JK Rowling Has Finally Revealed The Inspiration Behind The Deathly Hallows Symbol

Every Potterhead knows that the Deathly Hallows are the trio of ancient artefacts consisting of the Elder Wand, the Resurrection Stone, and the Cloak of Invisibility that are capable of defeating death.

But it is only now that Harry Potter author JK Rowling has revealed the inspiration behind the design that represented the three elements combined.

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In the Harry Potter novels and film series, the Deathly Hallows are represented as a triangle containing a circle with a line down the middle - representing the cloak, stone, and wand respectively.

It turns out, JK was at home watching the Michael Caine movie The Man Who Would Be King while she was sketching ideas and writing the outline of the Harry Potter series before the first book was published.

"The Masonic symbol is very important in that movie. And it was literally 20 years later that I looked at the sign of the Deathly Hallows and realised how similar they were,” she says in the documentary Harry Potter: A History of Magic (due to air tonight, Sunday 29 October).

The Masonic symbol in the film features a a square and a compass which create a similar triangular shape - with JK thinking she could have been subliminally influenced.

"When I saw the movie again and saw the Masonic symbol, I went cold all over and I thought, 'Is that why the Hallows symbol is what it is?'” the author continues - revealing her mother had also died that same night that she was making sketches.

"And I've got a feeling that, on some deep, subconscious level, they are connected. So I feel as though I worked my way back over 20 years to that night, because the Potter series is hugely about loss, and – I've said this before – if my mother hadn't died I think the stories would be utterly different and not what they are."