Hippogriff Theory

As we all know, There was a Hippogriff in the Prisoner of Azkaban by the name of Buckbeak who played a fairly major role, to say the least. Now many of us Harry/Hermione fans love the scene near the end of the book where Harry and Hermione flew on Buckbeak, with Hermione clinging to Harry, on a moonlit night no less, to rescue Sirius. Yes, some very nice romantic imagery there.

In The Order of the Phoenix, when Harry has locked himself away during Christmas, Hermione arrives, still wearing her jacket, pink faced from the cold and with snow in her hair and manages to get Harry to open up and go with her. Nobody else was able to even talk to Harry, much less make him open up without protest and follow them. However, what is even more interesting is this. JKR decided to have good old Beaky present in the room!

So what is so significant about this? Well, as it turns out, the Hippogriff is in fact a creature out of Greek mythology. To be more precise, it is the Greek symbol of love. Yes, love.

Furthermore, the Hippogriff of greek mythology is half horse and half Griffin. A Griffin is a creature with the head, beak and wings of an eagle and the body of a lion, sometimes with the tail of a scorpion or a snake. From this we see characteristics that can be taken to represent Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Slytherin - the 3 houses represented by Harry and Hermione. After all, while Harry and Hermione are both Gryffindors, Harry was almost placed in Slytherin (as we found out at the sorting ceremony in The Philosopher's Stone) and Hermione was almost placed in Ravenclaw (as she tells us at the Hog's Head in The Order of the Phoenix) - both because they showed traits of those houses. The lion is the symbol of Gryffindor, the symbol of Ravenclaw is an eagle and the snake is a serpent which represents Slytherin. Convenient coincidence or deliberate writing by JKR? I believe there is too much here for it to be just coincidence, and there are other instances where JKR has used symbolism in her books - and had them work out.

Other instances of symbolism:

The Phoenix is the symbol of hope and universal love. Fawkes the Phoenix has given Harry hope in the past, an excellent example being in the Chamber during The Chamber of Secrets. The Order of the Phoenix is the hope against Voldemort.

The Thestral symbolises death. The six kids flew Thestrals to the Ministry of Magic, which brought Sirius his death. Note well that being horse-like, they can carry 2 each, but JKR made sure two people did not ride at once like with Buckbeak the Hippogiff, the symbol of love.

Peter Pettigrew / Wormtail, the rat. Sneaky and opportunistic. As we learn, Wormtail was indeed sneaky and opportunistic and turned traitor as a result. When we thought Wormtail was just a pet rat named Scabbers, it originally belonged to Percy, who is also highly opportunistic, turning against his family as a result in The Order of the Phoenix.

Sirius Black / Padfoot. The dog. Loyal; faithful. Sirius the star is of a spectral type known for its short life span. Dogs also have short life spans. As we all know, Sirius died an early death. He lived a short but loyal life.

Remus Lupin / Moony. Remus was also the brother of Romulus, the mythical founder of Rome. Remus and Romulus were raised by a female wolf. Lupin means wolf-like. Canis Lupus is the scientific name for wolf. Remus Lupin turned out to be a werewolf. Affected people become werewolves at the full moon.

The Unicorn represents innocence and we are told they are the first to die. Cedric was innocent and was the first death we really felt. He also carried a wand with a core of unicorn hair.

References:

The Nine Muses
The Pantheon
Bestiary

Main Source: Symbolic Flight
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