Does the prophecy suggest that both have to die (was: Harry will die)

[Wanda Sherratt]

No: HPFGUIDX 104416

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "dzeytoun" <dzeytoun at c...> 
wrote:

> 
> I agree with this reading.  The use of "either" clearly indicates 
> that the deaths are SINGULAR and EXCLUSIVE OF EACH OTHER.  In other 
> words, the prophecy, on literal reading, says that Voldemort will 
die 
> or Harry will die, NOT that both will die.
> 
> If JKR had said "Each must kill the other" THAT would imply both 
will 
> die.
> 
I disagree - I think it's deliberately ambiguous, so that we won't 
know until the end just what the outcome will be.  If Rowling wanted 
to be clear on this point, she would have written it differently:  
"One must die at the hand of the other" would mean that one lives and 
one survives.  The awkward way she's written it leaves it open to 
interpretation that one *or both* may die.  It's NOT clear, because 
Rowling doesn't want it to be.

Wanda