Linda Seger's Hero Myth: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Hero Myth: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
In the writing of Linda Seger’s “Creating the Myth” she argues that there are 10-points in creating a “hero myth”. Seger uses Luke Skywalker from the Star Wars Trilogy as her hero myth example. I will use Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, because Harry follows the 10-points that Linda Seger argues about in order to create a transformation into becoming a hero. In this paper, I will explain how Harry Potter fits the 10-points in creating a hero. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone is a family film that is filled with adventures and fantasies. The movie Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone is about a boy named Harry Potter who lives with his neglecting Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia and their son Dudley. On his 11th birthday, he finds out from a giant wizard named Hagrid that he is an orphaned son of powerful wizards and had been accepted to Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. While growing up Harry thought that his parents died in a car crash, but finds out from Hagrid that an evil wizard by the name of Voldemort kills his parents. For some odd reason Voldemort could not kill Harry and overnight he becomes a hero as “The Boy Who Lived”. While on the train to Hogwarts he meets first-year students Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. Upon his arrival at Hogwarts, Harry makes friends quickly and begins to piece together the mystery of his parents’ deaths. It appears to Harry that the death of his parents was not accidental. During his stay at Hogwarts, Harry makes many quite terrifying run-ins with a troll, a three-headed dog, flying keys, a live wizard chess match, and even getting wrapped up into large vines. Then, he learns that Professor Quirell is trying to steal the Sorcerer’s Stone and that Voldemort is trying to kill him like he did his parents 11 years ago. Harry Potter follows Linda Seger’s steps to “Creating a Hero Myth” very closely. “The hero myth is something that has a specific story beat that occur in all hero stories” as Seger says. Seger says that “story beats show how the hero is, what the hero needs, and how the story and the character interact in order to create transformation towards heroism”. In Act One of the Sorcerer’s Stone of the hero myth story are steps one through four. Step one is where the hero begins as a non-hero, who is innocent, young, and humble, as Seger says. Harry follows step one of the hero myth because he is an 11-year old boy that is adopted and lives with his neglecting Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon and their son Dudley Dursley. Harry is sort of a slave in his home because he has to cook for his family, cleans up after them, and gets treated like their servant. Step two is where something new enters the hero’s life which changes their life dramatically. Harry follows step two because he notices on the day of his birthday outside sits a million owls. Next, a letter shoots from out of the fireplace almost hitting his uncle in the face. Then, they all hear this rumbling sound and a million letters begin to shoot out of the fireplace. Harry picks one of the letters and runs off to go and read the letter. Before he even gets a chance to read the letter his Uncle Vernon takes it from him. After, there is a knock at the door and at the door stands a giant wizard by the name of Hagrid who comes to see Harry Potter for his birthday. Hagrid is the Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts the School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. Hagrid hands him a letter and tells him that he is an orphan from powerful wizards and has been accepted to Hogwarts the School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. After finding out that he got accepted to Hogwarts, Hagrid tells him that his parents did not die in a car crash and that they were killed by an evil wizard named Voldemort. Step three is when the hero does not want to leave from his or her non-hero life. Harry follows step three because Harry does not want to leave his non-hero life, but is really motivated to leave the presence of his family after being lied to about the death of his parents and being a wizard. Next comes the last step of Act One which is step four. Step four is where the hero usually receives help, and the help often comes from unusual sources. Harry Potter follows step four because when he begins his journey he receives help from Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, who he meets on the train ride to Hogwarts. He also receives more help from Hagrid and the headmaster of Hogwarts named Dumbledore. In Act Two of the hero myth story are steps five through seven. In the hero myth step five is where the hero is now ready to move into the special world where he or she will change from ordinary to extraordinary. Harry follows this step because after he leaves his from house Hagrid takes Harry to go shopping for school supplies were he buys quills, ink, bits, and bobs. Then, after leaving the store he remembers that he did not buy a wand. So he goes to a different store to buy a wand and when he gets in the store, there sits the wand in a box that the evil wizard Voldemort meant for him to have. After buying the supplies that he needs to make the transformation of becoming a hero, he now begins step six of the hero myth. Step six is where the hero begins all of the tests and obstacles necessary to overcome the enemy and accomplish the hero’s goals. Harry follows step six because he, Ron, and Hermione go through obstacles such as fighting an ugly troll. Then, they all jump pass Fluffy, which is the three-headed dog that is hiding the Sorcerer’s Stone behind a trap door. After they jump pass Fluffy and make it through the trap door, they fall and land on mushy black ropelike vines that trap them by wrapping them up in the vines. But, to get through the vines they have to relax so they can fall through into a room filled with flying golden keys. While in the room with the flying keys Harry has to fly on a broom to find a key to unlock the door so that they can get out. Then, after finding the key they exit out of the room to find themselves in a live wizard chess match. Ron then nearly dies after sacrificing his piece so that Harry can win and move on and stop Professor Quirell from stealing the Sorcerer’s Stone. His continuation in becoming a hero pauses for a second because step seven is where the hero at some point in the story hits rock bottom. Harry follows step seven because he hits rock bottom when he sits in front of the Mirror of Erised and sees his parents. Then, the next night he goes to sit in front of the mirror again to see if he will get to see his parents and Dumbledore comes from behind and tells him “you must not go looking for [the mirror] ever again…it does not do to dwell on dreams.” In the final act of the hero myth story are steps eight through ten. In Act Three, step eight is where the hero is in charge, but has not completed his journey. Harry follows step eight because he has went through the obstacles for his transformation into becoming a hero and is beginning the fight with Voldemort. Step nine is where the hero takes what he has learned and integrates it in his daily life. Harry follows step nine by fighting the evil wizard Voldemort who is the other face on the back of Professor Quirell’s head, for the Sorcerer’s Stone. After Voldemort taunts Harry Potter they begin to fight and Voldemort tries to kill Harry, but fails. Then, after Voldemort fails at trying to kill Harry Potter, Harry kills him and then Voldemort falls to the ground unconscious holding the stone. The last step of the hero myth story is step ten which is the step in every hero’s story where we see how the hero has changed at the end. Harry follows step ten because he helps his Quidditch team Gryffindor win the house cup by getting sixty points for the pure nerve and outstanding courage of fighting and killing Voldemort along with Hermione’s fifty points and Ron’s fifty points. After winning the house cup, Hagrid takes Harry, Ron, and Hermione to the train station. While saying bye to them, Hagrid gives Harry a photo of him and his parents when he was a little baby. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone compares to similar films, because the movies after Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone are other hero myth stories, which are continuations of the movie. This film is taken from the common themes found in the Harry Potter book series and added new twists of Harry, Ron, and Hermione fighting and going through obstacles of trying to get the Sorcerer’s Stone back from the evil wizard Voldemort, who is also Professor Quirell. These themes are found in other adventure films for young children. The Harry Potter film explains that in society a normal person can be anybody that they want to be, if they put their mind to it.