The Deathly Hallows: Traditional Fairy Tale Elements in the Harry Potter’s novels and the “Tale of the Three Brothers”

Abstract

This article explores the way in which J.K. Rowling uses some essential elements of the fairy-tale tradition as a literary genre along the seven novels that constitute the Harry Potter saga, as well as The Tales of Beedle the Bard (2008), and specifically the tale of the three brothers. In the Harry Potter saga, the author makes use of a personal mythology to explain the cosmogony through which the characters meet and understand their world, as well as the tasks that they must perform in it. Such a cosmogony owns a rich number of references to traditional fairy tales, and part of it is codified in the collection known as The Tales of Beedle the Bard. Using a metaliterary strategy, Rowling rewrites some classical fairy tales like “Cinderella” and others less known, but the one that ends up being fundamental for the plot of the seventh novel (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows) is the tale of the three brothers. Taking up the folklore tradition of the blood-brothers and using tropes related to the genre (such as the thirds structure and the encounter with Death), Rowling weaves a fable that she uses to explain the origin of the main character while offering the narrative key for him to vanquish the villain in the story. Thus, Rowling pays homage to oral tradition and legitimates the protagonist’s aspirations.