Monday, July 18, 2005

Will Harry kill Voldemort and other questions (Spoilers)

Yes it's another Harry Potter post, but I make no apology for that - this series is on my mind now I've read the newest book (and in fact I am still re-reading it)...

I've been wondering - and discussing with others on the Child_Lit emailing list - whether Harry will kill Voldemort in book 7. After all the prophecy does not say Harry has to kill Voldemort, it says that "either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives. (Order of the Phoenix, p. 741) and I think that can be interpreted as Harry doing something that causes Voldemort's death, without Harry actually needing to use the Avada Kedavra curse. Perhaps Harry will choose to forgive Voldemort, who will kill himself in remorse/disgust ? Or perhaps Voldemort will fall to his death in a convenient volcano (oops, wrong universe !) ? After all, Voldemort is mortal now and therefore killable by fairly ordinary means... Perhaps Harry will lead Voldemort into the Forbidden Forest where Aragog's descendants will attack him, aided by the centaurs ? OK, I admit it, I'm being rather facetious now. But I think that makes the point that Harry doesn't necessarily need to use the worst of the Unforgivable Curses on Voldemort, especially since Dumbledore kept telling Harry that he has a power that Voldemort does not, the power to love. And killing Voldemort won't demonstrate that love, unless, of course, Harry sacrifices himself to do it.

What I've also been wondering is why Dumbledore immobilised Harry on the top of the Astronomy Tower when Draco turned up ? I think that he knew Harry would have attacked Draco, and possibly have prevented Snape from fulfilling his vow. It seems likely that Dumbledore knew of Draco's Task and Snape's Vow - presumably Snape told Dumbledore about both, and Dumbledore told him that he would sacrifice himself to protect both Draco (believing that Draco wouldn't be able to kill him) and Snape himself. That would also explain the look of revulsion on Snape's face when Harry calls him a coward - he had to kill Dumbledore or die himself, and he chose to kill Dumbledore, the man who had given him a second chance, rather than dying himself. This would also explain why Dumbledore told Harry to fetch Snape once they got back to Hogsmeade, rather than fetch Madam Pomfrey, as Harry wanted. Dumbledore knew he was dying of whatever the potion was that he'd been drinking to get at the Horcrux, so he was giving Snape a way of keeping his Vow by finishing off Dumbledore, and of protecting Draco as well. But it didn't quite work out as Dumbledore intended because Draco had set things in motion as well, setting off the Dark Mark and bringing in the Death-Eaters.

Anyway that's enough speculation for one day - I've got a book to read !

2 comments:

thegamesafoot said...

Don't forget the arguement between Dumbledore and Snape where Snape pleads "What if I don't want to do it anymore" and Dumbledore replies "You said you would do it and that's that" (sorry, I don't remember the page)

It seems obvious to me that Snape killed Dumbledore on Dumbledore's orders. Dumbledore knew about the vow because he was quick to evade Harry's Draco accusations. No headmaster would take that lightly after what had happened.

Also, I trust Dumbledore. I say enough with doubting him. He is a very old, wise, incredible Wizard who's been through a lot worse. Even in his weak state, he would NOT have been killed in such a way had he not ALLOWED it. It was quite plainly staged.

Ahhhh, now I was dying to put my 2 cents in. Interesting bog, thanks. Oddment, blubber, tweak

Michele said...

Indeed, I haven't forgotten that little argument (p. 380). And you're quite right that it looks as if the "murder" of Dumbledore was staged. I'm quite sure that Dumbledore wouldn't have ignored Harry's news about Draco if he hadn't already known what was going on - but then I think Harry's forgotten that Dumbledore is very good at Occlumency: I noticed more than once that the narrator says something along the lines that "it was if Dumbledore had read his mind" - which I found irritating because *of course* Dumbledore had read Harry's mind, when he can do Occlumency, and he's such a great wizard, he probably doesn't even need his wand to do it, especially since we know that Harry was bad at it...

You forgot one, you know : "Nitwit. Oddment. Blubber. Tweak." :-D