Entertainment

Harry Potter and the Rigorous Retrospective

Part One: The Sorcerer’s Stone and a Polarising Preface

Editor Ethan Miller

The Harry Potter series holds a special place in many’s hearts. With relatable characters, an interesting world, and surprisingly deep themes, there’s a lot to love in this series that started off as a fun-filled magical romp. It had to start somewhere, though, and I can confirm that Sorcerer’s Stone starts off on surprisingly strongly. with the knowledge of the entire series under the belts of many.

Sorcerer’s Stone starts off on a strong note. With Harry at the Dursleys (who were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much) and introducing him as this out of place figure helps a lot when Hagrid suddenly bursts on the page to introduce him (much to Harry’s surprise) as a Wizard. This feeling of “nowhere to belong to” carries throughout the book as Harry gets thrust into a world where he is suddenly one of the most famous Wizards of all time. It never feels weird, all being thanks to how we are introduced to the world.

Making the story flow in a way that we are being introduced to this world with Harry was an honestly genius idea. It makes introducing new elements to this wacky world not feel out of place, as Harry is as caught off-guard as we were when moments like Snape asking Harry rapid-fire questions about Potions. Every new twist and turn is a shock for both of us, which is a formula that works so well that even other writers have used it to set up their worlds (you know who you are Rick Riordan).

The dynamic between Harry, Ron, and Hermione (which Rowling can confirm is pronounced Her-My-Oh-Nee) also works surprisingly well, having Ron being already born to a wizarding family and knowing about as much as Harry does, and Hermione being born to a normal family (dentists at that) and being one of the best in their year, both showing off how Wizards come from all different backgrounds.

Where my love for the series really shines is when the concept of the Stone itself is mentioned. What I love about the series is that they aren’t basic fantasy novels, they’re mystery novels disguised as fantasy novels, and it really shows when our trio puts their heads together to successfully figure out who Nicholas Flamel is and what the purpose of the Sorcerer’s Stone was.

Then there’s that brilliant twist with Professor Quirrell. Throughout the book, there are these moments where Snape seems to be up to something, with Quirrell attempting to stop him. When it’s revealed that Quirrell is actually acting as a host for Voldemort, everything seems to come into place. Rereading with the knowledge that Quirrell is the big bad doesn’t distract from the reveal, which is the mark of a good twist.

The story takes surprisingly dark turns at times, as well. Harry being this tragic protagonist who lost his parents to this mysterious big bad is really interesting, giving the character proper motivation to do what he does. That compared to Ron or Hermione not really having the motivation to try to help Harry other than the fact that they are friends really makes some of the plot points that much more interesting. Let’s also not forget about the Mirror of Erised. One of the most depressing points is when Harry finds the Mirror of Erised. The Mirror of Erised is introduced before we actually know what it is. Rowling leads the writers to believe it shows the Wizard who is gazing upon it and their family, but when Harry goes to show Ron, that’s not what Ron sees. There is a heart wrenching scene when Dumbledore is explaining what the Mirror does, and it really hurts. Then there’s also the fact that Quirrell low-key ends dead, adding to the feeling that not everything is peachy.

Which ties right into where I am a bit conflicted in Sorcerer’s Stone, is how everything seems to be in Harry’s favour. Sure, he has his fair share of troubles, but I feel that the illusion of tragedy is broken slightly when the Slytherins kind of got robbed of the house cup. That last moment point boost seemed a bit too forced for my liking, and frankly, last minute.

Sorcerer’s Stone still holds up surprisingly well. As the beginning of a series, there was a lot that needed to be set up and wrapped up in a short amount of time, while still leaving room for more to come. While Sorcerer’s Stone might not be one of my favourites (it actually might be my least favourite), there is still a lot to love about Harry’s first outing in the Wizarding world.