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'The Mirror of Erised' Chapter by Lee Wilson


As many of us already know, JK came up with the name Erised as it is desire spelt backwards. But the question to ask is if there was any proper reason why the mirror of Erised should have been brought into the books? You may be thinking what a stupid question to ask, and you might answer, that it was needed for Harry to get the Philosopher's stone. Well was there really any need to name the chapter Mirror of Erised? J.K could have named it family reunited or something like that, why choose the chapter to be named after the mirror?


I think maybe in the books, the mirror may have had a part in them that was cut out. I think that the mirror wasn't all that important in that chapter and should maybe have been named something more explanatory. The mirror is described to show this:


"It shows us nothing more or less than the deepest, most desperate desire of our hearts" (HP and PS, page 157, UK)


These words where from the wise man himself, Dumbledore. The mirror shows some importance in the book, but I don’t think it played a big enough part to build up to the importance that JK had written it to be. It is hard to explain, but I think there are some suspicions about this Mirror of Erised. In the chapter J.K lets us have a taster of three characters and what they see in this Mirror of Erised. The book says that Ron sees him being as good as all of his brothers, because he finds it hard to keep up and prove to his parents and himself that he can be as successful as his other brothers. Harry is said to see his parents and other family relatives, and then you have Dumbledore who sees himself holding socks.


There may be a subliminal message behind these meanings, whether it helps us understand the characters better or whether it tells us what may happen in future books. Ron says he sees himself as Quidditch Captain and Head Boy. In the fifth book Ron is made a prefect and keeper. Since he has managed to achieve these roles he is only one step away from becoming what he saw himself being in the mirror.

Using Ron’s mirror message, it can show parts in future books so maybe it will be the same for Harry. Maybe Harry will end up coming face to face with his parents and other family in death and maybe Dumbledore will get his socks!


There are so many mysteries and so many theories behind this amazing mirror. Due to the fact that there are so many theories about this mirror it is hard to understand what is true and what is false, or whether any of them are true to begin with. I guess we will have to wait for the other books before we may truly know the truth of this mirror or perhaps this mystery may continue on forever, if it doesn't appear again in book 6 and 7.