Literary Lineage

The lineage of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

33 works across 28 centuries, back to Iliad and Odyssey.

  1. 1844

    The Snow Queen

    Hans Christian Andersen

    Danish Golden Age. Denmark. written in Danish.

    Fairy tale in which the boy Kay, his heart chilled by a splinter of a troll mirror, is carried off by the Snow Queen's sledge and rescued by his friend Gerda.

    What it handed down

    To The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1950)

    Direct source, probable.

    The White Witch, who rides a sledge, keeps her land in winter and wins over the boy Edmund with sweets until his heart turns cold, closely parallels Andersen's Snow Queen and her captive Kay. Critics regularly cite the tale as a source.

    Where it came from

    The line stops here: andersen's sources are Danish folklore and his own invention.

    Find “The Snow Queen” on Amazon

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Preview card: the tree of influence behind Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone