Behind the name: Quirinus Quirrel
Behind the name: Severus Snape
Chocolate Frog Cards: Circe the Sorceress
The story of Fluffy, aka Kerberos
These comics were originally drawn for the Iris Classics Centre’s Festival of Imagined Worlds, February 2018, for the J K Rowling Section. The author studied French with Classics at Exeter University, and these comics are devised to explore the possible etymology (word-meaning) behind the names of particular characters, as well as exploring the Classical backgrounds of several characters in the series.
The explanations of the links between meaning and background are purposely missing – it was much more fun at the Festival to ask the kids to make the connections themselves, after which they got a copy to take home. Discussion is welcome!
POSTER: you can buy a myth-only version of the Kerberos poster, printed (Zazzle) or download to print yourself (Gumroad)