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Mirror, Mirror
by Cooper Lewis
December 28, 2004
Some months ago, JK Rowling hinted that the mirror Sirius gave to Harry will have a special significance in later books. What could it be? I had three main thoughts. But first, about mirrors.
Mirrors occur in literature and myth...well, I won't lie, quite infrequently. I can, off the top of my head, think of five major appearances of mirrors.
The first is the Greek legend of Narcissus, who falls in love with himself after seeing his reflection and ruins his life. Keep the latter part - about the ruin of lives - in mind.
The second literary mirror comes in Snow White. The magic mirror basically drives the queen to commit attempted homicide, and ruins the Queen's life in that way. We're establishing a pattern...mirrors can bring no good.
The third instance is the epic mirror sequence in 'Phantom of the Opera.' The Phantom adorns his lairs with mirrors, and the reflection of his ugly face eventually poisons his soul and drives him mad.
The fourth stems from the Lord of the Rings...the mirror of Galadriel. Galadriel is the pure and beautiful queen of the elves, and she has in her possession a mirror that can tell the past, present, and future, upon command, or at its own whim. Galadriel warns Frodo not to act based on what the mirror shows, because it is often ambiguous and conditional.
The fifth comes from Harry Potter...the Mirror of Erised. In the words of Dumbledore, hundreds of people "have wasted away in front of it." Mirrors are bad!
SIDE NOTE: A personal anecdote about mirrors...I am a very vain person, and I look in mirrors constantly. Once, on a date, I found myself peering into the mirror at the back wall. My date, noticing that I wasn't making eye contact with her, turned around and a saw a flirtatious young blonde, whom she assumed I was staring at. Thus, mirrors ruin everything.
#1: Contacting Sirius. As unique as each Harry Potter book is, they all have staple plot features - and one of them is always a distraction from vanquishing Lord Voldemort. These range from Quidditch to the Triwizard Tournament to Umbridge to Dobby, but they exist in every book. Harry will likely have a manic obsession with contacting Sirius in book six - which would distract him from Voldemort in itself - but the mirror has already failed him in that regard. But there are two mirrors. If someone bad gets hold of the other, and pretends to be Sirius, Harry could be easily manipulated by the inanimate object, much in the same way Riddle's Diary manipulated Ginny in Year 2. A pseudo-Sirius saying, "Don't tell anyone else Harry, it needs to be our little secret!" would fool our tragic hero quicker than butter melts in a volcano.
Don't be so naïve as to believe that Harry will be able to have a chat with Sirius Dark Arts free. Contacting the dead has had its place in black magic and Satanic cults since the time of King Saul, when the Witch of Endor summoned the spirit of Elijah (, who promptly cursed Saul for his dabbling in black magic and caused him to be defeated. Allegorically, keep in mind that the Dark Arts are like drugs...once you start, you're hooked. Harry will be turning sixteen this book, and...sadly, drugs are what many disturbed sixteen year-old boys turn to in our world, and I fear that the Dark Arts may be Harry's substitute for narcotics.
Should Harry succeed in contacting Sirius, undoubtedly through the Dark Arts, Sirius wouldn't be pleased with Harry at all, much in the same way that Elijah cursed King Saul.
#2: Instant Messenger. A second, if less thought-provoking, use for the mirror is communication amongst Harry and company (assuming the other mirror is recovered). I think this theory is fairly self-explanatory, likely, and boring, so let's just move on.
#3 Call History. You know how some phones can record phone calls? James and Sirius have had many a conversation using these mirrors, and it would be very nifty indeed if Harry could view, much like a pensieve, the "call history" of the mirrors. James may have even attempted to contact Sirius on the night of his death.
As you can probably guess, I prefer the first idea; however, the reason goes beyond the mirrors. I am fairly certain that HBP will not bring a happier time in the Wizarding World, but a much darker one. The irony brought about by Harry Potter, champion of Defense Against the Dark Arts, to dabble in the dark arts would be excellent, plot-wise, and would be a Tolkienesque twist to the series - a fall from grace. I think that Harry will fall into the Dark Arts, intentionally or unintentionally, mirrors or not, in Book 6.
P.S. The strongest counter-evidence is that Dumbledore has insinuated a more watchful eye on Harry and he wouldn't let this happen.
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