[HPforGrownups] Re: Harry's Power

[Buttercup]

No: HPFGUIDX 78298


 "Doriane" wrote:
> > 
> > I've been thinking about it right from the moment
> I read DD's 
> > explanation of Harry's "special power" :
> > 
> > OoP, chapter 37 :
> > 
> > 'There is a room in the Department of Mysteries
> that is kept locked 
> > at all times. It contains a force that is at once
> more wonderful 
> and 
> > more terrible than death, than human intelligence,
> than the forces 
> of 
> > nature. It is also, perhaps, the most mysterious
> of the many 
> subjects 
> > for study that reside there. It is the power held
> within that room 
> > that you possess in such quantities and which
> Voldemort has not at 
> > all. That power took you to save Sirius tonight.
> That power also 
> > saved you from possession by Voldemort, because he
> could not bear 
> to 
> > reside in a body so full of the force he detests.
> In the end, it 
> > mattered not that you could not close your mind.
> It was your heart 
> > that saved you.'
> > 
> > Can you see how the word "love", or anything else
> for that matter, 
> is 
> > not mentioned a single time ? Knowing JKR the way
> we know her, that 
> > should signal "Beware ! Trap !" We all think of
> love right away, 
> and 
> > I think this is *precisely* what she *wants* us to
> think of ! But 
> she 
> > never ever mentions it. So I think that power is
> not love at all.
> > 
> > Let's see :
> > 
> > -it's a power that is so special that the room
> where it is studied 
> > has to be locked at all times : why would anyone
> want to keep 
> people 
> > out of the Love room ? In my idea, it should even
> be a room where 
> > everyone should be made to go once in a while : it
> would make the 
> > world a much nicer place :-)
> > 
> > - it is a power more wonderful and more terrible
> than death : love 
> is 
> > more wonderful than death, all right, but more
> terrible ??
> > 
> > - it's a mysterious power
> > 
> > - Harry possesses lots of that power, and
> Voldemort none : I agree 
> > that Voldemort doesn't love, but I don't see Harry
> as being so full 
> > of love. He's full of many emotions, but love
> doesn't strike me as 
> > one of the most prominent ones.
> > 
> > - it's the power that took Harry to save Sirius :
> it isn't love in 
> > itself that made Harry go to the MoM, but his
> desire to help him, 
> his 
> > hope to save him.
> > 
> > - it's a power Voldemort detests so much he can't
> reside in a body 
> > full of it : Voldemort doesn't hate love. He
> doesn't understand it, 
> > he despises it, but he doesn't hate it. 
> > 
> > So what could that power be ? I'm not sure, but
> one possibility 
> would 
> > be Hope. Not just hope that I'll get rich
> tomorrow, but Hope that 
> > things will turn out all right in the end. A Hope
> bordering on 
> Faith, 
> > to use a Christian terminology.
> > 
> > You see :
> > 
> > -it's a power that is so special that the room
> where it is studied 
> > has to be locked at all times : remember what
> happens to people 
> when 
> > they are faced with the Mirror of Erised ? They
> get fascinated by 
> it. 
> > Some even waste their whole life away looking into
> it. I think it 
> > would be the same with a Hope room : people would
> get trapped into 
> > it, because they would feel so much hope in it,
> that the outside 
> > world would seem unbearably desperate to them.
> > 
> > - it is a power more wonderful and more terrible
> than death : 
> because 
> > he's got this hope of seeing Sirius again when he
> dies, Harry is 
> > ready to sacrifice himself to kill Voldemort. As
> such, it is more 
> > wonderful than death. But for other people who
> hope for what they 
> > can't ever obtain, it is more terrible than death,
> but it makes 
> them 
> > live an excruciating nightmare every single day of
> their lives.
> > 
> > - it's a mysterious power : why do many people
> hope for things when 
> > everything seems to tell them those things will
> never come true, 
> that 
> > is a mystery indeed.
> > 
> > - Harry possesses lots of that power, and
> Voldemort none : Harry 
> > always had a lot of hope, he keeps thinking he can
> get out of the 
> > trickiest and deadliest situations and that
> something will happen 
> to 
> > turn a desperate situation around. That's why he's
> always trying, 
> > always acting, because he's got this hope that in
> the end things 
> will 
> > turn out right if he gives his best. But LV
> doesn't have any Hope. 
> > He's got small desires, for sure, but no real hope
> for anything. He 
> > wants what he knows he can obtain, but he doesn't
> have any hope for 
> a 
> > better life.
> > 
> > - it's the power that took Harry to save Sirius :
> as I already 
> said, 
> > it was his hope to save Sirius that took Harry all
> the way to the 
> > MoM. He kept hoping against reason that Sirius was
> still alive and 
> > that he, Harry, would somehow free him from
> Voldemort.
> > 
> > - it's a power Voldemort detests so much he can't
> reside in a body 
> > full of it : it was the joy Harry felt at the idea
> of seeing Sirius 
> > again that kicked LV out of Harry's body. And that
> joy came from 
> that 
> > deep hope that Harry nurtured, that the people who
> go through the 
> > veil are still alive somewhere somehow. Moreover,
> Hope is the worst 
> > enemy of any tyrant : as long as people keep
> hoping that things can 
> > get better, they can't be crushed. They can be
> isolated, tortured, 
> or 
> > whatever, as long as they have hope, they keep
> fighting. So for 
> > someone like Voldemort, Hope would be the worst
> feeling people can 
> > feel, because it keeps them fighting against him,
> no matter how 
> > powerful he gets.
> > 
> > So what do you think ? Am I completely off-track
> or what ? Shoot 
> > away !
> > 
Buttercup:

EUREKA!!  I think you've got it! I always thought love
was too obvious too. But HOPE that's got to be it.
That's what JKR had to keep hold of while she was
unemployed and struggling. Hope is the key for
everything: love, happiness, achievement, faith, etc.
Without it you wouldn't get out of bed every morning.
Without it you'd have a miserable existence. 
Brilliant! Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

=====
Buttercup

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