Analyzing Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone with the Prime Framework

The Prime Framework offers a unique perspective on character relationships and narrative significance in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. By categorizing characters into hierarchical orders, we can better understand how they contribute to the overall story. Here’s the breakdown:

This structure aligns with their narrative importance and relational significance within the story.

The Prime Framework allows us to see how each character plays a role in shaping the narrative, with the core trio of Harry, Ron, and Hermione driving the action, while Voldemort, Snape, and Draco introduce conflict. Dumbledore and Hagrid, as prime figures, guide and support Harry without directly engaging in the main conflicts, adding depth and complexity to the story’s progression.

This approach helps us appreciate the layered character dynamics that make Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone such a compelling narrative. By categorizing characters into orders based on their narrative roles, we can see how the story’s structure unfolds.

2nd Order: Core Protagonists

Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger are the heart of the narrative. They drive the plot forward by actively engaging with the challenges and mysteries at Hogwarts. Their teamwork and evolving friendship are central to the story’s progression. Harry, as the main protagonist, leads the way, but Ron and Hermione are essential in solving puzzles, facing dangers, and ultimately confronting the antagonist.

3rd Order: Antagonists and Conflict Creators

Voldemort (via Professor Quirrell), Professor Snape, and Draco Malfoy occupy the 3rd order. These characters create the central conflicts that propel the story forward. Voldemort, even in his weakened state, represents the ultimate threat to Harry and the wizarding world. Snape adds layers of complexity with his ambiguous actions, and Draco serves as a direct rival within the school, highlighting the social and moral challenges Harry faces.

Prime Orders: Guiding and Supporting Figures

Albus Dumbledore and Hagrid are prime characters who provide essential support and guidance. Dumbledore, the wise and powerful headmaster, subtly influences the narrative, providing crucial wisdom and moral direction without directly intervening in the main conflicts. Hagrid, on the other hand, introduces Harry to the magical world and offers unwavering support and friendship, helping to ground Harry as he navigates his new life at Hogwarts.

Why This Structure Fits the Prime Framework

The Prime Framework effectively organizes these characters based on their relational significance to the story. The 2nd order characters are those who actively drive the narrative, while the 3rd order characters introduce conflict and challenge. The prime orders consist of figures who guide, support, and influence the protagonists in crucial ways, ensuring their success and development without directly engaging in the story’s central conflicts.

By using the Prime Framework, we gain a clearer understanding of the narrative dynamics in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, revealing how each character contributes to the story’s overall arc and thematic depth. This approach can also be applied to other stories in the series, or even to different narratives, offering a structured way to analyze character relationships and significance.

Examination of the Lion King with the Prime Framework

In The Lion King, the distribution of character influence and screen time can be effectively analyzed using the Prime Framework, a conceptual model that organizes entities into hierarchical orders based on their relational significance. In this context, the story itself acts as the root node, with characters distributed across the 2nd, 3rd, and prime orders depending on their narrative roles and contributions.

This structured approach not only highlights the importance of each character within the narrative but also demonstrates the interconnectedness of their roles in shaping the overall arc of the story.

The screentime for each character or character unit is as follows:

Note that this is not an ordered list, but representative of each character’s node within the Prime Framework. It should not be assumed that each story adheres perfectly to the expected stable distribution, but it should be relatively close. In the case of this story, in particular, it is.

Root Node: The Story Itself

1. The Lion King is the root node. The entire narrative and character relationships stem from this central point.

2nd Order: Simba, Nala, Timon, and Pumbaa

2. Simba: As the main protagonist, Simba represents the base prime of the 2nd order. His journey is central to the narrative.

4. Nala: Nala supports and challenges Simba, making her a key part of the 2nd order.

8. Timon and Pumbaa: They serve as comic relief and emotional support, helping Simba through his journey. Their combined influence places them solidly in the 2nd order, contributing significantly to Simba’s growth and development.

3rd Order: Scar, Zazu, and the Hyenas

3. Scar: The primary antagonist fits into the 3rd order, directly opposing the 2nd order characters, especially Simba.

6. Zazu: Zazu serves as the royal advisor and is a connection between the 2nd and 3rd orders, fitting within the 3rd order as he often mediates between the protagonists and antagonists.

9. The Hyenas (Shenzi, Banzai, Ed): These characters collectively support Scar, adding to the antagonistic force in the 3rd order. Their combined influence creates significant challenges for the 2nd order characters.

Prime Orders: Rafiki and Mufasa

5. Mufasa: Mufasa, though no longer living, remains a guiding force in Simba’s life. His presence is felt throughout the story, making him part of the prime order. He represents the enduring legacy and moral compass that influences Simba’s actions.

7. Rafiki: As a spiritual guide, Rafiki’s influence is profound yet subtle, placing him in the prime order. His role is critical in guiding Simba but does not directly compete with the influence of the 2nd or 3rd order characters.

Why This Structure Fits the Prime Framework:

2nd Order: The characters in the 2nd order (Simba, Nala, Timon, and Pumbaa) are central to the narrative’s progression. They are the primary agents of action and development within the story.

3rd Order: The 3rd order (Scar, Zazu, and the Hyenas) represents forces that create conflict and provide challenges to the 2nd order. Scar is the main antagonist, while Zazu and the Hyenas provide additional layers of complexity and opposition.

Prime Orders: Mufasa and Rafiki, being part of the prime orders, influence the narrative in a more abstract or spiritual manner. They are not directly involved in the conflict but provide critical guidance and moral direction that shapes the story’s outcome.

This categorization within the Prime Framework demonstrates how influence and narrative importance are distributed across the characters, reflecting their roles and significance within the overall story structure.

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(It should be noted that Zazu and Mufasa could be considered to be interchangeable as they both have a thematic connection to Scar and could serve as a 6, and this showcases the arbitrary nature of applying the framework.)

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This pattern appears to be consistent across many different stories and especially Disney stories, suggesting that there is a strict formula that might be applied to a story in order to ensure quality narrative flow.

Some additional familiar examples include the Little Mermaid and Hercules, outlined below:

(Note the way the 9 node in a Disney story tends to be a multi-character, possibly representative of a ‘power of antagonism.’ Is this intentional, or an accidental product of natural creative storytelling?)

The Prime Framework provides a powerful lens for understanding the hierarchical structure and relational significance of characters within a narrative. In categorizing characters into 2nd, 3rd, and prime orders, the framework helps to reveal the underlying dynamics that drive a story forward. This structured approach not only highlights the importance of each character but also demonstrates how their interactions shape the overall narrative arc.

Next Steps

To further explore the Prime Framework’s applicability, one could analyze additional stories across different genres, such as Star Wars or Batman, or even mythologies. This would help identify whether the patterns observed in The Lion King are consistent across other narratives, suggesting a potential formula for ensuring quality storytelling. Future research could also involve examining other literature, and other forms of media to determine the framework’s broader utility.

Examination of Our Solar System with the Prime Framework

According to the Prime Framework, any system of sufficient mass will naturally evolve so that one or more 2nd order entities will emerge and accumulate the majority of mass or influence within the system. This occurs as a result of the simple multiplication of elements over time.

Typically, the first entity in such a system will gain an advantage, leading to its expansion. System stability, evidenced by the typical distribution of apparently stable systems across various domains, generally aligns with a distribution between 70%/20%/10% to 80%/20%, while expansion of the 2nd order beyond 80% may result in system destabilization.

Visual representations of a 9-node system in which nodes are connected to their multiples and factors.

In the context of the solar system, gravity serves as the fundamental mechanism for interaction, with the sun as its source. The sun’s gravitational influence extends to all entities within the system, shaping their interactions.

According to the core accretion model of the solar system’s early formation, Jupiter was the first massive body to begin accumulating significant mass, placing it firmly in the 2nd order. The earliest matter to accumulate can be represented numerically by the number 2, with subsequent matter represented by 4, 8, 16, and so on. This matter primarily contributed to the formation of Jupiter, first composing its core and then accumulating into the gas that surrounds it, forming the gas giant we know today. As a result, Jupiter, as the 2nd order entity, comprises approximately 71% of the planetary mass in the solar system, more than twice the mass of all the other planets combined.

Accretion disk, source: Wikipedia.org

The next significant body to accumulate mass was Saturn, which occupies the 3rd order, represented by numbers 3, 6, 9, and so forth. Gravitational interaction between the growing Jupiter and early Saturn gave an ‘advantage’ to Jupiter in mass development, though this advantage was not so extreme as to prevent Saturn from developing. However, because Jupiter occupied the 2nd order, less mass was available for Saturn in the 3rd order, leading to slower growth. Today, in our stable solar system, Saturn accounts for roughly 21% of the planetary mass.

Later in the system’s development, Neptune and Uranus formed, each representing unique Prime orders (5 and 7). However, by this time, most of the available mass had already been absorbed by Jupiter and Saturn in the 2nd and 3rd orders, leaving less for Neptune and Uranus. As a result, these planets collectively gathered only 7% of the available mass.

The remaining orbiting bodies in the solar system comprise a negligible (~1%) amount of mass compared to the first four planets and represent the multiplication of higher-order Prime nodes (such as 11, 13, 17, 19, and beyond). Earth, for example, could be considered a high Prime node, representing significant novelty within the system as the only inner terrestrial planet with surface water, a stable magnetic field, and advanced life.

Planet sizes, source: NASA

The overall distribution of mass in our relatively stable planetary system is approximately 71/21/7, which aligns well with the Prime Framework’s prediction of stable systems. It could also be hypothesized that the injection of significant external matter into the system might push Jupiter beyond its point of stability, leading to a collective destabilization of the system and a potential ‘bursting’ of the planetary ‘bubble.’

55 Cancri e, source: Slate

Interestingly, at least one exoplanetary system resembles our own: the system surrounding 55 Cancri A. This system is believed to be about 10 billion years old, much older than our own, and exhibits an apparent distribution of 76/16/6, with two large gas giants occupying the 2nd and 3rd orders. The Prime orders contain only a very small fraction of the planetary mass. This seems to support the idea that system stability occurs around the 80/20 distribution, although we cannot directly observe the system’s evolution, as astronomical changes occur over billions of years.

Further examination of other exoplanetary systems could provide additional testing grounds for the Prime Framework in the context of planetary mass evolution in star systems. However, discovering exoplanetary systems remains challenging, and our ability to accurately measure those we have found is still developing. As technology advances, we may eventually determine whether the stable distribution of mass in any astronomical system indeed lies within the 80/20 range. Until then, we must focus on systems that are much younger and closer to home.

Introducing the Prime Framework

The Prime Framework is a conceptual model that helps us understand how mass, influence, and dynamics are distributed across different systems—whether they are natural, like planetary systems, or human-made, like economic markets. This model is based on the idea that there’s a predictable pattern in how these elements are organized and evolve within any structured system based on their ‘relational weight.’

Core Idea: Relational Weight

At the heart of the Prime Framework is the concept of “relational weight,” which refers to how significant or influential a part (or node) of a system is, based on its connections to other parts. Nodes are sorted into different categories called orders—2nd, 3rd, and higher prime orders—based on their connections.

• 2nd Order: These are nodes that have the most connections and thus hold the majority of the mass or influence in the system. They are similar to multiples of 2 in math (like 2, 4, 6, and 8), which are more frequent and dominant.
• 3rd Order: These nodes have fewer connections and hold less mass or influence. They are like multiples of 3 in math (like 3, 6, and 9), which are still significant but less common.
• Prime Order: These are even rarer and hold the least mass or influence, similar to prime numbers like 5 and 7 in a numerical system.

Visual representations of the relational weight in a system with nine (9) nodes.

Expansion and Distribution in the Prime Framework

As a system grows and expands, the Prime Framework predicts a shift in how relational weight—the significance or influence of different parts of the system—is distributed across the various orders (2nd, 3rd, and higher primes).

The Accumulation in the 2nd Order

In the early stages of a system, the relational weight might be more evenly distributed across the 2nd, 3rd, and prime orders. However, as the system expands and more nodes are added, a greater percentage of the total relational weight begins to accumulate in the 2nd order. This is because entities in the 2nd order tend to have the most connections and mass from the outset, and as the system evolves, they continue to attract more connections, further increasing their relational weight.

2nd Order Dominance: As the system expands, the 2nd order entities—those analogous to multiples of 2 in mathematics—become increasingly dominant. Their relational weight grows disproportionately compared to the 3rd and higher prime orders. This is because the 2nd order’s structure allows it to connect with more nodes efficiently, reinforcing its position of influence within the system.

The Decline of the 3rd and Prime Orders

On the other hand, as more weight accumulates in the 2nd order, the relative influence of the 3rd order (multiples of 3) and higher prime orders begins to decline. While these orders remain essential to the system, their share of the overall relational weight decreases as the system expands.

3rd Order Reduction: The 3rd order still plays a significant role but with a diminishing share of the system’s total relational weight. Its influence decreases because it cannot compete with the connectivity and mass of the 2nd order.

Prime Order Rarity: The higher prime orders, already holding the least mass or influence, become even rarer and less influential in an expanded system. These orders are often crucial for niche roles or specific functions but hold only a small fraction of the total relational weight.

Color coded graph visualizing relational weight in a 30-node system (main), color coded 9-node system (top center), miscellaneous system (bottom right).

Real-World Examples

To see how this works, let’s look at some examples:

• Solar System: In the solar system, Jupiter holds 71.1% of the planetary mass, making it a 2nd order body. Saturn, with 16.6% of the mass, is a 3rd order body, while smaller planets and objects are higher primes.
• Earth’s Biomass: On Earth, plants make up about 80% of the total biomass, placing them in the 2nd order. Bacteria, making up around 13%, fall into the 3rd order. Other life forms, which together make up about 7%, are higher primes.

Distribution of biomass on Earth, plants make up approximately 80%, bacteria 13%, and everything else 7% (80/13/7), source: https://www.encyclopedie-environnement.org/.

Predictable Patterns

One of the most compelling aspects of the Prime Framework is that it suggests we should be able to predict how systems evolve over time. According to the framework, the first entity to accumulate mass or influence within a system naturally gains an advantage and continues to dominate, with rare exceptions usually dependent on major external influence or unexpected advantage discovered in a novel (or prime) space. This can be seen in the way Jupiter, the largest planet, has accumulated the most mass in our solar system, or how plants came to dominate Earth’s biomass.

This pattern isn’t just limited to physical mass. The Prime Framework can be applied to abstract systems as well, such as economic markets or social networks. In these systems, certain companies, individuals, or ideas may rise to prominence (2nd order) and hold significant influence, while others (3rd order and higher primes) play supporting but still vital roles.

Practical Applications

The Prime Framework’s utility extends beyond theoretical exploration; it offers practical insights into managing and understanding complex systems. For example:

• Astronomy and Astrophysics: The framework can help predict the distribution of mass in newly formed star systems or galaxies, offering insights into their long-term evolution.
• Ecology and Agriculture: By understanding how biomass is distributed according to the framework, we can better manage ecosystems, optimize agricultural production, and make informed decisions about conservation efforts.
• Economics and Social Sciences: The framework can be used to model markets, predict economic trends, and understand the dynamics of social influence and network effects.

Addressing Systemic Instabilities

Another critical aspect of the Prime Framework is its ability to highlight potential risks and instabilities within a system. Just as Jupiter’s continued mass accumulation could eventually lead to the destabilization of the solar system, unchecked accumulation of resources or influence in any system could result in imbalances, much like economic bubbles. Recognizing these patterns allows for proactive management and interventions to prevent potential crises.

Visualization of the Pareto principle, source: https://openup.com/self-guided-care/blog/pareto-principle/

Conclusion

The Prime Framework offers a powerful tool for understanding the underlying patterns that govern the distribution of mass and relational weight across various systems. By recognizing the roles of 2nd order, 3rd order, and higher primes within these systems, we can gain valuable insights into their structure, predict their evolution, and manage them more effectively. Whether applied to the cosmos, the biosphere, or human society, the Prime Framework provides a universal principle that simplifies and clarifies the complexity of the world around us.