From Fawkes to the name of the anti-Voldemort Order, the phoenix has played an interesting and important role in the first six books. Since I joined these forums, I've talked about the powers of the phoenix and its symbolic function in the series in the context of a variety of discussions, but members have a way of coming and going and threads have a way of falling to the third page of the forum (and sometimes people enjoy spending the morning writing unnecessarily long posts), so I thought now would be a good time to resurrect the issue. I've summarized all my thoughts on the role of the phoenix to date, my interpretation of the implications for DH, and some questions that I'd be interested in discussing more over the next few weeks, and I hope some people will put up with my weird and oftentimes circuitous logic! With that said …

Powers of the Phoenix

1. "… burst into flame when it is time for them to die and are reborn from the ashes."
2. "… can carry immensely heavy loads …"
3. "… tears have healing powers …"
4. "… make highly faithful pets."

(CoS, American hardcover, pp. 207)

Bearing these qualities in mind, I have traced what I consider the most significant references to the phoenix throughout the series. Deciding which scenes to highlight, granted, was a subjective process, so I'd like to hear if there are any other excerpts that you feel deserve emphasis.

Significant Scenes Involving the Phoenix, First Five Books

1. The phoenix is first mentioned in CoS. Harry enters Dumbledore's office because he has been witnessed near the scene of Justin Finch-Fletchley's petrification. He is very nervous, but the sight of the phoenix nonetheless mesmerizes him ("Harry stared at it and the bird looked balefully back.… Harry had forgotten what he was there for," CoS, pp. 206-7). Harry is stunned when Fawkes bursts into flame, initially thinking him to be an ordinary bird ("Harry yelled in shock and backed away from the desk. He looked feverishly around in case there was a glass of water somewhere," CoS, pp. 207). Dumbledore enters and explains all the properties of the phoenix to Harry.

2. At the end of CoS, Fawkes carries the Sorting Hat into the Chamber of Secrets, where Harry is having his confrontation with Tom Riddle. In this scene, Fawkes demonstrates all of his powers and then some to save Harry. He comes when Harry shows loyalty to Dumbledore ("'He's not as gone as you might think!' Harry retorted," CoS, pp. 315), blinds the Basilisk ("Harry looked straight into its face and saw that its eyes, both its great, bulbous yellow eyes, had been punctured by the phoenix," CoS, pp. 319), sheds tears over Harry's wound to save his life ("A pearly patch of tears was shining all around the wound – except that there was no wound," CoS, pp. 321), and carries Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Lockhart out of the Chamber of Secrets ("'He looks like he wants you to grab hold …' said Ron," CoS, pp. 325).

In CoS, the reader is introduced to Fawkes and his powers in the most basic sense; Fawkes never bursts into flame in the heat of the action, for example. However, he proves to be a symbol of hope for Harry ("[The music] was eerie, spine-tingling, unearthly; it lifted the hair on Harry's scalp and made his heart feel as though it was swelling to twice its normal size," CoS, pp. 315), as well as a reminder of Dumbledore ("'This is what Dumbledore sends his defender! A songbird,'" CoS, pp. 316). When Harry hears the phoenix song, he immediately feels more secure and capable of taking on Riddle ("'Fawkes?' Harry breathed, and he felt the bird's golden claws squeeze his shoulder gently," CoS, pp. 315).

The phoenix is mysteriously absent from PoA, but then again, most of the action is centered around the Marauders and Voldemort is basically absent as well.

3. In GoF, Fawkes never physically enters the graveyard where Harry is chained to Tom Riddle's headstone. During the priori incantato scene, however, Harry finds himself "speaking" with music that reminds him of phoenix song ("I know, Harry told the music, I know I mustn't," GoF, American paperback, pp. 664), and says that the music gives him a "fortified" and hopeful feeling, which leaves him better able to cope with Voldemort and the Death Eaters ("It was a sound Harry recognized, though he had heard it only once before in his life: phoenix song," GoF, pp. 664).

4. Fawkes heals Harry's injured leg back in Dumbledore's office after the graveyard scene at the end of GoF ("… thick, pearly tears were falling from its eyes onto the wound left by the spider. The pain vanished. The skin mended. His leg was repaired," GoF, pp. 698).

By this point, Harry has mentally established the association between "phoenix song" and "hope" and "Dumbledore" ("It was the sound of hope to Harry.… It was the sound he connected with Dumbledore, and it was almost as though a friend were speaking in his ear," GoF, pp. 664). In CoS, he was simply glad to see another being in the Chamber besides himself, Riddle, the Basilisk, and unconscious Ginny Weasley. By GoF, he is consciously correlating phoenix song with hope even though a phoenix is not physically present in the action. Contrary to CoS, in which J. K. Rowling prolongs Harry's "dying moments" and Fawkes acts as a savior by healing Harry's Basilisk wound, in GoF, the fact that Fawkes heals Harry's leg is almost incidental to the phoenix symbolism that I am attempting to trace; Harry already knew of this property of the phoenix before Book Four began.

5. The major phoenix symbolism comes in Book Five. To start, the name of the anti-Voldemort group: the Order of the Phoenix.

6. At the end of OotP when Dumbledore and Voldemort duel at the Ministry of Magic, Fawkes flies in front of Dumbledore and swallows an Avada Kedavra curse, thus saving his master ("Fawkes swooped down in front of Dumbledore, opened his beak wide, and swallowed the jet of green light whole," OotP, American hardcover, pp. 815). Fawkes bursts into flame and is reborn on the floor ("He burst into flame and fell to the floor, small, wrinkled, and flightless," OotP, pp. 815).

At this point, we begin to consider the fourth and final property of the phoenix that Dumbledore explains in CoS. In addition to carrying heavy loads, having healing powers, and being faithful, the phoenix is able to swallow Killing Curses, die, and then reincarnate; in other words, the phoenix dies for new life to be born. This is exactly what the Order of the Phoenix does as well. As Sirius told Harry, Ron, Fred, George, and Ginny after Arthur Weasley was attacked by Nagini, "there are things worth dying for" (OotP, pp. 477). The members of the Order of the Phoenix have gone into service aware of the possibility of death, but they have done so to preserve lives that otherwise could have been lost to Voldemort. Fawkes also gave one of his incarnations to save Dumbledore's life. Therefore, we now see that in addition to functioning as a symbol of hope, the phoenix is the ultimate symbol of self-sacrifice.

Implications, First Five Books

If all of this logic proves to be correct, Dumbledore is bound to die. In an interview at the August 2004 Edinburgh Book Festival, J. K. Rowling stated that Dumbledore's patronus is a phoenix "for reasons that are quite obvious." A patronus represents a person's inner personality traits in the form of an animal. Therefore, if a phoenix represents hope and self-sacrifice for new life, we can make an analogy in which Dumbledore is the phoenix and Harry is the new life (as we know from the end of OotP how important Harry is to Dumbledore – "'I cared about you too much,' said Dumbledore […] 'I acted exactly as Voldemort expects we fools who love to act,' OotP, pp. 838). This means that as a symbolic phoenix, Dumbledore will provide hope for Harry, which he already has (among other examples, Harry felt a new sense of hope when he saw Dumbledore arrive at the Department of Mysteries). It also seems to imply that Dumbledore will sacrifice his life to save Harry's. Similarly, other members of the Order of the Phoenix will die (this is obvious for reasons that extend beyond phoenix symbolism). Sirius has already died by this point, and he is not going to be the last to go.

Significant Scenes Involving the Phoenix, Book Six

This is the point that I had reached prior to reading HBP; the majority of this essay thus far (with the exception of elaborations on a couple of ideas and nearly all of the quotations), in fact, was written before the Book Six release in 2005. Suffice it to say, I was extremely pleased with the way my theory turned out; unlike my Hermione/Terry Boot ship and my Anthony Goldstein theory, both of which brutally caved after I read HBP, I did not have to revise my phoenix theory in any way to make it continue to hold with canon. However, it is undoubtedly true that Book Six holds a variety of new phoenix references and scenes that must not be incorporated into the theory, and the latest canon also raises new questions for the final book.

7. Fawkes himself – exhibiting new properties and powers, at least – is absent from HBP until the final chapters of the novel, when he then takes on arguably his most important symbolic role in the series thus far. After Snape kills Dumbledore, Fawkes sings his lament and disappears from Hogwarts ("Fawkes had stopped singing. And he knew, without knowing how he knew it, that the phoenix had gone," HBP, American hardcover, pp. 632). Whether Fawkes will return in DH remains unclear, although J. K. Rowling has told us that he was Dumbledore's pet – not property of Hogwarts – which suggests to me that Harry will be able to call him at some point in the future.

8. There is one other mention of the phoenix in Book Six which I, along with the rest of the Harry Potter fandom, consider particularly significant:

"Then several people screamed. Bright, white flames had erupted around Dumbledore's body and the table upon which it lay: Higher and higher they rose, obscuring the body. White smoke spiraled into the air and made strange shapes: Harry thought, for one heart-stopping moment, that he saw a phoenix fly joyfully into the blue, but next second the fire had vanished. In its place was a white marble tomb, encasing Dumbledore's body and the table on which he had rested."

I will address the significance of the "Phoenix Lament" and Fawkes's seeming immortality in the following implications section, but it is the second passage from HBP that it is in my mind particularly important. I have ready a variety of theories concerning the phoenix that flew out of Dumbledore's grave – Dumbledore is a phoenix Animagus and he didn't actually die, since Dumbledore sacrificed himself, a new phoenix was born from his grave, etc. – but personally, I choose to interpret this scene as a confirmation of the "Dumbledore :: phoenix" analogy. His patronus is a phoenix, the smoke animal that flies out of his tomb is a phoenix; Dumbledore is The Phoenix of the Harry Potter series. He has made the ultimate sacrifice to protect Harry's life: as he said himself, "your blood is worth more than mine" (HBP, pp. 560).

Implications (and Questions), Book Six

So now I wonder … is there any way that a phoenix can be killed? In my view, if a phoenix could be killed, Voldemort would prevail. This is because the phoenix's first incarnation (Dumbledore and the generation of the Order of the Phoenix) would die and then the second incarnation (Harry and the generation of Dumbledore's Army) would die and never be reborn in the next generation (which would be their offspring, who would presumably pursue the struggle against Voldemort). If all those people die, and with them, the anti-Dark Side ideals, Voldemort will inevitably live.

When you look at things this way, the matter of whether a phoenix can die die – i.e., go away and never come back in a new incarnation or otherwise – is one that cannot possibly be ignored. The answer may well be the solution to The Question: will Voldemort or Harry be the one to go at the end of Book Seven? RABH introduced me to several mythological properties of the phoenix, beyond those of J. K. Rowling's invention, which have greatly influenced my thoughts regarding the outcome of The Final Battle.

According to Egyptian, Chinese, and Japanese folklore, the phoenix holds most of the properties that J. K. Rowling has already introduced in Books 2 through 6 – fidelity, virtue, grace, power, and seeming immortality. It is the characteristics of the phoenix in Arabian mythology, however, that interest me the most; the Arabian phoenix is characterized by its melodious cry and its very long lifespan (500 to 12,994 years), and the phoenix also takes three days before rising from its ashes to be reborn. All of these qualities, in my opinion, make enormous sense in the context of HBP, and since we already know that J. K. Rowling frequently makes allusions to astrology (get the whole Sirius, Andromeda, Regulus deal) and mythology (see Remus Lupin and Fenrir Greyback), I find it perfectly legitimate to draw conclusions about her books based on the Arabian definition, so to speak, of the phoenix.

The "melodious song" is already accounted for in the Harry Potter books – the "Phoenix Lament" at the end of HBP is described as "a stricken lament of terrible beauty" (HBP, pp. 615) – and although Fawkes is reborn within minutes of his "death" in CoS, if we are looking at the phoenix from a purely symbolic perspective, I believe there is a valid argument that the "three days before rising from its ashes" represents Harry's emotional trauma in the immediate aftermath of Dumbledore's death in Book Six. At the end of HBP, he does not seem too eager to go hunting for Horcruxes ("He felt no curiosity at all about R.A.B.: He doubted that he would ever feel curious again," HBP, pp. 631); this indicates that although the first incarnation of the phoenix (Dumbledore) has died, the second incarnation (Harry) has yet to be fully "born," i.e., he is not yet ready to take up the war against Voldemort entirely on his own. The lifespan of "500 to 12,994 years," I admit, gave me some pause at first, although I have subsequently researched Arabian mythology and found that this is in reference to the lifespan of each incarnation, not the entire phoenix. This makes sense; we know that the lifespan of a wizard is long, too. We have yet to hear of one who has died of natural causes.

Now I'm looking at the immortality (or mortality, as the case may be) of the phoenix as a major symbolic question in the series. There are others, too – how the first incarnation of the phoenix is born, for instance – but it is clear to me that if the phoenix can never be killed, the Dark Side will be vanquished and Harry will live; it means that Dumbledore and Harry's ideals will never be crushed. If the phoenix is mortal, however … I fear things are looking rather grim for the Order. Mythology in conjunction with thematic evidence (a topic for a different discussion, perhaps), however, leads me to believe that Harry will survive and Voldemort will be killed.

Thoughts?

Wow! You do seem to have a point with the Phoenix thing! I think it is right, I also think that Fawkes will come back!! I mean, he has always been there for Harry and for DD. Now that DD is gone, he will most likely be with Harry, he has and will always be loyal to DD! DD is like Harry's hero in some form, and Fawkes, I don't think, would just abandon him. Especially since DD had a very soft spot for Harry! I think that Harry will have a good chance at defeating LV, because I believe that Phoenix's are immortal. Also that woul mean that if your theory is true, then Harry will win!

*Breanna*

I also want to say, Allie, that you researched this greatly and I commend you for all of that.


I know you said that this may have something to do with the trial and tribulations, and you alluded to that. What if it has something to do with the number three in general. The trio (Harry, Hermione, and Ron), "thrice defied" from the prophecy, among others and how it relates to the phoenix?

Good thoughts, all. It always seemed to me that Dumbledore had a peculiar amount of control over Fawkes, almost the way Voldemort has control over Nagini. (Though I did wonder why Fawkes wasn't around when Dumbledore was at the top the the astronomy tower--where was he and what was he doing...?)

I think perhaps phoenixes are not immortal--they are simply very long lived, as it says in "Fantastic beasts and where to find them." Phoenixes can die, and can be killed but their "immense" life spans probably make them seem immortal. I don't think that the phonexies mortality implies any sort of grim future for the trio or the side of good. Remember, Dumbldedore himself says "there are things worse than death," and regards death as the next great adventure. The fact that Voldemort so blindly pursues immortality also makes me think maybe it's not as great as we might think---look at what's happened to him since he started trying to walk that path!

I love this theory or idea. The whole rebirth thing and the hope of the wizarding world dying too....something profound to ponder!!!

Origionally some of us thought Fawkes could have beenn GGs phoenix origionally but JKR has said, or implied, that Fawkes has always been DDs bird. So he hasn't been around forever. They do die eventually. I believe it has to be murder or a phoenix illness. (he probably can't heal himself).

I beleive that DDs plan all along was to die. He would have made arrangements for Fawkes to stay away, whether that was to tell him or to confine him.

Even if LV could capture a phoenix I'm sure it wouldn't 'work' for him.

Cris

Lots of interesting points. I've always been fascinated by the phoenix, and JKR's use in the series, and I look forward to seeing how it all comes together. Don't know just how much the following is going to apply, but I thought I'd add it to the discussion in ths short time available before the last book...

A possible additional use of the phoenix song - though it isn't necessarily defined as such, so this is really pure speculation - in HBP may come first when Harry uses Sectumsempra on Malfoy. Snape uses a spell to heal Malfoy's wounds that Harry thinks sounds like a song. Later, Dumbledore uses the same song-like spell. It isn't specifically defined as the phoenix song, but knowing the phoenix's role in the story and among it's powers being that of healing, I couldn't help but think there was a connection... I don't really have any further speculation to take that to, but I thought it would be an interesting thing to note.

Very interesting Traz-Ak. My first impression was to say no. The power is in the phoenix not just the sound but....perhaps, like other things, if they had the tears or a feather or something like that from Fawkes and they could mimick the sound it would work. Can one take the properties of the phoenix and use them?

Cris

I've always adored the Fawkes and his powers. It is an amazing animal which seems to be almost perfect. From what we understand, a phoenix can not die, since it reincarnates again and again. It can fly, heal, kill and be loyal, as Allie has already said. (great post by the way )

I have always pictured Fawkes as the counterbalance against Nagini. Probably because Nagini is Voldemort's symbol and Fawkes Dumbledore's. Nagini is dark, it carried a part of Voldemort's soul, it kills and it understands and follows only its masters' orders. On the other hand, Fawkes is loyal to Dumbledore but their connection is stronger, as it lies to...yes...love. They trust each other so much that Dumbledore doesn't need to order Fawkes, they just communicate with another way. So, Fawkes and Nagini are deeply connected to each other. And remember, Nagini crawls, while Fawkes flies, and thus the first is an element of the earth and the other of the air, which reinforces the contrast between the two. Also, (maybe too etched) Nagini is a snake, and as we all know, snakes are the symbol of devil and evil in general and the ones that led people to sin. Fawkes on the other hand, is a bird. God's symbol is a dove. I know that there is a huge difference between the two of them, but still, they both remind us of peace and of something nice and positive.

Fawkes is not just another animal. Its symbolism is very strong in Harry Potter series and its role can not be ignored at all. I only wonder if Fawkes means something...

Allie's post was absolutely amazing. I always thought that Fawkes had some special meaning, and definetly he did, but the research done here was marvelous. And don't think I can make any improvement on those theories but, since I always have something to say, I'll give it a try.

I was deeply disturbed at the fact that Fawkes didn't come back. I had some hope that after Hedwig's death, on his will, Dumbledore might leave Harry Fawkes, as a token of gratitude? or maybe even to help him out on the quest. He would have been of help.

Also on the last battle, I thought Fawkes might come back to help, even if Dumbledore wasn't there, he did have a mission, and I believed Fawkes would pursue it as well.

I guess when JKR said that Harry knew he wasn't going to come back, she did mean it.

What was Fawkes's relevance in book 7?
My thought could only be a reminder of hope, a reason to move on, the fact that as the phoenix himself, just like Allie well explained it, Harry would have to be reborn, gather strength and move on, and just as Fawkes swallows the killing curse in OotP, Harry puts himself in front of Voldemort and allows himself to die, just to be reborn. He embraces the fact that he had to die for others to live and is born again, just like Fawkes but instead of love for his owner, Harry does it for others.

I guess, what I'm trying to say is that even if Fawkes isn't physically present there, the though of a phoenix stands in the book and Harry is the phoenix. He's part of the new Order of the Phoenix and he wills to die not only for others, but for the order to be born and fight again.

That's partly what i am talking about Kaitlyn. JKR has not only written a children's story; it is a story full of historical and mythological figures as well as amazing symbolisms and messages for the reader. From book 1 (PS/SS) up until DH, she has kept this spirit and the story never "stole the thunder" from what she intended to show to the readers.

I wanted to see Fawkes in DH as well, but i guess that Fawkes died with Dumbledore which makes the connection between them even stronger. But Fawkes' death, doesn't mean that hope is lost. Just like you said, Fawkes represents being reborn all new and clear, which is the main idea in DH. Harry had to die, had to sacrifise and accept the fact that it was his fate, in order to save himself and save the others. It was also well-planned seeing Dumbledore at this moment as he was the one to remind him of hope and explain to him that this death was not irreversible and that this time, Harry had a choice.

Could JKR name Fawkes after Guy Fawkes? (remember remember the 5th of November?) Yet another symbolism...

You know, I have a thought here but I am struggling to verbalize it. I was wondering about Fawkes and his loyalty to Harry. Somehow I don't think it only has to do with the way that Harry was so loyal to Dumbledore. Someone, (I'm sorry I don't remember who at this point...) in a previous post said that Fawkes symbolizes self sacrifice or something. You know, Harry's life is entirely about self sacrifice. Not until the Epilogue in the final book do we get a sense that Harry has finally gotten to enjoy being a little selfish in his life by enjoying his wife, kids and best friends. In Deathly Hallows, Harry comes to terms with his impending death...the realization that it has to be his "sacrifice" that may end up saving the world. Could the Phoenix sensed this in Harry and that is why he was so helpful to him? If so why wasn't he more present in Hallows?

Just my thoughts.

I admire phoenix as an animal, and I believe that they have many abilities, but I don't think Fawkes -or any other phoenix- can read a man's mind. This would be physically impossible, considering the fact that our mind is superior to animals' mind. However, he could have sensed that somehow he and Harry have to be sacrificed to save others and use their magical abilities to rescue the world. We've seen this throughout the series. I guess that's what you are saying nevillesgirl.
However, I believe that their connection isn't as strong as we believe it is. If JKR wanted to depict their common goal more clearly, she would have given us a few more signs. Personally, I believe that Fawkes was so loyal to Harry because Dumbledore was loyal to him, and as it has been said already, Dumbledore and Fawkes were attached to each other. This is why Fawkes never appeared again; once Dumbledore was dead, he didn't have reason to live as well. He had accomplished his role, just like his "master". However, his death didn't stop Harry from realizing eventually that he had to sacrifise once more, die to be reborn from his ashes. In general, Fawkes was another means Dumbledore used to show Harry what would be his role in the end. Finding it out was really Harry's last task.
I hope these make sense.

~Yes, that is what I was trying to say. Not so much a mind connection but a heart or magical ability connection. This brings me to my next point. Harry's wand had Fawkes' feather at its core...that would definitely suffice as a magical connection between Fawkes and Harry. And since most of DH had Harry using not his own wand, but someone elses, that could explain why we didn't see Fawkes in the final book...other then the other theory that he simply left because DD had left the world.


~I have a hard time believing that Fawkes simply dies just because his master dies. Perhaps this is because I don't have pets or understand the bond between a human and pets (such as dogs and owners), but it seems to me that a terrific magical creature such as Fawkes, who has the ability to rebirth and cheat death and heal etc...would search again for a worthy master; someone else he could be loyal too for a long time. Perhaps that is just me not wanting Fawkes to have just died in the series. Of course we don't really know that is what happened unless JKR reveals that in one of her post Hallow conferences.