It's A Wonderful Life? (was re: Overturning the prophecy)

[Peggy]

No: HPFGUIDX 86683

<snip> 
> Derek:
What if DD meant that he would only be satisfied if LV had
> never existed, and all the evil he had done was reversed?
<snip>
 Maybe the ultimate solution is not for Harry to kill
> Lord Voldemort, but for Harry to *prevent* "Lord Voldemort" and
> *redeem* Tom Riddle by somehow turning him away from this course 
before
> he ever takes it.
> 

<more snipping>
 
Now me:

I haven't posted for quite a while (too much *stuff* going on), but 
Derek has brought up something that's been rattling around my head 
ever since I read the prophecy.

The prophecy seems to be strikingly similar to the pivotal curse in 
Peter Beagle's novel "The Last Unicorn."  (If you haven't read it, do 
whatever is necessary to find a copy and read it immediately.  If 
you're a member of this list, trust me, you'll like it.)

The crux of the matter is that, in the "The Last Unicorn" there is a 
two-part curse.  The first half applies to King Haggard and his 
castle, and a second half applies to the town of Hagsgate, 
the "capital" of Haggard's realm. The curse on Hagsgate seems to be 
necessary in order for the curse on Haggard and his castle to come 
true.  The people of Hagsgate go out of their way to keep themselves 
and their half of the curse safe (there are some side benefits to the 
curse).  But they let a detail slip.

Does the curse come true?  Absolutely.  Does it work out the way 
you'd expect it to?  Not in the least.  

I'm not being evasive here, I just want to save the surprise for the 
listees who haven't read the book.

To drag in another apparently unrelated fiction, in the TV 
series "Babylon 5," one character was told never to go to a certain 
place or he would die.  Well, he went, and he died.  Those who had 
warned him of his death had, however, left out an important detail.  
His resurrection.

"Neither can live while the other survives . . ."  The ambiguity of 
life and death (ghosts who have refused to cross over into death, the 
destruction of human souls by the dementors) have already been 
presented by JKR.  DD's reply to LV in OoP makes it obvious, without 
clarifying anything, that the destruction of LV and what he 
represents is not caught up in the ambiguity of life and death.  
There are matters of time and memory, choice and decisions, that come 
into play.  

The answer must be far more complex than just "bang, you're dead."  I 
won't pretend to know what the ultimate answer is (though it's fun to 
speculate--the Thestrals, Neville and his parents, Luna, the 
Weasleys, and on and on).

Derek, if you're crazy, then so am I.

Peg--who hasn't been reading the list lately, so sorry if I stepped 
on any toes.