Predestination (was Re: prophecy/Firenze)

[Wanda Sherratt]

No: HPFGUIDX 79227

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Jen Reese" <stevejjen at e...> 
wrote:
> Jen again: What I'm trying to convey is that the prophecy doesn't 
> have to come true, however it's interpreted. JKR is leading us to 
> believe (or we're leading ourslves to believe) the prophecy equals 
> the conclusion, but that seems like a very pat ending to me. I'm 
just 
> suggesting and wondering myself whether the prophecy isn't merely 
> another step on this journey of Harry Potter, and that there are 
> other possibilities of where the story can go from here besides 
just 
> the fulfillment of the prophecy.
> 
>
That makes logical sense, and if this were happening in real life 
I'd agree, but I just don't think it's doable in a novel.  JKR has 
invested too much in this particular prophecy to be able to abandon 
it at the very end.  She made the whole of Book 5 revolve around it -
 protecting the prophecy from LV, Harry going to the MoM to find the 
prophecy, and finally Dumbledore revealing the prophecy.  It would 
be an enormous cheat to build so much around this particular plot 
point and then say at the end, "Just kidding! It's not really 
important at all!"  These are still children's books, and children 
are very insistent on people keeping their promises; I think they'd 
be totally bewildered if Rowling were to pull the rug out in that 
way.  It reminds me of the dishonest ending to the Disney 
movie, "Aladdin", where the Princess is told that she can't marry 
Aladdin, the law says she must marry a prince.  "Well, then, change 
the law!" is the solution.  Adults can laugh at such a "twist" 
ending, but it completely violates the spirit of a fairy tale.  The 
rules have to be followed, no matter how arbitrary; in fact, the 
more arbitrary, the better. Cinderella must leave the ball by 
midnight; Bluebeard's wife must not open the forbidden room; the 
queen must guess Rumplestiltskin's name in 3 days or lose her 
child.  You can't just change the rules in a fairy tale, and for 
better or for worse, HP IS a modern fairy tale.  The most you can do 
is outwit the rules, and I suspect Rowling may do that.  We'll find 
that there is another interpretation of the prophecy that we haven't 
suspected, and it will be "fulfilled" in a not-obvious way.  That's 
if there is to be a happy ending and Harry is to survive; I tend to 
think that that's not going to happen, but we'll have to wait and 
see.

Wanda