"Neither can Live"

[sueeeyqbong]

No: HPFGUIDX 73317

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Danger Mouse" 
<dangermousehq at h...> wrote:
> So confused... I was re-reading various bits of OoP just now, and 
spent a few minutes staring at the prophecy... 
> 
> Here it is again for those without books:
> `The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches. born 
to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month 
dies . and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will 
have power the Dark Lord knows not . and either must die at the hand 
of the other for neither can live while the other survives . the one 
with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh 
month dies .'
> 
> What came to mind was the "neither can live while the other 
survives" bit... Ermmm... aren't they both living while the other 
survives? If it was "neither can die," then okey-dokey, I'd get 
that. It'd be saying that they'd both have to die for the world to 
be rid of Voldemort... but... it doesn't. So what is this phrase 
saying?
> 
> -Dan
> 
Now me (Sueeeyqbong) :

something else which just occurred to me about the prophecy...why 
are there elipses (the dots ) between each section of the prophcy. 
Elipses are usually used in english to denote a pause or that 
something has been left out of the text. I can't think of ay other 
reason to use them. Now I realise that they may be there simply to 
denote that Trelawney paused whilst delivering the prophecy...but 
why would she do that, and, more importantly, why would JKR 
deliberately include a pause in the prophecy? It seems to me that 
there has to be some significance behind the pauses. 

And, if the elipses show that there was more to the prophecy than 
the bits we heard, what was in the bits we missed? It's a long shot, 
but what if both Neville AND Harry were being referred to in the 
prophecy, and the speculative missing bits made this clear? That to 
me might explain the otherwise awkward semantics of the phrasing of 
the prophecy...the first part refers to 'the one with the power to 
defeat the dark lord...born as the seventh month dies' and the 
second part mentions 'the dark lord will mark him as his equal...he 
will have power the dark lord knows not' - is it conceivable that 
the first part refers to one person (Neville?) and the second part 
refers to an entirely different person (Harry?), but we don't hear 
the bit behind the elipses which explains this??? And in this way, 
both Neville and Harry will play a part in the downfall of 
Voldemort? 

This might also explain the awkard use of 'either' and 'other' 
and 'neither' and 'other' in the final bit of the prophecy, which 
again, IMHO, just doesn't make good grammar. What if 'either' 
and 'neither' refers to Harry AND Neville and the 'other' is 
Voldemort  ie there'd be a situation where two (H and N) faced one 
(V)?  This isn't very well articulated, I know, so apologies for the 
woolly argument, but I just had to get this out before I forgot it 
again. That happens a lot, sadly!

Best wishes all,

Sueeeyqbong