Neville in the end - Who kills in the end?

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 103004

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "djrfdh" <djrfdh at y...> wrote:
> In the OOTP, Neville does help Harry eventhough he is suffering from 
> a charm that renders his speech useless in pronouncing properly... 
> but I do not think it will be Neville who saves Harry and defeats 
> LV...I do not think JKR would "rob" Harry of this ultimate 
> "pay-back" for killing his parents and forcing on him a life of 
> abuse and sheer torture! A life that has been robbed of everyone 
> whom Harry held most precious. That would be,inside, the real defeat
> of Harry!

Asian_lovr2:

Vengence is mine, sayith the Lord. 

Which in turn means that vengene is not yours or Harry's.

I can't say you are wrong, but I can say that I very much don't want
to say that you are right. Would someone else defeating Lord-V really
rob Harry of payback, or would it spare him the deep spiritual trama
of knowing that no matter how evil the life may have been, he, Harry,
was none-the-less responsible for taking that human life. That's a
terrible cross to bear.

We see near the end of the last book, that Harry's attitude isn't
'self-defense', Harry say that he will have to murder or be murdered.
I believe that he even refers to himself as a murderer.

Like many others, I am extremely uneasy by the thought of Harry
killing Voldemort, especially if he accomplishes it using a Death
Curse. In that light, it would ease my mind greatly if an alternate
hero like Neville stepped in at the last minute and administered the
coup de grâce (death blow). Although, I'm extremely fond of Neville,
and I really don't want to wish that on him either.

Perhaps there will be an end similar to what we see in many movies.
The hero and anti-hero are in a life and death struggle. The hero is
nearly defeated when he musters one last desperate surge of strength
that causes the anti-hero to fall off a roof/cliff/volcano/etc. At the
last second, the hero grabs the anti-hero and tries to save him, but,
despite a Herculean effort, he can't hold on and the anti-hero plunges
to his death. It's the classic way to save the hero from soiling his
virtue.

Unfortunately, given Lord-V's near immortality, falling off the roof
will probably not work, and I'm guessing, falling into a volcano in
Britain is not real high on the options list. 

This is the best I can come up with at the moment. They are back in
the Dept of Mysteries-Death Chamber for the final battle. Due to
'circumstances', Voldemort is about to accidently fall through 'The
Veil', in a sudden uncontrolled fit of heroism, Harry leaps forward
and knock Lord-V out of the way. Lord-V is so overwhelmed by Harry's
act of compassion, that he voluntees to walk through 'The Veil'
thereby ending his reign of terror for all time. 

Dim the lights, lower the curtain, standing ovation, the end.

I guess my point is that I just can't accept Harry simply killing
Voldemort. Harry could have easily exacted vengeance on Wormtail/Peter
but he granted him compassion and spared him. That's the Harry I know
and believe in.

Just a thought.

Steve/asian_lovr2