character's most distinguishing traits from Voldemort's. Both he and Voldemort were orphans raised in difficult environments, in addition to sharing characteristics including, as Dumbledore points out, Voldemort's "own very rare gift, [[Parseltongue]] — resourcefulness, determination" and "a certain disregard for rules".{{HP2}} However, Harry, unlike Voldemort, has consciously elected to embrace friendship, kindness, and love, where Voldemort knowingly chose to reject them.
=== Commercial success ===
{{See also|List of best-selling books}}
[[File:Harry Potter lines.jpg|thumb|left|Crowd outside a book store for the midnight release of ''[[Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince]]''|alt=A large crowd of fans wait outside of a Borders store in Delaware, waiting for the release of ''Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince'']]


The popularity of the ''Harry Potter'' series has translated into substantial financial success for Rowling, her publishers, and other ''Harry Potter'' related license holders. This success has made Rowling the first and thus far only billionaire author.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.forbes.com/2004/02/26/cx_jw_0226rowlingbill04.html|title=J. K. Rowling and the Billion-Dollar Empire|last=Watson|first=Julie|date=26 February 2004|work=Forbes|access-date=3 December 2007|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071211114104/http://www.forbes.com/2004/02/26/cx_jw_0226rowlingbill04.html|archive-date=11 December 2007|df=dmy-all}}</ref> The books have sold more than 600&nbsp;million copies worldwide and have also given rise to the popular [[film adaptation]]s produced by [[Warner Bros. Pictures]], [[List of highest-grossing films|all of which have been highly successful in their own right]].<ref name="boxofficemojo">{{cite web|url=https://boxofficemojo.com/alltime/world/|website=Box Office Mojo|title=All Time Worldwide Box Office Grosses|date=1998–2008|access-date=29 July 2008|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101103063039/http://www.boxofficemojo.com/alltime/world|archive-date=3 November 2010|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref name="Harry Potter copies" /> The total revenue from the book sales is estimated, as of November 2018, to be around $7.7 billion.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Billion Dollar Business Behind 'Harry Potter' Franchise|url=https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/323363|website=entrepreneur|date=18 November 2018|access-date=22 December 2020|archive-date=28 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201028235753/https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/323363|url-status=live}}</ref> The first novel in the series, ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', has sold in excess of 120 million copies, making it one of the bestselling books in history.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Chalton|first1=Nicola|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eF8HDgAAQBAJ&q=philosopher%27s+stone+120+million&pg=PA129|title=20th Century in Bite-Sized Chunks|last2=Macardle|first2=Meredith|date=2017-03-15|publisher=Book Sales|isbn=978-0-7858-3510-3|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2018-09-05|title=Burbank Public Library offering digital copies of first 'Harry Potter' novel to recognize the book's 20th anniversary|url=https://www.latimes.com/socal/burbank-leader/news/tn-blr-me-burbank-library-harry-potter-20180831-story.html|access-date=2020-09-03|website=Burbank Leader|language=en-US|archive-date=9 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201009114803/https://www.latimes.com/socal/burbank-leader/news/tn-blr-me-burbank-library-harry-potter-20180831-story.html/|url-status=live}}</ref> The films have in turn spawned eight video games and have led to the licensing of more than 400 additional ''Harry Potter'' products. The ''Harry Potter'' brand has been estimated to be worth as much as $25&nbsp;billion.<ref name="Time25" />
===Power & ambition===
Rowling often presents morally [[grey]] characters, areas, and situations in the thematic context of [[Power (sociology)|power]] and [[ambition]] (usually in the pursuit of them, though the morally ambiguous character of Severus Snape is an exception). These are in stark contrast to the morals and motivations of Dumbledore and Harry who are often clearly portrayed as virtuous, and those of Voldemort and his Death Eaters, who are for the most part shown as evil (although inalterably bent on securing power and their own ambitions), with rare exceptions.


The great demand for ''Harry Potter'' novels motivated ''[[The New York Times]]'' to create a separate best-seller list for children's literature in 2000, just before the release of ''Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire''. By 24 June 2000, Rowling's novels had been on the list for 79 straight weeks; the first three novels were each on the hardcover best-seller list.<ref name="NYT_2000/06/24">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/06/24/books/the-times-plans-a-children-s-best-seller-list.html|title=The Times Plans a Children's Best-Seller List|last=Smith|first=Dinitia|date=24 June 2000|work=The New York Times|access-date=30 September 2008|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090621233421/http://www.nytimes.com/2000/06/24/books/the-times-plans-a-children-s-best-seller-list.html|archive-date=21 June 2009|df=dmy-all}}</ref> On 12 April 2007, [[Barnes & Noble]] declared that ''Deathly Hallows'' had broken its [[pre-order]] record, with more than 500,000 copies pre-ordered through its site.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.rte.ie/arts/2007/0413/potterh.html|title=New Harry Potter breaks pre-order record|date=13 April 2007|publisher=RTÉ.ie Entertainment|access-date=23 April 2007|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070418090204/http://www.rte.ie/arts/2007/0413/potterh.html|archive-date=18 April 2007|df=dmy-all}}</ref> For the release of ''Goblet of Fire'', 9,000 [[FedEx]] trucks were used with no other purpose than to deliver the book.<ref name=ew-gof-midnight>{{cite magazine |url=https://ew.com/article/2000/07/21/harry-potter-craze/ |title=Wild About Harry|date=21 July 2000 |access-date=26 October 2019 |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |last=Fierman |first=Daniel |quote=When I buy the books for my grandchildren, I have them all gift wrapped but one...that's for me. And I have not been 12 for over 50 years. |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070331142859/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,276735_2,00.html |archive-date=31 March 2007}}</ref> Together, Amazon.com and [[Barnes & Noble]] pre-sold more than 700,000 copies of the book.<ref name=ew-gof-midnight /> In the United States, the book's initial printing run was 3.8&nbsp;million copies.<ref name=ew-gof-midnight /> This record statistic was broken by ''Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix'', with 8.5&nbsp;million, which was then shattered by ''Half-Blood Prince'' with 10.8&nbsp;million copies.<ref name=cnn-hbp>{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/books/07/14/harry.potter/index.html|title=Harry Potter hits midnight frenzy|date=15 July 2005|publisher=CNN|access-date=15 January 2007 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20061221021913/http://www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/books/07/14/harry.potter/index.html |archive-date = 21 December 2006}}</ref> Within the first 24 hours of its release, 6.9&nbsp;million copies of ''Prince'' were sold in the US; in the UK more than two million copies were sold on the first day.<ref name=bbc-hbp-record>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_4700000/newsid_4701400/4701409.stm|title=Worksheet: Half-Blood Prince sets UK record|date=20 July 2005|work=BBC News|access-date=19 January 2007|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070204111225/http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_4700000/newsid_4701400/4701409.stm|archive-date=4 February 2007|df=dmy-all}}</ref> The initial US print run for ''Deathly Hallows'' was 12&nbsp;million copies, and more than a million were pre-ordered through Amazon and Barnes & Noble.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6452987.stm|title=Record print run for final Potter|date=15 March 2007|work=BBC News|access-date=22 May 2007|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070325235438/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6452987.stm|archive-date=25 March 2007|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
Such presentations include the relatively benign character of Professor [[Horace Slughorn]], whose ambitions of influence over students who show promise of future power and prestige often result in the minimisation of those who do not. Darker is the recurring presentation of the Ministry of Magic, whose actions have been shown to blend the needs of the country with the personal needs of high-ranking officials. Action and policy in response to these are acted upon with varying degrees of precedence, sometimes with little regard for [[civil liberties]]. Examples of such Ministry actions include the imprisonment of [[Knight_Bus#Stan_Shunpike|Stan Shunpike]], Rubeus Hagrid and Sirius Black, with little corroboration, no evidence and no trial respectively. All these instances served to either pacify the magical populace of worry and/or bolster the appearance of active officials and the Ministry in general, by giving them the appearance of being focused and engaged. Further seemingly abusive uses of power include the installation of Dolores Umbridge at Hogwarts (first as High Inquisitor, then as a tyrannical Headmistress) in an attempt to undermine Albus Dumbledore, whose frequent proclamations of Lord Voldemort's rebirth in [[Dates_in_Harry_Potter#Timeline_of_the_Harry_Potter_Series|1995]] had caused much distress to the disbelieving wizarding world and Ministry of Magic, led at the time by [[Cornelius Fudge]] who had come to believe Dumbledore to be merely attempting to destabilise him.


Fans of the series were so eager for the latest instalment that bookstores around the world began holding events to coincide with the midnight release of the books, beginning with the 2000 publication of ''Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire''. The events, commonly featuring mock sorting, games, face painting, and other live entertainment have achieved popularity with Potter fans and have been highly successful in attracting fans and selling books with nearly nine million of the 10.8 million initial print copies of ''Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince'' sold in the first 24 hours.<ref name="Harry Potter casts spell at checkouts">{{cite news|url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article545338.ece|work=The Times|title=Harry Potter casts spell at checkouts|date=18 July 2005|access-date=29 July 2008|last=Freeman|first=Simon|location=London|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110615074030/http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article545338.ece|archive-date=15 June 2011|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref name="Potter book smashes sales records">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/4692093.stm|work=BBC News|title=Potter book smashes sales records|date=18 July 2005|access-date=29 July 2008|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081227212208/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/4692093.stm|archive-date=27 December 2008|df=dmy-all}}</ref> The final book in the series, ''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows'' became the fastest selling book in history, moving 11&nbsp;million units in the first twenty-four hours of release.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/23/business/worldbusiness/23iht-potter.4.6789605.html | work=The New York Times | date=23 July 2007 | access-date=30 March 2010 | title='Harry Potter' tale is fastest-selling book in history | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111208091143/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/23/business/worldbusiness/23iht-potter.4.6789605.html | archive-date=8 December 2011 | url-status=live }}</ref> The book sold 2.7&nbsp;million copies in the UK and 8.3&nbsp;million in the US.<ref name="finale sales" /> The series has also gathered adult fans, leading to the release of two editions of each ''Harry Potter'' book, identical in text but with one edition's cover artwork aimed at children and the other aimed at adults.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bloomsbury.com/harrypotter/default.aspx?sec=2 |title=Harry Potter at Bloomsbury Publishing&nbsp;– Adult and Children Covers |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |access-date=18 August 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080828054035/http://www.bloomsbury.com/harrypotter/default.aspx?sec=2 |archive-date=28 August 2008 }}</ref>
==Influences==
<!-- FAIR USE of Image:Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.jpg:see image description page at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Harry_Potter_and_the_Order_of_the_Phoenix.jpg for rationale -->
[[Image:Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.jpg|thumb|Series' mythological influences as seen on the cover of ''Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix'']]
Rowling has stated that while there are a number of writers she "admires", it is more accurate to say that they represent an "untouchable ideal" to her, rather than an influence, as she doesn't "analyze" her "own writing in that way". <ref name="J.K. Rowling: On Setting Priorities - J.K Rowling discusses her influences, secrets about Harry Potter, and how she makes writing a priority">{{


{| class="wikitable"
cite news
|+
|url=http://www.quick-quote-quill.org/articles/2000/0200-writersdigest-crawford.htm
!Book
|publisher=Writer's Digest
!Sales<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-10-19 |title=Harry Potter books stats and facts |publisher=WordsRated |url=https://wordsrated.com/harry-potter-stats/ |access-date=2023-06-11 |language=en-US |archive-date=15 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230515153907/https://wordsrated.com/harry-potter-stats/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
|title=J.K. Rowling: On Setting Priorities — J.K Rowling discusses her influences, secrets about Harry Potter, and how she makes writing a priority
|-
|date=February 2000
|''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone''
}}</ref> Despite this, Rowling's Potter books draw upon a long tradition of [[boarding school]]-set [[children's literature]] in English, a [[school story]] genre originated in the [[Victorian era]] with ''[[Tom Brown's Schooldays]]'' by [[Thomas Hughes]]. Further seemingly influential works of the Victorian era include those of [[E. Nesbit]], of whom Rowling has frequently characterised herself as being a fan of, praising Nesbit for her innovative "very real" child characters.
|120 million
<ref name="Edinburgh Book Festival">{{
|-
|''Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets''
|77 million
|-
|''Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban''
|65 million
|-
|''Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire''
|65 million
|-
|''Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix''
|65 million
|-
|''Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince''
|65 million
|-
|''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows''
|65 million
|}


=== Literary criticism ===
cite news
Early in its history, ''Harry Potter'' received positive reviews. On publication, the first book, ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', attracted attention from the Scottish newspapers, such as ''[[The Scotsman]]'', which said it had "all the makings of a classic",<ref name="newspaper-reviews-hp-ps">{{harvnb|Eccleshare|2002|p=10}}</ref> and ''[[The Herald (Glasgow)|The Glasgow Herald]]'', which called it "Magic stuff".<ref name="newspaper-reviews-hp-ps" /> Soon the English newspapers joined in, with ''[[The Sunday Times]]'' comparing it to [[Roald Dahl]]'s work ("comparisons to Dahl are, this time, justified"),<ref name="newspaper-reviews-hp-ps" /> while ''[[The Guardian]]'' called it "a richly textured novel given lift-off by an inventive wit".<ref name="newspaper-reviews-hp-ps" />
|url=http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/en/news_view.cfm?id=80
|publisher=J.K.Rowling.com
|title=Edinburgh Book Festival
|date=August 15, 2004
}}</ref>


By the time of the release of the fifth book, ''Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,'' the books began to receive strong criticism from a number of literary scholars. Yale professor, literary scholar, and critic [[Harold Bloom]] raised criticisms of the books' literary merits, saying, "Rowling's mind is so governed by clichés and dead metaphors that she has no other style of writing."<ref>{{cite news|work=The Boston Globe|date=24 September 2003|url=https://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2003/09/24/dumbing_down_american_readers/|title=Dumbing down American readers|first=Harold|last=Bloom|access-date=20 June 2006|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060617015302/http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2003/09/24/dumbing_down_american_readers/|archive-date=17 June 2006|df=dmy-all}}</ref> [[A. S. Byatt]] authored an op-ed article in ''The New York Times'' calling Rowling's universe a "secondary secondary world, made up of intelligently patchworked derivative motifs from all sorts of children's literature&nbsp;... written for people whose imaginative lives are confined to TV cartoons, and the exaggerated (more exciting, not threatening) mirror-worlds of soaps, reality TV and celebrity gossip."<ref name="Harry Potter and the Childish Adult">{{cite news|work=The New York Times|title=Harry Potter and the Childish Adult|date=7 July 2003|access-date=1 August 2008|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/07/opinion/harry-potter-and-the-childish-adult.html|first=A. S.|last=Byatt|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090417131152/http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/07/opinion/harry-potter-and-the-childish-adult.html|archive-date=17 April 2009|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
More controversial has been the alleged influence of [[J.R.R. Tolkien]] on Rowling. While Tolkienian scholar [[Thomas Shippey]] has maintained that no "modern writer of epic fantasy has managed to escape the mark of Tolkien, no matter how hard many of them have tried", Rowling has maintained that in the most meaningful of ways, she has (see criticism).<ref>{{cite book|last=Thomas, Shippey|title=J. R. R. Tolkien: Author of the Century| year=2000|publisher=Harper Collins}}</ref> Less controversial is the clearer influence of more general, less author-specific elements of the series such as classical [[Mythology|myth]] and [[legend]]. Such influences as these are most often seen in Rowling's selection and creation of the creatures that inhabit her universe, e.g., [[dragons]], the [[phoenix]], and [[Hippogriff |Hippogriffs]]. In addition to this is the influence of [[astronomy]], [[history]], [[geography]], and language (especially [[Latin]]), often seen in Rowling's careful naming of characters, places, and magic in the wizarding world.


[[Michael Rosen]], a novelist and poet, held the opinion that the books were not suited for children, as they would be unable to grasp the complex themes. Rosen also stated that "J. K. Rowling is more of an adult writer."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article3958599.ece|work=The Times|title=Harry Potter 'is too boring and grown-up for young readers'|date=19 May 2008|access-date=15 January 2011|last=Sweeney|first=Charlene|location=London|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110615234710/http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article3958599.ece|archive-date=15 June 2011|df=dmy-all}}</ref> The critic [[Anthony Holden]] wrote in ''[[The Observer]]'' on his experience of judging ''[[Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban]]'' for the [[1999 Whitbread Awards]]. His overall view of the series was negative—"the Potter saga was essentially patronising, conservative, highly derivative, dispiritingly nostalgic for a bygone Britain", and he speaks of "a pedestrian, ungrammatical prose style".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2000/jun/25/booksforchildrenandteenagers.guardianchildrensfictionprize2000|work=The Observer|title=Why Harry Potter does not cast a spell over me|date=25 June 2000|access-date=1 August 2008|last=Holden|first=Anthony|location=London|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130824155219/http://www.theguardian.com/books/2000/jun/25/booksforchildrenandteenagers.guardianchildrensfictionprize2000|archive-date=24 August 2013|df=dmy-all}}</ref> [[Ursula K. Le Guin]] said, "I have no great opinion of it [...] it seemed a lively kid's fantasy crossed with a '[[school novel]],' good fare for its age group, but stylistically ordinary, imaginatively derivative, and ethically rather mean-spirited."<ref>{{cite news|title=Chronicles of Earthsea|work=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2004/feb/09/sciencefictionfantasyandhorror.ursulakleguin|access-date=2 October 2009|location=London|date=9 February 2004|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131002164434/http://www.theguardian.com/books/2004/feb/09/sciencefictionfantasyandhorror.ursulakleguin|archive-date=2 October 2013|df=dmy-all}}</ref> By contrast, author [[Fay Weldon]], while admitting that the series is "not what the poets hoped for", nevertheless goes on to say, "but this is not poetry, it is readable, saleable, everyday, useful prose".<ref name="Rowling books 'for people with stunted imaginations'">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2003/jul/11/books.harrypotter|work=The Guardian|title=Rowling books 'for people with stunted imaginations'|date=11 July 2003|access-date=1 August 2008|last=Allison|first=Rebecca|location=London|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140518003516/http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2003/jul/11/books.harrypotter|archive-date=18 May 2014|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
==Criticism==
While it is arguable that the archetypical familiarity of the stories contributed to their rapid elevation to [[classic]] status, critics of the Harry Potter stories are quick to argue that they lack originality, frequently pointing to its shared content with the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. Such content includes Tolkien's [[Wormtongue]] and Rowling's [[Wormtail]], Rowling's [[Dementors]] and Tolkien's [[Nazgûl]], and similarities between both authors' antagonists, Tolkien's [[Sauron]] and Rowling's [[Lord Voldemort]] (both of whom are sometimes within their respective continuties unnamed due to intense fear surrounding their names).<ref name="How Much Was Rowling Inspired by Tolkien?">{{


The literary critic A. N. Wilson praised the ''Harry Potter'' series in ''[[The Times]]'', stating, "There are not many writers who have JK's [[Dickensian]] ability to make us turn the pages, to weep—openly, with tears splashing—and a few pages later to laugh, at invariably good jokes&nbsp;... We have lived through a decade in which we have followed the publication of the liveliest, funniest, scariest and most moving children's stories ever written."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/children/article2139573.ece|title=Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling|last=Wilson|first=A. N.|date=29 July 2007|work=The Times|access-date=28 September 2008|location=London|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080706162943/http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/children/article2139573.ece|archive-date=6 July 2008|df=dmy-all}}</ref> Charles Taylor of [[Salon.com]], who is primarily a movie critic,<ref>{{cite news|year=2000 |work=Salon.com |url=http://www.salon.com/col/bios/tayl/index.html |title=Salon Columnist |access-date=3 August 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080616165227/http://www.salon.com/col/bios/tayl/index.html |archive-date=16 June 2008 }}</ref> took issue with Byatt's criticisms in particular. While he conceded that she may have "a valid cultural point—a teeny one—about the impulses that drive us to reassuring pop trash and away from the troubling complexities of art",<ref name="A.S. Byatt and the goblet of bile" /> he rejected her claims that the series is lacking in serious [[literary merit]] and that it owes its success merely to the childhood reassurances it offers.<ref name="A.S. Byatt and the goblet of bile">{{cite news|title=A. S. Byatt and the goblet of bile |url=http://archive.salon.com/books/feature/2003/07/08/byatt_rowling/index.html |work=Salon.com |date=8 July 2003 |access-date=3 August 2008 |first=Charles |last=Taylor |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080616143458/http://archive.salon.com/books/feature/2003/07/08/byatt_rowling/index.html |archive-date=16 June 2008 }}</ref> [[Stephen King]] called the series "a feat of which only a superior imagination is capable", and declared "Rowling's punning, one-eyebrow-cocked sense of humor" to be "remarkable". However, he wrote that he is "a little tired of discovering Harry at home with his horrible aunt and uncle", the formulaic beginning of all seven books.<ref name="Wild About Harry" /><ref>{{cite news| work=The Guardian| url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2006/dec/31/harrypotter.jkjoannekathleenrowling| title=JK Rowling: The mistress of all she surveys| first=Killian| last=Fox| date=31 December 2006| access-date=10 February 2007| location=London| url-status=live| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140928204220/http://www.theguardian.com/books/2006/dec/31/harrypotter.jkjoannekathleenrowling| archive-date=28 September 2014| df=dmy-all}}</ref>
cite news
|url=http://greenbooks.theonering.net/guest/files/050102.html
|Caroline Monroe
|publisher=GreenBooks.TheOneRing.net
|title=How Much Was Rowling Inspired by Tolkien?
|date=
}}</ref> Rowling maintains that she hadn't read ''[[The Hobbit]]'' until after she completed the first Harry Potter novel (though she had read ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' as a teenager) and that any similarities between her books and Tolkien's are "fairly superficial".<ref name="About the Books: transcript of J.K. Rowling's live interview on Scholastic.com">{{


Sameer Rahim of ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'' disagreed, saying "It depresses me to see 16- and 17-year-olds reading the series when they could be reading the great novels of childhood such as ''[[Oliver Twist]]'' or ''[[A House for Mr Biswas]]''."<ref>{{cite news| work=The Telegraph| url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/9202484/The-Casual-Vacancy-why-Im-dreading-JK-Rowlings-adult-novel.html| title=The Casual Vacancy: why I'm dreading JK Rowling's adult novel| first=Sameer| last=Rahim| date=13 April 2012| access-date=28 March 2017| location=London| url-status=live| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180102191526/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/9202484/The-Casual-Vacancy-why-Im-dreading-JK-Rowlings-adult-novel.html| archive-date=2 January 2018| df=dmy-all}}</ref> ''[[The Washington Post]]'' book critic [[Ron Charles (critic)|Ron Charles]] opined in July 2007 that "through no fault of Rowling's", the cultural and marketing "hysteria" marked by the publication of the later books "trains children and adults to expect the roar of the coliseum, a mass-media experience that no other novel can possibly provide".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/13/AR2007071301730_pf.html|title=Harry Potter and the Death of Reading|date=15 July 2007|last=Charles|first=Ron|access-date=16 April 2008|newspaper=The Washington Post|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080725212731/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/13/AR2007071301730_pf.html|archive-date=25 July 2008|df=dmy-all}}</ref> Jenny Sawyer wrote in ''[[The Christian Science Monitor]]'' on 25 July 2007 that Harry Potter neither faces a "moral struggle" nor undergoes any ethical growth and is thus "no guide in circumstances in which right and wrong are anything less than black and white".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0725/p09s02-coop.html|title=Missing from 'Harry Potter"&nbsp;– a real moral struggle|last=Sawyer|first=Jenny|access-date=16 April 2008|work=[[The Christian Science Monitor]]|date=25 July 2007|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927193238/http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0725/p09s02-coop.html|archive-date=27 September 2007|df=dmy-all}}</ref> In contrast Emily Griesinger described Harry's first passage through to [[Places in Harry Potter#Platform Nine and Three-Quarters|Platform {{frac|9|3|4}}]] as an application of faith and hope, and his encounter with the [[Sorting Hat]] as the first of many in which Harry is shaped by the choices he makes.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Griesinger |first=E. |year=2002 |title=Harry Potter and the "deeper magic": narrating hope in children's literature |journal=Christianity and Literature |volume=51 |issue=3 |pages=455–480 |doi=10.1177/014833310205100308 }}</ref>
cite news
|url=http://www.quick-quote-quill.org/articles/2000/1000-scholastic-chat.htm
|publisher=Scholastic.com
|title=About the Books: transcript of J.K. Rowling's live interview on Scholastic.com
|date=October 2000
}}</ref>


In an 8 November 2002, ''[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]]'' article, Chris Suellentrop likened Potter to a "trust-fund kid whose success at school is largely attributable to the gifts his friends and relatives lavish upon him".<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.slate.com/?id=2073627 | title=Harry Potter: Fraud | last=Suellentrop | first=Chris | access-date=16 April 2008 | work=[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]] | date=8 November 2002 | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080327002437/http://www.slate.com/?id=2073627 | archive-date=27 March 2008 | df=dmy-all }}</ref> In a 12 August 2007 review of ''Deathly Hallows'' in ''The New York Times'', however, [[Christopher Hitchens]] praised Rowling for "unmooring" her "English school story" from literary precedents "bound up with dreams of wealth and class and snobbery", arguing that she had instead created "a world of youthful democracy and diversity".<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/12/books/review/Hitchens-t.html| title=The Boy Who Lived| last=Hitchens| first=Christopher| access-date=1 April 2008| newspaper=The New York Times| author-link=Christopher Hitchens| date=12 August 2007| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090416024446/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/12/books/review/Hitchens-t.html| archive-date=16 April 2009| url-status=live}}</ref>
Critic [[A.S. Byatt]] went even further in attacking the perceived lack of originality of the series following the release of the fifth book in 2003, when she called Rowling's world a "secondary [[Fictional universe|secondary world]], made up of intelligently patchworked derivative motifs from all sorts of children's literature [...] written for people whose imaginative lives are confined to TV cartoons, and the exaggerated (more exciting, not threatening) mirror-worlds of soaps, reality TV and celebrity gossip". Byatt went on to say that readers' deference to this "derivative manipulation of past motifs" is for adult readers driven by a desire to regress to their "own childish desires and hopes" and for younger readers, "the powerful working of the fantasy of escape and empowerment, combined with the fact that the stories are comfortable, funny, just frightening enough". The end result being the levelling "of cultural studies, which are as interested in hype and popularity as they are in literary merit".<ref name="Harry Potter and the Childish Adult">{{
In 2016, an article written by [[Diana Mutz|Diana C. Mutz]] compared the politics of Harry Potter to the 2016 Donald Trump presidential campaign. She suggests that these themes are also present in the presidential election and it may play a significant role in how Americans have responded to the campaign.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=C. Mutz|first=Diana|year=2016|title=Harry Potter and the Deathly Donald|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/ps-political-science-and-politics/article/harry-potter-and-the-deathly-donald/84B3BED39ACA703DC7B8BE2D5486B185/core-reader|journal=Elections in Focus|volume=49|access-date=29 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180921153343/https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/ps-political-science-and-politics/article/harry-potter-and-the-deathly-donald/84B3BED39ACA703DC7B8BE2D5486B185/core-reader|archive-date=21 September 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>


There is ongoing discussion regarding the extent to which the series was inspired by [[J. R. R. Tolkien|Tolkien]]'s ''Lord of the Rings'' books.<ref>Wetherill, Louise. "Harry Potter: Merely Frodo Baggins with a Wand?", in ''Ampthill Literary Festival Yearbook 2015''. Ampthill: Literary Festival Committee, 2015. {{ISBN|978-1-5175506-8-4}}, pp. 85–92.</ref>
cite news
|publisher=New York Times
|title=Harry Potter and the Childish Adult
|date=July 7, 2003


=== Thematic critique ===
}}</ref>
<!-- This section heading is linked above in the Religion, wealth and remarriage section-->
The portrayal of women in ''Harry Potter'' has been described as complex and varied, but nonetheless conforming to stereotypical and [[patriarchal]] depictions of gender.<ref>{{Harvnb|Heilman|Donaldson|2008|pp=139–41}}; {{Harvnb|Pugh|Wallace|2006}}; {{Harvnb|Eberhardt|2017}}.</ref> Gender divides are ostensibly absent in the books: Hogwarts is [[Mixed-sex education|coeducational]] and women hold positions of power in wizarding society. However, this setting obscures the typecasting of female characters and the general depiction of conventional gender roles.{{sfn|Pugh|Wallace|2006}} According to scholars Elizabeth Heilman and Trevor Donaldson, the subordination of female characters goes further early in the series. The final three books "showcase richer roles and more powerful females": for instance, the series' "most matriarchal character", Molly Weasley, engages substantially in the final battle of ''Deathly Hallows'', while other women are shown as leaders.{{sfn|Heilman|Donaldson|2008|pp=139–41}} Hermione Granger, in particular, becomes an active and independent character essential to the protagonists' battle against evil.{{sfn|Berents|2012|pp= 144–49}} Yet, even particularly capable female characters such as Hermione and [[Minerva McGonagall]] are placed in supporting roles,{{sfn|Heilman|Donaldson|2008|pp= 142–47}} and Hermione's status as a feminist model is debated.{{sfn|Bell|Alexander|2012|pp=1–8}} Girls and women are more frequently shown as emotional, more often defined by their appearance, and less often given agency in family settings.{{sfn|Pugh|Wallace|2006}}{{sfn|Heilman|Donaldson|2008|pp=149–55}}


The social hierarchy of wizards in Rowling's world has drawn debate among critics. "Purebloods" have two wizard parents; "half-bloods" have one; and "Muggle-born" wizards have magical abilities, although neither of their parents is a wizard.{{Sfn|Barratt|2012|p=64}} Lord Voldemort and his followers believe that blood purity is paramount and that Muggles are subhuman.{{Sfn|Barratt|2012|pp=63, 67}} According to the literary scholar Andrew Blake, ''Harry Potter'' rejects blood purity as a basis for social division;{{Sfn|Blake|2002|p=103}} Suman Gupta agrees that Voldemort's philosophy represents "absolute evil";{{sfn|Gupta|2009|p=104}} and Nel and Eccleshare agree that advocates of racial or blood-based hierarchies are antagonists.{{Sfn|Nel|2001|p=44}}{{Sfn|Eccleshare|2002|p=78}} Gupta, following Blake,{{Sfn|Gupta|2009|p=105}} suggests that the essential superiority of wizards over Muggles—wizards can use magic and Muggles cannot—means that the books cannot coherently reject anti-Muggle prejudice by appealing to equality between wizards and Muggles. Rather, according to Gupta, ''Harry Potter'' models a form of tolerance based on the "charity and altruism of those belonging to superior races" towards lesser races.{{sfn|Gupta|2009|pp=108–10}}
Some critics were in agreement with Byatt. [[Fay Weldon]] said, "She is absolutely right that it is not what the poets hoped for, but this is not poetry, it is readable, saleable, everyday, useful prose." <ref name="Rowling books 'for people with stunted imaginations'">{{


''Harry Potter's''{{'s}} depiction of race, specifically the slavery of [[house-elves]], has received varied responses. Scholars such as [[Brycchan Carey]] have praised the books' [[abolitionist]] sentiments, viewing Hermione's [[Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare]] as a model for younger readers' political engagement.{{sfn|Carey|2003|pp=105–107, 114}}{{sfn|Horne|2010|p=76}} Other critics including [[Farah Mendlesohn]] find the portrayal of house-elves "most difficult to accept": the elves are denied the right to free themselves and rely on the benevolence of others like Hermione.{{sfn|Mendlesohn|2002|pp=178–181}}{{sfn|Horne|2010|p=81}} Pharr terms the house-elves a disharmonious element in the series, writing that Rowling leaves their fate hanging;{{sfn|Pharr|2016|pp=12–13}} at the end of ''Deathly Hallows'', the elves remain enslaved and cheerful.{{sfn|Barratt|2012|p=52}} The goblins of the world of Harry Potter have also received criticism for following antisemitic caricatures{{snd}}particularly for their grotesque "hook-nosed" portrayal in the films, an appearance associated with [[Jewish stereotypes]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Levy |first=Marianne |title=Is this picture of Harry Potter's goblin bankers offensive? |url=https://www.thejc.com/comment/comment/harry-potter-is-gringotts-picture-antisemitic-1.482785 |website=The Jewish Chronicle |access-date=30 September 2022 |archive-date=30 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220930030859/https://www.thejc.com/comment/comment/harry-potter-is-gringotts-picture-antisemitic-1.482785 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Richer |first=Stephen |title=Debunking the Harry Potter Antisemitism Myth |url=https://momentmag.com/debunking-the-harry-potter-anti-semitism-myth/ |website=Moment Magazine |access-date=30 September 2022 |date=14 July 2011 |archive-date=27 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221127175405/https://momentmag.com/debunking-the-harry-potter-anti-semitism-myth/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Berlatsky |first=Noah |title=Opinion {{!}} Why most people still miss these antisemitic tropes in "Harry Potter" |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/j-k-rowling-s-harry-potter-goblins-echo-jewish-caricatures-ncna1287043 |website=NBC News |date=6 January 2022 |access-date=30 September 2022 |language=en |archive-date=28 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220328185424/https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/j-k-rowling-s-harry-potter-goblins-echo-jewish-caricatures-ncna1287043 |url-status=live }}</ref>
cite news
|url=http://books.guardian.co.uk/harrypotter/story/0,,996243,00.html
|publisher=The Guardian
|title=Rowling books 'for people with stunted imaginations'
|date=July 11, 2003


=== Controversies ===
}}</ref>
{{Main|Legal disputes over the Harry Potter series|Religious debates over the Harry Potter series|Politics of Harry Potter|Tanya Grotter}}


The books have been the subject of a number of [[Lawsuit|legal proceedings]], stemming from various conflicts over copyright and trademark infringements. The popularity and high [[market value]] of the series has led Rowling, her publishers, and film distributor [[Warner Bros.]] to take legal measures to protect their copyright, which have included banning the sale of ''Harry Potter'' imitations, targeting the owners of websites over the "Harry Potter" [[domain name]], and suing author [[Nancy Stouffer]] to counter her accusations that Rowling had plagiarised her work.<ref>{{cite web|title=Scholastic Inc, J.K. Rowling and Time Warner Entertainment Company, L.P, Plaintiffs/Counterclaim Defendants, -against- Nancy Stouffer: United States District Court for the Southern District of New York|url=http://www.eyrie.org/~robotech/stouffer.htm|date=17 September 2002|access-date=12 June 2007|publisher=ICQ|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070607163634/http://www.eyrie.org/~robotech/stouffer.htm|archive-date=7 June 2007|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Warner Brothers bullying ruins Field family Xmas|last=McCarthy|first=Kieren|url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2000/12/21/warner_brothers_bullying_ruins_field/|year=2000|work=The Register|access-date=3 May 2007|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151103090134/http://www.theregister.co.uk/2000/12/21/warner_brothers_bullying_ruins_field/|archive-date=3 November 2015|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/film/2092661.stm|work=BBC News|title=Fake Harry Potter novel hits China|date=4 July 2002|access-date=11 March 2007|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070901094955/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/film/2092661.stm|archive-date=1 September 2007|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
Others, like Charles Taylor of [[Salon|Salon.com]], responded to Byatt by conceding that she may have "a valid cultural point — a teeny one — about the impulses that drive us to reassuring pop trash and away from the troubling complexities of art", but rejecting her claim that the series is lacking in serious literary merit, owing its success merely to the childhood reassurances it offers, stressing the progressively darker tone of the books filled with the discomfort of scenes including the murder of a classmate and close friend and the resulting psychological wounds and social isolation each causes. Taylor also points out that discomforting scenes disruptive to the childhood reassurances Byatt claims spurs the series' success are present in ''Philosopher's Stone'' (said to be the lightest of the six published books, citing "the devastating scene where Harry encounters a mirror that reveals the heart's truest desire and, looking into it, sees himself happy and smiling with the parents he never knew, a vision that lasts only as long as he looks into the glass, and a metaphor for how fleeting our moments of real happiness are", then asking rhetorically if "this is Byatt's idea of reassurance?" Taylor concludes that Rowling's success among children and adults is "because J.K. Rowling is a master of narrative". <ref name="A.S. Byatt and the goblet of bile">{{


Various religious fundamentalists have claimed that the books promote witchcraft and religions such as [[Wicca]] and are therefore unsuitable for children,<ref>O'Kane, Caitlin. [https://www.cbsnews.com/news/harry-potter-books-banned-nashville-catholic-school-bans-series-read-by-a-human-being-risk-conjuring-evil-spirits/ Nashville school bans "Harry Potter" series, citing risk of "conjuring evil spirits"]. [[CBS News]]. Retrieved on 3 September 2019. "Rev. Reehil believes, 'The curses and spells used in the books are actual curses and spells; which when read by a human being risk conjuring evil spirits into the presence of the person reading the text.' It is unclear if the movies have been banned, since they don't require children to read spells." Archived from the [https://web.archive.org/web/20190903050657/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/harry-potter-books-banned-nashville-catholic-school-bans-series-read-by-a-human-being-risk-conjuring-evil-spirits/ original]</ref><ref>Anatol, Giselle Liza (2003). ''Reading Harry Potter: Critical Essays''. p. 54.</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/12052212/Religious-parents-want-Harry-Potter-banned-from-the-classroom-because-it-glorifies-witchcraft.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220110/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/12052212/Religious-parents-want-Harry-Potter-banned-from-the-classroom-because-it-glorifies-witchcraft.html |archive-date=10 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Religious parents want Harry Potter banned from the classroom because it 'glorifies witchcraft'|first=Javier|last=Espinoza|date=16 December 2015|via=The Telegraph }}{{cbignore}}</ref> while a number of critics have criticised the books for promoting various political agendas.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Tolkien's Timeless Tale |last=Bonta |first=Steve |magazine=The New American |date=28 January 2002 |volume=18 |issue=2}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/rod_liddle/article2116237.ece|title=Hogwarts is a winner because boys will be sexist neocon boys|last=Liddle|first=Rod|date=21 July 2007|work=The Times|access-date=17 August 2008|location=London|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100604212652/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/rod_liddle/article2116237.ece|archive-date=4 June 2010|df=dmy-all}}</ref> The series has landed the [[American Library Association]]s' Top 10 Banned Book List in 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2019 with claims it was anti-family, discussed magic and witchcraft, contained actual spells and curses, referenced the occult/Satanism, violence, and had characters who used "nefarious means" to attain goals, as well as conflicts with religious viewpoints.<ref>{{Cite web|last=American Library Association|date=26 March 2013|title=Top 10 Most Challenged Books Lists|url=http://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/top10|access-date=2021-03-05|website=Advocacy, Legislation & Issues|language=en|archive-date=24 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170724195723/http://www.ala.org/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/top10|url-status=live}}</ref>
cite news
|url=http://archive.salon.com/books/feature/2003/07/08/byatt_rowling/index_np.html
|publisher=Salon.com
|title=A.S. Byatt and the goblet of bile
|date=July 8, 2003


The books also aroused controversies in the literary and publishing worlds. From 1997 to 1998, ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'' won almost all the United Kingdom awards judged by children, but none of the children's book awards judged by adults,{{sfn|Eccleshare|2002|pp=7–14}} and Sandra Beckett suggested the reason was [[intellectual snobbery]] towards books that were popular among children.<ref name="Beckett2008Crossover" /> In 1999, the winner of the [[Whitbread Book Award|Whitbread Book of the Year award]] children's division was entered for the first time on the shortlist for the main award, and one judge threatened to resign if ''Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban'' was declared the overall winner; it finished second, very close behind the winner of the poetry prize, [[Seamus Heaney]]'s translation of the [[Anglo-Saxon]] epic ''[[Beowulf]]''.<ref name="Beckett2008Crossover">{{cite book|last=Beckett|first=S.L.|title=Crossover Fiction|publisher=Taylor & Francis|year=2008|pages=112–115|chapter=Child-to-Adult Crossover Fiction|isbn=978-0-415-98033-3|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9ipnQ2ryU7IC&q=%22Harry+Potter+and+the+Philosopher%27s+Stone%22+book+sales+bestseller&pg=PA114|access-date=16 May 2009|archive-date=16 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230316064618/https://books.google.com/books?id=9ipnQ2ryU7IC&q=%22Harry+Potter+and+the+Philosopher%27s+Stone%22+book+sales+bestseller&pg=PA114|url-status=live}}</ref>
}}</ref>


In 2000, shortly before the publication of ''[[Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire]]'', the previous three ''Harry Potter'' books topped ''The New York Times'' fiction best-seller list and a third of the entries were children's books. The newspaper created a new children's section covering children's books, including both fiction and non-fiction, and initially counting only hardback sales. The move was supported by publishers and booksellers.<ref name="NYT_2000/06/24" /> In 2004, ''The New York Times'' further split the children's list, which was still dominated by ''Harry Potter'' books, into sections for series and individual books and removed the ''Harry Potter'' books from the section for individual books.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://papercuts.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/05/01/ten-years-later-harry-potter-vanishes-from-the-best-seller-list/|title=Ten Years Later, Harry Potter Vanishes From the Best-Seller List|last=Garner|first=D.|date=1 May 2008|work=The New York Times|access-date=16 May 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090210215250/http://papercuts.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/05/01/ten-years-later-harry-potter-vanishes-from-the-best-seller-list/|archive-date=10 February 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref> The split in 2000 attracted condemnation, praise and some comments that presented both benefits and disadvantages of the move.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://archive.salon.com/mwt/feature/2000/08/16/bestseller/index.html |title=A list of their own |last=Bolonik |first=K. |date=16 August 2000 |work=Salon.com |access-date=16 May 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090504135643/http://archive.salon.com/mwt/feature/2000/08/16/bestseller/index.html |archive-date=4 May 2009 }}</ref> ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' suggested that, on the same principle, ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' should have created a separate "[[mop-top]]s" list in 1964 when [[The Beatles]] held the top five places in its list, and [[Nielsen Media Research|Nielsen]] should have created a separate game-show list when ''[[Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?]]'' dominated the [[Nielsen ratings|ratings]].<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Corliss|first=R.|date=21 July 2000|title=Why 'Harry Potter' Did a Harry Houdini|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|url=http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,50554,00.html|access-date=16 May 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100310173814/http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,50554,00.html|archive-date=10 March 2010|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
Other critics, like [[Stephen King]], concurred with Taylor calling the series "a feat of which only a superior imagination is capable", along with declaring "Rowling's punning, one-eyebrow-cocked sense of humour" to be "remarkable". However, he does write that despite the story being "a good one", he is "a little tired of discovering Harry at home with his horrible aunt and uncle", the formulaic beginning of each of the six books published to date. King also rejects the view of the series often held by members of the [[Harry Potter fandom|fandom]] as being highly textured and thought-provoking, characterising the plot as "simple, uncomplicated fun". <ref name="Wild About Harry">{{


==Legacy==
cite news
===Influence on literature===
|publisher=New York Times
[[File:Harry Potter sculpture in Leicester Square (50725720988).jpg|left|alt=Sculpture of Harry Potter in Leicester Square, London, 2020|thumb|Sculpture of Harry Potter in [[Leicester Square]], London]]
|title="Wild About Harry"
|date=July 23, 2000


''Harry Potter'' transformed children's literature.{{sfn|Levy|Mendlesohn|2016|pp=8, 164–65}}{{sfn|Butler|2012|p= 232}} In the 1970s, children's books were generally [[Realism (arts)|realistic]] as opposed to fantastic,{{Sfn|Eccleshare|2002|pp=106–8}} while adult fantasy became popular because of the influence of ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]''.{{sfn|Stableford|2009|pp=xli, lx–lxi, 72}} The next decade saw an increasing interest in grim, realist themes, with an outflow of fantasy readers and writers to adult works.{{sfn|Levy|Mendlesohn|2016|p=161–62}}{{sfn|Stableford|2009|pp=72–73}}
}}</ref>


The commercial success of ''Harry Potter'' reversed this trend.{{sfn|Stableford|2009|p=73}} The scale of its growth had no precedent in the children's market: within four years of the series' inception, it occupied 28% of that field by revenue.{{Sfn|Eccleshare|2002|pp=108–9}} Children's literature rose in cultural status,{{Sfn|Eccleshare|2002|pp=105–6}} and fantasy became a dominant genre.{{sfn|Levy|Mendlesohn|2016|pp=164–65}} Older works in the genre, including [[Diana Wynne Jones]]'s ''[[Chrestomanci]]'' series and [[Diane Duane]]'s ''[[Young Wizards]]'', were reprinted and rose in popularity; some authors re-established their careers.{{sfn|Levy|Mendlesohn|2016|p=167}} In the following decades, many ''Harry Potter'' imitators and subversive responses grew popular.{{sfn|Levy|Mendlesohn|2016|p=168–70}}{{sfn|Striphas|2009|pp=158–59, 166–67}}
King did, however, predict that Harry Potter "will indeed stand time's test and wind up on a shelf where only the best are kept; I think [[Harry Potter (character)|Harry]] will take his place with [[Alice (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)|Alice]], [[Huckleberry Finn|Huck]], [[Frodo Baggins|Frodo]], and [[Dorothy Gale|Dorothy]] and this is one series not just for the decade, but for the ages."<ref name="Stephen King takes a shining to J.K. Rowling">{{


Rowling has been compared to [[Enid Blyton]], who also wrote in simple language about groups of children and long held sway over the British children's market.{{sfn|Mendlesohn|James|2012|p=167}}{{sfn|Eccleshare|2002|pp=33–35}} She has also been described as an heir to [[Roald Dahl]].{{sfn|Eccleshare|2002|pp=10–12}} Some critics view ''Harry Potter''{{'s}} rise, along with the concurrent success of [[Philip Pullman]]'s ''[[His Dark Materials]]'', as part of a broader shift in reading tastes: a rejection of literary fiction in favour of plot and adventure.{{sfn|Mendlesohn|James|2012|pp=165, 171}} This is reflected in the BBC's 2003 "[[Big Read]]" survey of the UK's favourite books, where Pullman and Rowling ranked at numbers&nbsp;3 and 5, respectively, with very few British literary classics in the top&nbsp;10.{{sfn|Mendlesohn|James|2012|p=165}}
cite news
|http://groups.google.com/group/alt.fan.harry-potter/msg/3f10808507ad7e51/.com
|title=Stephen King takes a shining to J.K. Rowling
|date=Jul 6, 2003
}}</ref>


=== Cultural impact ===
{{endspoiler}}
{{further|Harry Potter fandom}}
[[File:Harry Potter Platform Kings Cross.jpg|thumb|"Platform {{frac|9|3|4}}" sign on [[London King's Cross railway station]]]]


''Harry Potter'' has been described as a cultural phenomenon.{{sfn|Gunelius|2008|p=99}}{{sfn|Taub|Servaty-Seib|2008|p=13}} The word "Muggle" has spread beyond its origins in the books, entering the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'' in 2003.{{sfn|Gunelius|2008|p=121}} A real-life version of the sport [[Quidditch (sport)|Quidditch]] was created in 2005 and featured as an exhibition tournament in the [[2012 London Olympics]].{{sfn|Popple|2015|pp=194–95}} Characters and elements from the series have inspired [[scientific name]]s of several organisms, including the dinosaur ''[[Dracorex hogwartsia]]'', the spider ''[[Eriovixia gryffindori]]'', the wasp ''[[Ampulex dementor]]'', and the crab ''[[Harryplax severus]]''.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Kean|first1=Danuta|title=Harry Potter character provides name for new species of crab|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/jan/27/harry-potter-name-species-crab-harryplax-severus-severus-snape|work=The Guardian|date=27 January 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170223092112/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/jan/27/harry-potter-name-species-crab-harryplax-severus-severus-snape|archive-date=23 February 2017|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
==Controversy==
In 1999 Nancy Kathleen Stouffer, who is sometimes known by her [[penname]] of [[N.K. Stouffer]], quietly began to allege [[copyright]] and [[trademark]] infringement by J.K. Rowling of her 1984 works ''[[The Legend of Rah and the Muggles]]'' and ''[[Larry Potter and His Best Friend Lilly]]''.<ref name="Potter author zaps court rival">{{


Librarian Nancy Knapp pointed out the books' potential to improve [[literacy]] by motivating children to read much more than they otherwise would.<ref name="Knapp2003InDefenseOfHP">{{cite journal|last=Knapp |first=N.F. |year=2003 |title=In Defense of Harry Potter: An Apologia |journal=School Libraries Worldwide |publisher=International Association of School Librarianship |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=78–91 |url=http://www.iasl-online.org/files/jan03-knapp.pdf |access-date=14 May 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110309051050/http://www.iasl-online.org/files/jan03-knapp.pdf |archive-date=9 March 2011 }}</ref> The seven-book series has a word count of 1,083,594 (US edition). Agreeing about the motivating effects, Diane Penrod also praised the books' blending of simple entertainment with "the qualities of highbrow literary fiction", but expressed concern about the distracting effect of the prolific merchandise that accompanies the book launches.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Penrod |first=D |date=December 2001 |title=The Trouble with Harry: A Reason for Teaching Media Literacy to Young Adults |journal=The Writing Instructor |publisher=Professional Writing Program at Purdue University |url=http://www.writinginstructor.com/penrod.html |access-date=16 May 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081216160155/http://www.writinginstructor.com/penrod.html |archive-date=16 December 2008 }}</ref> However, the assumption that Harry Potter books have increased literacy among young people is "largely a folk legend".<ref name=Heilman2008 />
cite news
|url=http://archives.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/UK/09/19/rowling.court/index.html
|publisher=CNN
|title="Potter author zaps court rival"
|date= September 19, 2002
}}</ref>


Research by the [[National Endowment for the Arts]] (NEA) has found no increase in reading among children coinciding with the Harry Potter publishing phenomenon, nor has the broader downward trend in reading among Americans been arrested during the rise in the popularity of the Harry Potter books.<ref name=Heilman2008 /><ref>{{Cite web |url= http://arts.gov/sites/default/files/ToRead.pdf |title= To Read or Not to Read; A question of national consequence |publisher= [[National Endowment for the Arts]] |date= November 2007 |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20151115010136/https://www.arts.gov/sites/default/files/ToRead.pdf |archive-date= 15 November 2015 |df= dmy-all }}</ref> The research also found that children who read Harry Potter books were not more likely to go on to read outside the fantasy and mystery genres.<ref name=Heilman2008 /> NEA chairman [[Dana Gioia]] said the series, "got millions of kids to read a long and reasonably complex series of books. The trouble is that one Harry Potter novel every few years is not enough to reverse the decline in reading."<ref name=Rich2007 />
The primary basis for Stouffer's claims lie in her own invention of Muggles, non-magical elongated [[humanoids]] of sorts and the title character of the second work, Larry Potter, a bespectacled boy with dark, albeit wavy hair (Rowling's Potter is characterised as having all of those, though with unruly instead of wavy hair.) Stouffer contended (and still does to this day) that it is not just these examples and similar names but that it is "the cumulative effect of all of it combined" with the other comparisons she lists on her [http://www.realmuggles.com/news/compare.html real muggles] website.<ref name="Muggle Versus Wizard">{{


Many [[fan fiction]] and [[fan art]] works about ''Harry Potter'' have been made. In March 2007, "Harry Potter" was the most commonly searched fan fiction subject on the internet.<ref name=most-searched-fanfiction>{{cite news|url=http://buzz.yahoo.com/buzzlog/67161/fantastic-fiction |title=Fantastic Fiction |date=20 March 2007 |access-date=7 April 2007 |last=Hurd |first=Gordon |work=[[Yahoo!]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071222003119/http://buzz.yahoo.com/buzzlog/67161/fantastic-fiction |archive-date=22 December 2007 }}</ref>
cite news
Jennifer Conn used Snape's and Quidditch coach Madam Hooch's teaching methods as examples of what to avoid and what to emulate in clinical teaching,<ref>{{cite journal|last=Conn|first=J.J.|year=2002|title=What can clinical teachers learn from ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone''?|journal=Medical Education|volume=36|issue=12|pages=1176–1181|doi=10.1046/j.1365-2923.2002.01376.x|pmid=12472752|citeseerx=10.1.1.463.8854|s2cid=22560995}}</ref> and Joyce Fields wrote that the books illustrate four of the five main topics in a typical first-year sociology class: "sociological concepts including culture, society, and [[socialisation]]; [[Social stratification|stratification]] and [[social inequality]]; [[social institutions]]; and [[social theory]]".<ref name="Fields2007HPSociologicalImagination">{{cite journal|last=Fields|first=J.W.|year=2007|title=''Harry Potter'', Benjamin Bloom, and the Sociological Imagination|journal=International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education|volume=19|issue=2|url=http://www.isetl.org/ijtlhe/pdf/IJTLHE160.pdf|access-date=15 May 2009|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100818204930/http://www.isetl.org/ijtlhe/pdf/IJTLHE160.pdf|archive-date=18 August 2010|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
|url=http://discuss.washingtonpost.com/zforum/01/author_stouffer032801.htm
|publisher=Washington Post
|title="Muggle Versus Wizard"
|date= March 28, 2001
}}</ref>


From the early 2000s onwards, several news reports appeared in the UK of the Harry Potter book and movie series driving demand for pet owls,<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1716013.stm|title=Potter sparks pet owl demand|date=2001-12-18|access-date=2018-04-12|language=en-GB|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170815182750/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1716013.stm|archive-date=15 August 2017|df=dmy-all}}</ref> and even reports that after the end of the movie series these same pet owls were now being abandoned by their owners.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/hundreds-of-pet-owls-abandoned-after-840299|title=Hundreds of pet owls abandoned after Harry Potter craze fades|last=Paul|first=David|date=2012-05-19|work=mirror|access-date=2018-04-12|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180412145317/https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/hundreds-of-pet-owls-abandoned-after-840299|archive-date=12 April 2018|df=dmy-all}}</ref> This led J. K. Rowling to issue several statements urging Harry Potter fans to refrain from purchasing pet owls.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/harry-potter-studio-tour-accused-of-cruelty-over-use-of-owls-in-live-shows-10127081.html|title=Harry Potter tour accused of cruelty for use of live 'Hedwigs'|date=2015-03-23|work=The Independent|access-date=2018-04-12|language=en-GB|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180412211800/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/harry-potter-studio-tour-accused-of-cruelty-over-use-of-owls-in-live-shows-10127081.html|archive-date=12 April 2018|df=dmy-all}}</ref> Despite the media flurry, research into the popularity of Harry Potter and sales of owls in the UK failed to find any evidence that the Harry Potter franchise had influenced the buying of owls in the country or the number of owls reaching animal shelters and sanctuaries.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Megias|first1=Diane A.|last2=Anderson|first2=Sean C.|last3=Smith|first3=Robert J.|last4=Veríssimo|first4=Diogo|date=2017-10-04|title=Investigating the impact of media on demand for wildlife: A case study of Harry Potter and the UK trade in owls|journal=PLOS ONE|language=en|volume=12|issue=10|pages=e0182368|doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0182368|pmid=28976986|pmc=5627891|bibcode=2017PLoSO..1282368M|issn=1932-6203|df=dmy-all|doi-access=free}}</ref>
Rowling, along with [[Scholastic Press]] (her American publisher) and [[Warner Brothers]] (holders of the series' film rights), pre-empted Stouffer with a suit of their own seeking a declaratory judgment that they had not infringed on any of Stouffer's works. Rowling, through the use of expert witnesses who brought into question the authenticity of Stouffer's evidence, won the case with Stouffer's claims being dismissed with prejudice and Stouffer herself being fined $50,000 for her "pattern of intentional bad faith conduct" in relation to her employment of fraudulent evidentiary submissions, along with being ordered to pay a portion of the plaintiffs' legal fees.<ref name="Stouffer v. Rowling">{{


== Awards, honours, and recognition ==
cite news
{{further|List of awards and nominations received by J. K. Rowling}}
|url=http://www.eyrie.org/~robotech/stouffer.htm
|publisher=eyrie.org
|title="Stouffer v. Rowling"
|date=Accessed May 26, 2006
}}</ref>


The ''Harry Potter'' series has been recognised by a host of awards since the initial publication of ''Philosopher's Stone'', including a platinum award from the Whitaker Gold and Platinum Book Awards (2001),<ref>{{Cite web|last=Bill|first=Neto|date=19 April 2021|title=Fiction Genres|url=https://ebooksdiscounts.com/literary-genres/fiction-genres/|access-date=19 April 2021|website=eBooks Discounts|archive-date=28 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220328052246/https://ebooksdiscounts.com/literary-genres/fiction-genres/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/1556674.stm|title=Book honour for Harry Potter author|date=21 September 2001|work=BBC News|access-date=28 September 2008|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081228112437/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/1556674.stm|archive-date=28 December 2008|df=dmy-all}}</ref> three [[Nestlé Smarties Book Prize]]s (1997–1999),<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7626896.stm|title=JK Rowling: From rags to riches|date=20 September 2008|work=BBC News|access-date=28 September 2008|url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120713/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7626896.stm|archive-date=13 July 2012|df=dmy-all}}</ref> two [[Scottish Arts Council]] Book Awards (1999 and 2001),<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/1360641.stm|title=Book 'Oscar' for Potter author|date=30 May 2001|work=BBC News|access-date=28 September 2008|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081227212449/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/1360641.stm|archive-date=27 December 2008|df=dmy-all}}</ref> the inaugural [[Costa Book Awards|Whitbread children's book of the year award]] (1999),<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/books/news/9907/16/harry/index.html|title=Harry Potter casts a spell on the world|date=18 July 1999|publisher=CNN|access-date=28 September 2008|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080726101923/http://www.cnn.com/books/news/9907/16/harry/index.html|archive-date=26 July 2008|df=dmy-all}}</ref> and the [[British Book Awards|WHSmith book of the year]] (2006),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.scholastic.com/harrypotter/books/author/index.htm|title=Harry Potter: Meet J.K. Rowling|publisher=Scholastic Inc|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070604101828/http://www.scholastic.com/harrypotter/books/author/index.htm|archive-date=4 June 2007 |access-date=27 September 2008}}</ref> among others. In 2000, ''[[Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban]]'' was nominated for a [[Hugo Award for Best Novel]], and in 2001, ''[[Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire]]'' won said award.<ref>{{Cite web|title=2001 Hugo Awards|url=http://www.thehugoawards.org/hugo-history/2001-hugo-awards/|access-date=19 April 2021|website=[[Hugo Awards]]|date=26 July 2007|archive-date=7 May 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110507164752/http://www.thehugoawards.org/hugo-history/2001-hugo-awards/|url-status=live}}</ref> Honours include a commendation for the [[Carnegie Medal (literary award)|Carnegie Medal]] (1997),<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/823533.stm|title=Harry Potter beaten to top award|date=7 July 2000|work=BBC News|access-date=28 September 2008|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081228101106/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/823533.stm|archive-date=28 December 2008|df=dmy-all}}</ref> a short listing for the [[Guardian Award|Guardian Children's Award]] (1998), and numerous listings on the notable books, editors' choices, and best books lists of the [[American Library Association]], ''The New York Times'', [[Chicago Public Library]], and ''[[Publishers Weekly]]''.<ref>{{cite web|publisher=Arthur A. Levine Books |url=http://www.arthuralevinebooks.com/awards.asp |title=Awards |first=Arthur |last=Levine |access-date=21 May 2006 |date=2001–2005 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060429093544/http://www.arthuralevinebooks.com/awards.asp |archive-date=29 April 2006 }}</ref>
Added controversy stems from some [[Fundamentalist Christianity|Christian]] groups in the [[United States]] who have denounced the series for promoting [[witchcraft]] and [[Satanism]]. "It contains some powerful and valuable lessons about love and courage and the ultimate victory of good over evil," said Paul Hetrick, spokesman for [[Focus on the Family]], a national Christian group based in [[Colorado Springs]]. "However, the positive messages are packaged in a medium — witchcraft — that is directly denounced in Scripture." <ref name="Harry Potter expelled from school">{{


In 2002, sociologist Andrew Blake named ''Harry Potter'' a British pop culture icon along with the likes of [[James Bond]] and [[Sherlock Holmes]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Fenske|first1=Claudia|title=Muggles, Monsters and Magicians: A Literary Analysis of the Harry Potter Series|date=2008|publisher=Peter Lang|page=3}}</ref> In 2003, four of the books were named in the top 24 of the BBC's [[The Big Read]] survey of the best loved novels in the UK.<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/bigread/top100.shtml "The Big Read: The Top 100"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121031065136/http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/bigread/top100.shtml |date=31 October 2012 }}. BBC. Retrieved 7 December 2016</ref> A 2004 study found that books in the series were commonly read aloud in elementary schools in [[San Diego County, California]].<ref>{{cite journal|year=2004 |title=Interactive Read-Alouds: Is There a Common Set of Implementation Practices? |journal=[[The Reading Teacher]] |volume=58 |issue=1 |pages=8–17 |url=http://www.fisherandfrey.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/rt-read-alouds.pdf |access-date=19 August 2012 |last=Fisher |first=Douglas |doi=10.1598/RT.58.1.1 |display-authors=etal |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131207031123/http://www.fisherandfrey.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/rt-read-alouds.pdf |archive-date=7 December 2013 }}</ref> Based on a 2007 online poll, the US [[National Education Association]] listed the series in its "Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children".<ref name=NEA2007>{{cite web |url= http://www.nea.org/grants/13154.htm/ |title= Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children |author= National Education Association |year= 2007 |access-date= 19 August 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120920064649/http://www.nea.org/grants/13154.htm/ |archive-date= 20 September 2012 |df= dmy-all }}</ref> [[Time (magazine)|''Time'' magazine]] named Rowling as a runner-up for its 2007 [[Time Person of the Year|Person of the Year]] award, noting the social, moral, and [[Politics of Harry Potter|political inspiration]] she has given [[Harry Potter fandom|her fandom]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/personoftheyear/article/0,28804,1690753_1695388_1695436,00.html|title=Person of the Year 2007 Runners-up: J. K. Rowling|date=23 December 2007|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|access-date=23 December 2007|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071221164141/http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/personoftheyear/article/0,28804,1690753_1695388_1695436,00.html|archive-date=21 December 2007|df=dmy-all}}</ref> Three of the books placed among the "Top 100 Chapter Books" of all time, or children's novels, in a 2012 survey published by ''[[School Library Journal]]'': ''Sorcerer's Stone'' ranked number three, ''Prisoner of Azkaban'' 12th, and ''Goblet of Fire'' 98th.<ref name=SLJChapter2012>{{cite web |url= http://blog.schoollibraryjournal.com/afuse8production/2012/07/07/top-100-chapter-book-poll-results |title= Top 100 Chapter Book Poll Results |last= Bird |first= Elizabeth |publisher= A Fuse #8 Production. Blog. [[School Library Journal]] (blog.schoollibraryjournal.com) |date= 7 July 2012 |access-date= 19 August 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120713031015/http://blog.schoollibraryjournal.com/afuse8production/2012/07/07/top-100-chapter-book-poll-results |archive-date= 13 July 2012 |df= dmy-all }}</ref>
cite news
|url=http://www.cesnur.org/recens/potter_06.htm
|publisher=Denver Rocky Mountain News
|title="Harry Potter expelled from school"
|date=November 6, 1999


In 2007, the seven ''Harry Potter'' book covers were depicted on a [[Great Britain commemorative stamps 2000–2009|series of UK postage stamps]] issued by [[Royal Mail]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Owls get the sack, Harry Potter gets a set of stamps |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2007/may/21/harrypotter.jkjoannekathleenrowling |access-date=22 September 2022 |work=The Guardian |archive-date=22 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220922154714/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2007/may/21/harrypotter.jkjoannekathleenrowling |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2012, the [[2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony|opening ceremony]] of the [[2012 Summer Olympics]] in [[London]] featured a 100-foot tall rendition of Lord Voldemort in a segment designed to showcase the UK's cultural icons.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/27/london-olympics-voldemort-mary-poppins_n_1710785.html|title=London Olympics: Voldemort, Mary Poppins Have An Epic Duel|last=Bell|first=Crystal|date=2012-07-27|work=The Huffington Post|access-date=2017-08-15|language=en-US|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170414081107/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/27/london-olympics-voldemort-mary-poppins_n_1710785.html|archive-date=14 April 2017|df=dmy-all}}</ref> In November 2019, the [[BBC]] listed the ''Harry Potter'' series on its list of the [[BBC list of 100 'most inspiring' novels|100 most influential novels]].<ref>{{cite news| url = https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-50302788| title = 100 'most inspiring' novels revealed by BBC Arts| work = [[BBC News]]| date = 5 November 2019| access-date = 10 November 2019| archive-date = 3 November 2020| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201103164736/https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-50302788| url-status = live}}</ref>
}}</ref> Accordingly, Harry Potter has been the subject of various book burnings.<ref name="'Satanic' Harry Potter books burnt">{{


== Adaptations ==
cite news
{{further|Wizarding World}}
|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/1735623.stm
|publisher=BBC
|title='Satanic' Harry Potter books burnt
|date=December 31, 2001


=== Films ===
}}</ref> Continuing with the same line of reasoning, in 2002, [[Chick Publications]] went so far as to produce a comic book tract called "The Nervous Witch" about two teenage girls who get seriously involved in occult witchcraft and become demonically possessed as a direct result of reading Harry Potter books. <ref name="The Nervous Witch">{{
{{Main|Harry Potter (film series)}}
[[File:GWR 'Hall' 5972 'Olton Hall' at Doncaster Works.JPG|thumb|The locomotive that features as the "Hogwarts Express" in the film series|alt=The red locomotive train used as the "Hogwarts Express" in the film series. In the front it has the numbers "5912" inscripted on it]]


In 1999, Rowling sold the film rights for ''Harry Potter'' to [[Warner Bros.]] for a reported [[British pound|£]]1 million (US$2,000,000).{{sfn|Gunelius|2008|pp=8, 37}}{{sfn|Smith|2002|p=210}} Rowling had creative control on the film series, observing the filmmaking process of ''Philosopher's Stone'' and serving as producer on the two-part ''Deathly Hallows'', alongside [[David Heyman]] and [[David Barron (film producer)|David Barron]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20100920005538/en/Warner-Bros.-Pictures-Worldwide-Satellite-Trailer-Debut%C2%A0Harry |title=Warner Bros. Pictures mentions J. K. Rowling as producer |publisher=Business Wire |date=20 September 2010 |access-date=24 February 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101227092506/http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20100920005538/en/Warner-Bros.-Pictures-Worldwide-Satellite-Trailer-Debut%C2%A0Harry |archive-date=27 December 2010 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> Rowling demanded the principal cast be kept strictly British and Irish, nonetheless allowing for the inclusion or French and Eastern European actors where characters from the book are specified as such.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2001/nov/16/jkjoannekathleenrowling|work=The Guardian|title=Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone|date=16 November 2001|access-date=26 May 2007|location=London|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130930184717/http://www.theguardian.com/film/2001/nov/16/jkjoannekathleenrowling|archive-date=30 September 2013|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
cite news
|url=http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/5012/5012_01.asp
|publisher=Chic Publications
|title="The Nervous Witch."
|date=2002


[[Chris Columbus (filmmaker)|Chris Columbus]] was selected as the director for ''[[Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (film)|Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone]]'' (titled "''Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone''" in the United States).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://uk.movies.ign.com/articles/034/034098p1.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080113042745/http://uk.movies.ign.com/articles/034/034098p1.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=13 January 2008 |title=Chris Columbus to Direct Harry Potter |access-date=8 July 2007 |date=28 March 2000 |website=IGN |last=Linder |first=Bran }}</ref> ''Philosopher's Stone'' was released on 14 November 2001. Just three days after the film's release, production for ''[[Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (film)|Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets]]'', also directed by Columbus, began and the film was released on 15 November 2002.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1807858489/info |title=Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002) |publisher=Yahoo! Inc |access-date=18 August 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080724130653/http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1807858489/info |archive-date=24 July 2008 }}</ref> Columbus declined to direct ''[[Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (film)|Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban]]'', only acting as producer. Mexican director [[Alfonso Cuarón]] took over the job, and after shooting in 2003, the film was released on 4 June 2004. Due to the fourth film beginning its production before the third's release, [[Mike Newell (director)|Mike Newell]] was chosen as the director for ''[[Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (film)|Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire]]'', released on 18 November 2005.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://movies.ign.com/articles/433/433108p1.html|title=Goblet Helmer Confirmed|website=IGN|date=11 August 2003|access-date=29 July 2007|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070629051548/http://movies.ign.com/articles/433/433108p1.html|archive-date=29 June 2007|df=dmy-all}}</ref> Newell became the first British director of the series, with television director [[David Yates]] following suit after he was chosen to helm ''[[Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film)|Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix]]''. Production began in January 2006 and the film was released the following year in July 2007.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Sneak peek: ''Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix''|date=6 April 2007|page=28|url=https://ew.com/article/2007/04/03/sneak-peek-harry-potter-and-order-phoenix/|last=Daly|first=Steve|magazine=Entertainment Weekly|access-date=26 October 2019|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070406191438/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20016352,00.html|archive-date=6 April 2007|df=dmy-all}}</ref> Yates was selected to direct ''[[Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (film)|Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince]]'', which was released on 15 July 2009.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://movies.tvguide.com/Movie-News/Harry-Potter-Changes-1005104.aspx |title=Coming Sooner: ''Harry Potter'' Changes Release Date |work=TV Guide |access-date=15 April 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090418151643/http://movies.tvguide.com/Movie-News/Harry-Potter-Changes-1005104.aspx |archive-date=18 April 2009 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/harry-potter-half-blood-prince-moves/story.aspx?guid={F4F52B7F-D1B1-4DC0-BF8A-AD0D9252BE7A}&dist=hppr |title=Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince |date=14 August 2008 |publisher=Market Watch |access-date=17 August 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080820102646/http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/harry-potter-half-blood-prince-moves/story.aspx?guid=%7BF4F52B7F-D1B1-4DC0-BF8A-AD0D9252BE7A%7D |archive-date=20 August 2008 |df=dmy }}</ref> The final instalment in the series, ''[[Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows]]'' was released in two cinematic parts: ''[[Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1|Part 1]]'' on 19 November 2010 and ''[[Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2|Part 2]]'' on 15 July 2011.<ref>{{cite news|title=Final 'Harry Potter' book will be split into two movies|date=13 March 2008|url=https://latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-potter13mar13,1,5626063.story|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=13 March 2008|first=Geoff|last=Boucher|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517002014/http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-potter13mar13,1,5626063.story|archive-date=17 May 2008|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.snitchseeker.com/harry-potter-news/june-12-2010-confirmed-final-day-deathly-hallows-principal-photography-73871/ |title=Last Day 12 June 2010 |publisher=Snitchseeker.com |access-date=24 February 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100817184257/http://www.snitchseeker.com/harry-potter-news/june-12-2010-confirmed-final-day-deathly-hallows-principal-photography-73871/ |archive-date=17 August 2010 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>
}}</ref>


==== Spin-off prequels ====
It has also been argued that when [[Pope Benedict XVI]] was [[Prefect]] of the [[Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith]] he also condemned the books in a letter expressing gratitude for the receipt of a book on the subject, stating they are "a subtle seduction, which has deeply unnoticed and direct effects in undermining the soul of Christianity before it can really grow properly". <ref name="Pope Opposes Harry Potter Novels">{{
{{Main|Fantastic Beasts (film series)}}


A prequel series is planned to consist of five films, taking place before the main series.<ref>{{cite web|title=Fantastic Beasts: JK Rowling confirms there will be five films in Harry Potter spin-off series|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/jk-rowlingfive-films-harry-potter-spin-off-fantastic-beasts-and-where-to-find-them-a7360481.html|website=Independent.co.uk|date=14 October 2016|access-date=7 January 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170108003319/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/jk-rowlingfive-films-harry-potter-spin-off-fantastic-beasts-and-where-to-find-them-a7360481.html|archive-date=8 January 2017|df=dmy-all}}</ref> The first film ''[[Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (film)|Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them]]'' was released in November 2016, followed by the second ''[[Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald]]'' in November 2018 and ''[[Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore]]'' in April 2022. Rowling wrote the screenplays for all three films,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a870007/fantastic-beasts-3-cast-release-date-plot-title-city/|title=Fantastic Beasts 3 cast, release date, plot, title and everything you need to know|date=10 December 2018|work=Digital Spy|access-date=28 December 2018|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181229031505/https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a870007/fantastic-beasts-3-cast-release-date-plot-title-city/|archive-date=29 December 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> marking her foray into screenwriting.
cite news
|url=http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/jul/05071301.html
|publisher=Life Site
|title=Pope Opposes Harry Potter Novels
|date=July 13, 2005


=== Games ===
}}</ref> Monsignor Peter Fleetwood, a Vatican priest, wrote that these remarks were misinterpreted, and that the letter was likely to have been written by an assistant of the then-cardinal.<ref name="Speak Of The Devil...">{{
{{see also|Harry Potter video games}}


A number of non-interactive media games and board games have been released such as ''[[Cluedo]] Harry Potter Edition'', ''[[Scene It?]] Harry Potter'' and ''[[Lego Harry Potter]]'' models, which are influenced by the themes of both the novels and films.
cite news
|url=http://catholicinsider.com/scripts/hp_transcript.php
|publisher=Catholic Insider
|title=Speak Of The Devil...
|date=July 14, 2005


There are fourteen ''Harry Potter'' video games, eight corresponding with the films and books and six spin-offs. The film/book-based games are produced by [[Electronic Arts]] (EA), as was ''[[Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup]]'', with the game version of the first entry in the series, ''[[Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (PlayStation video game)|Philosopher's Stone]]'', being released in November 2001. ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'' went on to become one of the best-selling [[PlayStation]] games ever.<ref name="ownt">{{cite web |url=http://www.ownt.com/qtakes/2003/gamestats/gamestats.shtm |title=All Time Top 20 Best Selling Games |access-date=1 December 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060221044930/http://www.ownt.com/qtakes/2003/gamestats/gamestats.shtm |archive-date=21 February 2006 |date=21 May 2003}}</ref> The video games were released to coincide with the films. Objectives usually occur in and around [[Hogwarts]]. The story and design of the games follow the selected film's characterisation and plot; EA worked closely with Warner Bros. to include scenes from the films. The last game in the series, ''Deathly Hallows'', was split, with ''[[Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 (video game)|Part 1]]'' released in November 2010 and ''[[Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 (video game)|Part 2]]'' debuting on consoles in July 2011.<ref>[http://www.harrypotter.ea.com/ EA Harry Potter] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120310225855/http://harrypotter.ea.com/ |date=10 March 2012 }} Retrieved 19 June 2010.</ref><ref>[http://www.ea.com/videos?video_id=89a42107c3649210VgnVCM1000001065140aRCRD EA Harry Potter gameplay] Retrieved 19 June 2010. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100701172944/http://www.ea.com/videos?video_id=89a42107c3649210VgnVCM1000001065140aRCRD |date=1 July 2010 }}</ref>
}}</ref>


The spin-off games ''[[Lego Harry Potter: Years 1–4]]'' and ''[[Lego Harry Potter: Years 5–7]]'' were developed by [[Traveller's Tales]] and published by [[Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment]]. The spin-off games ''[[Book of Spells]]'' and ''[[Book of Potions]]'' were developed by [[London Studio]] and use the [[Wonderbook]], an [[augmented reality]] book designed to be used in conjunction with the [[PlayStation Move]] and [[PlayStation Eye]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Robinson |first=Andy |title=E3 2012: Sony announces intriguing Wonderbook for PS3—Harry Potter author on board |url=http://www.computerandvideogames.com/351325/sony-announces-intriguing-wonderbook-for-ps3-harry-potter-author-on-board/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120608043904/http://www.computerandvideogames.com/351325/sony-announces-intriguing-wonderbook-for-ps3-harry-potter-author-on-board/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=8 June 2012 |access-date=5 June 2012 |newspaper=Computer and Video Games |date=5 June 2012 }}</ref> The ''Harry Potter'' universe is also featured in ''[[Lego Dimensions]]'', with the settings and side characters featured in the Harry Potter Adventure World, and Harry, Voldemort, and Hermione as playable characters. In 2017, [[Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment]] opened its own Harry Potter-themed game design studio, by the name of [[Portkey Games]], before releasing ''[[Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery|Hogwarts Mystery]]'', developed by Jam City, in 2018 and ''[[Hogwarts Legacy]]'', developed by [[Avalanche Software]], in 2023.<ref>{{Cite web | title = Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery game now available on iPhone and iPad, but it's an obnoxious free-to-play game | author = Mayo, Benjamin | work = 9to5Mac | date = 24 April 2018 | access-date = 25 April 2018 |url=https://9to5mac.com/2018/04/25/harry-potter-hogwarts-mystery-game-now-available-on-iphone-and-ipad-but-its-an-obnoxious-free-to-play-game/ | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180425134242/https://9to5mac.com/2018/04/25/harry-potter-hogwarts-mystery-game-now-available-on-iphone-and-ipad-but-its-an-obnoxious-free-to-play-game/ | archive-date = 25 April 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-11-11 |title=Hogwarts Legacy—extended gameplay showcase |url=https://www.gematsu.com/2022/11/hogwarts-legacy-extended-gameplay-showcase |access-date=2023-10-17 |website=Gematsu |language=en-US}}</ref>
Owing to the very nature of the books and the matter-of-fact way in which Rowling addresses the use of magic, the series has been a frequent target of banning and [[censorship]] in libraries. The series taken as a whole is in the list of the top 100 most frequently challenged books at libraries (i.e., books that have been requested to be banned), currently listed at number seven on this list. <ref name="The 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990–20001">{{


=== Stage production ===
cite news
{{Main|Harry Potter and the Cursed Child}}
|url=http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/bannedbooksweek/bbwlinks/100mostfrequently.htm
|publisher=American Library Association
|title=The 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990–20001
|date=2000


''Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: Parts I and II'' is a play which serves as a sequel to the books, beginning nineteen years after the events of ''[[Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows]]''. It was written by [[Jack Thorne (writer)|Jack Thorne]] based on an original new story by Thorne, Rowling and [[John Tiffany]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.harrypottertheplaylondon.com|title=Harry Potter and the Cursed Child|year=2016|website=Harry Potter The Play|publisher=harrypottertheplaylondon.com|access-date=26 July 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160926023138/http://www.harrypottertheplaylondon.com/|archive-date=26 September 2016|df=dmy-all}}</ref> It has run at the [[Palace Theatre, London|Palace Theatre]] in London's [[West End of London|West End]] since previews began on 7 June 2016 with an official premiere on 30 June 2016.<ref name="nyt07june2016">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/08/theater/harry-potter-and-the-cursed-child-preview.html|title='Harry Potter and the Cursed Child' Begins Previews in London, as Magic Continues|last=Lyall|first=Sarah|date=7 June 2016|work=The New York Times|access-date=29 June 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170410234000/https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/08/theater/harry-potter-and-the-cursed-child-preview.html|archive-date=10 April 2017|df=dmy-all}}</ref> The first four months of tickets for the June–September performances were sold out within several hours upon release.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-34660716 | title=First batch of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child tickets sell out | work=BBC News | date=29 October 2015 | access-date=29 October 2015 | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151029094840/http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-34660716 | archive-date=29 October 2015 | df=dmy-all }}</ref> Forthcoming productions are planned for Broadway<ref>{{cite web|url=https://deadline.com/2017/05/harry-potter-and-the-cursed-child-april-22-2018-broadway-opening-1202083963/|title='Harry Potter And The Cursed Child' Sets April 22, 2018 Broadway Opening|last=Gerard|first=Jeremy|date=4 May 2017|work=Deadline|access-date=4 May 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170504184601/http://deadline.com/2017/05/harry-potter-and-the-cursed-child-april-22-2018-broadway-opening-1202083963/|archive-date=4 May 2017|df=dmy-all}}</ref> and Melbourne.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.harrypottertheplay.com/au/|title=Harry Potter and the Cursed Child {{!}} Melbourne|website=Harry Potter and the Cursed Child {{!}} Melbourne|language=en-US|access-date=2017-10-25|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171024044426/https://www.harrypottertheplay.com/au/|archive-date=24 October 2017|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
}}</ref>


The script was released as a book at the time of the premiere, with a revised version following the next year.
The series garnered more controversy with its most recent release, ''Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince'', when a grocery store in Canada accidentally sold several copies of the sixth Harry Potter book before the authorised release date. The Canadian publisher, [[Raincoast Books]], obtained an [[injunction]] <!-- Image with unknown copyright status removed: [[Media:Harry Potter Injunction.pdf|PDF copy]] --> from the [[Supreme Court of British Columbia]] prohibiting the purchasers from reading the books in their possession. This sparked a number of news articles questioning the injunction's restriction on fundamental rights. Canadian law professor [[Michael Geist]] has posted commentary on his [[weblog]]. <ref name="The Harry Potter Injunction">{{


===Television===
cite news
On 25 January 2021, it was reported that a live-action television series has been in early development at [[HBO Max]]. Though it was noted that the series has "complicated rights issues", due to a seven-year rights deal with Warner Bros. Domestic TV Distribution that included US broadcast, cable and streaming rights to the franchise, which ends in April 2025.<ref>{{cite web|last=Goldberg|first=Lesley|title='Harry Potter' Live-Action TV Series in Early Development at HBO Max (Exclusive)|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/harry-potter-live-action-tv-series-in-early-development-at-hbo-max-exclusive|date=25 January 2021|access-date=25 January 2021|website=[[The Hollywood Reporter]]|archive-date=28 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210428045541/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/harry-potter-live-action-tv-series-in-early-development-at-hbo-max-exclusive|url-status=live}}</ref> On 12 April 2023, the series was confirmed to be in development, and will be streamed on the new streaming service [[Max (streaming service)|Max]] (formerly known as HBO Max).<ref>{{Cite web |date=12 April 2023 |title=First ever Harry Potter television series ordered by new streaming service, Max |url=https://www.wizardingworld.com/news/first-ever-harry-potter-television-series-coming-to-max |access-date=2023-04-13 |website=Wizarding World |language=en |archive-date=12 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230412214511/https://www.wizardingworld.com/news/first-ever-harry-potter-television-series-coming-to-max |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=12 April 2023 |title=Introducing the enhanced streaming service: Max |url=https://www.wizardingworld.com/news/introducing-enhanced-streaming-service-max |access-date=2023-04-13 |website=Wizarding World |language=en |archive-date=12 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230412214510/https://www.wizardingworld.com/news/introducing-enhanced-streaming-service-max |url-status=live }}</ref> On 23 February 2024, [[Warner Bros. Discovery]] CEO [[David Zaslav]] announced that the series would debut on Max in 2026.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Tapp |first=Tom |date=2024-02-23 |title='Harry Potter' TV Series Due To Hit Max In 2026: Everything We Know About The Cast, What J.K. Rowling Says & More—Update |url=https://deadline.com/2024/02/harry-potter-tv-series-max-release-date-cast-1235323284/ |access-date=2024-02-23 |website=Deadline |language=en-US}}</ref> On 25 June 2024, it was announced the series was moved from Max to [[HBO]].<ref>{{cite web|last=White|first=Peter|title='Harry Potter' & 'Welcome To Derry' Moving From Max To HBO As Part Of Big-Budget Streaming Strategy Rethink|url=https://deadline.com/2024/06/harry-potter-welcome-to-derry-moving-from-max-to-hbo-1235983023/|website=Deadline Hollywood|date=25 June 2024|access-date=25 June 2024}}</ref>
|url=http://michaelgeist.ca/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=889
|publisher=Michael Geist
|title=The Harry Potter Injunction
|date=2005


== Attractions ==
}}</ref> [[Richard Stallman]] has posted commentary on his weblog calling for a boycott until the publisher issues an apology.<ref name="Don't Buy Harry Potter Books">{{
{{Main|The Wizarding World of Harry Potter|Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter}}
[[File:Wizarding World of Harry Potter Castle.jpg|thumb|right|Hogwarts Castle as depicted in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, located in Universal Orlando Resort's Island of Adventure]]


Universal and Warner Brothers created ''The Wizarding World of Harry Potter'', a ''Harry Potter''-themed expansion to the [[Islands of Adventure]] theme park at [[Universal Orlando Resort]] in Florida. It opened to the public on 18 June 2010.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.orlandosentinel.com/travel/attractions/wizarding-world-of-harry-potter/os-universal-harry-potter-staying-pow20100617,0,1970029.story|title=Big day is here: Universal hopes Harry Potter's magic will last|first=Jason|last=Garcia|date=17 June 2010|access-date=19 June 2010|newspaper=Orlando Sentinel|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120905/http://www.orlandosentinel.com/travel/attractions/wizarding-world-of-harry-potter/os-universal-harry-potter-staying-pow20100617,0,1970029.story|archive-date=5 September 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref> It includes a recreation of [[Hogsmeade]] and several rides; its flagship attraction is ''[[Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey]]'', which exists within a recreation of [[Hogwarts]] School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.australia-times.com.au/entertainment/article.php?id=7096 |title=Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park opens |date=June 19, 2010 |access-date=June 19, 2010 |publisher=Australia Times |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110706101707/http://www.australia-times.com.au/entertainment/article.php?id=7096 |archive-date=July 6, 2011 }}</ref>
cite news
|url=http://stallman.org/harry-potter.html
|title=Don't Buy Harry Potter Books
|date=On July 13, 2005


In 2014 Universal opened a ''Harry Potter''-themed area at the [[Universal Studios Florida]] theme park. It includes a recreation of [[Diagon Alley]].<ref name=tpinsider140708>{{cite news |last=Niles |first=Robert |date=July 8, 2014 |title=The Wizarding World of Harry Potter—Diagon Alley opens officially at Universal Studios Florida |url=http://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/201407/4112/ |work=Theme Park Insider |access-date=15 September 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140915120158/http://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/201407/4112/ |archive-date=September 15, 2014 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> The flagship attraction is the ''[[Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts]]'' roller coaster ride.<ref>{{Cite magazine|author=Kohler, Chris|year=2014|title=What to Expect From the Wild New Harry Potter Ride, 'Escape From Gringotts'|magazine=Wired|url=https://www.wired.com/2014/06/diagon-alley-gringotts-ride/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140702225829/http://www.wired.com/2014/06/diagon-alley-gringotts-ride/|archive-date=2 July 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> A completely functioning [[Hogwarts Express (Universal Orlando Resort)|full-scale replica of the Hogwarts Express]] was created for the Diagon Alley expansion, connecting King's Cross Station at Universal Studios to the Hogsmeade station at Islands of Adventure.<ref name="IGN">{{cite web|url=https://www.ign.com/articles/2013/05/08/details-on-expansion-of-wizarding-world-of-harry-potter-in-orlando-confirmed-including-diagon-alley-as-second-location?abthid=518a6ec50c27b4992700000e|title=Details on Expansion of Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando Confirmed, Including Diagon Alley as Second Location|last=Goldman|first=Eric|date=May 8, 2013|access-date=May 8, 2013|website=IGN|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131008180723/http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/05/08/details-on-expansion-of-wizarding-world-of-harry-potter-in-orlando-confirmed-including-diagon-alley-as-second-location?abthid=518a6ec50c27b4992700000e|archive-date=October 8, 2013|df=mdy-all}}</ref><ref name="What may come to Wizarding World of Harry Potter 2.0 at Universal Orlando">{{cite news|last=MacDonald|first=Brady|title=What may come to Wizarding World of Harry Potter 2.0 at Universal Orlando|url=https://www.latimes.com/travel/deals/themeparks/la-trb-diagon-alley-wizarding-world-harry-potter-universal-studios-05201309,0,640470,full.story|access-date=May 18, 2013|newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=May 9, 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130510183411/http://www.latimes.com/travel/deals/themeparks/la-trb-diagon-alley-wizarding-world-harry-potter-universal-studios-05201309%2C0%2C640470%2Cfull.story|archive-date=May 10, 2013|df=mdy-all}}</ref> ''The Wizarding World of Harry Potter'' opened at the [[Universal Studios Hollywood]] theme park near [[Los Angeles]], [[California]] in 2016,<ref name=nytimes20140409>{{cite news |last=Barnes |first=Brooks |date=8 April 2014 |title=A Makeover at Universal Studios Hollywood Aims at Disney |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/09/business/media/a-makeover-of-universal-studios-hollywood-aims-to-catch-up-to-disney.html |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |location=[[Universal City, California]] |access-date=12 September 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140912083943/http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/09/business/media/a-makeover-of-universal-studios-hollywood-aims-to-catch-up-to-disney.html |archive-date=12 September 2014 |df=dmy-all }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://latimes.com/travel/themeparks/la-trb-wizarding-world-harry-potter-universal-studios-hollywood-20160114-story.html|title=What to expect when the Wizarding World at Universal Studios Hollywood opens in April|website=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=14 January 2016|access-date=3 April 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160403091029/http://www.latimes.com/travel/themeparks/la-trb-wizarding-world-harry-potter-universal-studios-hollywood-20160114-story.html|archive-date=3 April 2016|df=dmy-all}}</ref> and in [[Universal Studios Japan]] theme park in [[Osaka]], Japan in 2014. The Osaka venue includes the village of Hogsmeade, ''Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey'' ride, and ''[[Flight of the Hippogriff]]'' roller coaster.<ref name=orlando20140418>{{cite news |last=Bevil |first=Dewayne |date=18 April 2014 |title=Universal Studios Japan: Wizarding World of Harry Potter to open July 15 |url=http://www.orlandosentinel.com/travel/attractions/theme-park-rangers-blog/os-universal-studios-japan-harry-potter-20140418-post.html |newspaper=[[Orlando Sentinel]] |access-date=12 September 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140912073410/http://www.orlandosentinel.com/travel/attractions/theme-park-rangers-blog/os-universal-studios-japan-harry-potter-20140418-post.html |archive-date=12 September 2014 |df=dmy-all }}</ref><ref name=cnn20140716>{{cite news |last=Cripps |first=Karla |date=16 July 2014 |title=Universal Studios Japan's 'Wizarding World of Harry Potter' opens |url=http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/16/travel/universal-studios-japan-harry-potter/ |newspaper=[[CNN]] |access-date=12 September 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140912075407/http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/16/travel/universal-studios-japan-harry-potter/ |archive-date=12 September 2014 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> Other ''Harry Potter'' roller coasters are the ''[[Dragon Challenge]]'' and ''[[Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure]]'', both at [[Universal Islands of Adventure]].
}}</ref> Some versions of this [[creed]] have been circulated by email including a [[spoiler]] for one of the major plot points in the novel. Whether this was actually the original posted version and was modified by Stallman is as yet unclear, though the tone of the sentence is substantially the same as that of the rest of the message.


[[Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter|Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of ''Harry Potter'']] is a behind-the-scenes walking tour in London featuring authentic sets, costumes and props from the film series. The attraction is located at [[Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden|Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden]], where all eight of the ''Harry Potter'' films were made. Warner Bros. constructed two new sound stages to house and showcase the sets from each of the British-made productions, following a £100&nbsp;million investment.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-12645416|title=Harry Potter tour to open at Leavesden studios in 2012|access-date=18 May 2011|work=BBC News|date=5 March 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110325033117/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-12645416|archive-date=25 March 2011|df=dmy-all}}</ref> It opened to the public in March 2012.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-16257334 |title=Harry Potter tour at Leavesden Studios reveals new sets |access-date=16 February 2012 |work=BBC News |date=19 December 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120222215659/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-16257334 |archive-date=22 February 2012 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>
==Releases==
===Events===
[[Image:Harry Potter lines.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Crowds wait outside a [[Borders Group|Borders store]] in [[Delaware]] for the midnight release of the book]]
Following the Harry Potter media blitz or "[[Pottermania]]" of 1999–2000, the Harry Potter series developed a massive following of fans, so eager for the latest series release that book stores around the world began holding events to coincide with the midnight release of the books, beginning with the 2000 publication of ''Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire''. The events, commonly featuring mock sorting, games, face painting, and other live entertainment have achieved popularity with Potter fans and have been incredibly successful at attracting fans and selling books with nearly nine million of the 10.8 million initial print copies of [[Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince]] in the first 24 hours. <ref name="Harry Potter casts spell at checkouts">{{


== Supplementary works ==
cite news
{{See also|J. K. Rowling#Philanthropy}}
|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,927-1698839,00.html
|publisher=Times Online
|title=Harry Potter casts spell at checkouts
|date=July 18, 2005
}}</ref>
<ref name="Potter book smashes sales records">{{


Rowling expanded the [[Harry Potter universe|''Harry Potter'' universe]] with short books produced for charities.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6903111.stm|title=How Rowling conjured up millions|work=BBC News|access-date=7 September 2008|date=19 July 2007|first=Simon|last=Atkinson|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081228111436/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6903111.stm|archive-date=28 December 2008|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=http://www.alibris.com/search/books/qwork/1198169/used/Comic%20Relief%20:%20Quidditch%20through%20the%20ages |title=Comic Relief: Quidditch Through the Ages|publisher=Albris|access-date=7 September 2008|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080726050800/http://www.alibris.com/search/books/qwork/1198169/used/Comic%20Relief%20%3A%20Quidditch%20through%20the%20ages|archive-date=26 July 2008|df=dmy-all}}</ref> In 2001, she released ''[[Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (book)|Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them]]'' (a purported Hogwarts textbook) and ''[[Quidditch Through the Ages]]'' (a book Harry reads for fun). Proceeds from the sale of these two books benefited the charity [[Comic Relief]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.comicrelief.com/stuff-to-buy/harrys-books/the-money/|title=The Money|publisher=Comic Relief| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20071029034316/http://www.comicrelief.com/stuff-to-buy/harrys-books/the-money/|archive-date=29 October 2007 |access-date=25 October 2007}}</ref> In 2007, Rowling composed seven handwritten copies of ''[[The Tales of Beedle the Bard]]'', a collection of fairy tales that is featured in the final novel, one of which was auctioned to raise money for the Children's High Level Group, a fund for mentally disabled children in poor countries. The book was published internationally on 4 December 2008.<ref name="fetches">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7142656.stm|title=JK Rowling book fetches £2&nbsp;m|date=13 December 2007|work=BBC News|access-date=13 December 2007|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071215120757/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7142656.stm|archive-date=15 December 2007|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/feature.html?docId=1000137983 |title=The Tales of Beedle the Bard |website=Amazon UK |access-date=14 December 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071217031800/http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/feature.html?docId=1000137983 |archive-date=17 December 2007 }}</ref> Rowling also wrote an 800-word [[Harry Potter prequel|prequel]] in 2008 as part of a fundraiser organised by the bookseller [[Waterstones]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/may/29/harrypotter.jkjoannekathleenrowling|title=Rowling pens Potter prequel for charities|date=29 May 2008|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|location=London|last=Williams|first=Rachel|access-date=30 March 2010|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131002203005/http://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/may/29/harrypotter.jkjoannekathleenrowling|archive-date=2 October 2013|df=dmy-all}}</ref> All three of these books contain extra information about the wizarding world not included in the original novels.
cite news
|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/4692093.stm
|publisher=BBC
|title=Potter book smashes sales records
|date=July 18, 2005
}}</ref>


In 2016, she released three new e-books: ''[[Hogwarts: An Incomplete and Unreliable Guide]]'', ''[[Short Stories from Hogwarts of Power, Politics and Pesky Poltergeists]]'' and ''[[Short Stories from Hogwarts of Heroism, Hardship and Dangerous Hobbies]]''.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Chan |first=Melissa |date=17 August 2016 |title=J.K. Rowling Is About to Release 3 New 'Harry Potter' Books |url=https://time.com/4455746/j-k-rowling-pottermore-new-harry-potter-books/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161216234750/http://time.com/4455746/j-k-rowling-pottermore-new-harry-potter-books/ |archive-date=16 December 2016 |access-date=2016-12-22 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |df=dmy-all}}</ref>
===Security===


{{anchor|Pottermore}}
[[Image:Harry Potter VI boxes.jpg|thumb|250px|right|Copies of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince awaiting the stroke of midnight]]
Rowling's website [[Pottermore]] was launched in 2012.<ref name="waiting">{{cite web|url=http://insider.pottermore.com/2012/03/waiting-for-pottermore.html |title=Waiting for Pottermore? |work=Pottermore Insider |date=8 March 2012 |access-date=9 March 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120310102525/http://insider.pottermore.com/2012/03/waiting-for-pottermore.html |archive-date=10 March 2012 }}</ref> Pottermore allows users to be sorted, be chosen by their wand and play various minigames. The main purpose of the website was to allow the user to journey through the story with access to content not revealed by JK Rowling previously, with over 18,000 words of additional content.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://newsfeed.time.com/2011/06/23/pottermore-secrets-revealed-j-k-rowlings-new-site-is-e-book-meets-interactive-world/ |title='Pottermore' Secrets Revealed: J.K. Rowling's New Site is E-Book Meets Interactive World |first=Sonia |last=van Gilder Cooke |date=23 June 2011 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |access-date=6 January 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120829110641/http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/06/23/pottermore-secrets-revealed-j-k-rowlings-new-site-is-e-book-meets-interactive-world/ |archive-date=29 August 2012 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> The site was redesigned in 2015 as WizardingWorld and it mainly focuses on the information already available, rather than exploration.<ref>{{cite web|title=Pottermore|url=https://www.pottermore.com/news/Welcome-to-the-new-Pottermore|website=Pottermore|access-date=8 October 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150926135910/https://www.pottermore.com/news/Welcome-to-the-new-Pottermore|archive-date=26 September 2015|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
As publication nears, the popularity of the series as seen in the 670 [[Barnes & Noble]] release parties and 1,800 others registered with PotterParties.com, along with the nearly 2 million pre-orders for the sixth book between [[Amazon.com]] and [[Barnes & Noble]], necessitates a level of security unprecedented in the publishing world including in some cases, armed police guards for truck delivery of the heavily sealed packages.<ref name="Harry Potter and the ring of steel">{{


== See also ==
cite news
* [[Mary Poppins (book series)|''Mary Poppins'']]
|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/07/10/wpotter10.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/07/10/ixworld.html
* ''[[The Worst Witch]]''
|publisher=The Telegraph
|title= Harry Potter and the ring of steel
|date=July 10, 2005)


== References ==
}}</ref> <ref name="Potter books arrive under lock and key">{{
{{Reflist|refs=


<ref name="meanings">Sources that refer to the many genres, cultural meanings and references of the series include:
cite news
* {{cite web|last=Fry|first=Stephen|author-link=Stephen Fry|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0076w0r|title=Living with Harry Potter|publisher=BBC Radio 4|date=10 December 2005|access-date=10 December 2005|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141021121215/https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0076w0r|archive-date=21 October 2014|url-status=dead |ref=none}}
|url=http://money.cnn.com/2005/07/11/news/newsmakers/potter_books/index.htm
* {{cite magazine|title=Why J.K. Rowling waited to read ''Harry Potter'' to her daughter|magazine=Entertainment Weekly|last=Jensen|first=Jeff|author-link=Jeff Jensen|url=https://ew.com/article/2000/09/07/why-jk-rowling-waited-read-harry-potter-her-daughter|access-date=19 August 2015|date=7 September 2000|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905211717/http://www.ew.com/article/2000/09/07/why-jk-rowling-waited-read-harry-potter-her-daughter|archive-date=5 September 2015|df=dmy-all|ref=none}}
|publisher=CNN
* {{cite web|title=The Last Chapter|author=Nancy Carpentier Brown|publisher=Our Sunday Visitor|year=2007|url=http://www.osv.com/Portals/0/images/pdf/TheLastChapter.pdf|access-date=28 April 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071013134200/http://www.osv.com/Portals/0/images/pdf/TheLastChapter.pdf|archive-date=13 October 2007|url-status=dead|ref=none}}
|title=Potter books arrive under lock and key
* {{cite web |author=J. K. Rowling |title=J. K. Rowling at the Edinburgh Book Festival |url=http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/en/news_view.cfm?id=80 |access-date=10 October 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060820213620/http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/en/news_view.cfm?id=80 <!--Added by H3llBot--> |archive-date=20 August 2006 |url-status=dead |ref=none}}</ref>
|date=July 11, 2005


<ref name=Heilman2008>{{harvnb|Heilman|2008|p=2}}</ref>
}}</ref>


<ref name=Rich2007>{{Cite news |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/11/arts/11iht-11potter.6606863.html |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |last= Rich |first= Motoko |author-link=Motoko Rich |title= Harry Potter has limited effect on reading habits |date= 11 July 2007 |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170223130911/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/11/arts/11iht-11potter.6606863.html |archive-date= 23 February 2017 |df= dmy-all |ref=none}}</ref>
A shipment of Potter books to dealers also comes with strict instructions for distribution with the possibility of legal action and revocation of future books if proper procedure isn't followed.<ref name="HBP Books Printed, Safe, and Ready to Go">{{
}}


==Sources==
cite news
{{refbegin|30em}}
|url=http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/index.php?articleID=7102
<!-- Book chapters from Reading Harry Potter: Critical Essays -->
|publisher=The Leaky Cauldron
* {{Cite book|editor-last=Anatol|editor-first=Giselle Liza |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780313320675|url-access=registration|title=Reading Harry Potter: Critical Essays|date=2003|publisher=Praeger|isbn=978-0-313-32067-5|location=Westport, Connecticut|oclc=50774592|ref=none}}
|title=HBP Books Printed, Safe, and Ready to Go
** {{Cite encyclopedia|first=Brycchan|last=Carey|author-link=Brycchan Carey|title=Hermione and the house-elves: the literary and historical contexts of J. K. Rowling's antislavery campaign|editor-last=Anatol|editor-first=Giselle Liza |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780313320675|url-access=registration|encyclopedia=Reading Harry Potter: Critical Essays|date=2003|publisher=Praeger|isbn=9780313320675}}
|date=June 5, 2005
** {{Cite encyclopedia|first1=Ximena|last1=Gallardo|first2=C. Jason|last2=Smith|title=Cinderfella: J. K. Rowling's wily web of gender|editor-last=Anatol|editor-first=Giselle Liza |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780313320675|url-access=registration|encyclopedia=Reading Harry Potter: Critical Essays|date=2003|publisher=Praeger|isbn=9780313320675}}
** {{Cite encyclopedia|first=Elaine|last=Ostry|title=Accepting Mudbloods: the ambivalent social vision of J. K. Rowling's fairy tales|editor-last=Anatol|editor-first=Giselle Liza |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780313320675|url-access=registration|encyclopedia=Reading Harry Potter: Critical Essays|date=2003|publisher=Praeger|isbn=9780313320675}}
** {{Cite encyclopedia|first=Julia|last=Park|title=Class and socioeconomic identity in Harry Potter's England|editor-last=Anatol|editor-first=Giselle Liza |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780313320675|url-access=registration|encyclopedia=Reading Harry Potter: Critical Essays|date=2003|publisher=Praeger|isbn=9780313320675}}
** {{Cite encyclopedia|first=Veronica|last=Shanoes|title=Cruel heroes and treacherous texts: educating the reader in moral complexity and critical reading in J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter books|editor-last=Anatol|editor-first=Giselle Liza |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780313320675|url-access=registration|encyclopedia=Reading Harry Potter: Critical Essays|date=2003|publisher=Praeger|isbn=9780313320675}}
*{{Cite book|last=Barratt|first=Bethany|title=The Politics of Harry Potter|publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]]|year=2012|isbn=978-0-230-60899-3|location=New York|doi=10.1057/9781137016546}}


<!-- Book chapters from Hermione Granger Saves the World -->
}}</ref>
* {{cite book |editor1-last=Bell |editor1-first=Christopher |title=Hermione Granger Saves the World: Essays on the Feminist Heroine of Hogwarts |year=2012 |publisher=[[McFarland & Company]] |location=Jefferson, North Carolina |isbn=978-0-7864-7137-9|ref=none}}
** {{cite encyclopedia|first1=Christopher|last1=Bell|first2=Julie|last2=Alexander|title=Introduction|editor1-last=Bell |editor1-first=Christopher |encyclopedia=Hermione Granger Saves the World: Essays on the Feminist Heroine of Hogwarts |year=2012 |publisher=[[McFarland & Company]]}}
** {{cite encyclopedia|first1=Helen|last1=Berents|title=Hermione Granger goes to war|editor1-last=Bell |editor1-first=Christopher |encyclopedia=Hermione Granger Saves the World: Essays on the Feminist Heroine of Hogwarts |year=2012 |publisher=[[McFarland & Company]] }}


<!-- Book chapters from Heroism in the Harry Potter Series -->
==Awards & honours==
* {{Cite book|editor-last1=Berndt|editor-first1=Katrin|editor-last2=Steveker|editor-first2=Lena|title=Heroism in the Harry Potter Series|date=22 April 2016|publisher=[[Routledge]]|isbn=978-1-317-12211-1|doi=10.4324/9781315586748|ref=none}}
J.K. Rowling and the Harry Potter series have been the recipients of a host of awards since the initial publication of ''Philosopher's Stone'' including four Whitaker Platinum Book Awards (all of which were awarded in 2001), three [[Nestlé Smarties Book Prize|Nestlé Smarties Book Prizes]] (1997-1999), two [[Scottish Arts Council|Scottish Arts Council Book Awards]] (1999 and 2001), and the [[British Book Awards|WHSmith book of the year]] (2006), among others. Honours include a commendation for the [[Carnegie Medal]] (1997), a shortlisting for the Guardian Children's Award (1998), and numerous listings on the notable books, editors' Choices, and best books lists of the [[American Library Association]], [[New York Times]], [[Chicago Public Library]], and [[Publishers Weekly]].<ref name="Harry Potter Awards and Honors">Levine, Arthur[http://www.arthuralevinebooks.com/awards.asp]. Accessed [[June 12]] [[2006]].</ref>
** {{Cite encyclopedia|first1=Christine|last1=Berberich|title=Harry Potter and the idea of the gentleman as hero|encyclopedia=Heroism in the Harry Potter Series|date=22 April 2016|publisher=[[Routledge]]|editor-last1=Berndt|editor-first1=Katrin|editor-last2=Steveker|editor-first2=Lena}}
** {{Cite encyclopedia|first1=Kathleen|last1=McEvoy|title=Heroism at the margins|encyclopedia=Heroism in the Harry Potter Series|date=22 April 2016|publisher=[[Routledge]]|editor-last1=Berndt|editor-first1=Katrin|editor-last2=Steveker|editor-first2=Lena}}
** {{Cite encyclopedia|first1=Maria|last1=Nikolajeva|author-link=Maria Nikolajeva|title=Adult heroism and role models in the Harry Potter novels|encyclopedia=Heroism in the Harry Potter Series|date=22 April 2016|publisher=[[Routledge]]|editor-last1=Berndt|editor-first1=Katrin|editor-last2=Steveker|editor-first2=Lena}}
** {{Cite encyclopedia|first1=Mary|last1=Pharr|title=A paradox: the Harry Potter series as both epic and postmodern|encyclopedia=Heroism in the Harry Potter Series|date=22 April 2016|publisher=[[Routledge]]|editor-last1=Berndt|editor-first1=Katrin|editor-last2=Steveker|editor-first2=Lena}}
** {{Cite encyclopedia|first1=Rita|last1=Singer|title=Harry Potter and the battle for the soul: the revival of the psychomachia in secular fiction|encyclopedia=Heroism in the Harry Potter Series|date=22 April 2016|publisher=[[Routledge]]|editor-last1=Berndt|editor-first1=Katrin|editor-last2=Steveker|editor-first2=Lena}}
* {{Cite book|last=Blake|first=Andrew|url=https://archive.org/details/irresistiblerise0000blak|url-access=registration|title=The Irresistible Rise of Harry Potter|publisher=[[Verso Books]]|year=2002|isbn=1-85984-666-1|location=London|oclc=49594480}}
* {{Cite encyclopedia|first=Catherine|last=Butler|title=Modern children's fantasy|author-link=Catherine Butler|editor1-last=James|editor1-first=Edward|editor1-link=Edward James (historian)|editor2-last=Mendlesohn|editor2-first=Farah|editor2-link=Farah Mendlesohn|encyclopedia=The Cambridge Companion to Fantasy Literature|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|year=2012|isbn=978-0-521-42959-7|doi=10.1017/CCOL9780521429597}}
* {{cite book |last1=Clark |first1=Giles |last2=Phillips |first2=Angus |title=Inside Book Publishing |publisher=[[Routledge]] |year=2019 |isbn=978-1-351-26571-3}}
* {{Cite journal|last=Eberhardt|first=Maeve|title=Gendered representations through speech: The case of the Harry Potter series|journal=[[Language and Literature]]|year=2017|volume=26|issue=3|pages=227–246|doi=10.1177/0963947017701851|s2cid=149129001}}
* {{Cite book|last=Eccleshare|first=Julia|author-link=Julia Eccleshare|url=https://archive.org/details/guidetoharrypott0000eccl/|url-access=registration|title=A Guide to the Harry Potter Novels|year=2002|publisher=[[Continuum International Publishing Group|Continuum]]|isbn=978-1-84714-418-8|location=London|oclc=229341237}}
* {{cite book|last=Errington|first=Philip W.|date=2017|title=J.K. Rowling: A Bibliography|publisher=[[Bloomsbury Publishing]]|isbn=978-1-4742-9737-0}}
* {{Cite journal|last=Farmer|first=Joy|date=2001|title=The magician's niece: the kinship between J. K. Rowling and C. S. Lewis|journal=[[Mythlore]]|volume=23|issue=2|pages=53–64|issn=0146-9339|jstor=26814627}}
* {{Cite book |last=Groves |first=Beatrice |title=Literary Allusion in Harry Potter |publisher=[[Routledge]] |year=2017 |isbn=978-1-315-26933-7 |doi=10.4324/9781315269337}}
* {{cite book |last=Gunelius |first=Susan |title=Harry Potter: The Story of a Global Business Phenomenon |publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]] |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-230-59410-4 |doi=10.1057/9780230594104 }}
* {{Cite book|last=Gupta|first=Suman|title=Re-Reading Harry Potter|publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]]|year=2009|isbn=978-0-230-21958-8|location=London|doi=10.1057/9780230279711|edition=2nd}}


<!-- Book chapters from Critical Perspectives on Harry Potter -->
==Commercial success==
* {{Cite book|editor-last=Heilman|editor-first=Elizabeth E.|title=Critical Perspectives on Harry Potter|publisher=Routledge|date=7 August 2008|isbn=978-1-135-89154-1|edition=2nd|doi=10.4324/9780203892817}}
[[Image:HP Promo.jpg|thumb|right|220px|Harry Potter costumes promoting the film in [[Hong Kong]].]]
** {{Cite encyclopedia|first1=Anne Hiebert|last1=Alton|title=Playing the genre game: generic fusions of the Harry Potter series|encyclopedia=Critical Perspectives on Harry Potter|publisher=Routledge|date=7 August 2008|editor-last=Heilman|editor-first=Elizabeth E.|edition=2nd}}
The tremendous popularity of the Harry Potter series has translated into substantial financial success for Rowling, her publishers, and other Harry Potter related license holders. The books have sold over 300 million copies worldwide and have also given rise to popular film adaptations produced by [[Warner Bros.]], all of which have been successful in their own right with the first, ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', ranking number three on the [[List of highest-grossing films|list of all time highest- grossing films]] and the other three each ranking in the top 25.
** {{Cite encyclopedia|first1=Peter|last1=Applebaum|title=The great Snape debate|encyclopedia=Critical Perspectives on Harry Potter|publisher=Routledge|date=7 August 2008|editor-last=Heilman|editor-first=Elizabeth E.|edition=2nd}}
<ref name="million">{{
** {{Cite encyclopedia|first1=Megan L.|last1=Birch|title=Schooling Harry Potter: teachers and learning, power and knowledge|encyclopedia=Critical Perspectives on Harry Potter|publisher=Routledge|date=7 August 2008|editor-last=Heilman|editor-first=Elizabeth E.|edition=2nd}}
** {{Cite encyclopedia|first1=Peter|last1=Ciaccio|title=Harry Potter and Christian theology|encyclopedia=Critical Perspectives on Harry Potter|publisher=Routledge|date=7 August 2008|editor-last=Heilman|editor-first=Elizabeth E.|edition=2nd}}
** {{Cite encyclopedia|first1=Elizabeth E.|last1=Heilman|first2=Trevor|last2=Donaldson|title=From sexist to (sort-of) feminist representations of gender in the Harry Potter series|encyclopedia=Critical Perspectives on Harry Potter|publisher=Routledge|date=7 August 2008|editor-last=Heilman|editor-first=Elizabeth E.|edition=2nd}}
** {{Cite encyclopedia|first1=Maria|last1=Nikolajeva|author-link=Maria Nikolajeva|title=Harry Potter and the secrets of children's literature|encyclopedia=Critical Perspectives on Harry Potter|publisher=Routledge|date=7 August 2008|editor-last=Heilman|editor-first=Elizabeth E.|edition=2nd}}
** {{Cite encyclopedia|first1=Deborah J.|last1=Taub|first2=Heather L.|last2=Servaty-Seib|title=Controversial content: is Harry Potter harmful to children?|encyclopedia=Critical Perspectives on Harry Potter|publisher=Routledge|date=7 August 2008|editor-last=Heilman|editor-first=Elizabeth E.|edition=2nd}}
* {{Cite journal|last=Horne|first=Jackie C.|title=Harry and the other: answering the race question in J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter|journal=[[The Lion and the Unicorn (journal)|The Lion and the Unicorn]]|volume=34|number=1|year=2010|pages=76–104|doi=10.1353/uni.0.0488|s2cid=143738308|id={{ProQuest|221753179}}}}
* {{Cite book|last=Kirk|first=Connie Ann|author-link= Connie Ann Kirk |url=https://archive.org/details/jkrowlingbiograp0000kirk|url-access=registration|title=J.K. Rowling: A Biography|year=2003|publisher=[[Greenwood Publishing Group|Greenwood Press]]|isbn=0-313-32205-8|oclc=49991592}}
* {{Cite book|last1=Levy|first1=Michael|author1-link=Michael M. Levy|title=[[Children's Fantasy Literature: An Introduction]]|last2=Mendlesohn|first2=Farah|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|year=2016|isbn=978-1-107-01814-3|author2-link=Farah Mendlesohn|doi=10.1017/CBO9781139087421}}
* {{Cite journal|last=Los|first=Fraser|date=2008|title=Harry Potter and the nature of death|journal=Alternatives Journal|volume=34|issue=1|pages= 32–33|jstor=45033580}}
* {{Cite book|last1=Mendlesohn|first1=Farah|author1-link=Farah Mendlesohn|last2=James|first2=Edward|author2-link=Edward James (historian)|title=A Short History of Fantasy|publisher=Libri Publishing|year=2012|isbn=978-1-907471-66-7|oclc=857653620}}
* {{Cite book|last=Nel|first=Philip|author-link=Philip Nel |url=https://archive.org/details/jkrowlingsharryp0000nelp|url-access=registration|title=J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter Novels: A Reader's Guide|year=2001|publisher=[[Continuum International Publishing Group|Continuum]]|isbn=0-8264-5232-9|location=New York|oclc=47050453}}
* {{cite book |last=Popple |first=Jennifer E. |chapter=Embracing the magic: Muggle Quidditch and the transformation of gender equality from fantasy to reality |editor-last=Brenner |editor-first=Lisa S. |title=Playing Harry Potter: Essays and Interviews on Fandom and Performance |year=2015 |publisher=[[McFarland & Company]] |isbn=978-1-4766-2136-4}}
* {{Cite journal|last1=Pugh|first1=Tison|last2=Wallace|first2=David L.|title=Heteronormative heroism and queering the school story in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series|journal=[[Children's Literature Association Quarterly]]|volume=31|issue=3|date=Fall 2006|pages=260–281|doi=10.1353/chq.2006.0053|s2cid=143508785 }}
* {{Cite book|last=Smith|first=Sean|url=https://archive.org/details/jkrowlingbiograp0000smit_j1n9|url-access=registration|title=J.K. Rowling: A Biography|year=2002|publisher=[[Random House|Arrow Books]]|isbn=0-09-944542-5|oclc=51303518}}
* {{Cite book|last=Stableford|first=Brian M.|author-link=Brian Stableford|title=The A to Z of Fantasy Literature|publisher=[[Scarecrow Press]]|year=2009|isbn=978-0-8108-6345-3|oclc=1200815959}}
* {{Cite book|last=Striphas|first=Theodore G.|title=The Late Age of Print: Everyday Book Culture from Consumerism to Control|title-link=The Late Age of Print|publisher=[[Columbia University Press]]|year=2009|isbn=978-0-231-14814-6|location=New York|pages=[[iarchive:lateageofprintev0000stri/page/141/mode/1up|141–174]]|chapter=Harry Potter and the Culture of the Copy|oclc=256532755|author-link=Ted Striphas}}
* {{Cite journal|last=Stojilkov|first=Andrea|date=2015|title=Life(and)death in 'Harry Potter': the immortality of love and soul|journal=Mosaic: An Interdisciplinary Critical Journal|volume=48|issue=2|pages=133–148|issn=0027-1276|jstor=44030425}}


<!-- Book chapters from The Ivory Tower and Harry Potter -->
cite news
* {{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/ivorytowerharryp00unse |title=The Ivory Tower and Harry Potter: Perspectives on a Literary Phenomenon |publisher=[[University of Missouri Press]] |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-8262-6330-8 |editor-last1=Whited |editor-first1=Lana A. |location=Columbia, Missouri |oclc=56424948 |url-access=registration |ref=none}}
|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_4300000/newsid_4308500/4308540.stm
** {{Cite encyclopedia |first1=Terri |last1=Doughty |title=Locating Harry Potter in the 'Boys' Book' market |url=https://archive.org/details/ivorytowerharryp00unse |encyclopedia=The Ivory Tower and Harry Potter: Perspectives on a Literary Phenomenon |publisher=[[University of Missouri Press]] |year=2002 |isbn=9780826214430 |editor-last1=Whited |editor-first1=Lana A. |url-access=registration}}
|publisher=BBC
** {{Cite encyclopedia |first=Farah |last=Mendlesohn |author-link=Farah Mendlesohn |title=Crowning the king: Harry Potter and the construction of authority |url=https://archive.org/details/ivorytowerharryp00unse |encyclopedia=The Ivory Tower and Harry Potter: Perspectives on a Literary Phenomenon |publisher=[[University of Missouri Press]] |year=2002 |isbn=9780826214430 |editor-last1=Whited |editor-first1=Lana A. |url-access=registration}}
|title= Potter book sales top 300 million
** {{Cite encyclopedia |first=Roni |last=Natov |title=Harry Potter and the extraordinariness of the ordinary |url=https://archive.org/details/ivorytowerharryp00unse |encyclopedia=The Ivory Tower and Harry Potter: Perspectives on a Literary Phenomenon |publisher=[[University of Missouri Press]] |year=2002 |isbn=9780826214430 |editor-last1=Whited |editor-first1=Lana A. |url-access=registration}}
|date=October, 4 2005
* {{Cite book |chapter=A survey of the critical reception of the Harry Potter series |last=Whited |first=Lana A. |title=Critical Insights: The Harry Potter Series |editor1-last=Grimes |editor1-first=M. Katherine |editor2-last=Whited |editor2-first=Lana A. |date=2015 |publisher=[[Grey House Publishing|Salem Press]] |isbn=978-1-61925-520-3 |id={{EBSCOhost|108515151|dbcode=lkh}}}}
}}</ref> The movies have in turn spawned five video games and have in conjunction with the games and movies led to the licensing of over 400 additional Harry Potter products (including an [[iPod]]) that have as of July 2005 made the Harry Potter brand worth an estimated 4 billion dollars and J.K. Rowling a [[U.S. dollar]] [[billionaire]], making her by some reports, richer than [[Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom|Queen Elizabeth II]].<ref name="J.K. Rowling Richer than the Queen">{{
{{refend}}


== Further reading ==
cite news
* {{Cite book |last=Agarwal |first=Nikita |author2=Chitra Agarwal |year=2005 |title=Friends and Foes of Harry Potter: Names Decoded |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JGQBcu5O_ZcC&q=Harry%20Potter&pg=PP1 |publisher=Outskirts Press |isbn=978-1-59800-221-8 }}
|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2979033.stm
* {{Cite web |last=Allardice |first=Lisa |date=18 June 2022 |title='There was practically a riot at King's Cross': an oral history of Harry Potter at 25 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/jun/18/riot-kings-cross-oral-history-harry-potter-philosophers-stone-25-publishers |access-date=26 August 2024 |website=The Guardian}}
|publisher=BBC
* {{Cite book |last=Burkart |first=Gina |year=2005 |title=A parent's guide to Harry Potter |url=https://archive.org/details/parentsguidetoha00burk |url-access=registration |quote=Harry Potter. |publisher=InterVarsity Press |isbn=978-0-8308-3288-0 }}
|title=J.K. Rowling Richer than the Queen
* {{Cite book |last=Duriez |first=Colin |year=2007 |title=Field Guide to Harry Potter |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WZwZWP5Sl3AC&q=Harry%20Potter&pg=PP1 |publisher=IVP Books |isbn=978-0-8308-3430-3 }}
|date=April 27, 2003
* {{Cite book |last=Mulholland |first=Neil |year=2007 |title=The Psychology of Harry Potter: An Unauthorized Examination of the Boy Who Lived |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BoX-6R21MgQC&q=Harry%20Potter&pg=PP1 |publisher=BenBella Books |isbn=978-1-932100-88-4 }}
}}</ref> <ref name="Harry Potter Brand Wizard">{{
* {{Cite book |last=Silvester |first=William |year=2010 |title=Harry Potter Collector's Handbook |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hnRQmAEACAAJ |publisher=Krause |isbn=978-1-4402-0897-3 }}


== External links ==
cite news
{{Spoken Wikipedia|Wikipedia - Harry Potter (spoken by AI voice).mp3|date=28 October 2024}}
|url=http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/jul2005/di20050721_060250.htm
{{Sister project links|wikt=Appendix:Harry Potter |commons=yes |commonscat=yes |n= |q=Harry Potter (series) |b=Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter |d=Q8337|voy=Harry Potter tourism}}
|publisher= Buisness Week
* [http://www.jkrowling.com/ J. K. Rowling's personal website]
|title=Harry Potter Brand Wizard
* [http://harrypotter.warnerbros.com/ Harry Potter movies]—Official website (Warner Bros.)
|date= July 21, 2005}}</ref>
* [http://harrypotter.bloomsbury.com/ Harry Potter] at Bloomsbury.com (International publisher)
* [http://harrypotter.scholastic.com/ Harry Potter] at Scholastic.com (US publisher)
* [http://www.raincoast.com/harrypotter Harry Potter] at Raincoast.com (Canadian publisher)
* {{Guardian topic}}
* {{NYTtopic|complete_coverage/harry_potter|Harry Potter}}
* [https://site.universalorlando.com/wwohp/ The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Orlando resort, Florida]


{{Harry Potter|state=uncollapsed}}
==Future==
{{J. K. Rowling}}
There are currently three more Harry Potter films yet to be released. On 5th April 2006 Warner Brothers announced that the fifth film, ''[[Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film)|Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix]]'', will be released in cinemas on [[13 July]] 2007.<ref name="Order of the Phoenix film due out on July 13, 2007">{{
{{BILBY Younger Readers Award}}
{{BILBY Older Readers Award}}
{{Portal bar|Children's literature|Speculative fiction|Literature|1990s|2000s}}
{{Authority control}}


[[Category:Harry Potter| ]]
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|title=Order of the Phoenix film due out on July 13, 2007
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|date=March 1, 2006
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{{Portal|TV}}
}}</ref>

In December of 2005, Rowling declared on her website that "2006 will be the year when I write the final book in the Harry Potter series." Updates have since followed in her online diary chronicling the progress of this the seventh Harry Potter book, though a title, release date, or proclamation of completion have not accompanied them. However, in a 2006 interview, Bloomsbury publishing director, Liz Calder, said that "the next Harry Potter book is likely to come out in 2007."<ref name="A Rowling may be sitting in Kolkata café: Potter publisher (INTERVIEW)">{{
cite news
|url=http://www.dailyindia.com/show/28886.php/A_Rowling_may_be_sitting_in_Kolkata_caf%C3%A9:_Potter_publisher_(INTERVIEW)
|publisher=Indo-Asian News Service
|title="A Rowling may be sitting in Kolkata café: Potter publisher (INTERVIEW)"
|date=May 25, 2006

}}</ref>

Rowling herself has stated that the last chapter of the seventh book was completed some time ago, before writing the third book. According to her, the last word in the book is currently "scar".
<ref name="Talking With JK Rowling">{{
cite news
|url=http://www.quick-quote-quill.org/articles/1999/0799-booklinks-omalley.html
|publisher=Book Links
|title="Talking With JK Rowling"
|date=July 1999

}}</ref> In a July 2005 interview with fan sites [[Mugglenet]] and [[The Leaky Cauldron]] she cast doubt on this, saying, "I wonder if it will remain that way", and stated that certain details will have to be changed.<ref name="The Leaky Cauldron and MuggleNet interview Joanne Kathleen Rowling: Part Two">{{

cite news
|url=http://www.quick-quote-quill.org/articles/2005/0705-tlc_mugglenet-anelli-2.htm
|publisher=Quick Quotes Quill
|title="The Leaky Cauldron and MuggleNet interview Joanne Kathleen Rowling: Part Two,"
|date=July 16, 2005

}}</ref>

Regarding the existence of ''Harry Potter'' novels beyond the seventh, Rowling has said that she might write an eighth book some day. If she does, she intends it to be a sort of encyclopædia of the [[wizarding world]], containing concepts and snippets of information that were not relevant enough to the novels' plots to be included in them. <ref name="TLC/ MN Interview">{{

cite news
|url=http://www.quick-quote-quill.org/articles/2005/0705-tlc_mugglenet-anelli-1.htm
|publisher=Quick Quotes Quill
|title="The Leaky Cauldron and MuggleNet interview Joanne Kathleen Rowling: Part One"
|date=July 16, 2005

}}</ref> She has also said that she will not write any sort of [[prequel]] to the novels, since by the time the series ends all the necessary back story will have been revealed. <ref name="Edinburgh Book Festival">{{

cite news
|url=http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/en/news_view.cfm?id=80
|publisher=JK Rowling.com
|title=Edinburgh Book Festival
|date=August 15, 2004
}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[J. K. Rowling]]
*[[:Category:Harry Potter|All Wikipedia articles about Harry Potter]]
:*[[Harry James Potter]]
:*[[Wizarding world]]
:*[[Harry Potter Parodies]]



==References==
<div class="references-small">
<references />

*{{HP2ref}}
*{{HP4ref}}
</div>

==Further reading==
*Beahm, George W. ''Fact, Fiction, and Folklore in Harry Potter's World: An Unofficial Guide''.
*Beahm, George W. ''Muggles and Magic: An Unofficial Guide to J.K. Rowling and the Harry Potter Phenomenon''.
*Chippendale, Lisa A. ''Triumph of the Imagination: The Story of J.K. Rowling''. 2002, 2003.
*Fraser, Lindsey. ''Conversations with J.K. Rowling''. Arthur A. Levine Books, 2001.
*''J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter Novels: A Reader's Guide''. Continuum International Publishing Group, 2001.
*Lawrence, Daniel. ''The Ultimate Unofficial Harry Potter Trivia Book: Secrets, Mysteries and Fun Facts Including Half-Blood Prince Book 6''.
*Rowling, J.K. ''Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them''. Sagebrush, 2001.
*--. ''Quidditch Through the Ages''. Sagebrush, 2001.
*Shapiro, Marc. ''J.K. Rowling: The Wizard Behind Harry Potter''. St. Martin's Press, 2000.
*Smith, Sean. ''J.K. Rowling: A Biography''. Michael O'Mara Books, 1999.
*''Ultimate Unofficial Guide to the Mysteries of Harry Potter'' (Analysis of Books 1-4). No location: Wizarding Press, 2003.
*David Colbert ''The Magical Worlds of Harry Potter''. Penguin Books, 2001.

==External links==
<!-- Please add fan websites to the list on the [[Harry Potter fandom]] article and not here -->
{{wikiquote}}
{{commons|Harry Potter}}

'''Official sites:'''
*[http://www.jkrowling.com J.K. Rowling's personal website]
*[http://harrypotter.warnerbros.com/ Official Harry Potter movies website (Warner Bros.)]
*[http://www.bloomsbury.com/harrypotter/ Harry Potter on Bloomsbury.com (International publisher)]
*[http://www.scholastic.com/harrypotter/ Harry Potter on Scholastic.com (U.S. publisher)]
*[http://www.raincoast.com/harrypotter/ Harry Potter on Raincoast.com (Canadian publisher)]

'''Other resources:'''
*[http://harrypotterwiki.org/wiki/Main_Page Harry Potter Wiki]
* {{wikicities|HarryPotter|Harry Potter}}

For further fandom links, including "unofficial" websites, see [[Harry Potter fandom]].

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Latest revision as of 04:05, 5 December 2024

Harry Potter


AuthorJ. K. Rowling
Cover artistThomas Taylor, Cliff Wright, Giles Greenfield, Jason Cockcroft
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
GenreFantasy
PublisherBloomsbury
Published26 June 1997 – 21 July 2007
Media type
No. of books7
Websitewww.harrypotter.com

Harry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young wizard, Harry Potter, and his friends, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The main story arc concerns Harry's conflict with Lord Voldemort, a dark wizard who intends to become immortal, overthrow the wizard governing body known as the Ministry of Magic, and subjugate all wizards and Muggles (non-magical people).

The series was originally published in English by Bloomsbury in the United Kingdom and Scholastic Press in the United States. A series of many genres, including fantasy, drama, coming-of-age fiction, and the British school story (which includes elements of mystery, thriller, adventure, horror, and romance), the world of Harry Potter explores numerous themes and includes many cultural meanings and references.[1] Major themes in the series include prejudice, corruption, madness, love, and death.[2]

Since the release of the first novel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, on 26 June 1997, the books have found immense popularity and commercial success worldwide. They have attracted a wide adult audience as well as younger readers and are widely considered cornerstones of modern literature,[3][4] though the books have received mixed reviews from critics and literary scholars. As of February 2023, the books have sold more than 600 million copies worldwide, making them the best-selling book series in history, available in dozens of languages. The last four books all set records as the fastest-selling books in history, with the final instalment selling roughly 2.7 million copies in the United Kingdom and 8.3 million copies in the United States within twenty-four hours of its release.

Warner Bros. Pictures adapted the original seven books into an eight-part namesake film series. In 2016, the total value of the Harry Potter franchise was estimated at $25 billion,[5] making it one of the highest-grossing media franchises of all time. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is a play based on a story co-written by Rowling. A television series based on books is in production at HBO.

The success of the books and films has allowed the Harry Potter franchise to expand with numerous derivative works, a travelling exhibition that premiered in Chicago in 2009, a studio tour in London that opened in 2012, a digital platform on which J. K. Rowling updates the series with new information and insight, and a trilogy of spin-off films premiering in November 2016 with Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, among many other developments. Themed attractions, collectively known as The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, have been built at several Universal Destinations & Experiences amusement parks around the world.

Plot

Early years

"The Elephant House", a small, painted red café where Rowling wrote a few chapters of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
The Elephant House was one of the cafés in Edinburgh where Rowling wrote the first part of Harry Potter.

The series follows the life of a boy named Harry Potter. In the first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in the US), Harry lives in a cupboard under the stairs in the house of the Dursleys, his aunt, uncle and cousin, who all treat him poorly. At the age of 11, Harry discovers that he is a wizard. He meets a half-giant named Hagrid who gives him a letter of acceptance to attend the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry learns that his parents, Lily and James Potter, also had magical powers and were murdered by the dark wizard Lord Voldemort when Harry was a baby. When Voldemort attempted to kill Harry, his curse rebounded, seemingly killing Voldemort, and Harry survived with a lightning-shaped scar on his forehead. The event made Harry famous among the community of wizards and witches.

Harry becomes a student at Hogwarts and is sorted into Gryffindor House. He gains the friendship of Ron Weasley, a member of a large but poor wizarding family, and Hermione Granger, a witch of non-magical, or Muggle, parentage. The trio develop an enmity with the rich pure-blood student Draco Malfoy. Harry encounters the school's headmaster, Albus Dumbledore; the potions professor, Severus Snape, who displays a dislike for him; and the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Quirinus Quirrell. Quirrell turns out to be allied with Voldemort, who is still alive as a weak spirit. The first book concludes with Harry's confrontation with Voldemort, who, in his quest to regain a body, yearns to possess the Philosopher's Stone, a substance that bestows everlasting life.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets describes Harry's second year at Hogwarts. Students are attacked and petrified by an unknown creature; wizards of Muggle parentage are the primary targets. The attacks appear related to the mythical Chamber of Secrets and resemble attacks fifty years earlier. Harry discovers an ability to speak the snake language Parseltongue, which he learns is rare and associated with the Dark Arts. When Hermione is attacked and Ron's younger sister, Ginny Weasley, abducted, Harry and Ron uncover the chamber's secrets and enter it. Harry discovers that Ginny was possessed by an old diary, inside which the memory of Tom Marvolo Riddle, Voldemort's younger self, resides. On Voldemort's behalf, Ginny opened the chamber and unleashed the basilisk, an ancient monster that kills or petrifies those who make direct or indirect eye contact, respectively. With the help of Dumbledore's phoenix, Fawkes, and the Sword of Gryffindor, Harry slays the basilisk and destroys the diary.

In the third novel, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry learns that he is targeted by Sirius Black, an escaped convict who allegedly assisted in his parents' murder. Dementors, creatures that feed on happiness, search for Sirius and guard the school. As Harry struggles with his reaction to the dementors, he reaches out to Remus Lupin, a new professor who teaches him the Patronus charm. On a windy night, Ron is dragged by a black dog into the Shrieking Shack, a haunted house, and Harry and Hermione follow. The dog is revealed to be Sirius Black. Lupin enters the shack and explains that Sirius was James Potter's best friend; he was framed by another friend of James, Peter Pettigrew, who hides as Ron's pet rat, Scabbers. As the full moon rises, Lupin transforms into a werewolf and bounds away, and the group chase after him. They are surrounded by dementors, but are saved by a figure resembling James who casts a stag Patronus. This is later revealed to be a future version of Harry, who traveled back in time with Hermione using a device called a Time Turner. The duo help Sirius escape on a Hippogriff, while Pettigrew escapes.

Voldemort returns

The former 1st floor Nicholson's Cafe now renamed Spoon in Edinburgh where J. K. Rowling wrote the first few chapters of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

In Harry's fourth year of school (detailed in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire), Hogwarts hosts the Triwizard Tournament, a contest between Hogwarts and the schools Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. Harry is unwillingly entered into the contest, becoming Hogwarts' second participant after Cedric Diggory, an unusual occurrence that causes his friends to distance themselves from him. Harry claims the Triwizard Cup with Cedric, but he is teleported to a graveyard where Pettigrew kills Cedric, then resurrects Voldemort using Harry's blood. Voldemort convenes his supporters, the Death Eaters, and Harry manages to escape after a duel with Voldemort. Upon returning to Hogwarts, it is revealed that a Death Eater, Barty Crouch, Jr, in disguise as the new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody, engineered Harry's entry into the tournament, secretly helped him, and had him teleported to Voldemort.

In the fifth book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the Ministry of Magic refuses to believe that Voldemort has returned. Dumbledore re-activates the Order of the Phoenix, a secret society to counter Voldemort; meanwhile, the Ministry tightens control of Hogwarts by appointing Dolores Umbridge as High Inquisitor of Hogwarts, and she gradually increases her powers. When Umbridge bans practical teaching of Defence Against the Dark Arts, Harry, Ron and Hermione form "Dumbledore's Army", a secret group to continue the teachings. Harry has recurring dreams of a dark corridor in the Ministry of Magic, eventually dreaming that Sirius is being tortured there. He races to the Ministry with his friends, but it is a trap, planted in his head by Voldemort. The group are attacked by Death Eaters and saved by the Order of the Phoenix, but Sirius is killed in the battle. A duel between Dumbledore and Voldemort convinces the ministry of Voldemort's return. A prophecy concerning Harry and Voldemort is revealed: one must die at the hands of the other.

In the sixth book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Snape teaches Defence Against the Dark Arts while Horace Slughorn becomes the Potions master. Harry finds an old textbook with annotations by the Half-Blood Prince, due to which he achieves success in Potions class. Harry also takes lessons with Dumbledore, viewing memories about the early life of Voldemort in a device called a Pensieve. Harry learns from a drunken Slughorn that he used to teach Tom Riddle, and that Voldemort divided his soul into pieces, creating a series of Horcruxes. Harry and Dumbledore travel to a distant lake to destroy a Horcrux; they succeed, but Dumbledore weakens. On their return, they find Draco Malfoy and Death Eaters attacking the school. The book ends with the killing of Dumbledore by Professor Snape, the titular Half-Blood Prince.

In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the seventh and final novel in the series, Lord Voldemort gains control of the Ministry of Magic. Harry, Ron and Hermione learn about the Deathly Hallows, legendary items that lead to mastery over death. The group infiltrates the ministry, where they steal a locket Horcrux, and visit Godric's Hollow, where they are attacked by Nagini, Voldemort's snake. A silver doe Patronus leads them to the Sword of Gryffindor, with which they destroy the locket. They steal a Horcrux from Gringotts and travel to Hogwarts, culminating in a battle with the Death Eaters. Snape is killed by Voldemort out of paranoia, but he lends Harry his memories before he dies. Harry learns that Snape was always loyal to Dumbledore, and that Harry is himself a Horcrux. Harry surrenders to Voldemort and is killed. The defenders of Hogwarts continue to fight on; Harry is resurrected, faces Voldemort and kills him.

An epilogue titled "Nineteen Years Later" describes the lives of the surviving characters and the impact of Voldemort's death. Harry and Ginny are married with three children, and Ron and Hermione are married with two children.

Style and allusions

Genre and style

The novels fall into the genre of fantasy literature, and qualify as a type of fantasy called "urban fantasy", "contemporary fantasy", or "low fantasy". They are mainly dramas, and maintain a fairly serious and dark tone throughout, though they do contain some notable instances of tragicomedy and black humour. In many respects, they are also examples of the bildungsroman, or coming of age novel,[6] and contain elements of mystery, adventure, horror, thriller, and romance. The books are also, in the words of Stephen King, "shrewd mystery tales",[7] and each book is constructed in the manner of a Sherlock Holmes-style mystery adventure. The stories are told from a third person limited point of view with very few exceptions (such as the opening chapters of Philosopher's Stone, Goblet of Fire and Deathly Hallows and the first two chapters of Half-Blood Prince).

The series can be considered part of the British children's boarding school genre, which includes Rudyard Kipling's Stalky & Co., Enid Blyton's Malory Towers, St. Clare's and the Naughtiest Girl series, and Frank Richards's Billy Bunter novels: the Harry Potter books are predominantly set in Hogwarts, a fictional British boarding school for wizards, where the curriculum includes the use of magic.[8] In this sense they are "in a direct line of descent from Thomas Hughes's Tom Brown's School Days and other Victorian and Edwardian novels of British public school life", though they are, as many note, more contemporary, grittier, darker, and more mature than the typical boarding school novel, addressing serious themes of death, love, loss, prejudice, coming-of-age, and the loss of innocence in a 1990s British setting.[9][10][failed verification]

In Harry Potter, Rowling juxtaposes the extraordinary against the ordinary.[11] Her narrative features two worlds: a contemporary world inhabited by non-magical people called Muggles, and another featuring wizards. It differs from typical portal fantasy in that its magical elements stay grounded in the mundane.[12] Paintings move and talk; books bite readers; letters shout messages; and maps show live journeys, making the wizarding world both exotic and familiar.[11][13] This blend of realistic and romantic elements extends to Rowling's characters. Their names are often onomatopoeic[clarification needed]: Malfoy is difficult, Filch is unpleasant, and Lupin is a werewolf.[14][15] Harry is ordinary and relatable, with down-to-earth features such as wearing broken glasses;[16] the scholar Roni Natov terms him an "everychild".[17] These elements serve to highlight Harry when he is heroic, making him both an everyman and a fairytale hero.[16][18]

Each of the seven books is set over the course of one school year. Harry struggles with the problems he encounters, and dealing with them often involves the need to violate some school rules. If students are caught breaking rules, they are often disciplined by Hogwarts professors. The stories reach their climax in the summer term, near or just after final exams, when events escalate far beyond in-school squabbles and struggles, and Harry must confront either Voldemort or one of his followers, the Death Eaters, with the stakes a matter of life and death—a point underlined, as the series progresses, by characters being killed in each of the final four books.[19][20] In the aftermath, he learns important lessons through exposition and discussions with head teacher and mentor Albus Dumbledore. The only exception to this school-centred setting is the final novel, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, in which Harry and his friends spend most of their time away from Hogwarts, and only return there to face Voldemort at the dénouement.[19]

Allusions

The Harry Potter stories feature imagery and motifs drawn from Arthurian myth and fairytales. Harry's ability to draw the Sword of Gryffindor from the Sorting Hat resembles the Arthurian sword in the stone legend.[21] His life with the Dursleys has been compared to Cinderella.[22] Hogwarts resembles a medieval university-cum-castle with several professors who belong to an Order of Merlin; Old Professor Binns still lectures about the International Warlock Convention of 1289; and a real historical person, a 14th-century scribe, Sir Nicolas Flamel, is described as a holder of the Philosopher's Stone.[23] Other medieval elements in Hogwarts include coats-of-arms and medieval weapons on the walls, letters written on parchment and sealed with wax, the Great Hall of Hogwarts, which is similar to the Great Hall of Camelot, the use of Latin phrases, the tents put up for Quidditch tournaments, which are similar to the "marvellous tents" put up for knightly tournaments, imaginary animals like dragons and unicorns that exist around Hogwarts, and the banners with heraldic animals for the four Houses of Hogwarts.[23]

Many of the motifs of the Potter stories, such as the hero's quest invoking objects that confer invisibility, magical animals and trees, a forest full of danger and the recognition of a character based upon scars, are drawn from medieval French Arthurian romances.[23] Other aspects borrowed from French Arthurian romances include the use of owls as messengers, werewolves as characters, and white deer.[23] The American scholars Heather Arden and Kathrn Lorenz in particular argue that many aspects of the Potter stories are inspired by a 14th-century French Arthurian romance, Claris et Laris, writing of the "startling" similarities between the adventures of Potter and the knight Claris.[23] Arden and Lorenz noted that Rowling graduated from the University of Exeter in 1986 with a degree in French literature and spent a year living in France afterwards.[23]

Like C. S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia, Harry Potter also contains Christian symbolism and allegory. The series has been viewed as a Christian moral fable in the psychomachia tradition, in which stand-ins for good and evil fight for supremacy over a person's soul.[24] Children's literature critic Joy Farmer sees parallels between Harry and Jesus Christ.[25] Comparing Rowling with Lewis, she argues that "magic is both authors' way of talking about spiritual reality".[26] According to Maria Nikolajeva, Christian imagery is particularly strong in the final scenes of the series: Harry dies in self-sacrifice and Voldemort delivers an "ecce homo" speech, after which Harry is resurrected and defeats his enemy.[27]

Rowling stated that she did not reveal Harry Potter's religious parallels in the beginning because doing so would have "give[n] too much away to fans who might then see the parallels".[28] In the final book of the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Rowling makes the book's Christian imagery more explicit, quoting both Matthew 6:21 and 1 Corinthians 15:26 (King James Version) when Harry visits his parents' graves.[28] Hermione Granger teaches Harry Potter that the meaning of these verses from the Christian Bible are "living beyond death. Living after death", which Rowling states "epitomize the whole series".[28][29][30] Rowling also exhibits Christian values in developing Albus Dumbledore as a God-like character, the divine, trusted leader of the series, guiding the long-suffering hero along his quest. In the seventh novel, Harry speaks with and questions the deceased Dumbledore much like a person of faith would talk to and question God.[31][full citation needed]

Themes

J.K. Rowling, a blond, blue-eyed woman, who is the author of the series
The novelist, J. K. Rowling

Harry Potter's overarching theme is death.[32][33] In the first book, when Harry looks into the Mirror of Erised, he feels both joy and "a terrible sadness" at seeing his desire: his parents, alive and with him.[34] Confronting their loss is central to Harry's character arc and manifests in different ways through the series, such as in his struggles with Dementors.[34][35] Other characters in Harry's life die; he even faces his own death in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.[36] The series has an existential perspective—Harry must grow mature enough to accept death.[37] In Harry's world, death is not binary but mutable, a state that exists in degrees.[38] Unlike Voldemort, who evades death by separating and hiding his soul in seven parts, Harry's soul is whole, nourished by friendship and love.[37]

Love distinguishes Harry and Voldemort. Harry is a hero because he loves others, even willing to accept death to save them; Voldemort is a villain because he does not.[39] Harry carries the protection of his mother's sacrifice in his blood; Voldemort, who wants Harry's blood and the protection it carries, does not understand that love vanquishes death.[25]

Rowling has spoken about thematising death and loss in the series. Soon after she started writing Philosopher's Stone, her mother died; she said that "I really think from that moment on, death became a central, if not the central theme of the seven books".[40] Rowling has described Harry as "the prism through which I view death", and further stated that "all of my characters are defined by their attitude to death and the possibility of death".[41]

While Harry Potter can be viewed as a story about good vs. evil, its moral divisions are not absolute.[42][43] First impressions of characters are often misleading. Harry assumes in the first book that Quirrell is on the side of good because he opposes Snape, who appears to be malicious; in reality, Quirrell is an agent of Voldemort, while Snape is loyal to Dumbledore. This pattern later recurs with Moody and Snape.[42] In Rowling's world, good and evil are choices rather than inherent attributes: second chances and the possibility of redemption are key themes of the series.[44][45] This is reflected in Harry's self-doubts after learning his connections to Voldemort, such as Parseltongue;[44] and prominently in Snape's characterisation, which has been described as complex and multifaceted.[46] In some scholars' view, while Rowling's narrative appears on the surface to be about Harry, her focus may actually be on Snape's morality and character arc.[47][48]

Rowling said that, to her, the moral significance of the tales seems "blindingly obvious". In the fourth book, Dumbledore speaks of a "choice between what is right and what is easy"; Rowling views this as a key theme, "because that ... is how tyranny is started, with people being apathetic and taking the easy route and suddenly finding themselves in deep trouble".[49]

Academics and journalists have developed many other interpretations of themes in the books, some more complex than others, and some including political subtexts. Themes such as normality, oppression, survival, and overcoming imposing odds have all been considered as prevalent throughout the series.[50] Similarly, the theme of making one's way through adolescence and "going over one's most harrowing ordeals—and thus coming to terms with them" has also been considered.[51] Rowling has stated that the books comprise "a prolonged argument for tolerance, a prolonged plea for an end to bigotry" and that they also pass on a message to "question authority and... not assume that the establishment or the press tells you all of the truth".[52]

Development history

In 1990, Rowling was on a crowded train from Manchester to London when the idea for Harry suddenly "fell into" her head. Rowling gives an account of the experience on her website saying:[53]

I had been writing almost continuously since the age of six but I had never been so excited about an idea before. I simply sat and thought, for four (delayed train) hours, and all the details bubbled up in my brain, and this scrawny, black-haired, bespectacled boy who did not know he was a wizard became more and more real to me.

Rowling completed Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in 1995 and the manuscript was sent off to several prospective agents.[54] The second agent she tried, Christopher Little, offered to represent her and sent the manuscript to several publishers.[55]

Publishing history

The logo used in British, Australian, and Canadian editions before 2010, which uses the typeface Cochin Bold[56]

After twelve other publishers had rejected Philosopher's Stone, Bloomsbury agreed to publish the book.[57] Despite Rowling's statement that she did not have any particular age group in mind when beginning to write the Harry Potter books, the publishers initially targeted children aged nine to eleven.[58] On the eve of publishing, Rowling was asked by her publishers to adopt a more gender-neutral pen name in order to appeal to the male members of this age group, fearing that they would not be interested in reading a novel they knew to be written by a woman. She elected to use J. K. Rowling (Joanne Kathleen Rowling), using her grandmother's name as her second name because she has no middle name.[59][60]

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was published by Bloomsbury, the publisher of all Harry Potter books in the United Kingdom, on 26 June 1997.[61] It was released in the United States on 1 September 1998 by Scholastic—the American publisher of the books—as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone,[62] after the American rights sold for US$105,000—a record amount for a children's book by an unknown author.[63] Scholastic feared that American readers would not associate the word "philosopher" with magic, and Rowling suggested the title Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone for the American market.[64] Rowling has later said that she regrets the change.[65]

The second book, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, was originally published in the UK on 2 July 1998 and in the US on 2 June 1999. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was published a year later in the UK on 8 July 1999 and in the US on 8 September 1999.[66] Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was published on 8 July 2000 at the same time by Bloomsbury and Scholastic.[67] Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is the longest book in the series, at 766 pages in the UK version and 870 pages in the US version.[68] It was published worldwide in English on 21 June 2003.[69] Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was published on 16 July 2005.[70][71] The seventh and final novel, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, was published on 21 July 2007.[72] Rowling herself has stated that the last chapter of the final book (in fact, the epilogue) was completed "in something like 1990".[73]

Rowling retained rights to digital editions and released them on the Pottermore website in 2012. Vendors such as Amazon displayed the ebooks in the form of links to Pottermore, which controlled pricing.[74] All seven Harry Potter novels have been released in unabridged audiobook versions, with Stephen Fry reading the British editions and Jim Dale voicing the series for the American editions.[75][76] On Audible, the series has been listened, as of November 2022, for over a billion hours.[77]

Translations

The Russian translation of The Deathly Hallows goes on sale in Moscow, 2007

The series has been translated into more than 80 languages,[78] placing Rowling among the most translated authors in history. The books have seen translations to diverse languages such as Korean, Armenian, Ukrainian, Arabic, Urdu, Hindi, Bengali, Bulgarian, Welsh, Afrikaans, Albanian, Latvian, Vietnamese and Hawaiian. The first volume has been translated into Latin and even Ancient Greek,[79] making it the longest published work in Ancient Greek since the novels of Heliodorus of Emesa in the 3rd century AD.[80] The second volume has also been translated into Latin.[81]

Some of the translators hired to work on the books were well-known authors before their work on Harry Potter, such as Viktor Golyshev, who oversaw the Russian translation of the series' fifth book. The Turkish translation of books two to seven was undertaken by Sevin Okyay, a popular literary critic and cultural commentator.[82] For reasons of secrecy, translation on a given book could only start after it had been released in English, leading to a lag of several months before the translations were available. This led to more and more copies of the English editions being sold to impatient fans in non-English speaking countries; for example, such was the clamour to read Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix that its English language edition became the first English-language book ever to top the best-seller list in France.[83]

The United States editions were adapted into American English to make them more understandable to a young American audience.[84]

Cover art

For cover art, Bloomsbury chose painted art in a classic style of design, with the first cover a watercolour and pencil drawing by illustrator Thomas Taylor showing Harry boarding the Hogwarts Express, and a title in the font Cochin Bold.[85] The first releases of the successive books in the series followed in the same style but somewhat more realistic, illustrating scenes from the books. These covers were created by first Cliff Wright and then Jason Cockroft.[86]

Due to the appeal of the books among an adult audience, Bloomsbury commissioned a second line of editions in an 'adult' style. These initially used black-and-white photographic art for the covers showing objects from the books (including a very American Hogwarts Express) without depicting people, but later shifted to partial colourisation with a picture of Slytherin's locket on the cover of the final book.[citation needed]

International and later editions have been created by a range of designers, including Mary GrandPré for US audiences and Mika Launis in Finland.[87][88] For a later American release, Kazu Kibuishi created covers in a somewhat anime-influenced style.[89][90]

Reception

Commercial success

A large crowd of fans wait outside of a Borders store in Delaware, waiting for the release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Crowd outside a book store for the midnight release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

The popularity of the Harry Potter series has translated into substantial financial success for Rowling, her publishers, and other Harry Potter related license holders. This success has made Rowling the first and thus far only billionaire author.[91] The books have sold more than 600 million copies worldwide and have also given rise to the popular film adaptations produced by Warner Bros. Pictures, all of which have been highly successful in their own right.[92][78] The total revenue from the book sales is estimated, as of November 2018, to be around $7.7 billion.[93] The first novel in the series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, has sold in excess of 120 million copies, making it one of the bestselling books in history.[94][95] The films have in turn spawned eight video games and have led to the licensing of more than 400 additional Harry Potter products. The Harry Potter brand has been estimated to be worth as much as $25 billion.[5]

The great demand for Harry Potter novels motivated The New York Times to create a separate best-seller list for children's literature in 2000, just before the release of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. By 24 June 2000, Rowling's novels had been on the list for 79 straight weeks; the first three novels were each on the hardcover best-seller list.[96] On 12 April 2007, Barnes & Noble declared that Deathly Hallows had broken its pre-order record, with more than 500,000 copies pre-ordered through its site.[97] For the release of Goblet of Fire, 9,000 FedEx trucks were used with no other purpose than to deliver the book.[98] Together, Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble pre-sold more than 700,000 copies of the book.[98] In the United States, the book's initial printing run was 3.8 million copies.[98] This record statistic was broken by Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, with 8.5 million, which was then shattered by Half-Blood Prince with 10.8 million copies.[99] Within the first 24 hours of its release, 6.9 million copies of Prince were sold in the US; in the UK more than two million copies were sold on the first day.[100] The initial US print run for Deathly Hallows was 12 million copies, and more than a million were pre-ordered through Amazon and Barnes & Noble.[101]

Fans of the series were so eager for the latest instalment that bookstores around the world began holding events to coincide with the midnight release of the books, beginning with the 2000 publication of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. The events, commonly featuring mock sorting, games, face painting, and other live entertainment have achieved popularity with Potter fans and have been highly successful in attracting fans and selling books with nearly nine million of the 10.8 million initial print copies of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince sold in the first 24 hours.[102][103] The final book in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows became the fastest selling book in history, moving 11 million units in the first twenty-four hours of release.[104] The book sold 2.7 million copies in the UK and 8.3 million in the US.[71] The series has also gathered adult fans, leading to the release of two editions of each Harry Potter book, identical in text but with one edition's cover artwork aimed at children and the other aimed at adults.[105]

Book Sales[106]
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone 120 million
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets 77 million
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban 65 million
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire 65 million
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix 65 million
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince 65 million
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 65 million

Literary criticism

Early in its history, Harry Potter received positive reviews. On publication, the first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, attracted attention from the Scottish newspapers, such as The Scotsman, which said it had "all the makings of a classic",[107] and The Glasgow Herald, which called it "Magic stuff".[107] Soon the English newspapers joined in, with The Sunday Times comparing it to Roald Dahl's work ("comparisons to Dahl are, this time, justified"),[107] while The Guardian called it "a richly textured novel given lift-off by an inventive wit".[107]

By the time of the release of the fifth book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the books began to receive strong criticism from a number of literary scholars. Yale professor, literary scholar, and critic Harold Bloom raised criticisms of the books' literary merits, saying, "Rowling's mind is so governed by clichés and dead metaphors that she has no other style of writing."[108] A. S. Byatt authored an op-ed article in The New York Times calling Rowling's universe a "secondary secondary world, made up of intelligently patchworked derivative motifs from all sorts of children's literature ... written for people whose imaginative lives are confined to TV cartoons, and the exaggerated (more exciting, not threatening) mirror-worlds of soaps, reality TV and celebrity gossip."[109]

Michael Rosen, a novelist and poet, held the opinion that the books were not suited for children, as they would be unable to grasp the complex themes. Rosen also stated that "J. K. Rowling is more of an adult writer."[110] The critic Anthony Holden wrote in The Observer on his experience of judging Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban for the 1999 Whitbread Awards. His overall view of the series was negative—"the Potter saga was essentially patronising, conservative, highly derivative, dispiritingly nostalgic for a bygone Britain", and he speaks of "a pedestrian, ungrammatical prose style".[111] Ursula K. Le Guin said, "I have no great opinion of it [...] it seemed a lively kid's fantasy crossed with a 'school novel,' good fare for its age group, but stylistically ordinary, imaginatively derivative, and ethically rather mean-spirited."[112] By contrast, author Fay Weldon, while admitting that the series is "not what the poets hoped for", nevertheless goes on to say, "but this is not poetry, it is readable, saleable, everyday, useful prose".[113]

The literary critic A. N. Wilson praised the Harry Potter series in The Times, stating, "There are not many writers who have JK's Dickensian ability to make us turn the pages, to weep—openly, with tears splashing—and a few pages later to laugh, at invariably good jokes ... We have lived through a decade in which we have followed the publication of the liveliest, funniest, scariest and most moving children's stories ever written."[114] Charles Taylor of Salon.com, who is primarily a movie critic,[115] took issue with Byatt's criticisms in particular. While he conceded that she may have "a valid cultural point—a teeny one—about the impulses that drive us to reassuring pop trash and away from the troubling complexities of art",[116] he rejected her claims that the series is lacking in serious literary merit and that it owes its success merely to the childhood reassurances it offers.[116] Stephen King called the series "a feat of which only a superior imagination is capable", and declared "Rowling's punning, one-eyebrow-cocked sense of humor" to be "remarkable". However, he wrote that he is "a little tired of discovering Harry at home with his horrible aunt and uncle", the formulaic beginning of all seven books.[7][117]

Sameer Rahim of The Daily Telegraph disagreed, saying "It depresses me to see 16- and 17-year-olds reading the series when they could be reading the great novels of childhood such as Oliver Twist or A House for Mr Biswas."[118] The Washington Post book critic Ron Charles opined in July 2007 that "through no fault of Rowling's", the cultural and marketing "hysteria" marked by the publication of the later books "trains children and adults to expect the roar of the coliseum, a mass-media experience that no other novel can possibly provide".[119] Jenny Sawyer wrote in The Christian Science Monitor on 25 July 2007 that Harry Potter neither faces a "moral struggle" nor undergoes any ethical growth and is thus "no guide in circumstances in which right and wrong are anything less than black and white".[120] In contrast Emily Griesinger described Harry's first passage through to Platform 9+34 as an application of faith and hope, and his encounter with the Sorting Hat as the first of many in which Harry is shaped by the choices he makes.[121]

In an 8 November 2002, Slate article, Chris Suellentrop likened Potter to a "trust-fund kid whose success at school is largely attributable to the gifts his friends and relatives lavish upon him".[122] In a 12 August 2007 review of Deathly Hallows in The New York Times, however, Christopher Hitchens praised Rowling for "unmooring" her "English school story" from literary precedents "bound up with dreams of wealth and class and snobbery", arguing that she had instead created "a world of youthful democracy and diversity".[123] In 2016, an article written by Diana C. Mutz compared the politics of Harry Potter to the 2016 Donald Trump presidential campaign. She suggests that these themes are also present in the presidential election and it may play a significant role in how Americans have responded to the campaign.[124]

There is ongoing discussion regarding the extent to which the series was inspired by Tolkien's Lord of the Rings books.[125]

Thematic critique

The portrayal of women in Harry Potter has been described as complex and varied, but nonetheless conforming to stereotypical and patriarchal depictions of gender.[126] Gender divides are ostensibly absent in the books: Hogwarts is coeducational and women hold positions of power in wizarding society. However, this setting obscures the typecasting of female characters and the general depiction of conventional gender roles.[127] According to scholars Elizabeth Heilman and Trevor Donaldson, the subordination of female characters goes further early in the series. The final three books "showcase richer roles and more powerful females": for instance, the series' "most matriarchal character", Molly Weasley, engages substantially in the final battle of Deathly Hallows, while other women are shown as leaders.[128] Hermione Granger, in particular, becomes an active and independent character essential to the protagonists' battle against evil.[129] Yet, even particularly capable female characters such as Hermione and Minerva McGonagall are placed in supporting roles,[130] and Hermione's status as a feminist model is debated.[131] Girls and women are more frequently shown as emotional, more often defined by their appearance, and less often given agency in family settings.[127][132]

The social hierarchy of wizards in Rowling's world has drawn debate among critics. "Purebloods" have two wizard parents; "half-bloods" have one; and "Muggle-born" wizards have magical abilities, although neither of their parents is a wizard.[133] Lord Voldemort and his followers believe that blood purity is paramount and that Muggles are subhuman.[134] According to the literary scholar Andrew Blake, Harry Potter rejects blood purity as a basis for social division;[135] Suman Gupta agrees that Voldemort's philosophy represents "absolute evil";[136] and Nel and Eccleshare agree that advocates of racial or blood-based hierarchies are antagonists.[137][138] Gupta, following Blake,[139] suggests that the essential superiority of wizards over Muggles—wizards can use magic and Muggles cannot—means that the books cannot coherently reject anti-Muggle prejudice by appealing to equality between wizards and Muggles. Rather, according to Gupta, Harry Potter models a form of tolerance based on the "charity and altruism of those belonging to superior races" towards lesser races.[140]

Harry Potter's's depiction of race, specifically the slavery of house-elves, has received varied responses. Scholars such as Brycchan Carey have praised the books' abolitionist sentiments, viewing Hermione's Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare as a model for younger readers' political engagement.[141][142] Other critics including Farah Mendlesohn find the portrayal of house-elves "most difficult to accept": the elves are denied the right to free themselves and rely on the benevolence of others like Hermione.[143][144] Pharr terms the house-elves a disharmonious element in the series, writing that Rowling leaves their fate hanging;[145] at the end of Deathly Hallows, the elves remain enslaved and cheerful.[146] The goblins of the world of Harry Potter have also received criticism for following antisemitic caricatures – particularly for their grotesque "hook-nosed" portrayal in the films, an appearance associated with Jewish stereotypes.[147][148][149]

Controversies

The books have been the subject of a number of legal proceedings, stemming from various conflicts over copyright and trademark infringements. The popularity and high market value of the series has led Rowling, her publishers, and film distributor Warner Bros. to take legal measures to protect their copyright, which have included banning the sale of Harry Potter imitations, targeting the owners of websites over the "Harry Potter" domain name, and suing author Nancy Stouffer to counter her accusations that Rowling had plagiarised her work.[150][151][152]

Various religious fundamentalists have claimed that the books promote witchcraft and religions such as Wicca and are therefore unsuitable for children,[153][154][155] while a number of critics have criticised the books for promoting various political agendas.[156][157] The series has landed the American Library Associations' Top 10 Banned Book List in 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2019 with claims it was anti-family, discussed magic and witchcraft, contained actual spells and curses, referenced the occult/Satanism, violence, and had characters who used "nefarious means" to attain goals, as well as conflicts with religious viewpoints.[158]

The books also aroused controversies in the literary and publishing worlds. From 1997 to 1998, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone won almost all the United Kingdom awards judged by children, but none of the children's book awards judged by adults,[159] and Sandra Beckett suggested the reason was intellectual snobbery towards books that were popular among children.[160] In 1999, the winner of the Whitbread Book of the Year award children's division was entered for the first time on the shortlist for the main award, and one judge threatened to resign if Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was declared the overall winner; it finished second, very close behind the winner of the poetry prize, Seamus Heaney's translation of the Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf.[160]

In 2000, shortly before the publication of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the previous three Harry Potter books topped The New York Times fiction best-seller list and a third of the entries were children's books. The newspaper created a new children's section covering children's books, including both fiction and non-fiction, and initially counting only hardback sales. The move was supported by publishers and booksellers.[96] In 2004, The New York Times further split the children's list, which was still dominated by Harry Potter books, into sections for series and individual books and removed the Harry Potter books from the section for individual books.[161] The split in 2000 attracted condemnation, praise and some comments that presented both benefits and disadvantages of the move.[162] Time suggested that, on the same principle, Billboard should have created a separate "mop-tops" list in 1964 when The Beatles held the top five places in its list, and Nielsen should have created a separate game-show list when Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? dominated the ratings.[163]

Legacy

Influence on literature

Sculpture of Harry Potter in Leicester Square, London, 2020
Sculpture of Harry Potter in Leicester Square, London

Harry Potter transformed children's literature.[164][165] In the 1970s, children's books were generally realistic as opposed to fantastic,[166] while adult fantasy became popular because of the influence of The Lord of the Rings.[167] The next decade saw an increasing interest in grim, realist themes, with an outflow of fantasy readers and writers to adult works.[168][169]

The commercial success of Harry Potter reversed this trend.[170] The scale of its growth had no precedent in the children's market: within four years of the series' inception, it occupied 28% of that field by revenue.[171] Children's literature rose in cultural status,[172] and fantasy became a dominant genre.[173] Older works in the genre, including Diana Wynne Jones's Chrestomanci series and Diane Duane's Young Wizards, were reprinted and rose in popularity; some authors re-established their careers.[174] In the following decades, many Harry Potter imitators and subversive responses grew popular.[175][176]

Rowling has been compared to Enid Blyton, who also wrote in simple language about groups of children and long held sway over the British children's market.[177][178] She has also been described as an heir to Roald Dahl.[179] Some critics view Harry Potter's rise, along with the concurrent success of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials, as part of a broader shift in reading tastes: a rejection of literary fiction in favour of plot and adventure.[180] This is reflected in the BBC's 2003 "Big Read" survey of the UK's favourite books, where Pullman and Rowling ranked at numbers 3 and 5, respectively, with very few British literary classics in the top 10.[181]

Cultural impact

"Platform 9+34" sign on London King's Cross railway station

Harry Potter has been described as a cultural phenomenon.[182][183] The word "Muggle" has spread beyond its origins in the books, entering the Oxford English Dictionary in 2003.[184] A real-life version of the sport Quidditch was created in 2005 and featured as an exhibition tournament in the 2012 London Olympics.[185] Characters and elements from the series have inspired scientific names of several organisms, including the dinosaur Dracorex hogwartsia, the spider Eriovixia gryffindori, the wasp Ampulex dementor, and the crab Harryplax severus.[186]

Librarian Nancy Knapp pointed out the books' potential to improve literacy by motivating children to read much more than they otherwise would.[187] The seven-book series has a word count of 1,083,594 (US edition). Agreeing about the motivating effects, Diane Penrod also praised the books' blending of simple entertainment with "the qualities of highbrow literary fiction", but expressed concern about the distracting effect of the prolific merchandise that accompanies the book launches.[188] However, the assumption that Harry Potter books have increased literacy among young people is "largely a folk legend".[189]

Research by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has found no increase in reading among children coinciding with the Harry Potter publishing phenomenon, nor has the broader downward trend in reading among Americans been arrested during the rise in the popularity of the Harry Potter books.[189][190] The research also found that children who read Harry Potter books were not more likely to go on to read outside the fantasy and mystery genres.[189] NEA chairman Dana Gioia said the series, "got millions of kids to read a long and reasonably complex series of books. The trouble is that one Harry Potter novel every few years is not enough to reverse the decline in reading."[191]

Many fan fiction and fan art works about Harry Potter have been made. In March 2007, "Harry Potter" was the most commonly searched fan fiction subject on the internet.[192] Jennifer Conn used Snape's and Quidditch coach Madam Hooch's teaching methods as examples of what to avoid and what to emulate in clinical teaching,[193] and Joyce Fields wrote that the books illustrate four of the five main topics in a typical first-year sociology class: "sociological concepts including culture, society, and socialisation; stratification and social inequality; social institutions; and social theory".[194]

From the early 2000s onwards, several news reports appeared in the UK of the Harry Potter book and movie series driving demand for pet owls,[195] and even reports that after the end of the movie series these same pet owls were now being abandoned by their owners.[196] This led J. K. Rowling to issue several statements urging Harry Potter fans to refrain from purchasing pet owls.[197] Despite the media flurry, research into the popularity of Harry Potter and sales of owls in the UK failed to find any evidence that the Harry Potter franchise had influenced the buying of owls in the country or the number of owls reaching animal shelters and sanctuaries.[198]

Awards, honours, and recognition

The Harry Potter series has been recognised by a host of awards since the initial publication of Philosopher's Stone, including a platinum award from the Whitaker Gold and Platinum Book Awards (2001),[199][200] three Nestlé Smarties Book Prizes (1997–1999),[201] two Scottish Arts Council Book Awards (1999 and 2001),[202] the inaugural Whitbread children's book of the year award (1999),[203] and the WHSmith book of the year (2006),[204] among others. In 2000, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was nominated for a Hugo Award for Best Novel, and in 2001, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire won said award.[205] Honours include a commendation for the Carnegie Medal (1997),[206] a short listing for the Guardian Children's Award (1998), and numerous listings on the notable books, editors' choices, and best books lists of the American Library Association, The New York Times, Chicago Public Library, and Publishers Weekly.[207]

In 2002, sociologist Andrew Blake named Harry Potter a British pop culture icon along with the likes of James Bond and Sherlock Holmes.[208] In 2003, four of the books were named in the top 24 of the BBC's The Big Read survey of the best loved novels in the UK.[209] A 2004 study found that books in the series were commonly read aloud in elementary schools in San Diego County, California.[210] Based on a 2007 online poll, the US National Education Association listed the series in its "Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children".[211] Time magazine named Rowling as a runner-up for its 2007 Person of the Year award, noting the social, moral, and political inspiration she has given her fandom.[212] Three of the books placed among the "Top 100 Chapter Books" of all time, or children's novels, in a 2012 survey published by School Library Journal: Sorcerer's Stone ranked number three, Prisoner of Azkaban 12th, and Goblet of Fire 98th.[213]

In 2007, the seven Harry Potter book covers were depicted on a series of UK postage stamps issued by Royal Mail.[214] In 2012, the opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London featured a 100-foot tall rendition of Lord Voldemort in a segment designed to showcase the UK's cultural icons.[215] In November 2019, the BBC listed the Harry Potter series on its list of the 100 most influential novels.[216]

Adaptations

Films

The red locomotive train used as the "Hogwarts Express" in the film series. In the front it has the numbers "5912" inscripted on it
The locomotive that features as the "Hogwarts Express" in the film series

In 1999, Rowling sold the film rights for Harry Potter to Warner Bros. for a reported £1 million (US$2,000,000).[217][218] Rowling had creative control on the film series, observing the filmmaking process of Philosopher's Stone and serving as producer on the two-part Deathly Hallows, alongside David Heyman and David Barron.[219] Rowling demanded the principal cast be kept strictly British and Irish, nonetheless allowing for the inclusion or French and Eastern European actors where characters from the book are specified as such.[220]

Chris Columbus was selected as the director for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (titled "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" in the United States).[221] Philosopher's Stone was released on 14 November 2001. Just three days after the film's release, production for Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, also directed by Columbus, began and the film was released on 15 November 2002.[222] Columbus declined to direct Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, only acting as producer. Mexican director Alfonso Cuarón took over the job, and after shooting in 2003, the film was released on 4 June 2004. Due to the fourth film beginning its production before the third's release, Mike Newell was chosen as the director for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, released on 18 November 2005.[223] Newell became the first British director of the series, with television director David Yates following suit after he was chosen to helm Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Production began in January 2006 and the film was released the following year in July 2007.[224] Yates was selected to direct Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, which was released on 15 July 2009.[225][226] The final instalment in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was released in two cinematic parts: Part 1 on 19 November 2010 and Part 2 on 15 July 2011.[227][228]

Spin-off prequels

A prequel series is planned to consist of five films, taking place before the main series.[229] The first film Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was released in November 2016, followed by the second Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald in November 2018 and Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore in April 2022. Rowling wrote the screenplays for all three films,[230] marking her foray into screenwriting.

Games

A number of non-interactive media games and board games have been released such as Cluedo Harry Potter Edition, Scene It? Harry Potter and Lego Harry Potter models, which are influenced by the themes of both the novels and films.

There are fourteen Harry Potter video games, eight corresponding with the films and books and six spin-offs. The film/book-based games are produced by Electronic Arts (EA), as was Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup, with the game version of the first entry in the series, Philosopher's Stone, being released in November 2001. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone went on to become one of the best-selling PlayStation games ever.[231] The video games were released to coincide with the films. Objectives usually occur in and around Hogwarts. The story and design of the games follow the selected film's characterisation and plot; EA worked closely with Warner Bros. to include scenes from the films. The last game in the series, Deathly Hallows, was split, with Part 1 released in November 2010 and Part 2 debuting on consoles in July 2011.[232][233]

The spin-off games Lego Harry Potter: Years 1–4 and Lego Harry Potter: Years 5–7 were developed by Traveller's Tales and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. The spin-off games Book of Spells and Book of Potions were developed by London Studio and use the Wonderbook, an augmented reality book designed to be used in conjunction with the PlayStation Move and PlayStation Eye.[234] The Harry Potter universe is also featured in Lego Dimensions, with the settings and side characters featured in the Harry Potter Adventure World, and Harry, Voldemort, and Hermione as playable characters. In 2017, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment opened its own Harry Potter-themed game design studio, by the name of Portkey Games, before releasing Hogwarts Mystery, developed by Jam City, in 2018 and Hogwarts Legacy, developed by Avalanche Software, in 2023.[235][236]

Stage production

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: Parts I and II is a play which serves as a sequel to the books, beginning nineteen years after the events of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. It was written by Jack Thorne based on an original new story by Thorne, Rowling and John Tiffany.[237] It has run at the Palace Theatre in London's West End since previews began on 7 June 2016 with an official premiere on 30 June 2016.[238] The first four months of tickets for the June–September performances were sold out within several hours upon release.[239] Forthcoming productions are planned for Broadway[240] and Melbourne.[241]

The script was released as a book at the time of the premiere, with a revised version following the next year.

Television

On 25 January 2021, it was reported that a live-action television series has been in early development at HBO Max. Though it was noted that the series has "complicated rights issues", due to a seven-year rights deal with Warner Bros. Domestic TV Distribution that included US broadcast, cable and streaming rights to the franchise, which ends in April 2025.[242] On 12 April 2023, the series was confirmed to be in development, and will be streamed on the new streaming service Max (formerly known as HBO Max).[243][244] On 23 February 2024, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav announced that the series would debut on Max in 2026.[245] On 25 June 2024, it was announced the series was moved from Max to HBO.[246]

Attractions

Hogwarts Castle as depicted in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, located in Universal Orlando Resort's Island of Adventure

Universal and Warner Brothers created The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, a Harry Potter-themed expansion to the Islands of Adventure theme park at Universal Orlando Resort in Florida. It opened to the public on 18 June 2010.[247] It includes a recreation of Hogsmeade and several rides; its flagship attraction is Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, which exists within a recreation of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.[248]

In 2014 Universal opened a Harry Potter-themed area at the Universal Studios Florida theme park. It includes a recreation of Diagon Alley.[249] The flagship attraction is the Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts roller coaster ride.[250] A completely functioning full-scale replica of the Hogwarts Express was created for the Diagon Alley expansion, connecting King's Cross Station at Universal Studios to the Hogsmeade station at Islands of Adventure.[251][252] The Wizarding World of Harry Potter opened at the Universal Studios Hollywood theme park near Los Angeles, California in 2016,[253][254] and in Universal Studios Japan theme park in Osaka, Japan in 2014. The Osaka venue includes the village of Hogsmeade, Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ride, and Flight of the Hippogriff roller coaster.[255][256] Other Harry Potter roller coasters are the Dragon Challenge and Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure, both at Universal Islands of Adventure.

Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter is a behind-the-scenes walking tour in London featuring authentic sets, costumes and props from the film series. The attraction is located at Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden, where all eight of the Harry Potter films were made. Warner Bros. constructed two new sound stages to house and showcase the sets from each of the British-made productions, following a £100 million investment.[257] It opened to the public in March 2012.[258]

Supplementary works

Rowling expanded the Harry Potter universe with short books produced for charities.[259][260] In 2001, she released Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (a purported Hogwarts textbook) and Quidditch Through the Ages (a book Harry reads for fun). Proceeds from the sale of these two books benefited the charity Comic Relief.[261] In 2007, Rowling composed seven handwritten copies of The Tales of Beedle the Bard, a collection of fairy tales that is featured in the final novel, one of which was auctioned to raise money for the Children's High Level Group, a fund for mentally disabled children in poor countries. The book was published internationally on 4 December 2008.[262][263] Rowling also wrote an 800-word prequel in 2008 as part of a fundraiser organised by the bookseller Waterstones.[264] All three of these books contain extra information about the wizarding world not included in the original novels.

In 2016, she released three new e-books: Hogwarts: An Incomplete and Unreliable Guide, Short Stories from Hogwarts of Power, Politics and Pesky Poltergeists and Short Stories from Hogwarts of Heroism, Hardship and Dangerous Hobbies.[265]

Rowling's website Pottermore was launched in 2012.[266] Pottermore allows users to be sorted, be chosen by their wand and play various minigames. The main purpose of the website was to allow the user to journey through the story with access to content not revealed by JK Rowling previously, with over 18,000 words of additional content.[267] The site was redesigned in 2015 as WizardingWorld and it mainly focuses on the information already available, rather than exploration.[268]

See also

References

  1. ^ Sources that refer to the many genres, cultural meanings and references of the series include:
    • Fry, Stephen (10 December 2005). "Living with Harry Potter". BBC Radio 4. Archived from the original on 21 October 2014. Retrieved 10 December 2005.
    • Jensen, Jeff (7 September 2000). "Why J.K. Rowling waited to read Harry Potter to her daughter". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 5 September 2015. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
    • Nancy Carpentier Brown (2007). "The Last Chapter" (PDF). Our Sunday Visitor. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 October 2007. Retrieved 28 April 2009.
    • J. K. Rowling. "J. K. Rowling at the Edinburgh Book Festival". Archived from the original on 20 August 2006. Retrieved 10 October 2006.
  2. ^ Greig, Geordie (11 January 2006). "There would be so much to tell her..." The Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 11 March 2007. Retrieved 4 April 2007.
  3. ^ Allsobrook, 'Marian (18 June 2003). "Potter's place in the literary canon". BBC News. Archived from the original on 9 January 2008. Retrieved 15 October 2007.
  4. ^ Bartlett, Kellie (6 January 2005). "Harry Potter's place in literature". The Chronicle of Higher Education. Archived from the original on 13 March 2023. Retrieved 18 January 2023.
  5. ^ a b Meyer, Katie (6 April 2016). "Harry Potter's $25 Billion Magic Spell". Money. Archived from the original on 14 May 2021. Retrieved 4 November 2016.
  6. ^ Anne Le Lievre, Kerrie (2003). "Wizards and wainscots: generic structures and genre themes in the Harry Potter series". CNET Networks. Archived from the original on 6 December 2008. Retrieved 1 September 2008.
  7. ^ a b King, Stephen (23 July 2000). "Wild About Harry". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 17 April 2009. Retrieved 9 August 2010. ...the Harry Potter books are, at heart, satisfyingly shrewd mystery tales.
  8. ^ "Harry Potter makes boarding fashionable". BBC News. 13 December 1999. Archived from the original on 28 December 2008. Retrieved 1 September 2008.
  9. ^ Ellen Jones, Leslie (2003). JRR Tolkien: A Biography. Greenwood Press. p. 16. ISBN 978-0-313-32340-9.
  10. ^ A Whited, Lana (2004). The Ivory Tower and Harry Potter: Perspectives on a Literary Phenomenon. University of Missouri Press. p. 28. ISBN 978-0-8262-1549-9.
  11. ^ a b Natov 2002, p. 129.
  12. ^ Butler 2012, pp. 233–34.
  13. ^ Butler 2012, p. 234.
  14. ^ Park 2003, p. 183.
  15. ^ Natov 2002, p. 130.
  16. ^ a b Nikolajeva 2008, p. 233.
  17. ^ Ostry 2003, p. 97.
  18. ^ Ostry 2003, pp. 90, 97–98.
  19. ^ a b Grossman, Lev (28 June 2007). "Harry Potter's Last Adventure". Time. Archived from the original on 27 August 2008. Retrieved 1 September 2008.
  20. ^ "Two characters to die in last 'Harry Potter' book: J.K. Rowling". CBC. 26 June 2006. Archived from the original on 30 June 2006. Retrieved 1 September 2008.
  21. ^ Alton 2008, p. 216.
  22. ^ Gallardo & Smith 2003, p. 195.
  23. ^ a b c d e f Arden, Heather; Lorenz, Kathryn (June 2003). "The Harry Potter Stories and French Arthurian Romance". Arthuriana. 13 (12): 54–68. doi:10.1353/art.2003.0005. ISSN 1078-6279. JSTOR 27870516. S2CID 161603742.
  24. ^ Singer 2016, pp. 26–27.
  25. ^ a b Farmer 2001, p. 58.
  26. ^ Farmer 2001, p. 55.
  27. ^ Nikolajeva 2008, pp. 238–39.
  28. ^ a b c Adler, Shawn (17 October 2007). "'Harry Potter' Author J.K. Rowling Opens Up About Books' Christian Imagery". MTV. Archived from the original on 14 October 2017. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  29. ^ Sedlmayr, Gerold; Waller, Nicole (28 October 2014). Politics in Fantasy Media: Essays on Ideology and Gender in Fiction, Film, Television and Games. McFarland & Company. p. 132. ISBN 9781476617558. During this press conference, Rowling stated that the Bible quotations in that novel "almost epitomize the whole series. I think they sum up all the themes in the whole series" (reported in Adler).
  30. ^ Falconer, Rachel (21 October 2008). The Crossover Novel: Contemporary Children's Fiction and Its Adult Readership. Routledge. p. 69. ISBN 9781135865016. These New Testament verses (Matthew 6:19 and 1 Corinthians 15:26) together denote the promise of resurrection through the Son of God's consent to die.52 In interview, Rowling has stressed that these two quotations 'sum up – they almost epitomize the whole series'.
  31. ^ Cooke, Rachel. "ProQuest Ebook Central". The Charleston Advisor. doi:10.5260/cca.199425 (inactive 1 November 2024).{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of November 2024 (link) (subscription required)
  32. ^ Ciaccio 2008, pp. 39–40.
  33. ^ Groves 2017, pp. xxi–xxii, 135–136.
  34. ^ a b Natov 2002, pp. 134–36.
  35. ^ Taub & Servaty-Seib 2008, pp. 23–27.
  36. ^ Pharr 2016, pp. 20–21.
  37. ^ a b Los 2008, pp. 32–33.
  38. ^ Stojilkov 2015, p. 135.
  39. ^ Pharr 2016, pp. 14–15, 20–21.
  40. ^ Groves 2017, p. 138.
  41. ^ Groves 2017, p. 135.
  42. ^ a b Shanoes 2003, pp. 131–32.
  43. ^ McEvoy 2016, p. 207.
  44. ^ a b Doughty 2002, pp. 247–49.
  45. ^ Berberich 2016, p. 153.
  46. ^ Birch 2008, pp. 110–13.
  47. ^ Nikolajeva 2016, p. 204.
  48. ^ Applebaum 2008, pp. 84–85.
  49. ^ Max, Wyman (26 October 2000). ""You can lead a fool to a book but you cannot make them think": Author has frank words for the religious right". The Vancouver Sun. p. A3. ProQuest 242655908.
  50. ^ Greenwald, Janey; Greenwald, J (Fall 2005). "Understanding Harry Potter: Parallels to the Deaf World" (Free full text). The Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education. 10 (4): 442–450. doi:10.1093/deafed/eni041. PMID 16000691.
  51. ^ Duffy, Edward (2002). "Sentences in Harry Potter, Students in Future Writing Classes". Rhetoric Review. 21 (2): 177. doi:10.1207/S15327981RR2102_03. S2CID 144654506.
  52. ^ "JK Rowling outs Dumbledore as gay". BBC News. 21 October 2007. Archived from the original on 22 October 2007. Retrieved 21 October 2007.
  53. ^ Rowling, JK (2006). "Biography". JKRowling.com. Archived from the original on 21 April 2006. Retrieved 21 May 2006.
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Sources

  • Bell, Christopher, ed. (2012). Hermione Granger Saves the World: Essays on the Feminist Heroine of Hogwarts. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. ISBN 978-0-7864-7137-9.
    • Bell, Christopher; Alexander, Julie (2012). "Introduction". In Bell, Christopher (ed.). Hermione Granger Saves the World: Essays on the Feminist Heroine of Hogwarts. McFarland & Company.
    • Berents, Helen (2012). "Hermione Granger goes to war". In Bell, Christopher (ed.). Hermione Granger Saves the World: Essays on the Feminist Heroine of Hogwarts. McFarland & Company.

Further reading

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