Episode 23 – Pigs: Harry the Misfit Pig

I so enjoy this podcast, and especially the fact you are looking for insights into Potter by considering Rowling’s other works. I was skeptical about a deep dive on pigs, but now I am now a convert! Your exploration of pigs has deepened my appreciation for how Rowling understands magic and the wizarding world. I especially loved your reading of how the burrow is build in a pigpen – as though the foundations of the magical world are truly humble, hobbit-like people who were not overly intellectual or spiritual. That interpretation fits so nicely with everything else we know — their ignorance of math and science, the absence of strongly imposed formal religion are much evident passion for good works or self-improvement. I liked the contrast between pigs and peacocks.

To my mind, Irving, you are becoming the authority on connections between Potter and the Strike & Ellacott series. So, it should be no surprise that the pig authority and the Strike-Potter authority generated such wonderful insights. I absolutely agree that Rowling’s suggestion that pigs are difficult to enchant is tied in with the mind-control at Chapman farm. A fundamental belief of the UHC is the goal of becoming “pure spirit.” Along the way, believers repudiate their “flesh objects” and give up their right to refuse sex — they are renouncing their connection to their bodies, their “inner pigs,” if you will. The more “enchanted they become. In this context, pigs become perverted into child-destroyers. Rowling’s advice, , for this book at least, on how to avoid becoming slaves to the various “cults” that make up society, as well as the “cult” of an abusive relationship, is to stay “close to the ground,”

Throughout Rowling’s works I see indications that a critical part of being a good human is an acceptance of your inner-pig. In addition to all the wonderful pig connections you all found, I’d suggest the character of Ron typifies the “pig nature” or “appetite” that must be integrated into a healthy adult character. Without him, the intellect and the spirit don’t function as well.

And finally, I propose the Ink Black Heart is Rowling’s fullest exploration at what happens when we eschew our connection with our bodies. Gus wants to become god of the disembodied world, and he uses the lack of physicality to hide his sociopathic nature, leaving people like Morehouse, Zoe, Rachel, and Heartella, vulnerable to manipulation by Gus himself, and also right-wing terrorists. The agency’s attempt to join this world is a waste of time that continually prevents Robin from being fully present and connecting with those around her, especially Strike. Law enforcement, whose job it is to protect the vulnerable, are referred to exclusively as “pigs” by the Nazi terrorists. Might that be a Rowling-like suggestion that connecting with our pig nature can be a protection? I’d like to think so!