Prophecy and Choice (was Re: Crouch/Moody/surviving AK)

[imamommy at sbcglobal.net]

No: HPFGUIDX 97049


> vmonte responds:
>
> (By the way, my personal feeling about the prophecy is that it is a 
> hoax, a diversion, created by someone to keep Voldemort busy and 
> distracted from conquering the WW.  Is Trelawny really a seer? Or is 
> someone using her as a conduit? Is this person trying to occupy both 
> the DEs and the Orders time? I'm completely guessing here. It's just 
> that I really have something against the prophecy. It goes against 
> everything the books are about. Where is choice and free will?  If 
> Voldemort had ignored the prophecy in the first place he probably 
> would have been better off? 

imamommy:

Thank you for agreeing with my point.  I'm afraid I can't return the
favor.  I think the nature of a prophecy is that it describes what
will happen as a result of choices that will be made, but does not
determine those choices.

"It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than
our abilities."  (DD to HP in CoS)

Harry chose to be in Griffindor, with no knowledge of the prophecy,
because that was what he chose.  Can you imagine how different this
story would be if he were in Slytherin?  Wormtail likewise chose to
run off to Voldy, and he didn't know about any prophecy, either. 
Voldemort made the choice to attack Harry, without *full* knowledge of
the prophecy, but in doing so he began it's fulfillment. The choices
that lead to the outcome the prophecy describes are independent of
that prophecy.   If choices were made otherwise, the prophecy never
would have been made, or would have been made differently to reflect
the alternate outcome.

The prophecy does not reveal who will be the victor, and ultimately, I
think Harry has the choice of whether or not to defeat or be defeated.

imamommy