If anyone is equipped for life after death, it's Harry Potter -the boy who survived a "killing curse," not once, but twice, at the hands of the biggest, baddest Dark Lord of them all.
Indeed, from a recently announced interactive reading site -featuring digital books and new material from author J.K. Rowling herself -to a $250-million theme park, it's clear the famed wizard will endure long after his cinematic swan song on July 15. The true scope of the Potter legacy, however, won't be known for at least a decade.
"If the series enjoys a second or a third life, it will be when kids who grew up with Harry Potter become parents themselves and want to introduce the stories to their own children," says Edmund Kern, a noted Potter scholar and professor of history at Lawrence University in Wisconsin.
Kern predicts fan sites will be hardest hit by the film franchise's termination, noting that the online community has been primarily nourished by anticipation -first over the content of the books, and later over the ways in which moviemakers would adapt them. "With the last movie, I think we're seeing the end of the ability to generate the kind of excitement that's been so important to the series as a cultural phenomenon," says Kern, author of The Wisdom of Harry Potter.
The commercial bequest of the series includes: a stunning $6.3 billion in box office grosses for the first seven films, not counting home video; a retail-products market topping $7 billion; and more than 400 million print copies of the books, which have been translated into nearly six dozen languages.
Emerson Spartz, the 24-year-old founder of Mugglenet, suggests these numbers alone are an implicit promise of endurance.
"I have a feeling the relevant franchise-holders will make sure Harry Potter isn't forgotten," says Spartz. "There will always be a large and active community of people who are passionate about this amazing world."
Rowling herself has yet to let go of The Boy Who Lived, having announced in June that she's written more than 18,000 new words for the October launch of an interactive reading site called Pottermore.
"Just as I have contributed to the website, everyone else will be able to join in by submitting their own comments, drawings and other content in a safe and friendly environment," said Rowling, who's betting Harry will cast his spell on the digital generation with the release of the series as e-books later this year.
The Potter legacy, however, won't be measured in web traffic or future book sales, but in hearts forever changed for having known Rowling's characters.
Were it not for Harry, Toronto's Jake Kalbhenn says he wouldn't be as close with his sister -with whom he forged the "wizard rock" band The Nifflers -and would likely never have crossed paths with his girlfriend, a University o f T o r o n t o quidditch player whom he met at a gig a few years ago. "We're still together, as happy Harry Potter nerds," beams Kalbhenn, 20. "[The series] will always live on for me in my music and my friendships."
For others, Harry Potter's presence endures in subtler ways.
Kate Schutz, for example, was teaching Grades 1 and 2 when the series began and witnessed first-hand its halo effect on spectacled children -a paradigm shift that shows no signs of reversing more than a decade later.
"Prior to Harry Potter, a kid in glasses gave every bully an excuse to be a jerk on the playground," says Schultz, of Calgary.
"Enter Harry Potter and -boom! - now every kid with perfect vision wants a pair of glasses and all the so-called dorks are schoolyard superheroes."
Elsewhere in academia, scholars say they've only just scratched the surface of what Harry Potter has to offer future generations. From a teaching tool for filmmakers (no franchise has delivered as many movies in so short a period, let alone while keeping the cast and creative team intact) to a Rosetta Stone for linguists, Rowling's stories are expected to maintain a stronghold on the Ivory Tower.
"I expect that I'll be writing papers on Harry Potter for a long while, in the same way people are still writing about John Milton and Paradise Lost," says Diana Patterson, an associate professor of English at Mount Royal University in Calgary. "If The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe can still make a statement 50 years later, then why not Harry Potter?"
HARRY POTTER WEEK
Today: Will Harry Potter stand the test of time?
Monday: Potter faux-bituary: Mourning the loss of a beloved series
Tuesday: Emma Watson has her eye on the future
Wednesday: Rupert Grint looks back on life as Ron Weasley
Thursday: Review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2
Friday: Daniel Radcliffe ready for the next stage in his career
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