Who Is The Unhealable Wound Archetype

In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Harry is chosen by the goblet to participate in the Tri-Wizard Tournament. A tournament which had previously been ended for over one hundred years was now going to take place once more at Hogwarts. Despite Harry’s being an underage wizard, his name is entered into the tournament by an unknown source. From this series of events stems our hero’s journey, and along the way our hero will experience love, friendship, and at times tremendous sacrifice. Among the situational archetypes portrayed in the Goblet of Fire is the “Unhealable Wound”, which occurs with the death of Harry’s schoolmate Cedric Diggory. The “Unhealable Wound” archetype is expressed through a physical or emotional wound that cannot be healed.

The first situational archetypes are the “Quest”, “Task”, and the “Journey”, we see these throughout all the Harry Potter series. The “Quest” is described as the course of action that must be taken in order to bring prosperity back to the homeland, “usually a search for some talisman, which will restore peace, order, and normalcy to a troubled land”. In the case of Harry Potter, finding the horcruxes and restoring order to the wizarding world, which also covers the next situational archetype, “the Task”. Of course meaning, a nearly impossible feat, or feats, that the hero must perform in order to complete his quest. Thus encompassing the entire “Journey” or the hero’s search for the truth that will save his

In my opinion, the “Initiation” archetype is best portrayed as the new-found awareness of the Tri-Wizard Tournament, and when Harry finds he will be participating in the tournament whether he intended to or not. The new problems at hand being, first, the tournament tasks (dragons, abductions, and the maze) and second, staying alive, when someone is obviously trying to have him injured or likely, killed in the tournament. The “Fall” archetype is not so pronounced as the others, I would venture to say that it can be correlated to the port-key in the maze, and that it is what transports Harry and Cedric across the “Threshold” (symbolic archetype). The “Threshold” archetype is described as a gateway to another realm in which the hero must enter in order to mature and grow. By being transported to the graveyard, meeting Voldemort in his own body, and experiencing exactly what he is capable of doing, Harry grows to have a new understanding of who his enemy is and what must be done to stop