Repository: a list of all connections between The Hallmarked Man and Order of the Phoenix.

I realized as I was working on a recent alchemical post that I had never compiled all the connections between The Hallmarked Man and Order of the Phoenix in one place. So, I am setting this post up as a repository, and will update it if any others show up.  

Suggestions for links to other Harry Potter books are also welcome.  See here for the echoes to Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

THM links to other even-numbered books can be found here. 

THM links to Career of Evil and Troubled Blood can be found here. 

Onto the full list!

• 
  There is a  secret society at the heart of the story, and referenced in the title: 
• The Order of the Phoenix is a secret society founded by Dumbledore to fight Lord Voldemort. 
• If we consider the titular "Hallmarked Man" the body in the vault, the mark made on him was a Masonic symbol. 
• The news media sets out to defame and discredit both books' male protagonists through misleading and outright false stories. 
• This is seen in the Daily Prophet's vendettas against both Dumbledore and Harry, and in Dominic Culpepper's campaign against Strike. 
• The protagonist's female best friend (Hermione, Robin) convinces him to speak with a journalist he knows who is willing to publish the truth from our hero's perspective (Rita Skeeter, Fergus Robertson). 
• Although Strike's loss occurs at the beginning of the book, and Harry's at the end, both experience the death of the only father figure (Ted, Sirius Black) they have ever known. 
• Other similarities between Sirius and Ted:
• Sirius was wealthy and meant to be Harry's guardian; he left his fortune and the family home to Harry (though we don't learn this until HBP).
• In THM, we learn Ted's given name is Edward, which means "wealthy guardian"; he left the family home to Strike and Lucy.   
• Neither Ted nor Sirius was ever Strike or Harry's legal guardian, though they served in that role, at least for a time. 
• Both Ted and Sirius hated their father/parents, left home at a young age and did not return until the parents were dead. 
• Both Strike and Harry spend considerable time cleaning out their de facto guardian's home, although Sirius is present for the purge and Ted is not. 
• Strike plays the role of Sirius, wanting to get rid of most of the house contents. 
• Lucy plays the role of Kreacher, desperate to hold onto everything. 
• Both are mentioned as having special attachment to pants: a pair of Ted's old gardening trousers was one of the listed items that Lucy pored over; Sirius caught Kreacher sobbing over a pair of his father's old trousers. 
• The Lucy-Kreacher connection is logical in light of Katy McDaniel's "Elfin Mystique" paper arguing for the similarity of the house-elf to the house-wife. 
• This raises the possibility that something Lucy saved from the house, like the Locket Horcrux, could turn out to be important later. 
• If it's a piece of jewelry, it could be Joan's engagement ring, which would connect to one of the charm bracelet clues. 
• Ted served in the Army; Strike followed in his footsteps. Sirius (and James Potter) served in the first Wizarding War under Dumbledore; Harry followed in their footsteps by creating Dumbledore's Army. 
• Sirius broke the pattern of pureblood superiority and bigotry that had persisted in the Black family for generations; Ted broke the pattern of alcoholism and abuse that had persisted in the Nancarrow family for generations.  
• Together, Kim Cochran and Dino Longcaster take the place of Dolores Umbridge.  
• Kim and Umbridge are both newcomers to the agency/Hogwarts, and begin making trouble for Robin/Harry (and others) as soon as they arrive.  
• Both weaponize their femininity: Umbridge through girlishness and frillyness; Kim through sexuality.  (Hat-tip to the Three Broomsticks). 
• Underneath the veneer, both are pretty much evil incarnate: selfish, manipulative, deceptive and power-hungry. 
• Umbridge gains the power to inspect the other teachers and tell them how they should be doing their jobs; Kim tries to critique the other detectives : telling Strike that Robin doesn't disguise herself properly and complaining about the way Midge keeps her files. 
• Both get their comeuppance at the end, in a way that initially seems just deserts and even comical. (Umbridge dragged off by centaurs, Kim humiliated at the Goring). 
• However, when considered fully, there aspects of sexual violence embedded in the consequences that should trouble us. 
• Kim Cochran was the target of a sexual crime when she was viewed and photographed performing sex acts without consent. 
• Strike showed a bit of a cruel streak when he threatened to expose her. 
• Dolores Umbridge was left traumatized after being carried off by creatures best known in mythology for raping women. 
• Ron showed a bit of a cruel streak when he made a game of startling her with hoofbeat noises in the hospital wing. 
• Dino Longcaster was also very Umbridge-like when he speaks with Robin in his over-decorated room and insists she have a drink with him. 
• His pictures of dogs and horses, along with his actual white dog, are the masculine equivalent to the fluffy kitten plates. 
• He's not dressed in pink like Umbridge, but gives Robin unsolicited fashion advice that results in her buying a pink dress. 
• Red herrings: Much ado was made about the prophecy and the potential for it being a valuable weapon in Voldemort's hands, but it turned out to be pretty meaningless and more of a distraction than anything else. Much ado was made of the Masonic connections to the body in the vault, but that turned out to be a red herring designed to distract from the true nature of the crime, as well. 
• Agency subcontractor Barclay was arrested trying to break into the dog-fighting compound; Order member Sturgis Podmore was arrested trying to break into the Department of Mysteries. 
• Christmas Connections:
• Vomiting:  Harry throws up after having the vision of Mr. Weasley's snake attack; Robin throws up after too much whiskey on Christmas Eve, while Strike is vomited on by young Hector at Lucy's Christmas party. 
• Isolation: Strike doesn't want to mix and mingle with Lucy's guests at her Christmas party and isolates himself as much as possible. Harry initially isolates himself from his friends gathering at #12 Grimmauld, fearing he could be possessed by Voldemort. 
• It may be a stretch, but the way people kept approaching Strike and annoying him at the party reminds me of the portraits at St. Mungo's pursuing Ron, claiming he has spattergroit and needs to go stand in a barrel of eels. 
• Unused shiny/silver gifts: Harry gets the Two-way Mirror from Sirius that he hides in his trunk and doesn't dare use. Robin gets the charm bracelet from Strike that she hides in her evening bag and doesn't dare wear. 
• Sirius gave the mirror hoping Harry would be able to communicate with him, but Harry doesn't think to use it when he needs it. Strike gave Robin the bracelet to try to communicate his love for her, but she represses that aspect of the gift, refusing to believe that is what it meant. 
• Blasts from the past:  At Lucy's Christmas party, Strike encounters someone annoying that he first met in Book Two of the series: Marguerite. At the Christmas visit to St. Mungo's, Harry and friends meet someone annoying that they first met in Book Two of the series: Gilderoy Lockhart. 
• Both would rather avoid this person, but are coerced into making small talk. 
• Robin describes Murphy as having sudden "cobra strikes" of anger. Harry, when he looks at Dumbledore, also has a flash of anger and feels like a snake ready to strike and kill him. 
• Harry has words carved into the back of his hand; Tylor Powell has the Masonic cross carved on his back. 
• Harry has a bad Valentine's day row with Cho; Robin has a bad Valentine's Day row with Murphy. 
• Cho's jealousy of Hermione was a factor in the former; Murphy's jealousy of Strike was a factor in the latter. 
• Harry did not respond to Cho in the way she wanted/expected at Madame Puddifoot's; Robin did not respond to Murphy the way he wanted/expected when he called to tell her about the gazumping. 
• Robin was urged to go house-hunting with Murphy and agreed to it, even though she really did not want to. Harry was told to take Occulmency lessons with Snape, and agreed to it, even though he really did not want to. 
• The Occlumency lessons end because Harry peeked into the Pensieve and discovered Snape's worst memory, which Snape had tried to hide from Harry.  The house-buying ends because Robin peeked into Murphy's gym bag and discovers his vodka-filled water bottle, which Murphy had tried to hide from Robin.
• Both stir up past events that make Snape and Murphy feel shame and embarrassment. 
• Harry and friends have a rough trip back to Hogwarts on the Knight Bus; Robin and Strike have a rough plane ride back to London from Sark thanks to Storm Doris. 
• Robin, after hearing from Valentine about Strike's supposed battering of Charlotte, immediately needs to call Ilsa. Harry, after seeing his father bully Snape in the Pensieve, feels an urgent need to talk to Sirius.
• In both cases, the conversations attempt to bring reassurance; Ilsa assures Robin Strike was never violent; Lupin and Sirius assure Harry James grew out of his bullying and was a good man. 
• Both conversations put the caller in danger: Harry risks Umbridge catching him in her office; Robin is accosted by the man in the gorilla mask when talking to Ilsa. 
• Strike uses skeleton keys to break into Todd's mother's apartment; Harry uses Sirius's knife to break into Umbridge's office. 
• Both are caught and face consequences from authorities. 
• Strike's meets his biological father in THM and learns Rokeby also has a Sirius connection:  he was estranged from his parents, left home at a young age, and was taken in by his best friend's parents. 
• The climax of the story happens when Strike and Harry both break into a building, anticipating a rescue mission (the Ministry, Griffith's house). 
• Both are accompanied by friends.
• Both go underground and have to fight against enemies who outnumber them. 
• The end result is a number of bad guys are rounded up and arrested. 
• While Luna and Pat are very different characters, both offer a measure of comfort to the devastated Harry and Strike at the end, through their characteristically straightforward speech. 

What about connections to other Harry Potter books?  To be honest, I haven't found many.  Uncle Ted echoed the Barty Crouch Jr's (disguised as Mad-eye Moody) advice to "play to your strengths."  Dominic Culpepper channels a bit of Rita Skeeter in GoF, where she was determined to dig up dirt on people, and specifically roused the same sort of ire at Hermione that Culpepper tried to raise in Strike. But, overall, it seems that THM, the third-from-the-last Strike book has some pretty specific parallels to OotP, the third-to-the-last Potter book. 

This sets the scene for Sleep Tight, Evangeline to echo The Half-Blood Prince. Will we see modern London counterparts to doctored potion texts, Pensieves, sea caves or fake locket horcruxes?  Will The Vengeant Gillespie return, Slughorn-like, eager to capitalize on connections with the powerful and famous? Will an infatuated female client try to slip a sparkly "My Sweetheart" necklace around "Corm-corm's" neck? Will a father figure die at the end? (Strike has none left besides Rokeby, but Robin still has Michael, and both he and Rokeby have health issues).  Will a spider die?  Time will tell. 

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