Starting Out A Bit Heavy, Aren't We?

[SPOILERS: In regard to the Harry Potter series of books, as well as the Holy Bible]

To begin this with a bit of a clichéd phrase, it is said by some that history is "His story," referring, of course, that this story belongs to God Himself. Taking this to heart and viewing the past as a narrative of sorts we are then left with the question of what the climax of the tale is, what the culmination of this story is.

Most Christians will (hopefully) tell you that this event is the death of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of mankind's sins. A closer reading of Scripture will reveal, however, that His death served more than simply to save the fallen; the death of Jesus Christ also served to bring glory to His father, God the Father.

This was done in a number of ways. The sacrifice was not merely Jesus', but also God's; it hurt God to have to give up His son, but he did it because he loved humanity. It really was (and is) akin to a father sacrificing his son, knowing that his child understands, but having that ease the pain not at all. The act is compounded by the fact that Jesus is God reincarnated as man, that His death is the most humble act ever, first lowering himself to our levels and then letting himself die at our hands.

Now, assuming that I haven't written any kind of profane blasphemy up above, we can move on to how this connects with literature as a whole. To start off, the concept of sacrifice in literature (and in the media as a whole) is no mystery to anyone. The ideal example for me, is, as mentioned in the SPOILER warning, Harry Potter.

Prior to my reading the entire series I glimpsed many books which drew parallels between the Harry Potter series and Christianity, and it wasn't until the end of The Deathly Hallows that I truly understood why. In letting Voldemort kill him with the Killing Curse (Avada Kedavra) Harry ends up defeating him, and ultimately saving the wizarding world.

To bring this back from Harry Potter and to literature as a whole, I feel that this motif begs the question as to why this theme is so prevalent in literature. The easy reason would be to state that there are chords that stretch throughout man's psychology, a belief strongly held by many Christians, and advanced by psychologist Carl Jung. The main difference between the two being that Christians believe that there is a sacrificial saviour motif due to our being created by God and Him placing within us this innate knowledge of it being true, and Jung stating that it is merely psychological, primordial notions passed down throughout the generations.

While I don’t disregard the thought that it may be a chord of truth that resonates strongly through these narratives, I have a hypothesis that I would like to add. My belief (though to the date of this posting not thoroughly researched) is that the sacrificial saviour is implemented because it brings glory to the author, just as the death of Jesus brings/brought glory to God.

The author's gift of craftsmanship is displayed in this character to be sacrificed, whether he/she be protagonist or otherwise. This character can be created to be likable or not, but he/she is always memorable. What skill then the author has in making this character even more unforgettable. Craft in characterization aside the author is then adored for his wisdom in sacrificing the character. His/her death feels like a deep loss to the reader, as they have become deeply invested in this person. The relationship between author and character is related again to that of a father and son, that there is a sort of pain felt by the creator as well as the created. Having read this and feeling the pain of both character and author, the reader then bestows even more glory upon him/her; "I can't believe he/she did that!" the reader says, in awe.

I am not implying that authors create characters merely to sacrifice them and bring glory unto themselves (although I don't doubt that there are those who do this). All I am doing is drawing parallels between God and His act in sacrificing His Son and the author, and his/her choice to kill of a character. In both cases I believe that honour is due, fully deserved in the example of the former and at your discretion, as the reader, for the latter.