Harry Potter and the Master of Death

Abstract

For decades, the Harry Potter series has provided its global readers with essential life-lessons some may use throughout their lifetime, showing the series is more than just a handful of books, it’s a way of life. Across J. K. Rowling’s seven-book series, which chronicles a young boy’s new and unique life in the wizarding world, Harry Potter readers are struck with a plethora of moral implications that can be extracted from the texts and used in everyday life scenarios. However, there’s one underlying overtone that riddles the series as a whole: the illusion of death. What do the lives and legacies of Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort ethically teach Harry Potter enthusiasts on the looming subject of the afterlife and how it should or should not be greeted? Although J. K. Rowling molded these two characters to share astonishing parallels between their lives and wizarding abilities, she distinguishes them by the very virtues they cherish and act upon throughout the series, displaying the ways in which they individually approach the essence of death is what truly sets them apart at their core, and what ultimately confirms who seizes the genuine title of the Master of Death.