Honor, in today’s world, is not practiced nearly as much as it is revered. It seems that one’s virtues are often sacrificed for personal or monetary gain rather than preserved for one’s peace of mind. However, in the late 14th century, honor and reputation was all a knight had. A knight was judged on his virtues and his actions that demonstrated those virtues. Essentially, a knight’s material possessions were worthless, but his reputation in adherence to the code of chivalry was everything. These values are clearly present in the famous Arthurian legend, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. These Arthurian legends of knighthood and chivalry are the source of inspiration for many of the values present in the stories of modern heroes. Therefore, even though The Harry Potter Series and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight are separated by approximately 700 years of history, they illustrate similar chivalrous values.
More specifically, Harry and Sir Gawain share these honorable traits. Both Harry and Sir Gawain are prepared to face death by the hand of a mysterious, supernatural foe in order to benefit the greater good. Both are famed and under exceeding expectations while not letting that fame affect their choice to always take the right or honorable action. In contrast, Harry is made out to be a seemingly perfect hero while despite a very successful and honorable quest, Sir Gawain feels he breached the code of chivalry.
Throughout the Harry Potter Series, the main antagonist is “He who must not be named” or Voldemort who is seemingly immortal. Harry as a baby was the only person to survive Voldemort’s death spell. Throughout the seven novels there is a struggle between Voldemort and Harry which ultimately culminates with Harry vanquishing Voldemort. Before he actually does so, Voldemort gives Harry the ultimatum that if he does not come and meet Voldemort in the forest alone, he will invade the Hogwarts castle and kill every single one of Harry’s friends. Harry, knowing that he is facing imminent death, meets Voldemort in the forest and allows himself to be stricken with the killing curse. Similar to Harry, Sir Gawain faces the immortal Green Knight on New Year’s day ready to fulfill his end of the deadly agreement. Instead of protecting the lives of his companions, Gawain is defending the honor of himself and his king. Through their actions, Harry and Sir Gawain demonstrate a wealth of honor by willing to pay the ultimate price of death in order to preserve other people’s safety and reputation.
A second similarity between Harry and Gawain is that they are famed figures in their respective realms and despite their celebrity status, they always succeed in doing what they perceive as the virtuous action. In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Gawain is considered the most famed knight of the round table outside of Camelot. This celebrity status that Gawain experiences is comparable to that of Harry. In the wizarding world, Harry is the most famous wizard because of his miraculous survival. Even though they are some of the most renowned figures in their respective worlds, it does not affect their decision making when it comes to doing what they see to be in adherence to their honor codes. For instance, Gawain courageously steps up to take the challenge of the Green Knight in order to spare his king’s life and Harry slays the fatal basilisk in order to save a helpless girl from certain death. Both of these actions attest to Gawain and Harry’s sound moral decision making skill in regardless of their celebrity status.
Albeit there are parallels between Harry and Gawain’s virtues, there is also one crucial difference between the two. At the end of the Harry Potter series there is little to no lamenting done on the part of Harry that suggests he is ashamed of his mistakes in the past. Conversely, Gawain, even though his quest was overwhelmingly successful and honorable, still blames himself for the minor fault of accepting the green sash from the maiden. Gawain’s unforgiving self-assessment creates a major contrast between Harry and Gawain.
When one analyzes Harry’s and Gawain’s actions, one can definitively see a connection in the sense of honor. In fact, the idea of the honorable hero created by the Arthurian legends can be found in many modern works one of the most prominent being Harry Potter. The resemblances between the Harry’s and Gawain’s responses in the face of death in addition to their actions despite their celebrity status clearly support this claim. Regardless of Gawain’s self-criticism, Harry and Gawain share many properties of the prototypical honorable hero.
