The Making of the Potterverse
AN INTRODUCTION
In 1992, Harry Potter was the son of a World War II bomber pilot who was being honored posthumously.
Two years after that, he was an accountant.
And two years after that, he found himself serving Texas as Assistant Attorney General.
No disrespect intended to those Harry Potters, but their accomplishments, big or small, simply can’t compare to the Harry Potter who was born 10 years ago as the lead character of J.K. Rowling’s first published work of fiction — Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. That Harry Potter captured the imagination of the world, changed the fate of his creator and made stockholders in numerous publishing companies and one Hollywood studio very happy.
Ten years on it’s difficult to imagine a time when Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley and Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry weren’t in the popular vernacular. There was, indeed, a pre-Harry world; it just wasn’t as much fun.
In under a decade, Rowling has joined such literary luminaries as Lewis Carroll, L. Frank Baum, J.R.R. Tolkien and Roald Dahl, and created a realm that is every bit as fanciful as theirs, whether it be Wonderland, Oz, Middle Earth or Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory. And, most importantly, the audience has completely fallen in love with that realm, embracing each novel as it is published as well as each movie adaptation, and elevating Rowling herself to the literary equivalent of a rock star. But maybe her success isn’t all that surprising when you consider her background and the journey she’s been on from destitute single mother to billionaire author. Rowling’s creative spirit has touched the heart of the global audience in a way that few authors have been able to, and her life story, in itself, is a tale as magical as anything Harry has been through.
If you have any doubts, just consider the way in which Harry was created. “I had the idea for Harry on a train in the summer of 1990,” she explained. In fact, she has described the scene in a number of interviews. “I was sitting on the train. I was staring out the window. As far as I can remember, I was staring at some cows — not the most inspiring subject — and the idea just came. I cannot tell you why or what happened to trigger it. It was the purest stroke of inspiration I’ve ever had. And I’d been writing for years and never tried to get anything published. Harry came pretty much fully formed. I saw him very clearly. I could see this skinny little boy with black hair, this weird scar on his forehead. I knew instantly that he was a wizard, but he didn’t know that yet. Then I began to work out his background. That was the basic idea. I didn’t know then that it was going to be a book for children. I just knew that I had this boy, Harry. During the [train] journey I also discovered Ron, Nearly Headless Nick, Hagrid and Peeves. But with the idea of my life careening round my head, I didn’t have a pen that worked. And I never went anywhere without my pen and notebook. So, rather than trying to write it, I had to think it. And I think that was a very good thing. I was besieged by a mass of detail and if it didn’t survive that journey, it probably wasn’t worth remembering.
“When I was younger, I think my greatest fantasy would have been to find out that I had powers that I’d never dreamt of. That I was special. That ‘these people couldn’t be my parents, I’m far more interesting than that.’ I think a lot of children might have secretly thought that sometimes. So I just took that one stage further and I thought, ‘What’s the best way of breaking free of that? Okay, you’re magic.’”
And so is the entire Harry Potter phenomenon; a phenomenon that we celebrate in The Making of the Potterverse, bringing you through a decade of Harry-related headlines, month by month and year by year. In that period, the world has changed in so many ways and not all for the better, but Harry Potter and the work of J.K. Rowling serve as an escape when our reality gets too overwhelming, offering friends we can count on to do what’s right and touching us with a little bit of magic. And you can never have too much magic.