Death is no surprise when it comes to Harry Potter. It has followed him his entire life and we’re looking at the constant thread of death in the series as a whole.
Harry Potter experiences death very early in his life. It isn’t necessarily a bad thing but it does set the precedent for the series. On top of that, we, as the audience, were quite young (or at least most of us were while reading it) and we were suddenly shown the very real aspects of death.
As someone who had experienced death at a young age, it isn’t exactly fun. You don’t quite understand what is happening and the idea that your grandparents or parents who were there one day were suddenly gone is a hard concept to grasp.
For me, it was Sirius Black that really got to me. When Harry’s parents died, he was too young. Not to discount it but he couldn’t really remember them and it took him coming to Hogwarts to learn about James and Lily Potter.
But much like Harry, I took my grandma for granted and didn’t say goodbye to her when I should have. Like Harry with Sirius, he just assumed he’d be there. Obviously he wasn’t and it wasn’t like it was the first death that Harry encountered. But still, it was shocking for him. His godfather was gone and what did Harry have? Well…more death but still.
So this series is, to me, set around this idea that we shouldn’t take our loved ones for granted. Not that any of us do but it is showing us what happens when they’re gone. Harry would give anything to talk to his parents again and many of us ignore our parents or are rude for absolutely no reason.
Next: Harry Potter and the Christmas he Shared with Sirius Black
So maybe the next time you want to be mean to family members, think again?