The variant of Harry Potter from League of Extraordinary Gentlemen proved how terrifying the Boy Who Lived could really be.
As one of the most popular fictional characters of the 21st century, there have been plenty of parodies and pastiches of Harry Potter. Most of the time, these takes poke fun at the character and the rules of his world. But sometimes, creators have a far darker idea in mind for their version of the character.
The version of Harry Potter who appears in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century by Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill is perhaps the most horrifying version of the Boy Who Lived to ever appear in fiction.
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen series was the perfect place for writer Alan Moore to explore literary history, investigating and often-times subverting the lasting elements of iconic characters, tropes, and entire genres. While he sometimes championed characters like Mina Murray from Dracula (who became the series most compelling lead), others — like James Bond — were reduced to a contemptible punchline. The worst case might have been the version of Harry Potter who appears in Volume III: Century. This variant of Harry lived his life much as the original version, gaining friends and growing into a powerful wizard at the Invisible College. However, shortly before his graduation, Harry discovered his entire life had been a lie. In reality, he was the Antichrist, prophesied to help bring about the apocalypse.
Moore takes this opportunity to subvert pretty much every element of Harry Potter and take it in the darkest direction possible. Harry’s scar was actually the “Mark of the Beast” from Christian mythology, serving as a telltale sign of his destiny. Voldemort had merely been a puppet foe created by Oliver Haddo (one of Century’s primary antagonists), a powerful wizard who had manipulated Harry’s entire life as part of a plan to prepare him to take on his full mantle as the destroyer of the world. All of Harry’s friends were pawns of the plan. The resulting burst in power didn’t prove to be a boon. Instead, it left Harry unstable and furious. He turned on Hogwarts, slaughtering his classmates and professors before wiping out the magical world and going into hiding — clawing at his scar the whole time, trying to deny his fate.
As a whole, Century is in part designed as a commentary from Moore and O’Neill about the development of story and literature in the modern era. Their take on Harry Potter is a genuinely horrifying reflection on everything from the casual acceptance of over the top violence, chosen one narrative, and modern storytelling. This version of Harry Potter is one who embraced murder and lashed out at a world always seemingly forced to revolve around his destructive impulses. While he may have spent years as an innocent and happy child, the full weight of his destiny broke this version of the Boy Who Lived. In short, he became the kind of monster the Dursleys always worried about, the kind of purely destructive threat that people in the Wizarding World feared he would become.
Notably, it’s this version of Potter (never named in the story proper) who becomes the final threat of the Century trilogy. Having given up and accepted his place as the Anti-Christ when the remnants of the League finally confronted him, the Moon Child rips apart reality and threatens to end the world. Although Allan Quartermain is killed in the ensuing battle, the last two primary members of the League — Mina Murray and the immortal Orlando — are able to work with the ancient Prospero to summon God (in the form of Mary Poppins) to destroy Potter once and for all.
While there have been plenty of parodies of Harry Potter, Moore and ONeill’s version is genuinely horrifying. The massacre at Hogwarts is openly compared to a school shooting in the story, and it’s even suggested that the collapse of the hidden mystical world of fantasy is partly to blame for society beginning to unfurl at the seams in the “real world.” Even at his most despicable though, the Potter of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen remains a tragic figure
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