Christmas in ‘Chamber of Secrets’: or, why is the crowing of the rooster fatal to the Basilisk?

Christmas in ‘Chamber of Secrets’: or, why is the crowing of the rooster fatal to the Basilisk? PART 2

December 2018: Carols in Harry Potter And The Myth Of The Christmas Rose (Part 1) (Part 2)

Happy Christmas to you, Gregorians!

 

Oxford University Research Fellow and Lecturer Beatrice Groves, author of Literary Allusion in Harry Potter, has written two posts over at MuggleNet.com and her Bathilda’s Notebook there. They are both in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the first Monty Python television programs being aired on the BBC. Each points to hat-tips in the Potter novels that are almost certainly Rowling’s tribute to the masters of comic defamiliarization (and, yes, as my thesis in progress is a Formalist reading of the Presence’s work, it was a delight to see ostranenie in Groves’ post).

The first is about pointers in the Hogwarts Saga to Monty Python’s ‘Life of Brian’ and the second is to ‘Monty Python and the Holy Grail.’ Cockroach Clusters! Who knew?

My only criticisms of these delightful pieces are that (1) Professor Groves doesn’t include links to either the Bookshop Sketch or to the Pornographic Bookshop Sketch with Sir Philip Sidney (and its hilarious ‘literary allusion’ follow-up) and (2) she suggests that Rowling is “responding to” allegorical readings of Dumbledore as Jesus by naming him Brian (she would have to be responding in anticipation if she was; the name appears in Prince and the meme appeared only after DDore’s death Half-Blood Prince).

Which are complaints only to demonstrate how closely I read Groves’ latest in my great delight of stumbling upon them while searching yesterday for the Alohomora podcast link. Here is the Bookshop Sketch for your enjoyment before or after reading Professor Groves’ fun posts on the shadow of Monty Python discernible in the halls of Hogwarts!

Here is your one-stop resource for Oxford University’s Beatrice Groves’ work posted online! This page is posted under ‘Keys for Interpretation‘ in the Pillar Posts left side-bar on the HogwartsProfessor.com homepage; it was last updated on 6 May 2025.

Cormoran Strike

November 2, 2022 Rowling’s Process- Insights from a 2015 Interview – Insights from an interview J. K. Rowling gave seven years ago, to publicise Career of Evil.

March 1, 2023: Strike Series Ranking – Beatrice shares her reasoning and ranking of the six Strike novels so far.

January 28, 2024: ‘Does it not Strike you so, Fanny?’: Jane Austen and Strike : Beatrice Groves explores the influences of Jane Austen on J. K. Rowling’s writing, highlighting parallels in characters and themes in the Strike and Ellacott series.

December 17, 2024: The Gillespie Theory and Wilkie Collins’s The Moonstone – Beatrice Groves explores the connections between Wilkie Collins’ The Moonstone and its potential influence on JKR’s writing of one of the Harry Potter novels, as well as the fan-created ‘Gillespie theory’ surrounding Leda Strike’s death in the Cormoran Strike novels.

The Hallmarked Man

March 16, 2024: Beatrice Groves – The Hallmarked Man – J. K. Rowling has revealed the title to Strike 8 whilst sharing her appreciation for her visit to Sark. Dr Groves explores hallmarks, saints and Sark.

 June 22, 2024: Beatrice Groves – Secrets of the Red Room – With The Hallmarked Man on the horizon and J. K. Rowling treating us to a new Twitter header, Beatrice Groves explores Jayne Eyre.

July 31, 2024: The Maid of the Silver Sea and the Hallmarked Man – Beatrice Groves explores the influence of John Oxenham’s A Maid of the Silver Sea on her works as well as how its themes could connect to The Hallmarked Man.

August 5, 2024: Beatrice Groves – The Golden Journey to The Hallmarked Man – With The Hallmarked Man launch coming ever closer and J. K. Rowling treating us to a new Twitter Header, Beatrice Groves, has written a Hogwarts Professor Guest Post: The Golden Journey to The Hallmarked Man. 

April 2, 2025: Silver Threads – Literary clues and precious metals in J. K. Rowling’s The Hallmarked Man.

 Cuckoo’s Calling

September 9, 2017:Literary Allusion in “The Cuckoo’s Calling” – Part 1: Christina Rossetti’s “A Dirge” – Rowling’s choices are always deliberate. So why did she choose the poems at the beginning and end of “Cuckoo’s Calling”? And what do they tell us about the book series?

September 17, 2017:Literary Allusion in “The Cuckoo’s Calling” – Part 2: Tennyson’s “Ulysses” – What type of hero is Cormoran Strike? Dr. Beatrice Groves examines how literary allusions in “The Cuckoo’s Calling” may provide some insight.

August 29, 2020: Handfasting in “The Cuckoo’s Calling” and “Harry Potter”: A Discovery of a Walt Whitman Poem? – Dr. Beatrice Groves argues that the unnamed poem Lula Landry recites in “The Cuckoo’s Calling” is Walt Whitman’s “Of the Terrible Doubt of Appearances” – a poem that connects to the theme of handfasting in both “The Cuckoo’s Calling” and “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”.

The Silkworm

February 24, 2018:“Didst Thou Not Mark the Jest of the Silkworm?”: Literary Clues in “The Silkworm” – Dr. Beatrice Groves again dives into literary allusion in Rowling’s work: This time, find out the significance of the epigraphs and literary parallels in “The Silkworm”.

February 25, 2018:“Does the Silkworm Expend Her Yellow Labours/ For Thee?”: Literary Clues in “The Silkworm” – Part 2 – Dr. Beatrice Groves explores how “Hamlet” and other early modern dramas are embedded in “The Silkworm”, and you didn’t even know it!

Lethal White

October 9, 2018: Lethal White: Beatrice Groves on ‘Galbraith Meets Graham Norton’ – The Robert Galbraith interview with Graham Norton on a BBC2 radio show.

August 2, 2018:Odi et amo: Rowling, Strike, and Roman Poetry – Expert literary sleuth Dr. Beatrice Groves examines what Rowling’s recent Latin tweet tells us about the upcoming “Lethal White”.

September 16, 2018:Lethal White Horses – What if the white horse clues Rowling has been dropping about “Lethal White” aren’t about animals… but about places?

January 7, 2020: Rowling and Catullus – A Nativity Guest Post post about distinguishing an artist from her artwork and a pointer to a BBC program which Serious Strikers will want to attend.

After Publication:

August 30, 2020: The Epigraphs of “Lethal White”: Shipping Strike & Robin – Dr. Beatrice Groves explores how the “Rosmersholm” epigraphs in “Lethal White” reveal not only the importance of the white horse motif but also the passionate partnership at the forefront of both stories.

September 7, 2020: Striking Epigraphs: Literary Allusion in Career of Evil and Lethal White – ‘Literary Allusion in Cormoran Strike,’ with special emphasis on Rowling-Galbraith’s use of epigraphs in Lethal White and Career of Evil.

Troubled Blood

March 22, 2020: “The Faerie Queene” and the Fifth “Strike” Novel: “Troubled Blood”  On March 20, 2020, J.K. Rowling changed her Twitter header to an image taken from “The Faerie Queene“, an epic poem containing the phrase “troubled blood,” the title of the forthcoming “Cormoran Strike” novel. What relevance, beyond inspiring its title, will “The Faerie Queene” have on “Troubled Blood“?

August 26, 2020: Blood Relations and Troubled Blood — A Hint from Tom Burke Drawing on a snippet from an interview given by Tom Burke, Beatrice Groves delves into the works of Burkes grandfather, and how this may give hints to Troubled Blood.

September 9, 2020: Troubled Blood in Cornwall — In anticipation of the imminent release of “Troubled Blood”, Dr. Beatrice Groves predicts that the upcoming novel will include Cornish myths, occult presences, and a mysterious place known as the Doom Bar.

September 10, 2020: Troubled Blood in London — Dr. Beatrice Groves predicts that “Troubled Blood” will take us from St. John’s Gate to the Hampton Court astronomical clock, all while weaving in elements of tarot and the occult.

September 11, 2020: Catullus, Clodia, and Charlotte Campbell-Ross — Clues for Troubled Blood? – Thoughts in the run-up to publication of Troubled Blood on the importance of the poet Catullus and his love for Lesbia in understanding Strike’s relationship with Charlotte Campbell-Ross.

September 12, 2020: Liminal Women — Mermaids and Swan Maidens in Galbraith’s Strike Novels – Thoughts in the run-up to publication of Troubled Blood on the Mermaids and Swan Maidens in the Cormoran Strike novels.

September 29, 2020: Trouble in Faerie Land (Part 1): Spenserian Clues in Troubled Blood Epigraphs— Dr. Beatrice Groves explores how “The Faerie Queen” epigraphs in “Troubled Blood” impart clues about the story and characters as well as illuminate the book’s central themes.

October 6, 2020: Trouble in Faerie Land (Part 2): Shipping Robin and Strike in the Epigraphs of Troubled Blood — By pairing Robin and Strike with characters from “The Faerie Queene”, Dr. Beatrice Groves reveals how “Troubled Blood” foreshadows what’s to come in the detectives’ relationship.

October 13, 2020: Trouble in Faerie Land (Part 3): Searching for Duessa in Troubled Blood — Were you surprised by the murderer in “Troubled Blood”? A closer look at “The Faerie Queene” epigraphs reveals extra clues that lead you in the direction of the proper suspect…

After Publication:

November 20, 2020: Dwelling on Dreams in Strike and Harry Potter (Part One) – Reflections on the many dreams in Harry Potter and the Cormoran Strike mysteries.

November 21, 2020: Dwelling on Dreams in Strike and Harry Potter (Part Two) or
‘What is So Special About Charing Cross Road?’– Concluding reflections on the many dreams in Harry Potter and the Cormoran Strike mysteries with the revelation of a stunning link — the centrality of Charing Cross Road and its bookstores to both series.

November 5, 2020: **Harry Potter and the Mysteries of Cormoran Strike: Part 1 (Introductory Ideas) – unpacking the mysteries of Rowling’s Cormoran Strike series, and its narrative’s similarities to the Harry Potter series.

November 6, 2020: **Harry Potter and the Mysteries of Cormoran Strike: Part 2 (Cratylic Names) – exploration of names in each series, and even some similarities to Rowling’s newest publication, The Ickabog.

The Ink Black Heart

June 21, 2021: John Donne, The Beast Within, and Who Killed Leda Strike – In it she discusses what Nick Jeffery’s discovery of a possible future Strike novel title and ‘The Beast Within’ theme of Rowling’s recent work tells us about who is the most likely suspect in the “Who Killed Leda Strike?” sweepstakes.

July 29, 2021: Leda and the Swan Mural at the Ritz: A Clue to the Opening of Strike 6? Part 1 – Here is the first instalment of a wonderful analysis of the murals that adorn Strike settings and may provide complex and captivating clues for what is to come!

July 30, 2021: The Beast Within: Shakespearean Clues in Strike, Part 2 – Part two of Bea Groves’ brilliant look at the clues hidden in the very walls of the watering holes visited by our favourite Denmark Street detective!

December 11, 2021: The Mystery of the Ink Black Heart (with Kurt Schreyer) – Beatrice Groves and Kurt Schreyer offers peak at a the story scaffold via Shakespearian epigraphs to the mystery of The Ink Black Heart.

June 18, 2022: Highgate Cemetery and The Ink Black Heart – Prof. Groves’ quick look at what J. K. Rowling’s new Twitter Header can mean for The Ink Black Heart.

June 30, 2022: The Ink Black Heart – Uncovering the synopsis clues – Prof. Groves’ look at what the cover and publisher’s blurb can mean for The Ink Black Heart.

August 26, 2022: Ink-Bottles, Anodos and Anomie – Mary Elizabeth Coleridge and the epigraphs of Ink Black Heart.

August 27, 2022: Ink Black Corvids: Magpies, Alchemy and Ink Black Heart – Prof. Groves’ delve into all things crow and Cormoran.

August 29, 2022: Ink Black Heart Predictions – The best guesses based on both close reading of the previous books and other revelations, for The Ink Black Heart.

After Publication:

September 14, 2022: THE INK BLACK PRINCE Connections between The Ink Black Heart and Harry Potter – Article about The Ink Black Heart connections with Harry Potter, in The Rowling Library #69

September 26, 2022: Ink Black Heart: Hits and Misses – Prof. Groves round up of her prediction hits, misses and expectations yet to come!

October 01, 2022: The Warlock’s Ink Black Heart – A look at the heart as metaphor in Rowling’s writings – past, present and, enticingly, works yet to come.

October 26, 2022: Scaramouche’s Fandango in Ink Black Heart – A look at music as metaphor, scaffold and clue in Rowling’s Ink Black Heart.

November 26, 2022 Silkworm and Ink Black Heart – Parallels and links between the second and sixth Strike novels.

December 12, 2022  Potter’s Progress – The Christmas Pig and Harry’s quest – An exploration of how Harry Potter, The Christmas Pig and indeed Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women all use Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress as story scaffold and Christian message.

February 14, 2023: Valentine’s Alchemy – Love, both sacred and profane, in Ink Black Heart.

June 21, 2023: Paradise Lost and Recovering Eden in The Ink Black Heart | Part One: Satan – In the first of a two part blog post, Beatrice Groves explores the connections between #TheInkBlackHeart & Milton’s Paradise Lost as well as parallels between Anomie and another Strike villain.

June 21, 2023: Paradise Lost and Recovering Eden in Ink Black Heart | Part Two: Annealed in Glass – In the second of two blog posts connecting #TheInkBlackHeart with Paradise Lost, Beatrice Groves discusses the Paradise of Eden as seen in three separate pieces of glass in IBH. 

The Running Grave

January 17, 2023: The Running Grave: Strike 7, the I Ching and the Yarrow Stalks – Clues to Strike 7 revealed by Rowling on Twitter.

February 8, 2023: Round Tower Churches and Rowling’s New Twitter Header – The history and myth of the distinctive Round Tower Churches of East Anglia, and that of Aylmerton in particular.

April 2, 2023: The Lion’s Mouth – Rowling’s new header and the Norfolk location of The Running Grave. A look at the historic and literary parallels in this quiet corner of Norfolk.

September 22, 2023: Predictions for Running Grave Part 1: Harry Potter and the Striking Connections – In part 1 of a two-part blog post, Beatrice Groves draws parallels between Harry Potter and the Strike & Ellacott series and shares her predictions for The Running Grave. 

September 23, 2023: Predictions for Running Grave Part 2: Isn’t seven the most powerfully magical number? Seven predictions for Strike Seven : In the second of a 2-part blog post, Beatrice Groves shares her top 7 predictions for The Running Grave.

After Publication:

October 31, 2023: Beatrice Groves – Hits-and-misses, Folk Horror and Shakespearean Pastoral – To celebrate Halloween with a delve into the folk horror of The Running Grave, Beatrice Groves, has written a guest post which explores spooky ash henges, dreadful dollies, and magnificent magnolia.

November 8, 2023: Harry Potter & The Running Grave – Dr Beatrice Groves uncovers Harry Potter links in the latest Strike novel.

November 25, 2023: Strike’s Church Going – Discussing one of the most beautiful and pivotal moments in The Running Grave, in a post first shared on Hogwarts Professor Substack on the 49th birthday of Cormoran Strike.

December 9, 2023: “Joyous is the lake” | Influences on the Running Grave, Part 1: The I Ching – In part 1 of a 2 part blog post, Beatrice Groves explores J. K. Rowling’s creative process and influences, connecting this with the I Ching’s presence in The Running Grave.

December 10, 2023: Hit and Miss Predictions | Influences on The Running Grave, Part 2: The Bible – In part 2 of a 2 part blog post, Beatrice Groves explores Biblical allusions in The Running Grave as well as her previous predictions from before the novel’s release.

June 18, 2024: Literary Names in Running Grave and the Edinburgh source for Charlotte Campbell’s name? – Beatrice Groves analyses the names inspired by literature featured in The Running Grave as well as a potential source for Charlotte Campbell’s name.

Harry Potter

June 26, 2017: Literary Allusion in “Harry Potter”: Links Between “Philosopher’s Stone” and “Deathly Hallows” – “I open at the close.” How do the connections between the first and last “Harry Potter” novels form a circle that guides readers through the series, and how do the other novels connect with their “partner” novels? Dr. Beatrice Groves of Oxford University is on the case!

June 27, 2017:Literary Allusion in “Harry Potter”: “Prisoner of Azkaban”, “Order of the Phoenix”, and Sherlock Holmes – Dr. Beatrice Grove is back today with the connections between “Harry Potter” and “Sherlock Holmes”. How do Sirius Black, the Grim, and “Hound of the Baskervilles” all fit together? Read on for more!

June 28, 2017:Literary Allusion in “Harry Potter”: Shakespeare and “Harry Potter” – Part 1 – Today, Dr. Beatrice Groves continues her MuggleNet series “Literary Allusion in Harry Potter” with a discussion of the relationship between “Harry Potter” and Shakespeare – the first of three posts on the subject!

June 29, 2017:Literary Allusion in “Harry Potter”: Shakespeare and “Harry Potter” – Part 2 – Today, Dr. Beatrice Groves continues her discussion of Shakespeare and “Harry Potter” by looking at one of the Bard’s most famous plays – “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”.

June 30, 2017:Literary Allusion in “Harry Potter”: Shakespeare and “Harry Potter” – Part 3 – Today, Dr. Beatrice Groves explores how both J.K. Rowling and Shakespeare use ghosts to embody the past throughout their works.

June 27, 2017: Guest Post – ‘Mirrors, Paper, Stone:’ Literary Links and Riddles in Philosopher’s Stone, Goblet of Fire and Deathly Hallows (Part 1) Three posts in celebration of her new book Literary Allusion in Harry Potter

July 4, 2017: ‘Stone, Goblet, Hallows:’ The Series Axis in Philosopher’s Stone, Goblet of Fire and Deathly Hallows (Part 2)

July 11, 2017: The ‘Harrying of Hell:’ The Harrowing in Philosopher’s Stone and Deathly Hallows (Part 3)

February 5, 2018: A Potter Expert’s Account of the ‘Harry Potter: A History of Magic’ British Library Exhibition – An in-depth account (complete with Potter quotes, literary and artistic references, past J.K. Rowling interviews and more!) of the Harry Potter: A History of Magic exhibition, currently residing at The British Library until February 28th

April 23, 2018: A Shakespearean Source for the Four-Point Character Conflict in “Harry Potter”? – In honour of William Shakespeare’s birthday, Dr. Beatrice Groves explores the parallels between the characters in “Harry Potter” and “Henry IV, Part 1”.

July 15, 2018: Time-travelling back to 2005: New J.K. Rowling interview material (Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3) – On July 13th 2005 Lev Grossman had an extensive, two-hour interview with Rowling but, as he has documented, only a small percentage of what Rowling said in that interview made it into print. What this means for us is that there is a mine of undiscovered gems which can take us time-travelling back to a moment when the ending of Harry Potter was still unknown.

October 4, 2018: “Harry Potter: A History of Magic” and Plant Lore Part One: J.K. Rowling and Culpeper’s Complete Herbal

October 6, 2018: “Harry Potter: A History of Magic” and Plant Lore Part Two: Bubotuber Pus and the Doctrine of Signatures

October 17, 2018: “Harry Potter: A History of Magic” and Plant Lore Part Three: Plants and J.K. Rowling’s Cratylic naming

October 18, 2018: “Harry Potter: A History of Magic” and Plant Lore Part Four: ‘We can talk, if there is anyone worth talking to:’ The Language of Flowers

October 20, 2018: “Harry Potter: A History of Magic” and Plant Lore Part Five: Apothecaries, Alchemists and the Hogwarts houses

December 23, 2018: Carols in Harry Potter And The Myth Of The Christmas Rose (Part 1) (Part 2)

March 19, 2019: Rowling’s Goblin Problem? – With the opening of an exhibition, “Jews, Money, Myth”, at the Jewish Museum London, Dr. Beatrice Groves ponders whether the depiction of goblins in “Harry Potter” is anti-Semitic.

March 20, 2019:The Sword Until Recently Known as Gryffindor’s – Dr. Beatrice Groves dissects the moral challenge of the goblin perspective on the ownership of Gryffindor’s sword, which is strongly linked to our popular understanding of Marxism.

October 7, 2019: Harry Potter Meets Monty Python – In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Monty Python Flying Circus television program, Dr Beatrice Groves writes two posts about the evident relationship and possible literary allusions to Python in the works of J. K. Rowling.

December 23, 2019: Christmas in ‘Chamber of Secrets’: or, why is the crowing of the rooster fatal to the Basilisk? (Part 2) – The connections between the roosters and Basilisk, and connections to Christmas in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

May 25, 2021: “Hitchhiker” and “Harry Potter:” Part 1 – Celebrating Towel Day 2021  – A closer look at “Harry Potter” shows that it may have been inspired by aspects of Douglas Adams’s work.

May 26, 2021: “Hitchhiker” and “Harry Potter:” Part 2 – “Mostly Harmless”  – Dr. Beatrice Groves argues that Douglas Adams’s book “Mostly Harmless” may have inspired an overarching theme in “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.”

June 23, 2021: Celebrating the Seventh Annual Harry Potter Book Night: Diagon Alley – Part 1 — From puns to literary references to magical ley lines, there’s more to Diagon Alley than meets the eye.

June 24, 2021: Diagon Alley in Oxford? The Seventh Annual Harry Potter Book Night – Part 2 — Through literary clues, Dr. Beatrice Groves reveals how Diagon Alley may have been inspired by Oxford’s High Street.

December 22, 2021: Christmas in the Forest of Dean: The Silver Doe – Part 1 From Dennis Potter to Harry Potter, the Forest of Dean may pull its significance from screenwriters, Arthurian legend, and the author’s own childhood.

December 23, 2021: Christmas in the Forest of Dean: The Silver Doe – Part 2 From white deer to references to the Forest of Dean, early Arthurian texts can shine a light on the doe Patronus scene in “Deathly Hallows.”

December 24, 2021: The Silver Doe at Christmas – Tracing the imagery and symbolism of the Silver Doe via one of J. K. Rowling’s favourite authors.

June 8, 2022: ‘Harry Potter Dreaming’ Unseen Footage of Rowling from 1998 – Prof. Groves’ fascinating look at Rowling’s candid thoughts at the very beginning of her professional career.

January 28, 2023: Colette in the Wizarding World – One of Rowling’s favourite authors and her reflections in the wider Potter universe.

June 26, 2023: Happy Golden Birthday to the Philosopher’s Stone – On the 26th (it’s golden birthday) anniversary of the publication of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, an exploration of alchemy in the first of the series.

October 11, 2023: Tolstoy & Harry Potter – Beatrice Groves shares with us the first part of an article about the connections between Harry Potter and Tolstoy’s War and Peace.

December 5, 2023: Tolstoy & Harry Potter – Beatrice Groves shares with us the second part of her piece about the connections between Harry Potter and Tolstoy’s War and Peace.

December 15, 2023: Austen and Harry Potter: Riddles and Romance: Austenian plot twists in Harry Potter Part One – Jane Austen was born on the 16 December 1775, almost 250 years ago. The eve of her birthday seems a fitting occasion to take another look at the influence on Harry Potter of the author J.K. Rowling has described as her ‘favourite writer of all time.’

December 16, 2023: Austen and Harry Potter: Privet Drive was Privet Drive; Hogwarts was home: Harry, Austen Heroines and Home Part two – One of the satisfying gender reversals of the Austenian links with Harry Potter is that while Hermione parallels Austen’s feistiest heroines (Emma and Elizabeth Bennet), the series’ hero is most clearly aligned with Austen’s most youthfully innocent or passive heroines: Catherine Morland in Northanger Abbey and Fanny in Mansfield Park

January 20, 2025: Keats, “The Eve of St. Agnes,” and “Harry Potter” – J. K. Rowling and Keats. Literary allusions in Harry Potter of Keats’ poem, The Eve of St. Agnes.

Fantastic Beasts

December 1, 2017: Beatrice Groves: ‘Nagini Maledictus’ Literary Allusion in Fantastic Beasts – A look at the fan theory that Claudia Kim’s character will turn into Nagini via a blood curse.

June 18, 2018: Guest Post: Crimes of Grindelwald, Locks of Love, and Nicolas Flamel – An exploration of the lock with Nicolas Flamel’s initials that can be found on the Crimes of Grindelwald screenplay cover.

November 12, 2018: “It’s Just Like Waking Up, Right?”: “Crimes of Grindelwald”, Kipling, and Shakespeare’s Midsummer Dreaming – Dr. Beatrice Groves explores the links between Rowling’s wizarding world and the “Green World” in Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and examines how Kipling’s works influenced “Harry Potter”.

November 13, 2018: “The Crimes of Grindelwald”, Kipling, and the Origins of the Deathly Hallows Symbol – The Deathly Hallows symbol has been at the center of most of the promotional content for “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald”. Dr. Beatrice Groves looks at how the Deathly Hallows was influenced by Masonic symbolism.

November 14, 2018: The Alchemical Symbolism of the Deathly Hallows in “Crimes of Grindelwald” – How do alchemical and Masonic symbolism overlap? Dr. Beatrice Groves explores this connection, links it to the quest for the Hallows, and finds an astonishingly vivid parallel between “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” and “The Man Who Would Be King.”

December 20, 2021: The Qilin in The Secrets of Dumbledore?

August, 2021: Fantastic Beasts and How to Save Them: Ice Age Dragons, Shakespeare, and More from the London Natural History Museum’s “Wonder of Nature” Exhibit How do Mooncalves get their names? What’s a kakapo? How is a marine iguana like an Occamy? Read this article to answer all those questions and more.

February 20, 2022: Secrets of Dumbledore: Dumbledore’s Wand and Wulfric of Haselbury We know that Dumbledore eventually owned the Elder Wand, but what was his wand made out of before then? His namesake Wulfric may give us some clues.

March 21, 2022: “Because I Was in Love With You:” The Blood Troth in “Secrets of Dumbledore” An analysis of the term “blood troth” reveals how Dumbledore’s love for Grindelwald was foreshadowed in the previous movie.

April 01, 2022: The King of Beasts: Fantastic Beasts and the Beast Within After the excitement of the new trailer for Fantastic Beasts the Secrets of Dumbledore Dr Groves has identified what may be the new Chinese beast in the latest instalment.

April 02, 2022: Literary Allusion in Secrets of Dumbledore: Fantastic Beasts 3 – Beatrice leads us from ancient Chinese bestiaries to the poetry of Alexander Pope, by way of disapparating dodos and totalitarian lingerie.

April 5, 2022: “Secrets of Dumbledore” and “The Book of Beasts”: Fantastic Bestiaries and Where to Find Them – Part 1 – Dr. Beatrice Groves reveals how the inspiration and symbolism of the creatures in the wizarding world originated from T.H. White’s “Book of Beasts.”

April 6, 2022: An Ancient Chinese Bestiary in “Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore”: Fantastic Bestiaries and Where to Find Them – Part 2  – Dr. Beatrice Groves reveals how an ancient Chinese bestiary, the “Shan Hai Jing,” heavily influenced the creatures of the “Fantastic Beasts” films.

April 7, 2022: The Phoenix and the Qilin in “Secrets of Dumbledore”: Fantastic Bestiaries and Where to Find Them – Part 3 – The qilin and the phoenix are more alike than they may seem – and both will likely play an important role in “Secrets of Dumbledore.”

April 16, 2022: Secrets of Dumbledore: First Thoughts – In the wake of the UK theatrical release of Fantastic Beasts: the Secrets of Dumbledore and the (long awaited) US release on 15th April, Beatrice Groves has posted her first thoughts.

August 9, 2022: EXIT PURSUED BY QILIN The Stage Direction of the Secrets of Dumbledore – An analysis and comparison with the previous film screenplays by Rowling, and trying to identify which parts were written by Steve Kloves.

February 29, 2024: The Wyvern of Wye: A St David’s Day Post – A celebration of Wales, the Wye valley and the Wyvern, via Newt Scamander and Robert Browning!

May 3, 2024: Snake Woman in the Ivory Tower : Marking the publication of Lana A. Whited’s The Ivory Tower, Harry Potter, and Beyond, and a celebration of the work of the British novelist Lynne Reid Banks, one month after her passing. Melusine Fantastic Beasts, A.S. Byatt’s Possession (1990) and Lynne Reid Banks’s Melusine: A Mystery (1988). 

The Ickabog

July 22, 2020: **The Names of “The Ickabog” – Part 1 – Dr. Beatrice Groves reveals the meaning behind the names of “The Ickabog” and explains how this newest fairy tale connects not only to the “Harry Potter” series and “Casual Vacancy” but also to such diverse artists as Shakespeare, Keats, and Monty Python.

July 23, 2020: **The Names of “The Ickabog” – Part 2: Ichabod – Dr. Beatrice Groves uncovers how “The Ickabog” alludes to not just the name “Ichabod” but also the themes, plot, and narration of Washington Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.”

November 14, 2020: The J. K. Rowling – Graham Norton Interview about The Ickabog and Solve et Coagula – understanding of what The Rowling revealed about The Ickabog and about herself.

J.K. Rowling

January 26, 2018:“Books Are Not Absolutely Dead Things”: “Harry Potter”, Milton, and Censorship – On the one-year anniversary of J.K. Rowling receiving the PEN/Allen Foundation Literary Service Award, Dr. Beatrice Groves discusses how Rowling’s themes of censorship in “Potter” have roots all the way back to Milton.

January 27, 2018: “Books Are Not Absolutely Dead Things”: “Harry Potter”, Evelyn Waugh, and Censorship – J.K. Rowling celebrates literacy in both her writing and her interviews. Dr. Beatrice Groves explores how other authors may have influenced Rowling’s thoughts.

September 2019: Four Part Series on Rowling and the Importance of Scotland in her Work

• Beatrice Groves: Rowling and Scotland
• Beatrice Groves: Edinburgh’s Dark Side
• Beatrice Groves: Rowling and Heraldry
• Beatrice Groves: Rowling Family Mottos

May 23, 2020: Solve et Coagula: Part 1 – Rowling’s Alchemical Tattoo – Last year, J.K. Rowling got a tattoo of the alchemical Latin phrase “solve et coagula.” Read about how the phrase has an intimate connection with everything she writes.

May 24, 2020: Solve et Coagula: Part 2 – The Ripley Scrolls, Nicolas Flamel, and Ben Jonson’s Alchemist – Dr. Beatrice Groves looks further into the origins of the phrase “solve et coagula” and the way in which it encapsulates Rowling’s own metaphors for her “process.”

May 25, 2020: Solve et Coagula: Part 3 – Literary Alchemy – In Part 3 of her “solve et coagula” analysis, Dr. Beatrice Groves explains how literary alchemy influences J.K. Rowling’s writing process.

September 17, 2021: Easter Eggs on J.K. Rowling’s New Website – Part 1 – The Easter Eggs on the new J. K. Rowling Stories website and what they tell us about the author and her influences.

September 18, 2021: Easter Eggs on J.K. Rowling’s New Website – Part 2 – One of J. K. Rowling’s favourite authors – E. Nesbit.

December 21, 2022: The Winter Solstice and Beira, Queen of Winter – The Scots myth of Beira the name chosen for Rowling’s charity en Edinburgh.

June 5, 2024: Rowling on Writing – Comments on J. K. Rowling’s new video series where she shares intimate details about her creative process.

The Christmas Pig

October 10, 2021: Unlocking Clues to The Christmas Pig – What can link The Christmas Pig, Harry Potter, Nigel Molesworth and French butchers? As we wait for the publication day of The Christmas Pig, follow the trail of breadcrumbs Dr Groves has found.

December 2021: Christmas Miracles in A Christmas Carol and The Christmas Pig – The Christmas miracles in The Christmas Pig
and A Christmas Carol.

Podcasts

September 11, 2017  “Reading, Writing, Rowling” Episode 2: “Beatrice Groves and Literary Allusion in Harry Potter”— In this episode of “Reading, Writing, Rowling”, guest Beatrice Groves discusses her latest book, which explores references to other literary works within the “Harry Potter” books.

December 11, 2017  “Reading, Writing, Rowling” Episode 5: “Writing Magic: New Insights from Lev Grossman’s Interview with J.K. Rowling in 2005” — In this episode, we talk with special guest Lev Grossman, a book critic and fantasy writer, about his interview with Rowling just before “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” hit the bookstores.

May 14, 2018 “Reading, Writing, Rowling” Episode 10: “Adeel Amini Discusses His Interview with J.K. Rowling in 2008” — What happens when a student journalist sees their favorite author in a coffee shop? They land an interview. On this episode of “Reading, Writing, Rowling”, special guest Adeel Amini talks about that interview from 2008.

August 11, 2018  “Reading, Writing, Rowling” Episode 13: “Harry Potter Fan Pilgrimages” — Are you a Harry Potter Pilgrim? If you’ve journeyed to Platform 9 ¾, to a coffee shop in which J.K. Rowling wrote parts of the series, or to sites used in the Harry Potter…

January 18, 2019  “Reading, Writing, Rowling” Episode 18: “Lethal White Under the Magnifying Glass (with Spoilers!)”— There’s a lot to unpack in “Lethal White”, the newest book in the “Cormoran Strike” series by Robert Galbraith, better known as J.K. Rowling. Expect spoilers, analyses, predictions, and ties to “Harry Potter” and “Fantastic Beasts”.

March 25, 2019  “Reading, Writing, Rowling” Episode 21: “Divination Class: Tarot, Astrology, and Games in Harry Potter”— Episode 21 of “Reading, Writing, Rowling” explores the future as well as fun and games, from prophecies to tarot cards to chess, and their impact on the narrative of “Harry Potter”.

June 10, 2019  “Reading, Writing, Rowling” Episode 24: “The Wand in the Stone? Harry Potter and King Arthur”— Episode 24 of “Reading, Writing, Rowling” explores how “Harry Potter” has more in common with Arthurian legend than wizards and magic swords.

February 10, 2020  “Reading, Writing, Rowling” Episode 33: “Revela Draconem: Draco Malfoy Revealed” — Episode 33 of “Reading, Writing, Rowling” takes on the complicated bad boy that is Draco Malfoy. Does he deserve scorn, pity, or some of both?

April 27, 2020  “Reading, Writing, Rowling” Episode 37: “Troubled Blood and The Faerie Queene: Strike 5” — Episode 37 of “Reading, Writing, Rowling” is another bonus minisode, with predictions for the fifth “Cormoran Strike” novel, “Troubled Blood”, and its relationship to Spenser’s “Faerie Queene”.

August 10, 2020  “Reading, Writing, Rowling” Episode 45: “Alchemical Weddings in Harry Potter and Beyond” — Episode 45 of “Reading, Writing, Rowling” uses literary alchemy to examine pairings in “Harry Potter”. What humoral symbolism exists between these couples?

December 14, 2020 Potterversity Episode 3: A Very Harry Christmas On this episode, Katy and Emily talk with Dr. Beatrice Groves (author of Literary Allusion in Harry Potter and blogger at Bathilda’s Notebook) about the Christmases at Hogwarts and how they culminate in the final book’s graveyard scene at Godric’s Hollow.

May 10, 2021 Poterversity Episode 9:  Harry Meets Dracula In this episode, Katy and Emily talk with Dr. Beatrice Groves (Literary Allusions in Harry Potter, Bathilda’s Notebook) about the many parallels between Bram Stoker’s Dracula and the Harry Potter series.

March 17, 2022 The Strike & Ellacott Files: Episode 5.5: Epigraphs in Strike In this episode, we discuss all aspects of the epigraphs, including why they’re important, what they add to the text, and even a few predictions for what we might be able to expect in The Ink Black Heart.

May 23, 2022: Potterversity Episode 22: Secrets of Dumbledore and the Deathly Hallows Dr. Beatrice Groves (Trinity College, Oxford) joins Katy and Emily to decode the symbolic elements of this story and help us understand where it fits within the Harry Potter series.

June 13, 2022: Potterversity Episode 23: Secrets of Dumbledore: Outtakes and Conversation On this special episode, hear uncensored opinions and on-the-spot analysis about Secrets of Dumbledore from some of our Potterversity regulars, Beatrice Groves, Emma Nicholson, Louise Freeman, and Lana Whited.

October 10, 2022: Potterversity Episode 27: Jim Kay’s Illustrated Harry Potter Editions On this episode, Katy and Emily talk with artist and fantasy scholar Emily Austin (Signum University) and literary scholar Beatrice Groves (Trinity College, Oxford) about the rich, marvelous world depicted in Jim Kay’s gorgeous illustrations of the Potterverse.

March 23, 2023: The Strike & Ellacott Files – Episode 12.5 – delving into the epigraphs of The Ink Black Heart and how the epigraphs help us empathize with Edie Ledwell, the connections to Aurora Leigh.

March 26, 2023: Three Broomsticks Podcast – Episode 5 – Join hosts Irvin and Sophia and special guests Dr. Beatrice Groves and Nick Jeffery as they discuss the parallels between the villains in Half-Blood Prince and Ink Black Heart.

July 10, 2023: Potterversity Episode 38 – Katy and Emily compare Austen’s novels to the Potter series with Dr. Beatrice Groves.

January 8, 2024: Potterversity Episode 45 – Dr. Beatrice Groves and Dr. Amy Strugis  join us to discuss their chapters “Good Men and Monsters: The Influence of Bram Stoker’s Dracula on Harry Potter” and “Dark Arts and Secret Histories: Investigating Dark Academia.”

June 9, 2024: Episode 36 – The Three Broomsticks Podcast – Strike Crossover: Strike the Fatalistic Trapeze Artist : Join hosts Irvin and Sophia and special guests Dr. Beatrice Groves and Dr. Louise Freeman as they discuss the parallels between the Harry Potter and the Cormoran Strike series: Books 5 and 7

June 21, 2024: The Strike and Ellacott Files – Epigraphs in The Running Grave – Pools and Kenz discuss the epigraphs in #TheRunningGrave with Dr. Beatrice Groves.

December 7, 2024: Episode 49 – The Three Broomsticks Podcast – Strike Crossover: Robin Is a Free Elf! – Join hosts Irvin and Sophia and special guests Dr. Beatrice Groves and Dr. Louise Freeman as they compare the main characters of the Harry Potter and the Cormoran Strike series.

Miscellaneous Other!

University of Oxford Interview on Literary Allusion in Harry Potter

Thinking Faithfully: Coventry Carol (Slaughter of the Innocents)

BBC ‘Beyond Belief:’ The Christian Allegory of Harry Potter

This is the fourth in a series of four ‘Back to Hogwarts’ posts by Trinity College, Oxford University Research Fellow and Lecturer Beatrice Groves, author of Literary Allusion in Harry Potter. Enjoy!

In my final post about Rowling’s choice to display of the badge of the Murray clan –following the themes of Scottishness and heraldry, naming, blood and belonging it evokes – we turn to the motto with which it is inscribed: ‘Tout prêt’ (Old French for ‘quite ready’). Although no heraldic mottos appear in the actual text of Harry Potter there are three mottos closely associated with the Wizarding World: the Black family motto, Hogwarts’s motto and, most recently, the Lestrange family motto. This blogpost will explore these three, very different, mottos and, satisfyingly, all three have some piquant parallels with the mottos of Scottish Clans.

‘Toujours pur’ and pithy mottos

Rowling become a Murray when she married Neil Murray on 26 Dec 2001. Phoenix was published in 2003, while her hand-drawn family tree of ‘The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black’ did not appear until 2006 – so the Black motto (‘Toujours pur’) could easily be coloured by the motto of the clan which she had recently joined. ‘Tout prêt/prest’ (quite ready) and ‘Toujours pur’ (always pure) are both of the – admittedly very common -punchy, two-word form. More unusually they are both in the traditional heraldic language of French (while most British mottos favour Latin or English).

It is clear, at least, that Rowling closely modelled the Black family motto on real heraldic mottos. Scanning Debrett’s I found a number of close parallels, such as ‘Toujours propice’ (always propitious), and even ‘Toujours prest’ (always ready) – which forms a ‘link’ motto between the Black motto ‘Toujours pur’ and the Murray motto ‘Tout prest’. (Debrett’s also records the deeply Snape-like motto of simply ‘Toujours’ [always].)

The idea that Rowling might include a nod to the Murray motto in the Black motto seems odd but it is of a piece with her well-known penchant for including ‘personal passwords’ within her work: ‘when I need a date or number, I use something that relates to my personal life. I do not know why I do that, it’s a tic. Harry’s birthday is mine, for example. The numbers and dates that appear in the books relate to me’ [see Literary Allusion in Harry Potter, p 141]. The idea is also strengthened by her recent – somewhat startling – inclusion of a family member in an even more Death Eaterish family tree. The Lestrange family tree forms an important plot focus in Crimes of Grindelwald – it is the bait that takes Leta, Newt and Tina to the Lestrange Mausoleum (and hence Grindelwald’s rally). The Rowling Library has recently noted that one member visible on this family tree – Salomé Volant – shares her name with Rowling’s great-great-grandmother [cf., The Rowling Library Magazine, issue 31 2019, pp.6-7]

‘Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus’ and practical mottos

The most important motto of the Wizarding World is, of course, the Hogwarts School motto. This paratext, appearing on the title page of every Harry Potter novel on an escroll beneath the Hogwarts coat of arms (and in the foreword to the Fantastic Beasts (2001) spin-off book), famously reads: ‘Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus’ (‘Never tickle a sleeping dragon’).

It is a phrase that appears to contain more than a passing nod to Tolkien: ‘Never laugh at live dragons, Bilbo, you fool! he said to himself, and it became a favourite saying of his later, and passed into a proverb’ (Hobbit, Chap 12). (This seems particularly close as proverbial phrases are very much the same linguistic register as mottos). Rowling has never mentioned this parallel, but she has spoken about the motto twice at length in interview:

You know the way that most school slogans are things like ‘Persevere’ and ‘Nobility, Charity and Fidelity’ or something – it just amused me to give an entirely practical piece of advice for the Hogwarts school motto.

Then a friend of mine who is a professor of Classics – my Latin was not up to the job (I did not think it should be cod Latin – it is good enough for cod Latin spells, that is, they used to be a mixture of Latin and other things). When it came to a proper Latin slogan for the school I wanted it to be right. I went to him and asked him to translate. I think he really enjoyed it, he rang me up and said, ‘I think I found the exactly right word, “Titillandus”’ – that was how that was dreamt up. 

Five years earlier, she gave a similar description:

Stephen Fry: And names like that. Even the school crest is something which is rather fun for those of us who have done a bit of Latin. For instance: “Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus” – it’s sort of like “Let sleeping dogs lie”, but it is “Don’t tickle a sleeping dragon”.

JKR: “Don’t tickle a sleeping dragon”, exactly.

SF: Which is fine advice.

JKR: I wanted good practical advice. All the schools I’ve ever been to or taught in have mottos: “Persevere”, “Onwards and Upwards”. I wanted good, solid, practical advice for Hogwarts.1

(It is interesting that Rowling gives ‘Persevere’ as an example in both interviews, despite their being five years apart: I suspect it means that if we were able to track down the school motto of either St Michael’s Primary School or Wydean Comprensive it would indeed turn out to be ‘Persevere.’)

Latin imparts both grandeur and pithiness which is why it remains a popular choice for mottos – and given how germane Latin is to both Rowling’s magical world, and to mottos in general, it makes sense that she should have taken care over a Latin motto for Hogwarts. (It also fits with the fictional foundation of Hogwarts: educational institutions founded a thousand years ago all have Latin mottos and more modern ones tend to follow suit – Rowling’s own University of Exeter has ‘Lucem sequimur’ (we follow the light))

Probably the second most famous school motto in Britain, is also in Latin. Eton was founded a little after Hogwarts (in 1440) and is, of course, the only real school that appears in Harry Potter. Justin Finch-Fletchley tells the trio: ‘my name was down for Eton, you know. I can’t tell you how glad I am I came here instead’ (Chamber, Chap 6). Eton’s motto is Floreat Etona – already famous in children’s literature as the dying words of Captain Hook in J.M. Barrie’s original play of Peter Pan. As David Mitchell writes:

Eton College’s most admirable attribute, I’ve long thought, is its motto. A Latin phrase, but not one that would have been familiar to the Romans, Floreat Etona translates as “May Eton flourish”. Contractually speaking, that’s watertight. No bombast and no virtue-signalling. Good luck anyone saying that particular institution has hypocritically betrayed its aims or principles.2

The solipsism of this motto is perfectly encapsulated by Barrie’s use of it as Hook’s dying words and Hogwarts’s motto (intentionally or un) is a kind of inversion of it. Hogwarts’s motto humourously addresses children to their own benefit – instead of asking them to lay down their allegiance on the altar of the school, it suggests that the school is there to serve its pupils. It is there not to be served by the children but to teach them to be wise, to teach them (at least) not to be the kind of idiot that tickles sleeping dragons.

It has been argued – in most depth by Nancy Solon Villaluz in her Does Harry Potter Tickle Sleeping Dragons? (2008) – that Rowling has used the obvious humour of this motto to hide in plain sight a hint about the Christian symbolism of her series. C.S. Lewis spoke of using story to ‘steal past a certain inhibition which had paralysed much of my own religion in childhood’ – and the name he gives to these inhibitions is ‘watchful dragons:’ ‘could one not thus steal past those watchful dragons? I thought one could’ (Of Other Worlds, 1966). Given Rowling’s debt to Lewis – and the fact that she, like Lewis, is using story to renew the potency of religious archetypes for her readers – this is an appealing reading. (Even if the difference between ‘sleeping’ and ‘watchful’ dragons means that I don’t think it is a parallel that will convince anyone who is not already taken by the argument.)

What I don’t think has been noted before, however, is that Hogwarts’s motto may show some influence of Rowling’s move to Scotland as she was writing Philosopher’s Stone. For a number of Clan mottos are striking close to the basic – ‘don’t provoke dangerous animals’ – school of ‘good, solid, practical advice’ that Rowling claims to be at the heart of her motto. The Clan Mackintosh motto, for example, is: ‘Touch not the cat bot a glove’ (‘Don’t touch this cat unless you you’re wearing gloves’). Clan MacGillivray’s motto is an even more pared down version of the same motto: ‘Touch not this cat.’

In both cases the mottos are, in fact, boasting about the Clan’s strength – proclaiming them to be a wildcat only a fool would mess with. But taken out of context the general vibe of ‘don’t tease wild animals with sharp claws you idiot’ has some clear links with Rowling’s choice of humourous motto. As mentioned above there are clear parallels between the Murray Clan motto ‘Tout prêt’ and the Black motto ‘Toujours pur,’ which she probably thought up a year or two after joining that Clan. But it seems possible that many years before, when she had first moved to Scotland, she may have been influenced by Clan mottos about leaving dangerous animals well alone. ‘Touch not this cat’ may well lie behind ‘Never tickle a sleeping dragon.’

‘Corvus oculum corvi non eruit’ and equivocal mottos

A raven tops the Lestrange achievement of arms (technically in heraldry this is known as the ‘crest,’ though this term is used by most people – Harry Potter among them – to mean the coat of arms as a whole). In Crimes of Grindelwald Leta notes that ‘the raven’s my family’s emblem’ – but ravens are not only the dominant symbol of her family, but of the whole of the film. Corvus – whose identity is the riddle at the centre of the film’s plot – is Latin for ‘raven’ (the common raven is Corvus corax) and both Leta’s father and her lost brother share the name. Satisfyingly – given all the star and constellation names in the pure blood families of Harry Potter – Corvus is also a constellation (located in the southern sky, it was first catalogued by Ptolemy in the second century and was probably so-named because it does not contain many bright stars.)

The Lestrange Mausoleum is marked by ‘a stone raven on the lintel’ and this is why Grindelwald’s shrouds are marked with a raven – in order to call his followers to the rally beneath the Mausoleum. Grindelwald’s use of the raven, however, – given Harry Potter’s insistent linking of him with Nazi imagery – also recalls the black heraldic eagle (the Reichsadler) most famously used by the German coat of arms under the Third Reich.3 The Lestrange raven is also read, by Yusuf Kama at least, as present in The Predictions of Tycho Dodonus (the book that functions as a parallel for Trelawney’s Prophecy in Crimes of Grindelwald):

“A son cruelly banished

Despair of the daughter

Return, great avenger

With wings from the water.”

Kama reads this as referring to Corvus: ‘You are the winged raven returned from the sea’ (though we can note in passing that this reading is entirely muddled – Kama believes himself to be the avenger, and therefore it is Kama who should be ‘winged’ not Corvus [might that black feather in Kama’s fedora turn out to be relevant here?]).

The Lestrange motto also circles the symbol of the raven. ‘Corvus oculum corvi non eruit’ is an old Latin saying meaning ‘a raven will not pull out the eye of another raven:’ the Latin equivalent of the English saying ‘honour amongst thieves.’ It is a great motto, simultaneously incorporating the Lestrange raven emblem into a real Latin phrase and recalling the unswerving loyalty of the most famous Lestrange to another black-hearted character (Bellatrix and Voldemort). It also accurately expresses a certain aloof disdain which is something of a hallmark for heraldic mottos which often proudly display a trait which might otherwise not seem a matter for pride.

Many famous mottos have this surprisingly equivocal vibe. The highest honour that the English crown can bestow, for example, is the Order of the Garter. It is an honour that sounds slightly risqué and the story told about its inception makes it clear that this is not just a modern misapprehension. The motto of the Order of the Garter is ‘Honi soit qui mal y pense’ (‘Shame be on him who thinks it’). In the legend of the founding of this order, Edward III was dancing with the Countess of Salisbury when her garter fell to the floor; and when courtiers laughed suggestively as he stooped to pick it up, he gave this retort. Shakespeare’s motto ‘Non sanz droict’ (‘Not without right’) is another of these equivocal mottos, underlining, with almost embarrassing obviousness, that he has very little right to his arms above the fact that he has paid for them.

The Lestrange’s motto’s proud consciousness of what others might consider faults, however, perhaps most clearly recalls the motto of the Clan that, in 2005, Rowling discovered was part of her own blood line. In August 2005 it was reported that Rowling had recently been informed that her biological great-grandfather was:

Dugald Campbell, an adventurous doctor, born at Lamlash, on the isle of Arran, in 1858, who later travelled to Hawaii, where he helped to establish a free health service for all. The discovery has prompted Rowling to visit the Campbell family burial plot on the island and to e-mail historians in Hawaii seeking information about her great-grandfather. 

The Campbells have, shall we say, a chequered history in relation to some other Clans and their motto is a proud reference to this history: ‘Ne Obliviscaris’ (‘Do not forget’). This motto appears to be an intentional riposte to those who might consider that the Campbells would be glad to forget aspects of their history, though it is explained by the current Duke of Argyll with admirable diplomacy as: ‘we have taken great pride in our achievements, yet are conscious of our mistakes, something reflected in our family motto ‘Ne Obliviscaris’.’ The equivocal pride of the Lestrange motto is very much in the tradition of the Campbell motto – a motto we can assume that would have caught Rowling’s eye when she learnt of her own connection with the Clan.

One final motto to end with – from Rowling’s third clan connection. Rowling has married into the Murray Clan, she has discovered a blood-connection with the Campbells – but she has also chosen to make her alter-ego, Robert Galbraith, a member of a third Clan. In a previous blogpost I have described how well the meaning of the name Galbraith works for Rowling [‘Beatrice Groves: Rowling and Scotland‘]. But Clan Galbraith also has a fantastic motto for a writer. For the Galbraith motto is unique (?) among Scottish clans in being derived from Ovid’s Metamorphoses.

This is particularly pleasing given Rowling’s fondness for this poem, which has left its fingerprints all over Harry Potter [see Literary Allusion in Harry Potter] and appears, likewise to be behind some of the mythological symbolism in Strike. The Galbraith motto is:

AB OBICE SUAVIOR which translates from Latin as “gentler because of the obstruction”. The motto is derived from a phrase in Ovid‘s Metamorphoses “ab obice saevior” (“fiercer because of the obstruction”, describing a river which when dammed only flowed more violently), but inverted by changing “saevior” (“fiercer”) for “suavior” (“gentler”), according to John D. Christie, reflecting the bear’s muzzle on the heraldic crest.

The motto itself seems to be interestingly, and unusually, equivocal with some Galbraiths choosing ‘AB OBICE SUAVIOR’ (‘Gentler Because of the Obstruction’) and others ‘AB OBICE SAEVIOR’ (‘Fiercer Because of the Obstruction’.’

The phrase comes from Book 3 (ll.528-571) of Ovid’s Metamorphoses in which Pentheus objects to Dionysius’s appearance in Thebes:

His grandfather, Cadmus, his uncle, Athamas, and the rest of his advisors reprove his words, and try in vain to restrain him. He is only made more eager by their warning, and his rage is maddened and grows with restraint, and he is provoked by their objections. So I have seen a river, where nothing obstructs its passage, flow calmly and with little noise, but rage and foam wherever trees and obstacles of stone held it back, fiercer for the obstruction.

Pentheus’s fury will not end well (see Euripides’s Bacchae if you want to know quite how badly). Given this source the Galbraith Clan seems wise to shift the belligerent ‘Fiercer because of the obstruction’ to the more peaceable ‘Gentler because of the obstruction’ – but that does make it a very unusually irenic motto. ‘Get in my way and I’ll be nice about it’ is very much not the usual tenor of heraldic mottos.

Whether or not Rowling looked up the Galbraith motto before choosing her new name, it is satisfying that the motto of her nom de plume – a new identity behind which she hoped to hide – can be read in two diametrically opposed ways. Given her clear interest in heraldic mottos – shown through all the mottos discussed above – it seems plausible that she would have either known, or at least checked out, the Galbraith Clan motto. Her pen name’s motto has unimpeachably literary credentials – drawn from one of the great classical epics, and telling the story that inspired Euripides’s greatest tragedy.

This is the third in a series of four ‘Back to Hogwarts’ posts by Trinity College, Oxford University Research Fellow and Lecturer Beatrice Groves, author of Literary Allusion in Harry Potter. Enjoy!

As noted in my first blogpost of this series, ‘Rowling and Scotland,’ Rowling has put up a badge of the Murray clan – a traditional heraldic figure of a mermaid, carrying a mirror and a brooch, encircled with a cartouche inscribed with the Murray motto: ‘Tout prêt’ (Old French for ‘quite ready’) – and many thanks and a hat tip to Oxford graduate student Pratibha Rai who was the first to identify it for HogwartsProfessor.

This badge is a more subtle – and private – version of the photos of her husband which Rowling put up on her original personalised homepage. But it also points to her status as ‘Mrs Murray’ in a far more interesting guise. For heraldry – a pictorial guide to history – is something that has long interested Rowling and it has left a number of tantalizing traces in the Wizarding World: from the Hogwarts’s coat of arms inscribed on the title-page of each Harry Potter novel, to the family trees of the Blacks in Phoenix and the Lestranges in Crimes of Grindelwald to the tiny, but crucial, detail of Marvolo Gaunt’s erroneous belief that the Deathly Hallows symbol is his ancestral coat of arms.

Cursed Child even displays a heraldic memory of Deathly Hallows when Voldemort’s threat at the end of the Battle of Hogwarts that ‘the emblem, shield and colours of my noble ancestor, Salazar Slytherin, will suffice for everyone’ becomes reality. In the Cursed Child the total power of the Death Eaters is expressed heraldically at the close of Part One as ‘giant banners with snake symbols upon the descend over the stage.’

Heraldry tells stories – such as the charming histories of St Mungo (a Scottish saint familiar to all Harry Potter readers) which are depicted on Glasgow’s coat of arms. This coat of arms carries the charges of a bird, a tree, a bell and a fish with a ring its mouth (which are likewise the supporters of the shield). The fish with a ring in its mouth points to Mungo’s most appealing miracle which, in true fairy tale style, allows a penitent queen a second chance:

A Queen had a secret lover, a soldier, whom she had presented with a ring which given to her by her husband Redderech. However, a servant informed the king of the affair. Although Redderech did not want to believe the tale, the sight of ring on the young soldier’s hand convinced him. He then laid a plot to denounce his wife publicly. He invited the soldier to go hunting with him and then, when the young man fell asleep, he slipped up the ring off his finger and threw it into the river Clyde. He then went back and demanded that his wife show him the ring. She, of course, could not get it back from her lover because it was now lost…. In prison, she sent a messenger to Mungo asking for forgiveness and aid. Mungo tells the messenger straightaway to go fishing in the Clyde and to bring back the first fish he catches. This is a salmon, which, on being cut open, is seen to contain the ring. This is then taken to the queen who presents it to the King. 

St Mungo’s actions here in healing a relationship that seemed past repair, makes him a satisfying choice for the patron saint of healing in the Wizarding World.

The Murray brooch on Rowling’s homepage underlines her interests in both Scottishness and heraldry – and, indeed, Scottish heraldry itself makes a subtle appearance in the Wizarding World. Rowling has noted that in her fictional honours system, the Order of Merlin, first class, has a green ribbon. She has therefore given the highest honour in the Wizarding world the colour of the Order of the Thistle – the Scottish equivalent to the Order of the Garter – sometimes known as the ‘Green Garter’ or the ‘Green ribbon’ [see Literary Allusion in Harry Potter].

Today and tomorrow, I shall be looking at some of the ways in which Rowling makes use of heraldry’s ability to tell stories through symbols. Rowling wrote on the Black Family tree she drew in 2006 that ‘there are stories between the lines.’ Some of these stories can be read from the Black coat of arms and motto that she revealed for the first time in this drawing. [Read more…]