OoP: Spoilers for everything, two important questions

[Jeannette (jetso)]

No: HPFGUIDX 61624

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "chappysmom" <DBoyken at a...> 
wrote:


> > 2> WHY are they bothering? the prophecy DOESN'T tell Voldy how to 


> kill Harry. > I dont see Voldy getting ANY benefit from hearing the 


> prophecy. WHAT AM I > MISSING?


> > 


> 


> 


> --------No, the prophecy doesn't tell him how to kill Harry, but He 


> doesn't know that he NEEDS to kill Harry. He knows (because it was 


> overheard) that Harry has the power to vanquish him, but he doesn't 


> know that (1) Harry has been granted a power "he knows not" or that 


> (2) only he or Harry can kill the other. He knows Harry has the 
power 


> TO vanquish him, but not that they must, absolutely, confront each 


> other, that he can never have the life he wants until he gets rid of 


> Harry. He can try to build his power with his death-eaters and try 


> creating the environment of fear and evil he had 15 years ago--but 
he 


> will fail so long as Harry is alive. He only knows that Harry could 


> kill him, not that they are actually Linked. Harry was briefly 
afraid 


> that HE was the secret weapon, and he actually is. The good guys 
know 


> it, but Voldemort doesn't. So far as he knows, Harry's just a lucky 


> kid who's going to grow into a threat--he doesn't know that he is 
his 


> number one danger, that he's wasting his time on his old tricks 


> because nothing is going to work for him until he's dealt with 
Harry.


> 


> --Deb




In fact Voldemort probably thinks of the prophecy as a Do It Yourself 
Guide on how to kill Harry. A main theme in the book is Illusion and 
Perception. Voldemort thinks the Prophecy is very important and worth 
getting before he moves to take over the world and kill Harry (etc), 
so he tries.




Voldemort was probably killing plenty of people, so killing off the 
baby who according to the snippet of overheard prophecy, has the 
capacity to be a threat to him, isn't that big a deal. It wasn't his 
obsession yet. It was probably an afterthought. A security measure. 
Something important enough for him to do himself but not important 
enough to consume him as it does now, for the sake of revenge.




Voldemort thinks there's a lot in the prophecy. He feels it's 
important. As readers we don't see what's the big deal, in fact, some 
think it's almost anticlimatic. We all know that there needs to be a 
big Harry/Voldemort showdown, but the characters don't. Most don't 
even feel Harry should be participating in the War. Dumbledore was 
trying so hard to protect the boy.




So... The Prophecy is more for the benifit of the characters, changing 
their perception, not ours. And the character's perception of the 
Prophecy and the mystery surrounding it is much more important that 
what it actually says... good theory?