Rueben's Ramblings

On July 15, the end of a pop culture phenomenon unlike any other will come to an end: Harry Potter.

The unprecedented success of the seven novels by British author J. K. Rowling took the world by storm on June 30, 1997 when the first book – Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (also known as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone here in the United States) – was released.

Since then, the book series has gone on to sell about 450 million copies and has been translated into 67 languages. The last four books have also consecutively set records as the fastest-selling books in history. Meanwhile, the films have gone on to gross over $6 billion dollars and all seven of the films are on the list of the 30 top-grossing films worldwide.

That is quite a statement when you consider that author J. K. Rowling was living on state welfare support when she completed the first book in 1995; but within five years of the release of the books, she skyrocketed to multi-millionaire status.

But back to the world of Harry Potter…

Unless you have been living under a rock for the past 14 years, you know about the books which chronicle the adventures of young wizard Harry Potter and his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Grainger, who are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

As explained in the first book, Harry Potter’s parents were killed by Voldemort, the most powerful Dark wizard in history, and infant Harry was placed in the safety of his uncaring aunt, uncle and cousin for 10 years by Professor Dumbledore, the headmaster of the wizarding school. Upon his 11th birthday, however, Harry is told the truth about what he really is – a wizard – by Rubeus Hagrid, the gamekeeper of the wizarding school.

On the way to school on the Hogwarts Express (the train that transports all students to the wizarding school), Harry meets Hermione and Ron and they eventually land right in the middle of a scary adventure, searching for the Sorcerer’s Stone that is guarded by a three-headed dog and which is highly desired by the lingering remnants of Voldermort, who is using a new teacher as a conduit for his nefarious means.

Harry is able to defeat Voldermort at the end of the book and with the school year at a close he and his friends board the Hogwarts Express to head home for the summer.

The second book – Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets – was released in July of 1998 and chronicled the investigation that Harry, Ron and Hermione undertook in order to discover the identity of the heir of Slytherin before the Chamber of Secrets could be opened.

Once again, Harry must battle Voldermort, who used his old diary as a way to infiltrate the wizarding school through Ron’s sister Ginny; but the Dark Lord – as Voldermort is known to his minions – is defeated again by the ingenuity of Harry.

One year later, in July of 1999, the third book in the series – Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban – was released. The main story behind this book was the escape of Azkaban prisoner Sirius Black, who was convicted of killing in the name of Voldermort and who the wizarding world was convinced had killed Harry’s parents.

Throughout this book, not only does Harry learn that Sirius did not kill his parents, but also that Sirius was his godfather. And, Hermione reveals to Harry that she has a Time-Turner, a magical device that allows the wearer to travel back in time; which they used to save Sirius’ life. Unlike the preceding two books, Harry does not have a one-on-one battle with Voldermort, but he was still a driving force between the over-arching stories.

In what became almost tradition, the next book – Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire – was released in July of 2000. The general storylines in this book were centered on two other wizarding schools coming to Hogwarts for the Triwizard Tournament, a grueling competition reserved for students over the age of 17 where only one can be crowned the champion. Mysteriously, Harry’s name is released from the Goblet of Fire (despite his being under the age of 17) along with one other student from each of the three schools – an oddity that has never happened before.

Facing almost unbelievable odds, including a battle with a full-sized dragon and treacherous mermaids as well as a disastrous battle with Voldermort, Harry is crowned the champion but at the expense of fellow student Cedric Diggory who is killed at the hands of the Dark Lord.

It was then in 2001 that things started to change in the world of Harry Potter. First, J. K. Rowling did not release a new book in July – that would happen two years later (but more on that shortly). Second, the first book was adapted into a box office film that was released in November of that year. And third, that movie went on to earn, in the United States alone, $90 million, making household names out of its young British actors – Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson.

The film adaptation of the second book came out in November of 2002 and made a whopping $879 million worldwide, making it the 2nd highest-grossing film of that year and earning the film three BAFTA Film Award nominations.

Then in June of 2003 the next book – Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix – was released. With Harry and his friends now in their 5th year at Hogwarts, the stories began to take on an even darker tone with Voldermort affecting Harry’s dreams and the students creating Dumbledore’s Army because their new Defense of the Dark Arts teacher was not willing to teach them how to defend themselves.

This training became imperative when a showdown occurred between Dumbledore’s Army and Voldermort and his minions inside the Ministry of Magic that resulted in the tragic death of Sirius Black along with most of the magical world finally accepting that Voldermort was truly back.

In June of 2004, the film adaptation of the third book was released in theatres in the United States, grossing $796 million worldwide and earning the highest critical acclaim of all the films to date. It was also in this film that, due to the unfortunate death of legendary actor Richard Harris in 2002, that British actor Michael Gambon was chosen to portray Headmaster Dumbledore.

The next year – 2005 – was a big year for Harry Potter fans as not only was the sixth book – Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince – released in July but also the fourth film adaptation was released in theatres in November. That film earned $895 million worldwide, making it the highest grossing film of that year.

The basic stories behind the sixth book were that Harry received a used Potions text book belonging to “the half-blood Prince”, which allowed him to excel in Potions and was later revealed to have belonged to Professor Snape and that Harry and his friends learned that Voldermort had separated his soul into six different Horcruxes, allowing him to have eternal life, but also held the key to destroying the evil wizard once and for all.

The most tragic moment in the book, however, was the death of Dumbledore at the hands of Snape, which precipitated Harry to decide to leave Hogwarts on a mission to track down the Horcruxes with Hermione and Ron agreeing to help him.

Two years later – in 2007 – the final book in the novel series – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows – was released in July while the film adaptation of the fifth book was also released in theatres in July. That film earned $939 million and was the second highest grossing film for 2007.

The final book chronicled Harry, Hermione and Ron finding the final Horcruxes and the enormous battle between Voldermort and his minions and Harry and all those on his side, ending in the epic fight at Hogwarts that took the lives of many on both sides including Ron’s brother Fred and Professor Snape among others as well as Harry finally defeating Voldermort, allowing the wizarding world to live in peace.

[SPOILER ALERT: For those who haven’t read the last book or read any of the countless articles written about the final scenes.] 

The epilogue of the book, set 19 years in the future, showed Ron and Hermione as a married couple with two children and Harry married to Ron’s sister Ginny and their being the parents of three children.

The sixth book was then adapted to film in July of 2009, earning $934 million worldwide, becoming the 8th highest grossing film of all time and once again being the second highest grossing film for that year.

The final book was actually divided into two motion pictures with the first film being released in November of last year, earning $954 million worldwide and becoming the second highest grossing film out of all the Harry Potter movies.

As stated before, part two of the final film will be released in theatres this Friday (July 15) with much anticipation from the worldwide fans. How well this final installment will perform at the box office is anyone’s guess, but given the track record for this pop culture phenomenon it is a virtual guarantee that it will surpass all the other films in the collection.

While there won’t be any more Harry Potter books or movies, fans can visit the newly created website Pottermore, which is a free website that builds an exciting online experience around the reading of the Harry Potter books. You can learn more about Pottermore via a video from J. K. Rowling herself.

With the end of the Harry Potter legacy nearly upon us, please share your favorite moments from the books and/or the films. And make sure you mark your calendars for July 15 when the final film makes its way onto the big screen.