Manic Expression

Hello and welcome to In Too Deep, where I over-analyse a certain section of pop culture.

I'm not one to hop on the bandwagon, not until that bandwagon has been stopped for several years and people have forgotten all about it. But I was thinking about how there were people arguing that Harry Potter was the Antichrist, which lead me thinking: is this a valid argument? If so, what is the logical outcome of it?

First off, lets prove Harry Potter is the Antichrist. Now it's easy to just prove he's a Messiah-allegory and call it a day, since he follows a lot of those steps. He's kind, self-sacrificing, came back to life after he died. He can perform miracles, he has loyal followers, he is seen as the Chosen One. This is stuff that anyone can clearly see. No it's far harder to prove the right-winged extremist correct in their summation. So what is the Antichrist?

Well Paul says (according to Wikipedia) it's a “Man of Sin” that sits in a temple, opposing himself against anything that is worshipped, claiming divine authority, working all kinds of counterfeit miracles and signs, and doing all kinds of evil. Also Daniel calls him “abomination that causes desolations”. Other theories include the spawn of Satan (since God became Jesus or is Jesus or however the Holy Trinity works, the same goes for the Devil and the Antichrist). Basically he's a bad guy that claims to be the Lord.

Now clearly this doesn't apply to Harry Potter. At least, not in a way that's immediately obvious. He doesn't sit in a temple (unless you count Hogwarts, and even then Dumbledore sits in it better), he doesn't oppose himself against any belief (well, except one I'll elaborate on soon), doesn't call himself the Chosen One (others do that for him), does magic cos that's commonplace and isn't particularly evil or desolate. So can we really say for certain that Harry Potter is the Antichrist? No, no we can not. But lets pretend for a second that he is. What's the logical outcome of this.

Quite simply: If Harry Potter is the Antichrist, then it only makes sense that Voldermort is Jesus.

Now I should make it clear, I'm not trying to insult Christianity or Christians. Far from it. But I'm just pointing out the logic that these people use (calling Harry Potter witchcraft) can backfire terribly on them when you actually think about it. Since there is evidence to support the idea that Lord Voldermort is Jesus.

First off, he died and came back to life. Every good Jesus-like character has to have that. Secondly he is surrounded by apostles, just like Jesus. He has Bellatrix, his Mary Magdalene, and Regulus Black, his Judas. Lets not forget how Barty Crouch Junior and/or Peter Pettigrew could be put into the role of Peter, or one of the other loyal apostles. I don't know all of them, but the connection can be made. Furthermore he does act like how one would think a messiah would, coming in and upsetting the status quo to make the world a 'better' place. But is this really that strong of an argument?

No, not really. While one could make the argument that Voldermort is Jesus, they'd be stretching a hell of a lot to make it fit. Especially since the argument that Harry Potter is Jesus is not only far easier, but more in line with what JK Rowling was writing in the first place. Hell she pretty much admits that Harry takes on a Jesus-like role based on her religion and upbringing. So why do I bring up this argument now so long after the release of both the last Harry Potter book and film?

Well mostly because I want to point out how terrible some arguments can be. They rely on using a faulty premise to build up their case, even though it isn't the strongest argument. But furthermore they don't actually think their argument all the way through, leaving huge gaps in their logic that I'm able to exploit with ease. So next time you hear someone come up with an argument that sounds silly, work out its logical conclusion and show it to them. If they have any sense they'd realize they're wrong.

So there you have it. Proving what happens when you call Harry Potter the Antichrist. If you disagree with anything, or have anything to add, feel free to leave a comment. Till next time.