Predestination (was Re: prophecy/Firenze)

[Jen Reese]

No: HPFGUIDX 79259

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Wanda Sherratt" 
<wsherratt3338 at r...> wrote:
>  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.  <snip, snip>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. 
Wanda



Jen: Well, I totally agree with you about fairy tales and an author's 
need to keep promises to children. 

For the sake of debate, though, I wasn't envisioning a "gotcha" 
ending. The prophecy's very existence explains so many mysteries in 
the series: Why the Potters and Harry were specifically targeted by 
Voldemort on that fateful night; why Harry was "marked" and not 
killed; why DD came up with the plan for the blood protection at the 
Dursleys; why Harry could not join the WW until he was of age to go 
to Hogwarts and DD's protection.

But all the mysteries the prophecy explains are actually choices made 
by DD AFTER hearing the prophecy. That point is circular logic--DD 
acts as he did because he heard the prophecy and therefore fulfills 
parts of the prophecy through his actions. No place to go with that.

The portions of the prophecy yet to be fulfilled, though...I see it 
as Harry moving PAST the prophecy, not invalidating it. Now he 
understands his life has not been his own from day 1. Harry is where 
he is primarily because of DD's choices, and the student is ready to 
face the master and make his own choices about what the prophecy 
means.

Basically it's the process of the archetypal hero's journey, where 
the student transforms into the master.  And THAT process is Harry's 
destiny, more than the prophecy....Jen