Firenze, Trelawney and predictions

[boyd_smythe]

No: HPFGUIDX 81037

Christy wrote:
> I have a question, that has been nagging me for awhile now, so I'm
> hoping that somebody here has a thought.
> 
> We know that Sybil predicted the prophesy and Dumbledore tells Harry
> that at the time it was predicted it could have applied to either
> Harry or Neville (and is still up for debate as to which one it may
> currently apply to).
> 
> We also have head a couple times from Firenze who says that even the
> Centaurs have made mistakes reading the stars.
> 
> My question is this: Is it possible that the future is set but it 
can
> also be changed by the actions that people take to the point of
> completely changing what would have been(like in the case of the
> prediction... one rash act by Voldemort and the entire future is
> altered)? Which might help explain further why time-turners have 
been
> banned... What do others think? Am I nuts?
> 
> Christy <


Well, one example of a prophecy that went wrong can be found in POA. 
Trelawney looks at Harry's tea leaves on the first day of Divination 
and sees...a Grim! (then everyone freaks out except Hermione, who 
decides not to believe in *any* of Trelawney's predictions)

But if we look closer, Trelawney *saw* a genuine sign. She just 
misinterpreted it. She thought the dog sign was a Grim. It was 
actually Sirius.

So IMO Firenze is saying that the error lies in the observers, not
the signs themselves.

Also note a couple of the other predictions Trelawney made that first 
day that also came true. Neville dropped a teacup. Parvati got
dreaded news on the 16th. Looks like Divination is for real in the
Potterverse (Firenze thinks so), but the interpretation is quite a 
fallible art.

So whether the future can be changed may be a moot point: if the 
interpretation of the signs is imperfect, then the future is never 
predicted with reliability. So at the end of the series, we'll just 
look back at the prophecy and say, "oh, that's what it meant!"

Or maybe these are all just more red herrings from our beloved JKR.

-Remnant, who keeps tartar sauce in his refrigerator just in case