Creating Awesome Essays: Learning from ‘In Shadow of the Study’

The magical universe of the Harry Potter franchise mesmerizes millions all over. The fantastic beasts, the beautiful locales, the plethora of characters, the extensive & engaging lore, amazing spells, magical books, flying brooms, Quid ditch, Tormentor, and Death-Eaters – J. K. Rowling created a fascinating setting replete with all the necessary ingredients of an epic and wonderful world of fantasy. Yet, despite all the magical and fantastic elements, the Potterverse is still thoroughly humane to the core. The trials and tribulations of boy-wizard, the unbreakable bond between Potter, Weasley, & Granger, the fight against an overwhelmingly powerful evil, and the all-pervading themes of friendship, brotherhood, sacrifice, and love are some of the biggest reasons why almost everybody can connect with the stories.

Students, in particular, can connect very closely with Harry’s adventures & misadventures as a student of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry. And, with the release of Hogwarts Legacy, a 2023 action role-playing game, one can create their character and play as a student-wizard of Hogwarts. Just like in the original novels, your created character undertakes different kinds of quests and adventures in a bid to solve mysteries, defeat antagonists, and level up their skills.

But how do quests and missions in Hogwart’s legacy relate to essay writing? Well, you might not be using magical spells to finish essay assignments instantly, but crafting an excellent write-up is uncannily similar to finishing quests successfully in Hogwarts Legacy. Here, in this article, essay writing experts of MyAssignmentHelp.Co.Uk, the UK’s largest essay and law assignment help service, use the context of one particularly exciting quest to present an intuitive essay writing roadmap.

Read on to find out.

‘In The Heart of The Study’

 The Essence of Essay Writing in a Slytherin Side-Quest

In the Heart of The Study is a side-quest given to the protagonist, the player character in Hogwarts Legacy, by a student of the Slytherin House, Sebastian Sallow. A major side-character in the game, Sebastian is a no-nonsense individual who’s hell-bent on finding a cure for his sister, Anne, who was cursed with an incurable illness.

Sebastian Sallow is a Slytherin and, as expected, has an affinity with the Dark Arts & the Unforgivable curses. Sebastian respects strength and power & befriends the player character after witnessing their potential in a duel. He becomes your Slytherin companion, and the quests he offers will help the player character gain mastery over the Dark Arts, getting them one step close to becoming an incredibly powerful wizard.

In the Shadow of the Study is Sebastian Sallow’s second relationship quest. He gives you certain objectives, and you have to achieve them by solving puzzles, overcoming obstacles, & using your skills. Success rewards you with experience and the infamous Unforgivable Curse, Crucio.

Now, let’s look at the stages of this quest & how they are similar to the stages of essay writing.

In the Shadow of Studying Essay Writing

  • Sebastian Sallow tasks the player character with finding Salazar Slytherin’s Scriptorium. They meet in the Slytherin common room and discuss their objectives.

This is quite similar to your teachers delegating an essay assignment to you and discussing the requirements in detail with you. Sebastian asking for the player character’s help aid in finding the Scriptorium can also be considered similar to students engaging in a group task to achieve something bigger, such as a semester or final-year project.

  • Nobody in Hogwarts knows where Slytherin’s Scriptorium is. Sebastian, the player, and Sebastian’s close friend, Ominis Gaunt, together embark on the search. The player character and Sebastian persuade Ominis to accompany and guide them. Ominis is an expert, as his aunt, Nocturna Gaunt, was also looking for the hidden Scriptorium and died during her search.

Ominis was also interested in knowing more about his aunt’s disappearance. But, like his aunt, he was wary of the corrupting influence of the Dark Arts.

Think of Ominis as a subject matter or essay writing expert whom you seek out to help you in an essay or assignment writing. The objectives and the challenges of solving tough & extensive problems can be overwhelming. Experts can come in handy, then.

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  • Throughout the quest, the trio find hidden and scattered notes from Nocturna that help them immensely.

Also, the notes of Nocturna Gaunt are akin to the information you acquire to develop your essay.

  • Theylocate the Scriptorium by looking for information sources and researching about the task & topic at hand. The first major challenge is opening the Slytherin’s door, the doorway to the Scriptorium.

All the information they found and both Sebastian’s & Ominis’ own research helped them locate the doorway to the chamber. Similarly, your initial research and data collection get you ready to pen down the first draft of an essay.

And, just like Slytherin’s Door, the first major challenge is to develop an engaging narrative and/or a strong argument for your essay.

  • The story is one of the strong points of the game. Reviews heap praise upon both the main quest and specific side quests, especially Sebastian Sallow’s quests.

A good story/narrative is also critical for a good essay. Essays are not a hodgepodge or a patchy fabric of myriad ideas stitched together abruptly. There must be cohesion and an overall narrative that flows smoothly & seamlessly across the entire content.

Be it a narrative, descriptive, argumentative or synthesis essay, an underlying narrative is a must for an A+ essay.

  • Subsequent challenges on the path to the Scriptorium were many and myriad. They go on to:
    • Using the Reparo spell to repair a broken art piece;
    • Listen to a voice (that only Ominis can hear), understand & use what it says to unlock a gate
    • Look for clues all around
    • Use their head to solve a series of puzzles
    • Crawl and climb through tight spaces & over slopes
    • Suffer the intense pain of getting a Cruciatus curse cast upon oneself (optional), and finally,
    • Find a book belonging to Salazar Slytherin in the Scriptorium main chamber, thereby completing the side quest.

Each of the above stages/sub-tasks is similar to the different sub-tasks in essay writing, such as

  • Developing an intriguing introduction
    • Writing a strong and debatable thesis statement
    • Crafting cohesive and well-written body paragraphs, each connected and together answering the essay question.
    • Wrapping things up with a convincing conclusion

Your language & essay writing skills and all the information gathered are critical to developing a top-notch essay. Quite similar to how the player character’s skills and the research done by Ominis & Sebastian help them overcome the different challenges/puzzles and find the main chamber.

  • The gist of the matter is that the different sub-tasks/obstacles/challenges of the side-quest, ‘In the Shadow of The Study’, are strikingly similar to the sub-tasks and challenges inherent in an essay writing process.

The final reward, Salazar’s Diary, is the A+ you receive after submitting a very well-written essay. Hard work, writing skills, and research & data collation are essential, similar to how the trio work hard, research information, & use their skills & knowledge to traverse all challenges & find the ultimate reward.

Both an A+ and Salazar’s Diary are not easy to come by, and that’s one of the biggest ways this side-quest of Hogwarts Legacy mirrors a generic essay writing process.

Well, that’s about it for this write-up. Whenever you are put down by monotony or really hard essay/assignment problems, think differently. Think out of the box about the task at hand, use your imagination to make things interesting, and consider them challenges on your road to becoming better.