Are All Giants All Bad?
GIANTS ARE THOUGHT BY MOST HUMANS—probably
unfairly—to be as dangerous and cruel as they are large. But
there’s no denying they can be difficult, as Hagrid learns in
Phoenix when he meets Grawp, Karkus, and
Golgomath. Whatever the truth, they have a troublesome
history.
EARLY GIANTS
The first giants were the Gigantes of ancient
Greek mythology, born when the blood of Uranus (the Heavens) fell
upon Gaea (Earth). The Gigantes fought the gods of Mount
Olympus—Zeus, Hera, Apollo, and others. The Olympian gods needed
the help of the hero Hercules to defeat them. The Gigantes were
buried underneath mountains that then became volcanoes.
Another race of mythical Greek giants was known
as the Cyclops. These monsters, who
Perhaps Golgomath in Phoenix is a descendant of Gogmagog and another well-known biblical giant, Goliath of Gath.
had only one eye, created the thunderbolts of Zeus. In Homer’s epic
poem The Odyssey, the hero Odysseus and his
men encounter a Cyclops and barely escape.
The Cyclops of Greek
myth.
In two early books of the Bible, Genesis and
Ezekiel, Magog is the name of the place
from which Gog comes. In a later book,
Revelation, Magog is a second creature or force who joins Gog in
trying to destroy the world.
Perhaps Golgomath in Phoenix is a descendant of Gogmagog and another well-known biblical giant, Goliath of Gath.
Both these races of giants, like those that
followed, were said to be vicious cannibals.
BRITISH GIANTS
Among later giants, the legend of a pair named
Gog and Magog spread throughout the world, changing a bit from
place to place. In Britain the story survives in the form of two
large statues in Guildhall in London, first erected in the 1400s
and said to portray the last of a race of giants destroyed by the
legendary founder of London. (The statues, public favorites, have
been replaced twice: first after the Great Fire of 1666, then after
an air raid during the Second World War.)
A slightly different British legend combines
those giants into a single monster named Gogmagog, who lived near
Cornwall. In that version, a brave soldier threw the giant off a
cliff, which is still called Giant’s Leap.
Another British giant of legend, Gargantua,
became famous in the 1500s as the main character in comical
adventures written by a Frenchman, François Rabelais. Gargantua was
something like the gigantic American woodsman Paul Bunyan. He was
so huge that a tennis court could fit inside one of his teeth. It
took the milk of 17,913 cows to quench his thirst.
GIANTS AND MAGIC
According to the early historian Geoffrey of
Monmouth, Stonehenge, the mysterious circle of huge stones in
southern England, originated with the giants of Ireland. As he
records, Merlin had been asked for advice on building a war
memorial. The wizard replied:
“If you want to grace the burial place of these men with some lasting monument, send for the Giants’ Ring which is on Mount Killaraus in Ireland. In that place there is a stone construction which no man of this period could ever erect, unless he combined great skill and artistry. The stones are enormous and there is no one alive strong enough to move them. If they are placed in position round this site, in the way in which they are erected over there, they will stand for ever . . .
“These stones are connected with secret religious
rites and they have various properties which are medicinally
important. Many years ago the Giants transported
them from the remotest confines of Africa and set them up in
Ireland at a time when they inhabited that country. Their plan was
that, whenever they felt ill, baths should be prepared at the foot
of the stones; for they used to pour water over them and to run
this water into baths in which their sick were cured. What is more,
they mixed the water with herbal concoctions and so healed their
wounds. There is not a single stone among them that hasn’t some
medicinal virtue.”
In William Shakespeare’s As You
Like It, Rosalind anxiously asks her friend Celia about a young
man: “What said he? How looked he? Where went he? Did he ask for
me? Where remains he? How parted with thee? And when shalt thou see
him again? Answer me in one word.” Celia snaps back, “You must
borrow me Gargantua’s mouth first; ‘tis a
word too great for any mouth of this age’s size.” (Act III, scene
ii)
107
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Geoffrey of Monmouth, like most early historians,
relied on stories he was told, so his history of Britain mixes
legends with actual events.
As Geoffrey tells it, the king took Merlin’s advice and had the stones transported to their present site.
A SECRET EVERYONE KNOWS
In Harry’s world, most wizards are prejudiced
against giants. Hagrid never told anyone his mother was the
giantess Fridwulfa because he was worried about what they would
think. For the same reason, the headmistress of Beauxbatons, Madame
Olympe Maxime, is reluctant to admit she is also half-giant. But
anyone with common sense would guess that secret from her name.
Olympe refers to the original giants of Olympus, and maxime means “great” or “very large” in
French.