Horcruxes Not Hallows: Confronting Evil and the Use of Power in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

In J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter novels, Harry is faced with choices concerning how to wield power and confront evil in his world. In this lecture and discussion, Dr. Russell Dalton explores the ways in which Harry’s enemies—and even some of his allies—view the world as a simple battle between good and evil that attempts to wield power to destroy those enemies through the use of redemptive violence. In contrast, Rowling has Harry repeatedly take an approach that surrenders power and confronts evil through mercy and sacrifice. Dr. Dalton will also explore ways in which the Harry Potter films tend to obscure these themes, and notes similar examples from films adapted from other fantasy novels.