Lily's Sacrifice, James' Sacrifice,

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 79544

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "tuck668" <tuck668 at y...> wrote:
> Wanda wrote:
> > > I just don't believe that giving one's life is enough to 
> > > block an AK - there are too many other instances where we 
> > > would have heard of it before.  Why didn't James's sacrifice 
> > > protect Lily, in that case?
> > 
> > (snip)


> 
> Well, James didn't know that Voldemort was definitely going to kill 
> Lily. Lily, however, knew that Voldemort wanted to kill Harry 
> because of the prophecy. Therefore, I don't think that James'       
> was a sacrifice to protect Lily, persay.
> 
> -Anna


bboy_mn:
I think you are on the right track here. It was only Voldemort's
self-important belief in his own grandiose power that lead him to kill
James and Lily. Although, if we go with the extermination of the
Potter line theory, then James was probably done for too.

The point is that Voldemort, if he had a shred of humanity and an
ounce of common sense, could have easily accomplished his goal by
Stunning James and Lily. If he had done that, it's possible that Harry
would be dead, and Voldemort would be King.

I think there may be something deeper to Harry though; some innate
characteristic, some special essense, or perhaps just the demands of
Fate, that would have still protected Harry. Sometimes when you try to
circumvent destiny, Fate conspires against you. 

So, as usual, Voldemort's own ruthless greed and stupidity defeated
him again. Reminds me of the say, that we are our own worst enemy.

As far as the difference between James and Lily's sacrific, I think to
some extent both their sacrifices had an effect, but in a sense, James
mounted a general defense, whereas Lily mounted a specific defense.
That is, James was protecting his home and his family; in doing so, he
was fighting against Voldemort. Lily on the other hand, literally
stood between Harry and Voldemort, refusing to move aside, refusing to
expose her child to an immediate and immenent mortal threat; in this
sense, she was fighting specifically for Harry. From another
perspective, James went out to met Voldemort, Lily moved back to
protect Harry.

I know this is an extremely fine subtle distinction, but sometimes
it's the extremely fine and subtle things in life that are the most
important.

Sure wish I had the 6th book so we could answer some more of these
mysteries.

Just a thought. 

bboy_mn