My take on the Forest scene (also posted on Main)

[Steve]

--- In HPFGU-Movie at yahoogroups.com, "Geoff" <geoffbannister123 at ...> wrote:
>
> As Steve remarked on a recent Main post "Each to his own"; what 
> follows are my own thoughts on the meeting between Voldemort 
> and Harry in the forest.
> 
> In the early days after the publication of the book and in the 
> sometimes intense discussions which took place, I made the point 
> on a number of occasions that my belief was that Harry did NOT 
> die in the Forest encounter and quoted canon to support my view:
> 
> ...
>

Steve replies:

Sorry, just wanted to add that that was a pretty concise and accurate description of what happened. And, for the very most part, I agree. 

I would add that while Harry was in Limbo, it seemed as if Voldemort was also in Limbo, but held there by Harry's fate. If Harry doesn't go back, I'm not sure Voldemort could go back. Though perhaps, I'm not certain, he would have again been left as a disembodied spirit. 

I find it interesting that Voldemort failed to kill Harry the first time because of Lily's protection. The protection of her self-sacrifice. The second time, the time we are discussing, Lily's protection was still in effect, though Voldemort had some small portion of it in him. Regardless of Voldemort have a small degree of that protection, I really don't think he was protected to the degree that Harry was. 

So, the forest spell being unable to kill Harry, killed the only thing it could which was the fragment of Voldemort's soul contained in Harry. 

Precisely how their fates are bound together in that moment, are not completely clear to me, but it does seem as if Harry is in charge. He makes the decision as to whether he goes 'On' or goes 'back' and Voldemort must follow suit. The one part I'm not sure of is if Harry chooses to go 'On', what happens to Voldemort? Dead or Disembodied? I suspect disembodied, otherwise there is no point in having Harry go back. 

Of course, the addition of the Elder wand only complicates things even more. If Voldemort could not kill Harry twice, it is illogical for him to be able to do it a third time. But really ... what choice does he have but to try. Redemption does not seem to be an option for such an Evil Overlord. 

I like your analysis of the Elder Wands reaction to Harry's Expelliarmus, and I agree, the Wand came to Harry willingly and easily. I never quite thought about that aspect before, but your description seem very poetic to me now. 

So, in short, I really love your concise analysis of how all the pieces fit together. There has been discussion on this and confusion about it, and I think you nailed it.

Steve/bboyminn