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Reader Comments: (Page 8)

Just something to consider. Voldemort said that "Lily needn't have d". why wouldn't Voldemort just her. Considering that she was a mudblood.
JK said that the fact that harry has lily's eyes is very important.
Lord Voldemort is a very accomplished legilimens. Direct EYE contact is essential.

Posted by aaron from kansas on March 24, 2007 12:28 AM

Great article. Two Points: Harry is not a great wizard, he has not yet acquired the experience or training to defeat voldemort in a duel. he not acquire this training in book 7. Harry's greatest power is his ingness to forget himself and throw himself blindly into harms way for the sake of others, Ginny in COS, Cedric in GOF, Fleur's sister in GOF, etc.
2. The second most important character in these books is Snape. He is a great wizard. he has it in him to defeat the dark lord, he but needs the driving need to make him do it. so what i propose is that Harry sacrifice himself for Snape and give Snape his chance at the two things he wants most, Eternal glory and redemption.

Posted by tim from St Louis on March 24, 2007 03:55 AM

Melissa,
That is exactly what I was getting at, Voldemort's spells behave in a way he can't predict because of Harry's blood. You have to really mean it to use the AK curse, and I think the blood he used negate some of the evil intent.
I like how you compare the effect to the Priori Incantatem. This all happened at the graveyard, the use of Harry's blood and then the PI effect.
Speaking of the graveyard, I find it significant that Voldemort used the bone of his father, not his mother. His father had no magical abilities but was chosen, I imagine, because Merope chose not to live for her son. The exact opposite of Lily's love.

Posted by Patty from Quincy MA on March 24, 2007 08:19 AM

Aaron: Voldemort was LYING when he said that. He was trying to fool Harry to give him the stone.

Posted by Dave Haber from Los Angeles, CA on March 24, 2007 08:28 AM

Love, blood and sacrifice keep cropping up in the preceding posts, and I have a thought!

This is not muggle love that we're dealing with here, but Love as an actual magical force - so powerful the door to the room in which it is stud in the Department of Magic is kept locked.

There have been layers of magical protection aplied to Harry though the course of the book; the blood protection of the Dursley's for one, and the powerful Love sacrifice of his mother that saved him at the very start.

It is also clear that the two things that Voldemort can't comprehend are Love and (as is witnessed by his obsession with immortality). He is no more able to consider self sacrifice, than he is to feel affection. I feel that it is here that the roots of his destruction lay.

Imagine a position where harry is faced with sacrificing himself for the lives of those he loves; I feel there is no doubt what he do.

If his mother's Love sacrifice was powerful enough to almost destroy Voldemort, Harry's self sacrifice be even more powerful.

Could Voldemort resist ing Harry if the oppourtunity was offered? Of course not! And that's when it happens; he fires off the coup de grace, and BOOM! Rebound, amplified by the direct blood link between the two, and it's all over, curtains, and out to the lobby for drinks!

I think that the erudite Dave is toying with us here - playing Devil's advocate to stir up debate. But his premise about Harry's power to employ the magic of Love is essentially well worth considering.

Amor vincit omnia -Love conquers all!

PS. I worry about Ron; when faced with the choice of himself or Harry surviving to face Voldemort in Philosopher's Stone, what's the first thing he does? Sacrifices himself! And stories run in circles - they end where they began. I worry, I really do!

Posted by Goff Morgan from Newport, Wales UK on March 24, 2007 10:51 AM

At first i did find the concept of harry going up to voldermort and giving him a bear hug and going "I LOVE YOU" hysterical, but now i see that it could be a possibility but it sounds a bit far off! J.K Rowlings brilliant mind wouldn't make something as simple as that the ending. But the love part makes a lot of sense. Harry as Dumbledore say, is just to young to understnd the power of love. J.K.Rowling is really smart!

Posted by Anisah from England on March 24, 2007 12:19 PM

Great article, although i think the idea of Harry giving Voldemort a hug and saying "i love you" is just a tad far fetched. I do agree that the final showdown be a duel between Harry and Voldemort and 'love' be involved, just not as forward as the article suggests.

Posted by Joel from Fort Scott, Kansas, US on March 24, 2007 4:18 PM

Goff from Wales, that sounds like a very workable scenario. That's exactly the sort of thing that would fit the set up. There is also the possibility of Fawkes having something to do with it all. We have already seen him take a ing curse for Voldemort and be reborn, and he has healed Harry twice, once on the point of . We know Snape and Pettigrew have parts to play and I think also Ginny Weasley. She's too important to Harry now not to have a big part. I think Lupin also be involved. Of the senior members of the Order now that Sirius and Dumbledore are gone, he is the one that Harry is likely to turn to as a mentor and guide. I think he loves Harry as deeply as either Sirius or Dumbledore. The difficulty is fitting the whole thing together.
Has Rowling actually said that two people are going to ? If so it might well be a complete pair. Lupin and Tonks. Hermione and Ron. The Weasley twins. Bill and Fleur. Ginny and Harry...
While I like my happy endings, I have to trust Rowling enough as a writer to make whatever happens work.

Posted by Elizabeth from Australia on March 24, 2007 5:05 PM

Yes, Anisah, J.K.Rowling is very smart! One of the reasons everyone identifies with her writing is that it centers around universal truths, that we all know in our hearts.

At the end of Half-Blood Prince, Harry and Dumbledore discuss the prophecy and it is brought home to Harry that he does not have to pursue Voldemort because of the prophecy - that he can just walk away if he chooses - but Voldemort believes in the prophecy so he pursue Harry until the final showdown. Harry understands that this isn't his fight from hatred of Voldemort, or desire for power, etc., but he is choosing to fight him because of the evil Voldemort is spreading throughout the world, and Harry's family and friends continue to suffer. So, in this way, Harry is distancing his heart (that is feeling love for his friends) from the feelings of hatred and anger that he had been working on until then. He can be angry at Voldemort for his actions (pure evil), but in his heart feel compassion for Tom the orphan. I think JKR is trying to teach us this lesson that we can "love" someone and still despise their actions.

Posted by Raow from Petaluma, CA, USA on March 24, 2007 5:41 PM

It is my opinion that Voldemort be defeated by his own AK curse rebounding in the same way as his powers were destroyed etc in the beginning. Love be crucial in this obviously but not the protection from Lily's love cos the regeneration spell seems to mess that up. We know that more people are going to ; I think someone else sacrifice themself for Harry and give him the same sort of protection, Voldemort perform the AK and it rebound on him again, but because Harry has done all the work destroying all the horcruxes, when the curse rebounds Voldemort finally (woohoo!)

The one I think would sacrifice himself for Harry is Neville, I'm convinced he is going to play a fairly major role, he's too closely linked not to, especially with all the original ambiguity in the prophecy before Voldemort "marked" Harry. And if Neville s in this way, his grandmother would finally be proud of him the way she should be.

Another way the rebound idea would work (yes I definitely think it be a rebounded AK that finishes Voldemort, imagine him destroying himself - his thirst for power etc forcing him into the unknown he fears so much) would be for Harry to be ing to sacrifice himself for wizardkind. Harry's love, not only for his friends etc who have earned it, but also for people he doesn't even know would surely be enough of a match for evil Voldemort.

I personally like this idea a lot, particularly as it means Harry can destoy Voldemort without having to commit . And let's not forget "Love conquers all"

Posted by Helen from Newcastle, UK on March 24, 2007 7:33 PM

As I mentioned earlier I don't see Harry defeating Vol in a duel. This has been alluded to in the books. If Dumbledore couldn't then how on earth could Harry? Thus far he's survived when duelling with Vol by a combination of luck, his wits, his reactions, ingenuity and a large dose of help from those that love him. Dumbledore has spoken before on Vol's power, his mastery of some incredibly advanced magic, I don't see Harry as a 17 year-old being in a position even in some form of "love rage" to find the s and experince from somewhere to defeat a wizard of Vol's might.

So, if we use this as a starting point then speculate on how he'd destroy Vol outside of simply casting Avada Kedavra etc. then I side with the "all for one and one for all" theory. Harry unite the disparate individuals and groups who are threatened by Vol, he'll be the catalyst and together Harry and his friends, giants, centaurs etc. overwhelm Vol. Harry deliver the coup de grace in the form of a shove into the "love room" at the ministry.

Or...

Harry goes the "Father Damian Karras" route and somehow forces Vol to posses him and manages to sacrifice himself ing Vol in the process.

we're looking for the silver bullet when there might not be one.

Posted by Mysterious Cat from England on March 25, 2007 01:24 AM

I definately think one of the Weasleys is going to be ed off -- Ron seems most likely for the above stated reasons.

Also, Patty: Nice observation about the blood/PI corelation. It really supports the idea of Harry not being the one to finish Voldy off. I also like the observation about the bone and mothers...I won't be at all supprised to see that pop up.

Posted by Tim from Flagstaff, AZ on March 25, 2007 02:31 AM

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