Who doesn’t want to be a wizard? Or didn’t secretly hope for a Hogwarts letter? Certainly not me! In this article, I am going use the Harry Potter series as a main example, to explore why we love the most popular book and movie sagas so much. Harry Potter: The boy who lived, took the world by storm over two decades ago, and is still going strong to this day. But why is it that we love this story so much? There are many other books about witches and wizards that are far less popular, why? Well, there are two main reasons for this, a sense of belonging and a feeling that it could happen to you.

A sense of belonging: I, a proud member of Ravenclaw, have been fascinated by the world of Harry Potter ever since I picked up the first book at age 7. The wizarding world is so rich and detailed that you begin to feel immersed in it as you read. The houses, the families, all make you feel like you know the characters personally and suddenly, it’s perfectly normal to relate to the problems of a boy wizard and his friends. It is a world that, despite being different in so many ways, is very relatable to, and truly makes you feel like you belong.

A feeling that it could happen to you: The Harry Potter books differ from other books in that they reference the “real” world. Harry and Hermione both come from a non-magical childhood and are plucked out of it to a magical school. This shows the reader that they could also be a part of this world, and that is a very exciting thought. The wizards and witches also go to extreme measures to hide their existence from non-magical people, which makes you wonder if really they actually are there, right in front of us, hidden by enchantments and spells.

In conclusion, the key to the Harry Potter books’ success lies in the way that they told, having another world hidden in plain sight from us humans makes for brilliant story telling and lets the imagination run wild. Just think of the Twilight saga, another immensely popular series, in which the characters hide their abilities from the human race. A lot of the most popular books have some element of hiding from humans. The sheer amount of detail in the books is also another factor in popularity. There is just so much going on, and so much thought put into every minute detail, that it is hard/impossible to believe that it’s fiction, and I, for one, am not ready to stop believing.