Harry Immortal?

[Eustace_Scrubb]

No: HPFGUIDX 97160

Lori wrote:
<snip>
> If Harry must kill Voldemort or be killed by him, then 
> isn't he invulnerable until that happens?

Eustace_Scrubb, who's not a seer and doesn't play one on TV:

Aargh, interpreting prophecies can be _so_ annoying!  I don't know
that you're off base exactly but...

OK, so Harry is "The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord"
because LV has marked "him as his equal".  "The one" implies that no
one else has the power to  "vanquish" the Dark Lord.  "Vanquish" means
defeat...not necessarily "kill," although it doesn't rule it out.  The
prophecy doesn't have anything to say about who might have the power
to "vanquish" Harry--does LV have that power? does someone else? do
lots of people? or does anyone?  Don't know, based on the prophecy.

Murky enough already, but then we get this construct:  "and either
must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other
survives."  If the two parts of the phrase were independent of each
other, I might say, well OK, "neither can live while the other
survives," and we know only Harry can "vanquish" LV, so if that means
"kill" then we know LV is safe unless Harry kills him.  But the first
part of the prophecy doesn't seem to rule out the possibility that
someone else could "vanquish" (and possibly "kill") Harry.  

But then there's the "and either must die at the hand of the other"
part.  OK, that's where we get the kill or be killed part.  Seems
pretty definite...but prophecies are slippery things ("not by the hand
of man will [the Witch-king] fall" in Lord of the Rings...but a woman
and a hobbit can do it...what if it had been the _foot_ of a man?).  

So let's assume that Harry believes himself to be invulnerable so long
as LV doesn't kill him.  So he does something that would normally be
fatal...jumping off the roof might kill me, but I don't know whether
it would do the same to Harry.  Maybe whatever it is, it doesn't kill
him, but leaves him totally incapacitated and easy for LV to kill. 
Prophecy fulfilled just the same.

So I guess that Harry better not just go out and feel he is invincible
so long as Voldemort isn't in the room.  Voldemort's been obsessing on
Harry so long it may not even occur to him that he can be harmed by
anyone else...but I wouldn't be so sure that's true.

Cheers,

Eustace_Scrubb