Harry Potter, Horcruxes and Trauma

We are big Harry Potter fans.  I read all the books when they first came out.  Katie and Pip have seen all the films on numerous occasions and Pip and I are currently working our way through the audiobooks as we travel too and from his new school. We're currently mid-way through The Deathly Hallows so you'll understand we have invested many hours in Harry.

The books interest me both because I love anything magical but also because of the trauma link that runs throughout the books. Harry fascinates me because he is a young person who is steeped in trauma.  Something we relate to here. In the books Harry's parents are murdered because essentially Lord Voldemort's internal ego is so fragile that he believes a young baby is a threat to him just because Sybill Trelawney made a prediction of a boy who would have the power to vanquish Lord Voldemort.  Voldemort fears annihilation and makes the decision that the threat is Harry, although the prophecy could have equally have related to Neville Longbottom, and seeks to eradicate the threat by trying to kill Harry, but managing to only kill Harry's parents, making Harry an orphan.  As the books progress and we learn more about the story of Tom Riddle (aka Lord Voldemort) we start to see the trauma within his own background too and his fear of Harry becomes a little clearer.  He also was a child who grew up in the care system and carried a lot of trauma within him as a result.  Harry and Tom aren't the only characters who have grown up with a backdrop of early trauma however.  Neville Longbottom also lost his parents early in his life at the hands of Bellatrix Lestrange through the Cruciatus curse.  He was raised by his Grandmother with his parents forever residing in St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries unable to be cured.

Both Harry and Tom are interesting case studies for developmental trauma and there are parallels between them throughout the books.  After his parents died, Harry goes to live with the Dursley's (Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon) who are Muggles (non-magical people) where he is emotionally abused on an ongoing basis through being unwanted due to his magical background; neglected both emotionally and malnourished; verbally abused; made to sleep in a cupboard under the stairs; given inappropriate clothing; and treated very differently from his cousin Dudley. If ever there was a safeguarding case to be considered, it is right there within 4 Privot Drive!  Social Workers don't seem to exist in Harry Potter land however.  There is also a case to be made that Dudley also experienced abuse in the form of parenting without boundaries and witnessing the way Harry was treated and being encouraged by adults to treat Harry in a bullying way too. Tom Riddle was conceived through the inappropriate use of magic via a love potion by his mother (Merope Gaunt) as she sought to seek marriage with local affluent Muggle, Tom Riddle Snr.  Tom was placed by his mother in an orphanage, prior to her death, after they were abandoned by Riddle Snr.  Tom's unusual emotional darkness, and propensity for bullying other children, was noticed by staff and left him without friends because everyone was scared of him.  Professor Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Magic and Mystery visits Tom at the orphanage and talks to him about the power that Tom has and offers him a place at the school.  There is also an added case to be made for Professor Snape and the complex emotions he has throughout the books about Harry and Harry's mother and the impact this has on how he treats Harry.

Whilst there are similarities between the two, one of the most obvious differences between Harry and Voldemort lies in their desire for power.  Dumbledore tells Harry that he believes that "his ability to love protects him from the lure of power".  The ability to empathise is one that drives a lot of human behaviour and helps us made decisions that consider then needs of others.  Dumbledore's statement however has always made me feel that it is implied that Harry's ability to love means that he is able to overcome all his early experiences and I find that really hard to believe.  There has long been a theory expressed that love is enough when parenting children and young people with developmental trauma but modern theorists (and most adoptive parents I know) would argue that love isn't enough.  Specialist support and parenting is required from as young an age as is possible to tackle and try to rebalance early trauma.  

Amazingly, Harry does not slip off towards the dark side (pardon the Star Wars reference but there are huge similarities in the stories) as Tom does, however, he does show throughout the books that he has a need to remain in control, despite often being in situations way out of his control.  The battle for control is one adoptive parents often experience and is linked to creating a world in which we feel safe and have autonomy.  Our children can often find it very difficult to allow their adoptive parents to care for their autonomy and keep them safe because they have learned it isn't safe to do so.  Despite his early experiences Harry feels able to trust Dumbledore and Hagrid but the question remains about how Dumbledore led Harry down a specific path towards the destiny implied in the prophecy and whether this trust was deserved.  Harry often believes he is the only one who can solve a problem, rather like Voldemort, and prefers to take responsibility for a situation himself.  The difference is that Harry's character is far more gentle and kind than Voldemort due to his inherent empathy and he doesn't want people to get hurt on his account, even if he does forget on many occasions that although Voldemort continues to threaten him personally with his vendetta, the rest of the country is also suffering due to Voldemort's desire for power.  It's not all about Harry.  Harry shows us that he is able to make and keep friends and form relationships that aren't based on power imbalances, unlike Voldemort, and that he is generally well liked. Whilst Harry has quite low self esteem, he is able to reject offers of friendship from characters who carry the same bullying energy as his cousin and Aunt and Uncle, in the case of Draco Malfoy. Draco is also a complex character who seeks power and whose life is often dictated to by his parents and their reverence of Voldemort and its eventual repercussions. Voldemort, conversely to Harry, struggles to form attachments to others throughout his life and uses people for his own agenda, casting them aside when they have served their purpose.  That may well form a debate around nature versus nurture when comparing the two characters and their innate resilience.  It also raises the question of what "good enough" parenting might look like and the impact that might have on an individual. 

Snape adds an interesting addition to this comparison because he is a highly complex character who was a) bullied by Harry's father, James; who b) tries to do the right thing by way of promises he makes to Dumbledore linked to his childhood love of Harry's mum, Lily despite his own pull towards darker magic and also c) when he fulfils the "unbreakable curse" for Draco Malfoy in The Half-Blood Prince by killing Dumbledore. Snape is a character who is often at war with himself, although we don't know the full extent of this until the very end of the series of books.  There is more to the story of Snape about his early childhood and how that might have shaped his character and I think Snape is the most interesting of all the characters in the books. 

It is clear from the books that trauma in its various guises is a theme that runs throughout the books.  As an adoptive parent I have often felt that Harry feels a little too unscathed by the level of abuse he has experienced throughout his life.  All that adrenaline both through early childhood and all the experiences he has at school cannot be good for his limbic system and the impact that would have had!  There are little signs in the fact that he struggles with his academic work; struggles with time management; and doesn't fulfil his potential academically.  This could easily go unnoticed because Hermione Granger is the brains of the group and Ron Weasley is also not particularly academically inclined. Most people would appear an underachiever compared to Hermione.  Both boys seem to get through their exams however. 

Katie and I were recently discussing the issue of the Horcruxes in the books.  As a brief bit of background about Horcruxes here is a brief explanation of what they are and why they were created. In an attempt to become immortal Lord Voldemort planned to split his soul into seven pieces.  To create a Horcrux a murder must be committed for each Horcrux. Unfortunately Voldemort's killing curse towards Harry unintentionally backfired on him, rendering him without a body and created an additional Horcrux within Harry because Voldemort was no longer technically alive to direct the floating piece of soul into an inanimate object (as he had done with the others).  Voldemort remained unaware of this accidental Horcrux when he created his final Horcrux who was the snake, Nagini.  Voldemort thought Nagini was his sixth Horcrux when in fact she was actually his seventh.  This unintentional Horcrux creates a bond between Harry and Voldemort.

So why were we discussing Horcruxes and why is it relevant to this blog? 

Katie's theory is that the Horcruxes are a visual representation of the trauma that both Harry and Lord Voldemort carry.  For Harry, his scar is a physical manifestation of the trauma he carries related to the loss of his parents and for Voldmort, Nagini the snake is his.  As the books progresses and Harry become older, he is tasked to help Dumbledore find the hidden Horcruxes.  As he does so Dumbledore takes him on a journey through memories related to Voldemort and we start to understand Tom's early trauma and the associated history more.  We can see how he Morphs from Tom Riddle into Voldemort as he seeks to destroy his humanity.  Harry's humanity is his strength whereas Voldemort sees it as a weakness.  As Dumbledore, Harry, Ron, Hermione and Neville destroy each Horcrux they weaken Voldemort more and more until Harry can finally battle Voldemort and release the Horcrux attached to himself.  Voldemort himself could be a representation of everything Harry has experienced, which might also explain the connection they share in relation to both being able to speak to snakes by speaking Parsletongue. Harry has to face his own mortality and darker side in order to fight Voldemort.  As he does so he embraces bravery and acceptance rather than succumbing to dark magic and control.  

It can take a lot of bravery to explore trauma and follow the path towards its causes and understand its impact. The bravery is because there is no guarantee of where it will lead. Exploring trauma in therapy can feel quite destabilising to the self as experiences are explored and reassembled.  We often seek therapy for our children to help them make sense of their early experiences which can be difficult because so much often happens before they are old enough to even verbalise their feelings and thoughts. The question of when is the right time and how else can we support our children as they face their own daily battles of epic proportions. We know they carry trauma; we can see it in them every day and desperately want to help.  Often their trauma is expressed in ways that is hard for us too manage and help them through.  Emotional meltdowns; violence; demand avoidance; risky behaviours; struggling with relationships and rejection, to highlight just a few.  As adoptive parents our role is often minimised and misunderstood by professionals who do not understand adoption and its related trauma. I know all I want is to help my children find a way through the impact of their early experiences. 

For my children their equivalent of Lord Voldemort is FASD, ADHD, Autism, Developmental Trauma, PDA, POTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome). dyslexia and anxiety.  Going into education can feel like fighting Nagini to Pip.  The adrenaline response just as acute.  Katie struggles to even leave the house currently.  The Horcruxes holding her back are acute anxiety and relentless physical exhaustion linked to POTS.  Where is the Sword of Gryffindor or a fang from a Basilisk to help us destroy these Horcruxes?  They probably have a three year wait! Trauma can feel like very dark magic.  Rather like The Imperius Curse, the impact of trauma holds a control over an individual with a power seemingly out of their control. How do we create a magic wand capable of releasing our children from impact of their early experiences?  As parents we often feel incredibly isolated and unsupported and expected to not only be the wand but also the cauldron and the spell book too!  We are often blamed for the physical manifestations of our children's trauma.  I was blamed for years for the fact Pip wasn't able to attend school. The reality was that he just didn't feel safe there without me acting as his safe person. No amount of wand waving could change that because the school itself was intent on blaming me. He is now doing a gradual transition to a wonderful specialist school where they do seem to understand his needs.  Katie has been totally let down by education and I am heading towards a Tribunal date next year to try and set up an EHCP that reflects and meets her needs.  My Horcrux has been the education system.  The damage it has done to all three of us is immeasurable and the impact ongoing.  Nobody has physically died in order to create these Horcruxes although the trauma is huge and the impact on the soul might be in question.

I think Katie might be onto something with her reflections about Horcruxes in relation to Harry Potter. Just like Harry, our children carry their scars as part of their identity.  They are visible to anyone who takes the time to look beyond the external behavioural presentations.  What I can hope is that Katie and Pip are able to get the support they need along the way, just as Harry did, to overcome their own Horcruxes.  I could write a lot more about the themes of trauma in Harry Potter, probably a whole thesis, but I don't want to add to anyone else's trauma in the length of the read.  Hopefully the point is made though.  I wonder if Harry ever went to therapy in the unwritten Book 8?  Maybe the working title might be:

Harry Potter and the Invisible Demons?

Just a thought.....