Analyzing Plot Twists: Simplify, Simplify!

[vmonte]

No: HPFGUIDX 103068

Tara wrote:

I think most stuff is really just what it appears to be: James, Lily,
and Sirius are really dead; Petunia and Dudley are really Muggles;
Harry and Hermione are not related; everybody else is pretty much who
they appear to be; and so on. Maybe we invent these notions because
we'd like certain facts to be changed (Harry's parents not to be
really dead, for a start).

vmonte responds:

I agree that Lily and James are dead. But I also think that there is
one important thing that is being forgotten in all the time-travel
posts (including mine). It's that whether you believe in a time-travel
which is fixed, or not, you still cannot force people to behave the
way you would like them to. People have free-will. If Harry's parents
believed that the only way they could save Harry was for themselves
to die, then they would choose to die, no matter what the
interference.

vivian