:::: One Part FANDOM RETROSPECTIVE, One Part ANALYSIS ::::
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is a play that premiered in London, 2016. It was met with praise by theatergoers and disdain, even hatred, by those who read the script. Today, there is a...
As I've mentioned before, I do not believe J.K. Rowling to be a greedy person. I am, however, convinced that wealth and gold is very much on her mind, especially when it comes to the last Potter book. But let's start at the beginning.
Her hero sets off on his journey by learning he had more money than he could ever dream sitting in a vault - his first friend is horribly poor - in order to win a Quidditch match, it is up to him to seek and catch the golden ball that constantly eludes his grasp - when Fred and George were tricked with the vanishing Leprechaun gold, Harry gives his winnings away so they can fulfill their dream.
In Book 7, while attempting to defeat Voldemort through the destruction of his Horcruxes, Harry must find a golden goblet in a vault at Gringotts that is covered in Germino and Flagrante curses. Griphook warned him, "Everything you touch will burn and multiply, but the copies are worthless - and if you continue to handle the treasure, you will eventually be crushed to death by the weight of expanding gold!"
And not just the weight, but the pain. "...Harry dived and caught it, and although he could feel it scalding his flesh he did not relinquish it, even while countless Hufflepuff cups burst from his fist, raining down upon him as the entrance of the vault opened up again and he found himself sliding uncontrollably on an expanding avalanche of fiery gold and silver..."
To top off the scene, our hero escapes from the wizard bank on the back of the dragon that was there to guard all the vaults, including his own, opening Gringotts up to the possibility of looting.
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Twice JKR called gold, and those who wanted gold, "filthy". Like when Greyback sought his reward for capturing Harry, causing Bellatrix to laugh. "Take your gold, filthy scavenger, what do I want with GOLD?" Or when Hermione needed to visit Gringotts and Travers said, "Gold, filthy gold! We cannot live without it, yet I confess I deplore the necessity of consorting with our long-fingered friends."
And, most importantly, we have this scene with Harry:
The Snitch. His nerveless fingers fumbled for a moment with the pouch at his neck and he pulled it out.
I open at the close.
Breathing fast and hard, he stared down at it. Now that he wanted time to move as slowly as possible, he seemed to have sped up, and understanding was coming so fast it seemed to have bypassed though. This was the close. This was the moment.
He pressed the golden metal to his lips and whispered, "I am about to die."
The metal shell broke open. He lowered his shaking hand, raised Draco's wand beneath the Cloak, and murmured, "Lumos."
The black stone with its jagged crack running down the center sat in the two halves of the Snitch. The Resurrection Stone had cracked down the vertical line representing the Elder Wand. The triangle and circle representing the Cloak and the stone were still discernible.
