Harry Potter is a global phenomenon, there is no denying it. Every Potter fan in each corner of the globe deeply wished J.K. Rowling had created a school of witchcraft and wizardry equivalent to Hogwarts in their own countries.
Now, what if that could come true? Not written by Ms. Rowling herself, of course, but by writers familiar with their own country’s cultures and mythological creatures.
Renata Ventura, a Brazilian writer and fan of Rowling’s books, imbued with the same desire of seeing a wizardry school in her own country, accepted the challenge and wrote her own Brazilian series.
Considering that Brazil is one of the biggest countries in the world, many times larger than Great Britain, one magical school alone would not be sufficient to house all the teenage wizards of the land. So, instead she created five Brazilian wizardry schools in her hit book The Scarlet Weapon – one for each region of the land – and the one in Rio de Janeiro being hidden inside the Corcovado Mountain itself! (The famous mountain with the statue of Christ above it! Under the noses of the entire world.)
Deciding to follow the opposite path from Rowling’s Harry Potter, Renata chose to cast an anti-hero as her main character, which gave her book an entirely new swing!
Her protagonist, Hugo Scarlet, is exciting in a totally different way. Imagine having a sort of adolescent Snape with a slight touch of Draco Malfoy as the main character, but with a far more Brazilian temperament. The result is this amazing young wizard, born in a violent slum in Rio, who discovers he is a wizard during a shootout and enters the wizardry school with the sole purpose of learning enough magic to kill the criminals that threaten his family.
Kill – not wound. And believe me, Hugo is not the nicest kid in the block. He is somewhat aggressive, a bit too impulsive, very arrogant and has many power-wanting wishes. (Oh, don’t give this boy a wand, for Merlin’s sake!)
The characters of The Scarlet Weapon are one of the many strengths of the story: they are all very well constructed and have their own backgrounds and personal traumas, making each reader sympathise with a different one. Renata doesn’t forget one single character as they grow and change along the saga, which already has two books.
The other great merit of her work is how Renata masterfully inserts Brazilian culture and social problems into the story, adding an incredible Brazilian flavour to her characters and their issues as wizards.
Hugo’s aggressiveness, for instance, is a product of the violent environment he used to live in; a slum without any assistance from social programs or the government. He would not have survived until the age of 13 if he had not been aggressive. That is why Renata’s book is such an eye-opener!
Hugo has such a potential to become a good person that we cheer every time he gets it right and are saddened every time he fails, making not only him, but also thousands of poor children surviving in the streets of the world, more real to us.
The spells are another delicious gateway into Brazil. They are entirely made with indigenous languages related to ancient Brazil, and the creatures Hugo has to fight are all from Brazilian myth and folklore, which should make it immensely interesting for any reader of fantasy in Great Britain.
Unfortunately, The Scarlet Weapon (A Arma Escarlate, in Portuguese) still has no translation into the English language. However, there is hope that this might change in the near future!
Lastly, let me turn your attention the creation of a project called “Potter in Orphanages”, which aims to bring some magic to those children who, unfortunately, have not been freed from institutionalised lives. The project was created by Renata and already has over 5 thousand young members! More information about it on YouTube.
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