{"id":11613,"date":"2016-09-29T18:06:18","date_gmt":"2016-09-29T22:06:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/?p=11613"},"modified":"2016-09-29T18:25:46","modified_gmt":"2016-09-29T22:25:46","slug":"pottermore-patronus-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2016\/09\/pottermore-patronus-say.html","title":{"rendered":"What Does Your Pottermore Patronus Say About You?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The lights have gone out, and something is moving through the darkness.<\/p>\n

At first, it looks as if the darkness itself is shifting, but you soon realize that what moves is darker than dark, and blacker than the night, its tattered edges flowing, moved by a will rather than a wind.<\/p>\n

The room grows suddenly cold, and a skein of frost spiders across the windowpanes. Your breath becomes cloud as it hits the frigid air.<\/p>\n

The thing moves into a beam of moonlight, and is revealed to be a hovering mass of black hood and cloak and rattling breath.<\/p>\n

It is a Dementor, and it\u2019s here for your soul. What do you do?<\/p>\n

You raise your wand. Expecto Patronum!<\/em><\/p>\n

Something blindingly silver-bright\u2014an animal of some sort\u2014bursts from the end of the wand and hurls itself against the Dementor, which flees in terror, its darkness unable to withstand the light before it.<\/p>\n

Congratulations. You\u2019ve just summoned your Patronus! And if you\u2019ve taken the Discover Your Patronus <\/em><\/a>quiz, you know exactly what sort of creature you\u2019ve brought forth.<\/p>\n

For those Muggles out there, a Patronus<\/a> is a guardian, and, as Professor Lupin tells Harry Potter, \u201ca kind of positive force, a projection of the very things that the Dementor<\/a> feeds upon\u2014hope, happiness, the desire to survive\u2014but it cannot feel despair, as real humans can, so the Dementors can\u2019t hurt it.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is a great feat for any wizard in the Harry Potter universe to be able to produce a Patronus\u2014it is one of the most difficult spells in existence, and requires not only the magic words, but intense concentration on a single happy memory.<\/p>\n

A Patronus can take on myriad forms, depending on the caster\u2019s personality, history, and, most of all, from the beloved memories from which it springs. For example, Harry Potter\u2019s Patronus is a stag, which is the same shape as his father\u2019s. And Severus Snape\u2019s Patronus is a doe\u2014the same as someone with whom he was deeply in love. Many other characters produce Patronuses which are reflections of their essential natures.<\/p>\n

But what of yours? Have you taken the quiz yet? If not, go do it!<\/a><\/p>\n

And what of those of you who have? If you\u2019re like many others, you\u2019re probably a bit puzzled by the results. There have been great rumblings felt across the internet since the debut of the Patronus quiz from people who are none too happy about being a rat or a mole or a west highland terrier. Worse, once the quiz determines your particular creature, that\u2019s it. You can never change it, at least not without going through the process of creating a new Pottermore account.<\/p>\n

Some Potterheads, of course, are well-pleased with their results\u2014those owls and stags and dragons and unicorns among us. The allure with these Patronuses is obvious.<\/p>\n

But what of the others? What of the aforementioned rats and moles? Are they really so bad?<\/p>\n

Of course not! Let\u2019s take a brief look at how you can find the good qualities in even the most mundane Patronus.<\/p>\n

The root of this idea is not a new one. It comes from ancient animistic beliefs about the world and of humankind\u2019s connection to it. These beliefs come not solely from Native American spiritualism\u2014a common misconception\u2014but from a huge number of early belief systems, Eastern and Western alike. The idea is simply based on mankind\u2019s universal, complex and symbiotic relationship with the animal world, and the creative ways we interpreted that relationship in our early days.<\/p>\n

In our contemporary world, however, this idea has changed. A spirit animal is now an expression of the deep-seated desire to express the self, and to tell others who we are through the things with which we surround ourselves. We claim something because it says something about us, and whether our spirit animal is a stag, a Big Mac, or Samuel L. Jackson, we want it to speak accurately.<\/p>\n

And, unfortunately, some readers just aren\u2019t feeling very mole-like.<\/p>\n

But just as every animal has its place, mythological or practical, in its relationship to man, every Patronus has its own unique strengths that may not be outwardly apparent. To give you an example of how you can interpret your Pottermore Patronus Quiz result, let\u2019s examine the humble mole.<\/p>\n

Despite being sightless, the mole has incredible senses, and like this cute little creature, those of you who are able to produce a mole Patronus are likely to be sensitive to the world around them, able to discern truth from falsehood with a simple touch.<\/p>\n

Like the mole, you\u2019re a guide in dark places, able to find the mysteries and dig up the treasures of life where few others would be able to look for them. You\u2019re a creature of great faith, having given away the sight that the rest of the world relies on in lieu of trusting your keen and accurate perceptions. You are, because of this, able to teach others these same skills, balancing out the skepticism taught by other types of people.<\/p>\n

Well, that doesn\u2019t sound so bad, does it? When you consider your Patronus in metaphor, as a symbol of a certain set of strengths, you\u2019ll see so much more than a mole. The questions of the quiz are designed to be answered quickly, tapping more into the subconscious than the waking mind, and although it\u2019s not known how much psychology actually went into these questions, the results don\u2019t seem to be too far from the mark. This author, after all, has a russian blue cat for a Patronus\u2014a perfect fit.<\/p>\n

So when you get your mole\u2014or rat or terrier or other humble creature\u2014embrace its little, wriggly self. Be not ashamed. It\u2019s just as good as any dragon or unicorn.<\/p>\n

Everyone knows unicorns are flighty and dragons, temperamental, anyway.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The lights have gone out, and something is moving through the darkness. At first, it looks as if the darkness itself is shifting, but you soon realize that what moves is darker than dark, and blacker than the night, its tattered edges flowing, moved by a will rather than a wind. The room grows suddenly…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":605,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13,3],"tags":[1265,3171,1886,3167,3170],"class_list":["post-11613","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","category-movies","tag-harry-potter","tag-dementor","tag-j-k-rowling","tag-patronus","tag-pottermore"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat Does Your Pottermore Patronus Say About You?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2016\/09\/pottermore-patronus-say.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What Does Your Pottermore Patronus Say About You?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The lights have gone out, and something is moving through the darkness. 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