Harry Potter's Deathly Hallows symbol explained

The article mentions suicide.

Fans of the “Harry Potter” series. know that the magical universe is full of wild, magical objects – and they usually serve huge narrative purposes. In the first part, “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone”, the titular stone is hidden in the depths of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry because it promises eternal life to anyone who possesses it, making it Very tempting to some evil wizard spirits who might, say, want to regain their corporeal forms. The other titular property, the Goblet of Fire, accepts entries from Hogwarts students (and students from other wizarding schools) and selects champions for the Triwizard Tournament, but causes a stir when it selects the too-young Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) as the fourth champion. With all this in mind, what is the deal with the Deathly Hallows?

It just so happens that the three magical items that form the title of the final book and two-part film in the series are three of the most interesting enchanted items in the entire wizarding world – and when Harry and his best friends Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) learn about the legendary trio and realize that one of them actually belonged to Harry for years. Here's everything you need to know about the Deathly Hallows, whether they're “good” or “evil” and why they're so important in the “Harry Potter” universe.

In both the book and the film, Hermione reads aloud a story from the children's book “The Tales of Beedle the Bard”, which explains the strange origins of three items known as the Deathly Hallows. Here's the gist of it: three brothers come face to face with Death, who offers them everything they want after they magically build a bridge and “outwit” it (a non-magical person would die trying to get through the gap they came through). The oldest brother, who is the most arrogant, asks for a wand more powerful than any other, while the middle brother asks for a stone that can raise the dead. The youngest brother asks for something that can “hide” him from death. Ultimately, this backfires on the first two brothers: the oldest boasts that no one can beat him, so someone murders him without magic and steals the wand, and the middle brother uses the stone to revive the dead woman he loved, only to commit suicide so he can be with her forever (the stone does not Actually bring anyone back and merely provides a ghostly echo of that person). Only the youngest live long and naturally, benefiting from the cloak of invisibility; preparing to “(greet) Death as an old friend”, he passes the mantle to his son.

So there you have it: the items are the “invincible” Elder Wand, the Resurrection Stone, and the Cloak of Invisibility. Even the most casual Potterheads know that in first book and movieHarry receives the Invisibility Cloak as an anonymous Christmas gift with a note stating that it belonged to his own father. (This is a slightly minor detail, but Harry eventually learns that his father James is a descendant true youngest brother, Ignotus Peverell, on whom the story is based.)

Individually, it stands to reason that wizards would be looking for three Deathly Hallows. According to Xenophilius Lovegood – the father of Evanna Lynch's Luna Lovegood, who is played by Rhys Ifans in the films – there are many people in the wizarding world who “search” for the Hallows for one specific purpose. When Hermione points out that the whole thing is from a children's book, Xenophilius shrugs it off a bit. “It's a children's story, told to entertain rather than instruct,” he tells her. “However, those of us who understand these matters recognize that the ancient story refers to three objects, or Hallows, which, if united, will make the possessor the master of Death.” So here it is: Xenophilius and his ilk want to collect these items because they believe they can defeat Death, just as the brothers tried to do, if they possess all three.

It is never confirmed whether this is true, but Harry makes full use of all three items by the end of “Deathly Hallows”. The cloak is his and he uses it to constantly avoid Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes). He uses the Stone to remember his parents and lost loved ones as he approaches Voldemort, ready to die to destroy the Horcrux within. He finally proves that through the complicated series of duels that take place in “Deathly Hallows” He he is the master of the Elder Wand and uses this fact to defeat Voldemort once and for all (in the book, anyway).

In the book version of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Xenophilius Lovegood causes a minor stir at the Weasley family wedding by wearing a necklace with the Deathly Hallows symbol on it because the other guests believe it is a symbol of the wizarding world Other super evil wizard, Grindelwald. As Xenophilius explains to the three later in the story when they visit his house, this is the case NO symbol With Grindelwald, but only one who was adopted by a dark wizard. It is actually the symbol of the Hallows; as the editor of the Quibbler explains to Harry, Ron, and Hermione, the line represents the Elder Wand, the circle represents the Resurrection Stone, and the triangle represents the Cloak of Invisibility. This is not Good Or bad a symbol in itself, although some people associate it with Grindelwald (unfortunately).

As I mentioned, Xenophilius – who, like Luna, has some strange beliefs – believes that there is a “quest” to find all three Hallows, so he becomes obsessed with them and insists, despite Hermione's interruptions and arguments, that all three items are real. (A particularly ironic moment is when Xenophilius insists that only a “true” Invisibility Cloak will never lose its effectiveness or change in any way, while Harry, Ron, and Hermione reflect on the fact that To have a cloak that fits their description exactly at this moment.) Anyway, the point is that he has a strange obsession with combining objects and being the master of Death. Spoiler alert: he fails to achieve this.

According to series author Joanne Kathleen Rowling, she was inspired to create the specific Deathly Hallows symbol by one specific film: Sean Connery and Michael Caine's 1975 drama “The Man Who Would Be King.” The film features a Masonic symbol that inspired Rowling, who revealed in a documentary titled “Harry Potter and the History of Magic” – released in 2017 to mark the 20th anniversary of the first book (via BBC) – that she believed the symbol crept into to her mind.

“The Masonic symbol is very important in this movie,” Rowling said before explaining Why she believes the two cases are related. “The reason I can be extremely precise when I draw (an image of a Harry Potter character) is because at some point while I was drawing the image and watching the movie, my mother died.” As a result, Rowling believes she has internalized the symbol. “I looked at the Deathly Hallows sign and realized how similar they were,” she said, recalling the time she rewatched “The Man Who Would Be King” and “it completely went cold.”

“The Potter series is very much about loss,” Rowling said. “If my mother hadn't died, I think these stories would be completely different and wouldn't be what they are.”

The truth is that in recent years, Joanne Kathleen Rowling's views on transgender women – which can only be described as “wrong” – have turned off a whole host of Harry Potter fans for quite understandable reasons. What does this have to do with the Deathly Hallows and this symbol? This symbol happens to be a very popular tattoo design among “Potter” fans, and people have started covering or removing it in decent numbers since Rowling revealed that she doesn't consider transgender women to be women.

In 2020, when Rowling stayed Very loud about this belief, Vice interviewed a handful of fans about their feelings about Deathly Hallows tattoos, and the end result was very sad indeed. A fan named Jordan, who had a tattoo of the Hallows on his leg at the time, told the site he felt disgusted supporting “Harry Potter” as an ally of the transgender community and had to re-evaluate what he thought of the series as a whole. “It no longer represents what it did,” Jordan said. “I just felt like, okay, well, this thing that meant something to me, I had to re-evaluate my relationship with it. I just started feeling like if the tattoo would be visible around my trans friends, I wouldn't want to do it to make them feel like I supported what (Rowling) was saying.

Of course, this is just one example, but they are there plenty anecdotal stories about “Harry Potter” fans removing or covering tattoos related to the series over Rowling – and the person who has tattoo with the word “Potter” and strongly disagrees with Rowling's views, I understand the conflicting feelings. (I remain grateful that the three stars on my wrist were designed by illustrator Mary Grandpre, who does not share any egregious views on the transgender community.) Anyway, Rowling's legacy has changed (and devolved) a lot over the past few years… so in a sense, the symbol of the Deathly Hallows Is “bad” for some people.

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