The Deathly Hallows symbol from Harry Potter has become a modern icon that shows up everywhere from necklaces to tattoos.
But it has a surprising secret origin, as revealed by JK Rowling in the BBC's new documentary Harry Potter: A History of Magic.
The writer spoke about drawing a sketch of the character Professor Sprout and watching a film at the same time that her mother died 250 miles away.
The film she had been watching was John Huston's 1975 movie The Man Who Would Be King, a Rudyard Kipling adaptation starring Sean Connery, Michael Caine, Saeed Jaffrey and Christopher Plummer.
"The Masonic symbol is very important in that movie," said Rowling. "And it was literally 20 years later that I looked at the sign of the Deathly Hallows and realised how similar they were."
The Deathly Hallows symbol – a vertical line and circle enclosed by a triangle – represents three legendary Harry Potter artifacts: the Elder Wand, the Resurrection Stone and the Cloak of Invisibility.
The Masonic Square and Compasses symbol forms a similar triangular shape.
"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?'" Rowling continued.
"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."
Harry Potter: A History of Magic was released to coincide with the exhibition of the same name at the British Library.
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