7 ways Harry Potter and Yote Diamondback are kindred spirits
Harry Potter is the biggest inspiration for Arcane Elemental Academy. And while they’re different breeds, they have a few things in common.
Harry Potter will always be a legend. They’re adapting the books into a TV series, and yeah, it looks like they nailed it.
Except for black Snape. That’s pure tokenism. Nobody asked for it, and it adds nothing. But if that’s the worst offense and they don’t go full clown world, I’m still in.
Still, the ’90s vibe’s epic, and the rest of the cast, in my opinion, is bang on. So, the love for Potter is still there.
And Potter himself helped shape Yote in more ways than one. So much, that he and Yote have quite a few similarities, even if Lord Voldemort also gave me inspiration for my principal character.
Still, Harry and Yote intersect about seven times.
1 – Both characters are marked
Harry’s got a scar on his forehead from a killing curse that rebounded on old Voldy, and Yote’s got an oddly-shaped pentacle birthmark on her arm. Or, at least she and everyone around her think it’s a birthmark.
It might just be a bit more sinister than they’ve been led to believe. Either way, Yote, like Harry, has had that mark for a while. But Yote never hides hers. Who would cover up a pentacle-shaped mark, anyway?
2 – They boast similar body builds in Book I
“Small and skinny” is a good way to describe Yote, and it’s exactly the way J.K. Rowling wrote up Harry’s appearance early on. The only difference here is their physical features, with Yote boasting rust-colored hair, pale skin, and large, brown eyes.
Harry’s jet-black hair and green eyes are a sharp contrast. But if you want to get cute here and give them another similarity, Harry and Yote both have rather untidy hair. Well, Yote’s just gets all frizzy, regardless of the time of year.
3 – They’re star athletes
Harry finds out he’s a damn good flier and seeker once he’s on the Quidditch pitch. As for Yote, she spent her middle school days playing field thrashball. And despite her small size, she excelled as an attacker.
At Arcane, she’s introduced to the box version, where she plays forward, the equivalent of attacker. It shows off Yote’s versatility and sets the stage for a nice little series subplot.
The only difference is that thrashball makes a lot more sense than Quidditch, even if both sports would be fun as hell to play.
4 – One relative their age relentlessly bullies them
Harry grew up serving as his cousin, Dudley’s, human punching bag, and Yote grew up as fodder to her sister, Jett.
Dudley and his gang had ‘Harry Hunting.’ As for Jett and her clique? Same energy, more sparkle. They made Yote’s life miserable at Kenborne, a middle school for Elementals.
The only real difference is that Dudley hated Harry because his parents and everyone else did. Jett torments and treats Yote like trash just for the fun of it. It’s not like Yote’s parents reject her, and it’s something you’ll see in the prequel novella, Arcane Awakenings.
5 – Both find solace at school
Living in Jett’s shadow, Yote rarely found a sanctuary at Kenborne. But once she gets to Arcane and sees just how fitting the place is in a quaint, peaceful village with a rolling countryside and endless deciduous trees stretching beyond the horizon, she feels like she found a new home.
Of course, Harry found solace at Hogwarts because of his less-than-ideal life with the Dursleys at No. 4, Privet Drive. That said, he had nowhere else to go other than Hogwarts…until he experienced life at the Burrow.
Arcane is to Yote what Hogwarts was to Harry—a magical second chance wrapped in stone walls and secrets.
6 – Harry and Yote have a knack for rule-breaking
Harry loves sneaking around Hogwarts, especially when he has a good reason to. As for Yote, you’ll find out in Arcane Awakenings that she’s more than happy to do a little snooping if it means getting to the bottom of something that’s hampering her.
Heck, Yote might even be worse than Harry. At least Harry waits until everyone’s out of the way and (usually) throws on his invisibility cloak.
Yote will break rules in broad daylight, like recording conversations on her phone to use as evidence if she needs to. Still, she somehow does a good job staying covert.
7 – Both have a strong second family
Here’s one part where they’re the same, yet different. For Harry, it’s the Weasley family. They’re nice, but as J.K. Rowling notes several times, very poor. Still, Harry looks forward to seeing them more than anyone else during the summer.
Yote also gets hooked onto a family. I won’t say who, but I’ll give this much away: They’re not Weasley-like. Or, at least not that way from a financial standpoint.
Still, they’re very nice to Yote almost from the get-go, and she comes to appreciate them throughout The Arcane Prophecy.
But before we dive too deeply into The Arcane Prophecy, check out what Yote was up to in Arcane Awakenings. This fast read lets you taste what you’re about to get into, and if elemental magic and libertarian themes are your thing, then I’ll assume you’re in the right place.
