Harry's Underworld Journey: Reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows through Vergil's Aeneid

J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter book series phenomenon continues to fascinate millions of children two decades after its first publication. Part fantasy, part boarding-school story, Rowling's narrative is also brimming with elements of Greek myth and is infused with Latin or Latin-inspired language.¹ Critics are hard at work trying to explicate the books from a host of different perspectives, such as ethics, philosophy, politics, religion, feminism, class, race, and literary precedents.² Scholars are in general agreement that the series constitutes a modern epic, displaying all the major characteristics of a hero's quest that champions good against evil.³

In this paper, I argue that Vergil's Aeneid is a major text through which we should read the Harry Potter series. As a foundational narrative for the Roman state, the epic may at first seem an unlikely model for the modern novels. After all, Vergil's epic reflects particular preoccupations of its era: at the time of the Aeneid's composition (29–19 BCE), Rome had just exited a prolonged period of civil wars and faced with both hope and trepidation a new political regime, transitioning from a republic to empire. Augustus' new rule treaded this new ideological ground lightly, casting his reign as both a return to the old republican ideals and the dawn of a new era of peace, stability, and moral renewal. In the Harry Potter series, the motif of the Underworld journey as understood through the lens of the Aeneid provides additional evidence for the claim that it, too, constitutes a foundational narrative, one that pits tolerance, democracy, and cooperation against intolerance, tyranny, and self-indulgence as fundamental values on which a healthy society rests. Harry and his friends steadfastly oppose Voldemort's "new order," which bears a strong resemblance to Nazism and other tyrannical regimes around the world.⁴ As Aeneas founds a new civilization which will eventually lead to the Roman empire, so the telos of Harry's adventures, the defeat of Voldemort, ushers in a new era for the world, where personal freedom and social justice are finally secured.

Has J. K. Rowling read the Aeneid? It is well known that the author studied Classics at the University of Exeter.⁵ She has stated on several occasions that she has read classical texts widely, not only as a student, but also later.⁶ Critics have already pointed out that Harry resembles Aeneas in many respects. Both heroes suffer immeasurable losses at the opening of each narrative.⁷ Aeneas has lost his city and is now a fugitive, "tossed about at land and at sea" (Aen.1.1–3).⁸ Harry is an orphan, brought up in almost Dickensian fashion by the abusive Dursleys (Philosopher's Stone chapters 2–4). Both heroes embark on their mission unaware of its importance and of the major role they are going to play therein.⁹ Aeneas is going to found the Roman nation, which will impose peace and civilized customs. Harry will free the world of Voldemort's brute force and ruthless quest for power and will restore justice. In addition, suffering and loss follow both heroes along their journey. Most of the first six books of the Aeneid end in the death of someone close to Aeneas: the city of Troy and its king (2) Anchises (3), Dido (4), Palinurus (5), Marcellus (6). Similarly, each of the later Harry Potter books ends with the death of someone close to Harry: his classmate Cedric (Goblet of Fire), or a father figure, such as Sirius (Order of the Phoenix) and Dumbledore (Half-Blood Prince).

More than any other book in the series, however, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (DH) deeply engages Vergil's epic. At the climax of the novel we witness the hero's journey to the world of the dead,¹⁰ also known by the Greek word for descent, katabasis.¹¹ This episode bears striking similarities with Vergil's Aeneid, where Aeneas meets his dead father, Anchises, who will show him the unborn souls of his descendants, the...