Disclaimer: Sirius Black and all characters and events related to Harry
Potter are the property of JK Rowling. If the following in any way
resembles anyone else's writings concerning the death of our beloved Mr.
Black, I assure you that it is purely coincidental and that I did my own
research without consulting anyone else's. I don't think anyone has
written something like this, but I haven't looked to see if anyone has so I
might be wrong.
Why was Sirius killed so early in the book? Why was his death so mysterious?
I have here outlined Three reasons why I think, nay, believe that Sirius still lives, or will live in the near future (three being the first number of perfection thus perfecting my proof). Read on, oh curious one. Read on.
Reason One: The title of the book is Order Of the Phoenix. Anyone who knows anything about mythology or fantasy will attest that the Phoenix is an IMMORTAL bird.
Anyone who has seen the second Harry Potter movie knows that the bird is constantly reborn after it dies. Thus, it follows that if a character dies in a book with "Phoenix" in the title, they probably will be reborn somehow.
(Also: consider X-men: Jean supposedly "dies," and a Phoenix is seen the water at the end. Not to mention the fact that she's NARRATING).
Reason Two:
Come on guys, a mysterious death – no body, no funeral – left unresolved at the end of the book? Yeah it would just be soooo logical for her to leave it that way forever (--sarcasm alert--)
Reason Three:
This is possibly the most compelling (not to mention longest!) of the reasons. I have discovered (through previous knowledge as well as a few seconds of name searching on babynames.com) that Madame Rowling often chooses meaningful names. Examples:
Remus: Ever heard of the story of Romulus and Remus? How they were raised by a wolf before Romulus founded Rome? Remus. Wolf. Werewolf. I'm thinking you've made the connection.
Hermione: meaning: "earthy." A bit of a stretch, but I guess maybe because she's muggle-born. So earthy instead of....magical? I admit, that one is really weak.
Harry: (from Harold) meaning: "army ruler" maybe he'll lead an army or something later in the group. Also kind of weak.
Ron: (from Ronald) meaning: "advisor to the king." Best friend to the main character? See the correlation?
Minerva: meaning: "goddess of wisdom." Pretty obvious.
You get the point.
It is evident that names mean something in these books, so what does Sirius mean?
Well firstly, the meaning of the name is "sparking, scorching" (fitting). Also, it is the name of a very large and bright star (called Sirius). This system has two stars – Sirius A, and Sirius B (coincidence? I think not). Sirius B is a white dwarf star that is not visible to the naked eye (perhaps Sirius is simply no longer visible to the naked eye as well!). Here is an interesting quote from a little website I found. Please not that anything in brackets was added by me.
"Sirius [referring to Sirius A] is the brightest star in the constellation Canis Majoris [meaning Big Dog], and is also the brightest star we can see in the northern hemisphere. In addition to these two facts, there are also some interesting tidbits about this star, which are less well-known.
The ancient Egyptians called Sirius the 'dog star', after their god Osirus, whose head in pictograms resembled that of a dog"
--D. Gau
Need I say more? Oh well, I will anyways. So as if this whole "Sirius B – Dog star" thing weren't enough – lets do a little research into the god that this star was named after, shall we?
The following quote is from a website about the goddess Isis (Osirus's sister wife), and it recounts the story of Osirus' rise from the dead.
"There is a famous story about Isis' search for Osirus, her brother and husband. First of all, I have always wondered how it could be that she married her brother. Research revealed that in ancient times, among well-to- do Egyptians, young men often married their sisters. Sometimes the marriage was a result of affection, but generally it was because of the desire to keep property in the family. Thus, it was easily accepted that the god Osirus married his sister, Isis.
Osirus, god of the Nile, was brutally killed and hidden by his brother, Set. Upon arriving in Phoenicia, Isis found Osirus' body in the palace, contained in a fragrant tamarisk tree. She carried her beloved back to Egypt for a proper burial. Enraged, Set, the god of Destruction, dismembered the body of Osirus into 14 pieces and scattered them across the land. Isis searched hard to locate the many pieces of Osirus. She found them and performed the first rite of embalming. She magically bound the pieces together with cloth strips, making the first Egyptian mummy. Isis then became a bird, enfolded Osirus in her wings and brought him to life. After Osirus rose from the dead.....[blah blah blah]"
Yes, I added the blah's. Basically, from this we see that Sirius Black was named after a star, which was named after a god who rose from the dead.
Moreover, a wizard cannot choose what kind of animal he will transform into. Rather, the animal is representative of his true character (Peter was a rat – rats are thought to be dirty, sneaky and elusive. No offense to anyone with a pet rat). Hence, when Sirius transforms into a large black dog, we see that his "true character" is very closely related to an Egyptian god with the head of a dog who rose from the dead.
It is clear that this connection was intentional and therefore must mean something. Therefore, it follows that Sirius also will rise from the dead in some way shape or form, if he is, in fact, dead.
I think that pretty much settles the issue.
Internet Sources: www.babynames.com http:antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap960902.html http:
Why was Sirius killed so early in the book? Why was his death so mysterious?
I have here outlined Three reasons why I think, nay, believe that Sirius still lives, or will live in the near future (three being the first number of perfection thus perfecting my proof). Read on, oh curious one. Read on.
Reason One: The title of the book is Order Of the Phoenix. Anyone who knows anything about mythology or fantasy will attest that the Phoenix is an IMMORTAL bird.
Anyone who has seen the second Harry Potter movie knows that the bird is constantly reborn after it dies. Thus, it follows that if a character dies in a book with "Phoenix" in the title, they probably will be reborn somehow.
(Also: consider X-men: Jean supposedly "dies," and a Phoenix is seen the water at the end. Not to mention the fact that she's NARRATING).
Reason Two:
Come on guys, a mysterious death – no body, no funeral – left unresolved at the end of the book? Yeah it would just be soooo logical for her to leave it that way forever (--sarcasm alert--)
Reason Three:
This is possibly the most compelling (not to mention longest!) of the reasons. I have discovered (through previous knowledge as well as a few seconds of name searching on babynames.com) that Madame Rowling often chooses meaningful names. Examples:
Remus: Ever heard of the story of Romulus and Remus? How they were raised by a wolf before Romulus founded Rome? Remus. Wolf. Werewolf. I'm thinking you've made the connection.
Hermione: meaning: "earthy." A bit of a stretch, but I guess maybe because she's muggle-born. So earthy instead of....magical? I admit, that one is really weak.
Harry: (from Harold) meaning: "army ruler" maybe he'll lead an army or something later in the group. Also kind of weak.
Ron: (from Ronald) meaning: "advisor to the king." Best friend to the main character? See the correlation?
Minerva: meaning: "goddess of wisdom." Pretty obvious.
You get the point.
It is evident that names mean something in these books, so what does Sirius mean?
Well firstly, the meaning of the name is "sparking, scorching" (fitting). Also, it is the name of a very large and bright star (called Sirius). This system has two stars – Sirius A, and Sirius B (coincidence? I think not). Sirius B is a white dwarf star that is not visible to the naked eye (perhaps Sirius is simply no longer visible to the naked eye as well!). Here is an interesting quote from a little website I found. Please not that anything in brackets was added by me.
"Sirius [referring to Sirius A] is the brightest star in the constellation Canis Majoris [meaning Big Dog], and is also the brightest star we can see in the northern hemisphere. In addition to these two facts, there are also some interesting tidbits about this star, which are less well-known.
The ancient Egyptians called Sirius the 'dog star', after their god Osirus, whose head in pictograms resembled that of a dog"
--D. Gau
Need I say more? Oh well, I will anyways. So as if this whole "Sirius B – Dog star" thing weren't enough – lets do a little research into the god that this star was named after, shall we?
The following quote is from a website about the goddess Isis (Osirus's sister wife), and it recounts the story of Osirus' rise from the dead.
"There is a famous story about Isis' search for Osirus, her brother and husband. First of all, I have always wondered how it could be that she married her brother. Research revealed that in ancient times, among well-to- do Egyptians, young men often married their sisters. Sometimes the marriage was a result of affection, but generally it was because of the desire to keep property in the family. Thus, it was easily accepted that the god Osirus married his sister, Isis.
Osirus, god of the Nile, was brutally killed and hidden by his brother, Set. Upon arriving in Phoenicia, Isis found Osirus' body in the palace, contained in a fragrant tamarisk tree. She carried her beloved back to Egypt for a proper burial. Enraged, Set, the god of Destruction, dismembered the body of Osirus into 14 pieces and scattered them across the land. Isis searched hard to locate the many pieces of Osirus. She found them and performed the first rite of embalming. She magically bound the pieces together with cloth strips, making the first Egyptian mummy. Isis then became a bird, enfolded Osirus in her wings and brought him to life. After Osirus rose from the dead.....[blah blah blah]"
Yes, I added the blah's. Basically, from this we see that Sirius Black was named after a star, which was named after a god who rose from the dead.
Moreover, a wizard cannot choose what kind of animal he will transform into. Rather, the animal is representative of his true character (Peter was a rat – rats are thought to be dirty, sneaky and elusive. No offense to anyone with a pet rat). Hence, when Sirius transforms into a large black dog, we see that his "true character" is very closely related to an Egyptian god with the head of a dog who rose from the dead.
It is clear that this connection was intentional and therefore must mean something. Therefore, it follows that Sirius also will rise from the dead in some way shape or form, if he is, in fact, dead.
I think that pretty much settles the issue.
Internet Sources: www.babynames.com http:antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap960902.html http: