More Points to Ponder: The Prophecies

[Wanda Sherratt]

No: HPFGUIDX 74955

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "sofdog_2000" 
<sofdog_2000 at y...> wrote:
> On the subject of Prophecy: these things are interesting. They 
really seem to function 
> as an influence in and of themselves. (SNIP)  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. 
> 
I love it when a prophecy turns out to be a trick like that.  With 
the two prophecies Trelawney has made, I'd say the 
Pettigrew/Voldemort one was a bit flat.  It was just a prediction of 
what would happen, and it turned out that that DID happen.  The 
Voldemort/Harry one was much more interesting - as you said, as a 
result of hearing the prophecy, Voldemort acted in order to thwart 
it, and ended up fulfilling an important part of it.  I've never 
watched Buffy, but this sort of plot device is an oldie but a 
goodie.  That's what happens in "Oedipus the King": the King of 
Thebes is told by the oracle that he will be killed by his son.  As 
a result, the baby boy is abandoned on a hillside in order to die, 
and the king thinks his problem is solved.  But the baby is found by 
a shepherd who takes him home and he is adopted by the king and 
queen of Corinth.  He grows up to be Oedipus, and when he is an 
adult, an oracle prophecies to him that he will kill his own father 
and marry his mother.  Oedipus also tries to thwart the prophecy, 
and runs away from the family he believes is his own.  However, he 
meets his real father, the king, in disguise, and kills him.  Then 
he goes to Thebes, and after a number of adventures, marries the 
widowed queen, who is, of course, his own mother.  Ta da!  Prophecy 
fulfilled, and all because the mortals who were told of it tried to 
prevent it.  I think there is more to this "prophecy fulfillment" 
theme to come in the HP books.

Wanda