Subtle Signs

Buckbeak the Hippogriff: Symbolism for H/HR

March 31st, 2006

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Author: Sirius83

Buckbeak is a Hippogriff. Hippogriffs are a symbol of love in Greek mythology. Yes, romantic love. As we know, Buckbeak the Hippogriff was part of a huge moment of H/Hr romantic imagery in POA, when Harry and Hermione flew on Buckbeak, with Hermione clinging to Harry for safety and comfort - on a moonlit night no less, to rescue Sirius.

In OOTP, when Harry has locked himself away during Christmas, Hermione arrives, still wearing her jacket, pink faced from the cold and with snow in her hair and manages to get Harry to open up and go with her. Nobody else was able to even talk to Harry, much less make him open up without protest and follow them. However, what is even more interesting is this. JKR decided to remind us of the POA flight by having good old Beaky present in the room!

Furthermore, the Hippogriff of greek mythology is half horse and half Griffin. A Griffin is a creature with the head, beak and wings of an eagle and the body of a lion, sometimes with the tail of a scorpion or a snake. From this we see characteristics that can be taken to represent Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Slytherin - the 3 houses represented by Harry and Hermione. After all, while Harry and Hermione are both Gryffindors, Harry was almost placed in Slytherin and Hermione was almost placed in Ravenclaw - both because they showed traits of those houses. The lion is the symbol of Gryffindor, the Eagle is not exactly a Raven but is close enough to represent Ravenclaw (*EDIT: Eagle IS used to represent Ravenclaw, as shown in Chapter 3 of PS/SS, when Harry first opened his Hogwarts Letter, there was a crest on it which showed amongst them, the Eagle) and the snake is a serpent which represents Slytherin. Convenient coincidence or deliberate writing by JKR? I believe there is too much here for it to be just coincidence, and there are other instances where JKR has used symbolism in her books - and had them work out.

Other instances of symbolism

The Phoenix is the symbol of hope and universal love. Fawkes the Phoenix has given Harry hope in the past. The Order of the Phoenix is the hope against Voldemort.

The Thestral symbolises death. The six kids flew Thestrals to the Ministry of Magic, which brought Sirius his death. Note well that being horse-like, they can carry 2 each, but JKR made sure two people did not ride at once like with Buckbeak the Hippogiff, symbol of love.

Peter Pettigrew / Wormtail, the rat. Sneaky and opportunistic. As we learn, Wormtail was indeed sneaky and opportunistic and turned traitor as a result. When we thought Wormtail was just a pet rat named Scabbers, it originally belonged to Percy, who is also highly opportunistic, turning against his family as a result.

Sirius Black / Padfoot. The dog. Loyal; faithful. Sirius the star is of a spectral type known for its short life span. Dogs also have short life spans. Sirius died an early death. He lived a short but loyal life.

(Added argument: As for Sirius, when Trelawney kept seeing the Grim in Harry’s future in PoA, she was actually seeing Sirius, but mistook it as a death omen for Harry. I think JKR has said in the past that the animal an animagus takes is like wizards/witches and wands - the wand chooses the wizard/witch. Therefore the animal chooses the animagus. Sirius’ own animagus form was a death omen)

Remus Lupin / Moony. Remus was also the brother of Romulus, the mythical founder of Rome. Remus and Romulus were raised by a female wolf. Lupin means wolf-like. Canis Lupus is the scientific name for wolf. Remus Lupin turned out to be a werewolf. Affected people become werewolves at the full moon.

The unicorn represents innocence and we are told they are the first to die. Cedric was innocent and was the first death we really felt. He also carried a wand with a core of unicorn hair.

That should be enough to prove that JKR does indeed use symbolism

References

http://www.theninemuses.net/hp/h.html
http://www.pantheon.org/articles/h/hippogriff.html

Entry Filed under: Essays: Pre-HBP