More Points to Ponder: The Prophecies

[sofdog_2000]

No: HPFGUIDX 74946

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "scooting2win" <scooting2win at y...> 
wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "greymalkin0602" 
> <8434793 at b...> wrote:
> > I posted this a week or so ago on another Harry Potter message 
> board, but there didn't seem to be much interest.
> > 
> > 
> > We have had two major prophecies from Trelawney.
> > 
> > In Book 3, it was predicted that Wormtail would rejoin Voldemort 
> and help him return to power. In Book 5, an earlier prediction was
> > revealed that implied Voldemort would be killed by Harry (real
> > unlikely that after 7 books Voldemort prevails).
> > 
> > Who are the predictions coming from? Why are they given to 
> Dumbledore and Harry with all the Wizards and Witches around to choose from?
> > 
> > In Book 3, the prediction was given to Harry and it has since come 
> to pass. Harry was involved in making the prophecy happen by sparing
> > Wormtail from Sirius and Lupin.
> > 
> > Is this why the prophecy was "given" to Harry? Because he was
> > crucially involved in making it happen? With this foreknowledge, 
> could he have prevented it from happening? Why didn't/couldn't the 
> unknown entity give it say to Voldemort instead?
> > 
> > In Book 5, we learn the earlier prophecy was "given" to Dumbledore.
> > Why Dumbledore? What role is he marked for, willing or unwilling, 
> as the prophecy comes to pass? Dumbledore seems determined not to let
> > Voldemort know what the prophecy contains, yet willingly tells 
> Harry.
> > Is this the role the unknown entity has picked for Dumbledore? Or 
> is it protecting Harry from Voldemort until he is strong enough to
> > fulfill the prophecy? Or is it something else?
> > 
> > Why wasn't the prophecy from Book 3 on the shelf in the Ministry 
> next to the earlier one?
> 
> My reply: Dumbledore (IMO) was meant to get the first prophecy to 
> try to change it. My only question is, if the Potters were in Hiding 
> were the Longbottoms? did they come out of hiding after the Potters 
> were killed, well James and Lily anyway? Lori


Sof: Excellent questions. Dumbledore & Co. still haven't told Harry the whole story 
about his parents' death. We can easily surmise that since they knew that LV was after 
them, they also knew that it was because of Harry. If this was known in the Order, 
perhaps the Longbottoms didn't go into hiding seeing that the evidence was pointing 
away from their son. 

On the subject of Prophecy: these things are interesting. They really seem to function 
as an influence in and of themselves. I like to muse that the Prophecies are sent by 
outside forces who have done the math and come with a way to vanquish LV. 
However, in order for their plan to work, the people in the living world have to act. 
Just is enough is communicated to set things in motion. For example, there was no 
wizard living who had the power to match Voldemort alone. However, it was possible 
for Voldemort to transfer his powers to someone else thereby creating an opposite. 
There were two boys due to be born, and the best time to receive any kind of 
potential is when you are young and can grow into those powers. 

So the forces outside the world communicate this through Sybil Trelawney. And 
Prophecies being trickily worded as they usually are, Voldemort proceeds on 
incomplete information and false assumptions thereby setting this plan into motion. 
Harry now has his powers and the time (via LV's incapacitation) to grow into them. 
And now the possibility exists for someone to vanquish Voldemort permanently. 

I always look to a fascinating exchange in Season 1 "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" when 
considering this topic. After much refusal Buffy reluctantly sets out to fight The 
Master (vampire) in the hopes that she can in fact prevent him from leaving his 
prison. This confrontation has been prophesied in the Pergamum Codex as the event 
which will result in Buffy's death and The Master's release from a mystical prison. Just 
before he kills her, The Master says to Buffy: "Prophecies are tricky things...They don't 
tell you everything. If you hadn't come, I couldn't go. ...You're the one who sets me 
free. Think about that." So, if Buffy had stuck to her refusal to battle The Master he 
would in fact never have been released, she wouldn't have died, a second Slayer 
would not have been called, and down the line the possibility of empowering ALL 
Slayers would never have occured to her. 

Sorry if that spoiled the Buffy finale for anyone but my point is that a Prophecy is 
really just a suggestion, and the hope that gives to people guides the actions from 
then on. A few words and the road to new opportunities is suddenly illuminated.