June 26, 1997 – The Birth of Harry Potter

Harry Potter is one of the most popular series ever written JK Rowling story is nearly flawless and is loved by so many, but how did Rowling write such a perfect story?

but one of the answers to that is that she followed one of the most classic and Well-structured writing formulas the hero's journey, which was originally constructed by Joseph Campbell I myself from a film student in college And I've taken multiple courses on script writing, and the hero's journey is by far my favorite writing technique And I've been dying to make a video on it I've done a lot of character origins and life stories for Harry Potter Characters and a lot of you have asked me to do the same for Harry himself at first I wasn't going to do this because if you've read the books or even seen the movies You know a story, and it would probably be an hour long video however. I thought of a cool alternative Which is a video where I'm still gonna? Go through Harry's life, but instead of telling his whole life story I'm gonna break down Rowling's books and the writing formula that she used and explain the hero's journey for the boy who lived So what is the hero's journey?

well It's a twelve stage narrative arc that describes the typical Adventure of the hero in this case Harry the hero in the journey is the one who goes out and achieves great deeds on behalf Of a group of people in this case The Wizarding World this structure can be found in each and every book in the series But I'm going to look at the broader story and go over Harry's journey for the entire series Because of this some of the things might be a bit out of order from the original twelve point instruction But we're still gonna hit all twelve points So let's get started the first step to the journey is the ordinary world this is where the story starts before the journey begins for The hero for Harry the ordinary world is the muggle world?

It's here that we learn crucial details about our hero such as his true nature Capabilities and outlook on life the first few chapters. We learn how his true nature He's a kind and selfless person for his capabilities We learned that Harry is capable of doing some odd things this includes ending up on rooftops while being chased by Dudley Being able to make glass Disappear at the zoo to make Dudley fall into the display and of course we learned about his ability to talk to snakes Which plays a big role later on in the series?

The first step anchors the hero s human, just like the reader And it makes it easier for us to identify with the hero which in turn makes us more invested in the character as he completes The rest of his journey we can expect great things from you the second step is the call to adventure This step interrupts the comfort of the hero's ordinary world and presents a challenge or quest that must be Undertaken how ru receives his call to adventure when Hagrid comes to him and finally gives him his Hogwarts letter it Disrupts his ordinary muggle life and changes his whole view on the world it presents him with the quest the quest being to go to Hogwarts and to enter the Wizarding World The next step is the refusal to the call in this stage of the journey the hero might have second thoughts or fears or personal Doubts as to whether he is up for the challenge or moreover if he's actually the right person to take on that challenge harry has personal doubts that he actually is a wizard I Can't bail I mean, I'm just Harry Just Hari He doesn't think that he's the right person to take on the task and doesn't think he's able to go to Hogwarts Harry's afraid to take on the huge Wizarding World and for a second thinks about staying in the comfort of the muggle world Unless you'd rather stay of course This step could also be applied to something later on in the series, which is Harry taking on the prophecy the prophecy Said one of us is gonna have to kill the other in the end once again He's reluctant to take on that challenge And isn't sure that he's able to do it or even that he's the right person to do it he jumps at the Possibility that the prophecy could be about Neville - that's really clinging on to that Hoping that he's not the one that has to take on that task Unfortunately one more did Markham Isis equal so the prophecy is about him now as I said we might be going a little bit out Of order so right now We're gonna skip ahead to step five and then come back to step four Step five is called crossing the threshold here the hero commits to leaving the ordinary world and entering a new region with unfamiliar rules and values this applies to Harry when he decides to leave the Dursleys and go with Hagrid he then enters the region of the Wizarding World when he goes to Diagon Alley and Later when he goes to Hogwarts Harry's actions of crossing the threshold Signifies his commitment to his journey this makes the audience bond with Harry because just like him we're entering this new world He doesn't know any of the rules Creatures or anything to do with the Wizarding World and neither do we?

What exactly are these things her goblins hurry now We go back to the fourth step Which is meeting the mentor in this step the hero could be given an object of great importance?

Insight into a dilemma. He faces wise advice training or even Self-confidence, this is a big step for Harry the first thing to address is that he gets an object of great importance his wands this For Harry is even more significant because that object shares the same core as the wand owned by the man who murdered his parents This is the first insight he gets into the truth of how his parents died and why he was orphaned as a baby but the Main purpose of this step is meeting the actual mentor Which in Harry's case is Albus Dumbledore throughout the series Dumbledore gave Harry all of the things I mentioned earlier first insight into a dilemma examples of this could be helping Harry discover why he?

Survived the night that Voldemort tried to kill him. It was because of your mother She sacrificed herself for you Leaves a mark No, this kind of Mark cannot be seen he lives and you're very skilled Another thing is giving Harry along with Hermione the idea and Permission to go back in time and save both Buckbeak and his Godfather Sirius Black second He helped Harry overcome his internal dilemma But he and Voldemort were very similar and told him why he had such a connection to him he transferred some of his powers And even after Dumbledore's death he helped Harry overcome the dilemma of how it could kill Voldemort third He gave Harry an object other than his wand which was his dad's invisibility cloak and there were of course many Examples of Dumbledore giving Harry wise advice it does not do to dwell on dreams Do not create the dead Harry Pretty to living And above all all those who live without love Dumbledore also trained Harry However it might not have been in the most classic way how he learned most of his magic from his professors Hermione and just through life and the dilemmas to be at the face, but Dumbledore gave him training in the half-blood Prince He gave Harry lessons these lessons were meant to Train Harry on how to defeat Voldemort how to find all of his Horcrux is based on the wealth of information that Dumbledore provided it which of course Focused on holding warts early life in other words Dumbledore the mentor trained Harry the hero to defeat his greatest task Lord Voldemort and the final part of meeting the mentor staff was the mentor giving the hero confidence Dumbledore does this a number of times?

All right You're wonderful boy Brave Brave man he a source Harry that he is a true Gryffindor would take a true Gryffindor To pull that out of the hat, and he gives Harry the confidence to fight off Baltimore when he's possessing Harry's body It's How it feels like he's on his own many times throughout the series But Dumbledore assures him that he's not and gives Harry the confidence to move on and embrace his Relationships rather than push them away. Not only giving him confidence, but also some more advice you have friends here Not alone well Dumbledore was definitely the most prominent mentor some other mentors, include Remus Lupin who helped Harry with his Patronus and also gave him great advice Also another mentor was his Godfather Sirius Black. Who Harry often turned to you for advice He also gave Harry great confidence when he assured Harry that he was a good person At a time when Harry was doubting this you're not a band cus You're a very good person who bad things have happened to You honest not The next step is tests allies and enemies This is where the hero faces a series of challenges They test them in a variety of ways how he faces many obstacles Throughout the series each presenting him with a new set of skills this includes stopping Quirrell and subsequently Voldemort from getting the philosopher's stone facing a basilisk Facing his ultimate fear the Dementors and gaining the ability to produce a Patronus While those are the physical obstacles that he faced he also faced some internal obstacles one is him dealing with being famous Famous Harry Potter can't even out of a book so without making the front page mr.

New What makes this internal conflict Even worse is that he's famous for something that constantly reminds him of what he lost that night in Godric's Hollow there are multiple times Where Harry is so close to his parents, but it just won't become a reality he reaches out to touch his mother But every time he gets close. He can't do it You've been so great if sweetheart Now focusing on the allies and enemies part of this step the people in his life for him throughout his journey He has allies and enemies Ron and Hermione are of course his allies who we trust over everyone and later in the series He has Ginny Neville Luna and the rest of the DA along with the order of the Phoenix all of whom have his back Dobby the house-elf is another huge ally who helps Harry in the Triwizard Tournament it ultimately gives his life to save Harry and the others Two people his friend After Looking at the enemies part. It's clear that his greatest enemy is the man who shares more than just a rivalry with come on Let's finish this the way we started Another enemy he has is Draco Malfoy someone He constantly goes head-to-head with throughout his time at Hogwarts other enemies include Dolores Umbridge Dudley Dursley Bellatrix Lestrange the person who murdered both his Godfather Sirius and his friend Dobby and of course his enemies with other Death Eaters as well Moving on to the seventh step the approach to the inmost cave this is where the hero faces an inner Conflict or faces an actual location in which lies Terrible danger the inner conflict part of this step could be applied to Harry at several points throughout the series He goes through a lot of inner conflict thinking that he's just like Voldemort this connection between me and Oldman but if the reason for it is that I am becoming more like him I Just feel so angry all the time He thinks that because they can both speak to snakes both. He grew up parentless No, thought of Hogwarts hasn't escaped and both were half-blood that his path would follow and Voldemort's footsteps He starts to question everything and thinks that he should have been in Slytherin His fear manifests even more when he talks to the sorting hat I was just wondering if he put me in the right house, but I stand by what I said last year You would have done well in Another inner conflict that Harry faces is when the whole Wizarding World turns on it doesn't believe him that Voldemort had returned He isolates himself and blocks everyone out even Ron and Hermione. He don't stop Help us tick He feels extremely alone and sort of falls into a depression in spite of paying back aha boots I feel more alone than ever the second part of this step is facing an actual Location which lies terrible danger this could be applied to the final book where Harry leaves the comforts of Hogwarts and looks for Voldemort's Horcruxes there on the run and Constantly in danger the location of the journey has changed completely they went from being safe at Hogwarts to being in more danger than ever before Shrieks kiss listen now once again. I'm gonna. Go a bit out of order We're gonna skip ahead to step 10 and come back to eight and nine step. 10 is the road back This is where the hero returns back to the ordinary world waiting the final step of his journey which is not yet over this step for Harry is going back to the Dursleys one last time before he goes on his mission to Find the Horcruxes. This is even more significant for Harry because once he leaves that house and turned 17 which is days away He will no longer have the protective Enchantment his mother gave him when she sacrificed herself to save them when she did this her protection lived on in her sister petunia who shared the same bloodline once Harry leaves between his house and turn 17 that protection goes away making danger closer than ever For the next part I'm actually going to combine steps 8 and 11 step 8 is called the ordeal and step 11 is called the resurrection Step eight states only through some form of death can the hero be reborn Experiencing a metaphorical resurrection that somehow grants him greater power or insight necessary in order to fulfill his destiny this is quite obviously applied to Herod when he literally faced his death when he Sacrifices his own life so that Voldemort can be defeated He talks to his fallen mentor and is reborn this now ties him to step 11 the resurrection how he literally is resurrected in the final battle in this case in the Battle of Hogwarts Now in step eight that part that says grants him greater power for Harry He grants greater power after he sacrifices himself. This is because he put a protective and shan't man on everyone fighting for him Just as his mother had done for him this allows Harry and his friends and allies to win the battle once and for all No one fighting for Harry can die because of what Harry had done giving them a huge advantage or granting them a greater power now going back to step 9 This one's called the reward in this step the hero emerges from the battle as a stronger person comes out with the prize this is Applied to Harry as he comes back from the Battle of Hogwarts stronger than ever the prize He attains is the Deathly Hallows the three objects that make the owner of all of them the master of death He is the rightful owner of the Elder Wand the most powerful wand ever made It's knowing he has the resurrection stone well until he dropped it in the forest But he used it to see his loved ones before he gave his life And he has the cloak of invisibility the cloak that was passed down in his family And eventually given to him by Dumbledore and although Harry doesn't take on the mantle of being the master of death he still attained it from his many years of conquering his journey making it his prize or reward and Finally the last step step 12. This is the final stage of the hero's journey. He comes out a changed man He has grown as a person learned many things and faced many terrible dangers and even death But now looks forward to the start of his new life Harry does just that he starts his new life So what happened to Harry after both his journey and the series ended Harry did not go back to Hogwarts for a seventh year But instead became an order or a Dark Wizard catchin the career He'd wanted to pursue for many years And he eventually became head of the order office Harry also got his name on a chocolate frog card something that is a great honor in the Wizarding World He eventually got married to the love of his life Ginny Weasley and had three kids Albus James and Lily he mended his rivalries with both Draco Malfoy and his cousin Dudley Dursley He and Dudley got their kids together every once in a while Harry also Helped race Teddy Lupin the son of one of his dear friends and mentors Remus Lupin and his wife Nymphadora Tonks who was also great friends with Harry after he defeated, Voldemort His scar didn't paint him ever again as JK said all was well Harry story arc is one that will go down in history as one of the best story arcs ever written Rowling perfectly applied the hero's journey to her incredible book series and showed us How kind and selfless the hero of our favorite story really is?

Harry always put others before him and never gave up on the ones he loved he cherished each and every one of his friendships and relationships Throughout his journey Harry discovered the key to life, and that is love conquers all. If “The Birth of Harry Potter” is not merely the origin story of a boy wizard — it is the genesis of a cultural phenomenon that cast a spell over generations. With the stroke of J.K. Rowling’s pen, an ordinary train ride became the birthplace of a universe where magic met humanity, where courage, love, and loss were etched into every page. The impact has been nothing short of seismic: reshaping children’s literature, sparking fierce imaginations, and uniting millions under the banner of a lightning bolt scar. Its dominance lies not just in commercial success but in the emotional resonance that endures across decades. As readers revisit the moment Harry was born onto the page, one must ask: Was it simply a story, or the awakening of something far deeper in all of us? Let me know in a comment and if you like to get read more stories like this, don't forget to subscribe and like untill next time.