Deathly Hallows Predictions Revisted

About a year ago, on my old blog, I posted my predictions for the final book in the Harry Potter series. I am not a Harry Potter nut but I must say that I really enjoy the series and I certainly put other things aside when a new book comes out. And as the excitement for the combined Harry Potter book and movie assault which hits in July continues to build, I was interested in reviewing my predictions for the final book, which I honestly haven't thought about much since I originally posted them.

Here they were:
1.) Harry, Ron, and Hermione will go back to Hogwarts. Even though at the end of book six Harry has plans of the opposite and as much as I would like the book if they didn’t go back to Hogwarts – they will. The author isn’t going to have her major characters be drop outs and the spines on the book say “Book Blah at Hogwarts”. It would be pretty lame if they didn’t go back then. It could be that the Order of the Phoenix will move their headquarters here so that parents feel safe sending there kids there.

2.) Dumbledore stays dead. I’ve read a lot of the evidence to the contrary but let me tell you that the only reason for JK Rowling to bring Dumbledore back would be for fan service. The book is called Harry Potter and facing Voldemort is something Harry has to do alone. Also, Dumbledore has been a great mentor figure throughout the series but there is simply nothing left for him to further teach Harry. Dumbledore has served his purpose and his time has come and gone. If you think of it from the author’s perspective – Dumbledore being dead makes Harry’s story stronger and more resonate. I hate to make the connection between Dumbledore and Obi-Wan Kenobi but it is certainly there.

3.) Snape is revealed to be a good guy - finally. Obviously, Snape killed Dumbledore at the end of book 6 – which makes him look bad. But we know that Snape entered into an Unbreakable Vow with Narcissa, Draco's mother, (without knowing what he was agreeing to) to maintain his cover and try to figure out Voldemort’s plan. To maintain that vow, Snape had to kill Dumbledore – there was just no getting around it. We also know that Snape had made a vow to Dumbledore too- Hagrid says he overheard Snape telling Dumbledore he didn't want to do "it" anymore and Dumbledore told him he had to do it. If we assume the "it" is kill him so Draco didn't have to, then Snape is locked into two vows with two different people to perform the same duty. For those of you who disagree and say, “But he Avada Kedavra’d him!” read this… on page 571 when Harry was forcing Dumbledore to drink the potion in the cave it says, “Hating himself, repulsed by what he was doing, Harry forced the goblet…” the key words are “hating and repulsed”. Harry hates himself for having to do this to Dumbledore. Now, look at page 595 just as Snape is about to use the killing curse on Dumbledore, JK Rowling writes, “Snape gazed for a moment at Dumbledore, and there was revulsion and hatred etched in the harsh lines of his face.” The key words are “revulsion and hatred”- almost the exact wording Rowling used to describe the act Harry performed just a few pages back. They both hate themselves for having to do something to destroy Dumbledore. When Snape used Avada Kedavra on Dumbledore the effect was that Dumbledore was “blasted into the air” as it says on page 596. However, every other time we have seen this curse used in the series the victim has simply fallen down dead. We know that Snape is a master of occulemency- it seems like he said “Avada Kedavra” but thought something else and that was the curse that was used on Dumbledore- not Avada Kedavra. Maybe Snape didn't have it in him to actually cast the killing curse on Dumbledore. And after all of this when Harry is doing his best to take out Snape but Snape just keeps on blocking him he says "Blocked again and again and again until you learn to keep your mouth shut and your mind closed, Potter!" (page 603). He isn't mocking Harry - he is telling him what he has to do when he finally faces Voldemort. So after all this in book 6, Snape will be in a postion with Voldemort to give Harry a helping hand when needed - so he will and he will die in the process. Then Harry will realize how wrong he was about Snape and he will take the brick out of his underpants.

4.) Regulus Black (Sirius’ brother) is R.A.B. from the note in the cave where the locket should have been. Obviously, the name fits but there are other reasons. JK Rowling uses many references from history and here is the story of historical Regulus. Marcus Atilius Regulus was a Roman General in the first Punic War and fought the Carthaginians in Africa. He was soundly defeated at the Battle of Tunis and taken prisoner. He was held captive for five years when, after the defeat of the Carthaginians at Panormus, he was sent to Rome to negotiate peace. He did the exact opposite and urged the Romans to refuse any agreements. He then honored his parole and returned to Carthage where he was tortured to death. While his death is considered more of a legend than historical fact, he is a symbol of a martyr/hero. In the books, Sirius hates his brother because he was a Death Eater. Sirius says that the Death Eaters turned on him for some reason and killed him. Combining that knowledge with the information in the note left by R.A.B. and we see that Regulus was much more like his brother (and historical Regulus) than previously thought and this leads us to number 5.

5.) Harry has to track down the locket because Mundungus has sold it. We know that the horcrux locket that should have been in the cave at the end of book 6 was taken by R.A.B. In fact, it was actually at Sirius’s house, 12 Grimmauld Place, in book 5. It is mentioned on page 116 in the last paragraph. As they are cleaning, they find “a heavy locket that none of them could open” Why is it there? We don’t know but perhaps Regulus couldn’t open it (because he can’t speak parseltongue – it was Salazar Slytherin’s locket) or didn’t have time to destroy it before he was found out by the Death Eaters. So he stashed it at his house. In book 6, Harry runs into Mundungus who is trying to sell stolen items from the Black House at the Three Broomsticks. With Rowling’s writing style, you know there is a connection. This discussion of horcruxes leads us to number six.

6.) Harry discovers that he is a horcrux. Even Dumbledore doesn’t know where or even what all of the horcruxes are. They only really know of 4 parts: Voldemort himself, the Journal from book 2 that is destroyed, the ring that Dumbledore took care of, and the locket discussed above. Dumbledore only has theories of the rest and he makes a point of saying that they are just theories. Dumbledore does theorize that Voldemort was going to make a horcrux as he was trying to kill Harry – with Nagini as the vessel. We know that when Voldemort tried to kill Harry when he was a baby he transferred some of his power into him. Also we have part of the prophecy to consider: “and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives.” What if, during the backfire of Voldemort’s spell, Harry became a living vessel for a horcrux of Voldemort? That leads us to number 7.

7.) Harry Potter will die. Not only does Harry’s death make for a better story, but it makes sense if the "Harry is a horcrux" theory is true. Harry will realize that he must die in the process of killing Voldemort for him to be completely destroyed. He will plan accordingly after destroying all of the other horcruxes. But don’t worry because we still have Fawkes, the Phoenix who will give up his immortality to return Harry back to life. In the books, we don't know that this is an ability of a Phoenix - but it is a common Phoenix ability in stories and myths. Also Rowling has dropped other abilities of Fawkes on us before that weren't explained like when Dumbledore used him to teleport away from inside Hogwarts. It is possible that he may have just set him up as a port key but I doubt it since other beings, such as house elves, can apparate from inside Hogwarts without being affected by this restriction.

After re-reading them and using this blog entry as an excuse to repost them, I have to say that I still agree with all of my predictions. I still think bringing back Dumbledore would be a mis-step and I would actually love to see Rowling have the balls to kill off Harry for real and leave him dead, but I would be surprised if she did. Whatever happens, I think she is going to be hard pressed to wrap up all of the subplots and answer all of my questions in the final book, but here's hoping...