Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Article written by Mohandas Alva

M.A. Degree in English Literature from Manipal University, India.

In ‘Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince’, Harry is faced with several challenges and extraordinary revelations. He is now in his sixth year, and like him, the reader has to face a lot of new details, including the history of his nemesis, Lord Voldemort, the circumstances of Dumbledore’s new training sessions, and Harry’s eventual romantic interest in someone he has grown fond of very slowly.

Key Facts about Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

• Title: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
• Published: 16 July 2005
• Literary Period: Contemporary
• Genre: Fantasy
• Point-of-View: Third Person, omniscient
• Setting: 1990s Great Britain
• Climax: When Harry, along with the Order of the Phoenix, faces the Death Eaters in battle.
• Antagonist: Lord Voldemort and the Death Eaters.

J. K. Rowling and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

‘Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince’ is one of the earliest plans Rowling had in her mind when conceiving this series. She had even considered naming the second book ‘Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince‘ but eventually decided to call it ‘Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets‘. J. K. Rowling took two months to reconsider and review the plans she had for ‘Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince’ as she had to rewrite a third of ‘Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire‘ because of a major mishap in the plot. She took a break amidst writing this book to give birth to and take care of her second child, David.

Rowling had toyed with the idea of writing a scene where the British ‘Muggle’ Prime Minister meets the Minister of Magic for quite long, since as early as ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone‘, but couldn’t make it happen until this book. In this book, the Muggle Prime Minister finally meets both Cornelius Fudge, the ex-Minister of Magic, and Rufus Scrimgeour, the new Minister of Magic.

Rowling has claimed that she enjoyed finishing this book more than the second, fourth, and fifth books, despite being most upset with the final outcome of this book. She also has said in interviews that ‘Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince’ is one of her favorite books in the series.

Books Related to Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

‘Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince’ is closely related to ‘Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets’ because of how J. K. Rowling considered a lot of plot points and even the title of ‘Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince’ for the second book but eventually decided to go with the plot of the ‘Chamber of Secrets.’ Several details, like the identity of the Half-Blood Prince and the possibility of Tom Riddle’s diary being a Horcrux, were considered to be revealed in ‘Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets’, but eventually got revealed in ‘Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince’ instead.

Furthermore, the story of ‘Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince’ is closely related to all of the other Harry Potter books, especially ‘Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix‘ and ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows‘, as it works as a bridge between these two highly charged plots and directs the stories of these two books, despite having nuances of its own.

Most of the books in the Harry Potter series are also compared to works by other popular children’s fantasy writers. The most popular of these is J. R. R. Tolkein. The books of the Harry Potter series are constantly compared to and considered in the same vein as ‘The Lord of the Rings’ and ‘The Hobbit’. Furthermore, the books are also said to be similar to the Narnia series written by C. S. Lewis and several instances of the Arthurian Legend.

The Lasting Impact of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince