Symbolism of Book 1

Sorcerer's Stone, as the first book in the series, is chock full of symbolism and foreshadowing for the rest of the series. In some ways, perhaps Jo Rowling wanted to leave a blueprint for the series in case the rest was never published. Either way, the more I delved into the book, the more awed I was at the patterns that emerged and how well they all fit. Of course, the work is not mine alone; the fandom has collectively been trying to unravel the symbolism in Sorcerer's Stone since the turn of the century. I just wanted to try my hand at compiling and making sense of all this with the benefit of post-Deathly Hallows hindsight. Much of these essays may be examining patterns that were unintentional, but my overall view is that it's one too many coincidences to be coincidental. They were all written in late 2014.

Seven Obstacles for Seven Books - One of the most popular fan theories, this matches up the seven obstacles protecting the Sorcerer's Stone to the seven books. I believe each obstacle parallels its corresponding book in two ways: the type of magic highlighted, and the way the Trio gets past obstacles. This runs through the seven parallels.

The Three-Book-Long Chess Match - The way the chess match that the Trio plays as the Transfiguration obstacle was long thought to predict key events in the war against Voldemort. I run through the beats in the chess match, and what events they foreshadowed.

The Seven Battles - The way the pattern of the Potions Riddle (3 poisons, 2 nettle wines, 1 forward potion, 1 back potion) aligns with the seven times Harry and Voldemort face off in the series, along with an additional such a set of seven things corresponding to each battle.

The Potions Riddle - The additional sets of seven things throughout the books that align with the pattern of the Potions Riddle.

I gave a presentation about this - specifically the first two essays - at Leviosa 2016, which can be seen below.