" Harry Potter" is, without a doubt, the pinnacle piece of a generation. It is a series that has made and continues to make history. It has been translated into seventy three different languages. It was the first series to make an author a billionaire. Why? Because the greatest magic in "Harry Potter" isn’t anything one could learn at Hogwarts. It’s more than a mere story, far from a simple fantasy. Harry Potter is an escape, a beacon of hope, a light found in darkness. Harry Potter is a self-contained enchantment. The franchise tackles the greatest social problems in modern society, if you choose to look hard enough. Discounting my bias as a person who has been over the moon on a Firebolt for Harry Potter my entire life, I believe that Harry Potter is the greatest nonreligious phenomenon in global history.
The Harry Potter universe spans further than its seven books. It breaks from those pages (4,224 in total) into eight movies, at least ten different videogames, a website dedicated to “behind the scenes” looks at the story, a released series of textbooks from the series, and a screenplay. There is no other series that has done that—not "Hunger Games," not "Twilight" and most certainly not "Fifty Shades." On the other side is another aspect not quite had by other series. The dedication of the Harry Potter fandom. Take, for example, "A Very Potter Musical." Fanmade, but widely known throughout the Harry Potter fandom in addition to popular culture. That Hufflepuffs are superb “finders” has become effectively canon to “Potterheads”. Even musical ventures, such as the band Harry and the Potters, have been created from Harry Potter. We won’t even begin to discuss the fact that the series has not one, but two theme parks dedicated to it on either side of the United States.
But let’s talk records, shall we? Harry Potter has broken record after record, including those set by its preceding titles. The record for the largest amount of advance sales, previously held by "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" for nine years, was only recently broken . . . by "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child." The movie franchise grossed over $7 billion, putting it, at only eight movies, the second highest grossing franchise behind the entirety of the Marvel Universe. The Harry Potter record always brought up as broken by "Fifty Shades," that of the fastest selling book of all time? Broken once again, not by a novel, but by a play: "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child." Tell me again that this is not the most powerful series of all time.
As a fanatic, the first question I ask people when I meet them is which Hogwarts house they belong to. So long as I’m asking someone between the ages of eight and thirty, I usually get an answer, even if they weren’t or aren’t particular fans. What does that say about this series? Little Hermiones are popping up all over the place, what of that? Children, teens, adults: all know Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived in the Cupboard Under the Stairs. It’s an extended and ever continuing legacy. Because, you see. Harry Potter is always.
