"More wonderful and More Terrible than Death"

[annemehr]

No: HPFGUIDX 88913

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "sawsan_issa" <sawsan_issa at e...>
wrote:
> As I was rereading the Sorceror's Stone, I came across a line at the
> end that sounded similar to a line at the end of OotP, both
> coincidentally, by Dumbledore.
> In PS/SS, Dumbledore says to Harry ..."The truth." Dumbledore
> sighed. "It is a BEAUTIFUL AND TERRIBLE thing, and should therefore be
> treated with great caution..."
> 
> In OotP: "There is a room in the Department of Mysteries," interrupted
> Dumbledore, "That is kept locked at all times. It contains a force
> that is at once more WONDERFUL AND MORE TERRIBLE than death, than
> human intelligence, than forces of nature..."
> 
> Ok, yet again, I am making no sense. But the truth, or being true are
> similar and word play can be introduced I would suppose. Suppose what
> is locked in the Department of Mysteries, is the Truth, and Harry is
> very true apparently to his friends and his missions and his will to
> stop the dark side? The whole argument with Dumbledore skirts around
> the truth, and Dumbledore speaks of the DoM and its little secret.

Annemehr:
Oh, I think you are making a lot of sense!  For one thing, I think
real truth is an even rarer commodity in this world than real love is.
 I could even reason that Truth is what saved Harry from being
possessed by Voldemort.  Harry, hoping Dumbledore would end the pain
by killing him, is saved by the thought that he would see Sirius
again.  I'm sure JKR means this to be the truth, a truth Harry needs
to have reinforced by Luna later on, and so is important.

And you are so right to bring up Dumbledore and his reluctance to
reveal the truth as he knows it.

To take things one baby step further, how important is it that Harry
now carries a scar on his right hand: "I must not tell lies?" 
Personally, I think this must have importance beyond the battle of
wills between Harry and Umbridge.

Thanks for the great post, Sawsan.  I hope someone can take this even
further.

Annemehr