[HPforGrownups] Did JKR cheat with the prophecy?

[Amy]

No: HPFGUIDX 124872


Forgive me if this reply is slightly hurried but this is not my first
attempt to reply to this email.  It appears I may have been stumbling across
too much, for my attempts to come out of the shadows landed my whole house
in darkness in the form of a power outage.  Thus I lost the well thought out
30 minutes post I was working on.  *smile*  However, I will try my best to
recreate it.
 
    LupinLore States:
 
However, she has tried to emphasize, time and again, the power of personal
choice.  Then she introduces a prophecy that, by its very nature, so
strongly restricts the scope of personal choice as to make it meaningless,
or nearly so,in some contexts.

In effect, what JKR has done is to create a story based on choice then
attempt to protect DD from the implications of his choices by introducing a
prophecy that, in effect, gives him a free pass by TAKING AWAY his power of
choice.  That way she can have DD make a decision that causes huge amounts
of misery for Harry and still have him be "the epitome of goodness" because
he had no choice in the matter.  So we have a story that emphasizes choice
yet at the very
beginning choice is taken away.
 
    End Snip
 
I wish to agree to disagree on this statement.  Yes I believe that
Dumbledore's choices were limited but NOT by the prophecy.  No where in the
prophecy does it state that the "One" needs protection.  Therefore, even if
it was in the back of his mind, this must not be the full reason for his
decision.  Let's look at the thought process, taking any knowledge of the
prophecy completely out of the equation:
 
SS page 12 he states: "Exactly... It would be enough to turn any boy's head.
Famous before he can walk and talk!  Famous for something he won't even
remember!  Can't you see how much better off he'll be, growing up away from
all that until he's ready to take it?"  
 
This child just survived a remarkable encounter.  He, without his knowledge,
just saved a group of people from further destruction.  The "whole" is going
to know his story even before he is old enough to comprehend it.  How might
this affect the very nature of this child?  Essentially, had Harry been left
with a wizarding family he would be Dudley on a much larger scale.  Don't
believe me, look at where so many "spotlight" kids end up.  They come by the
mentality that they are "above the law" and many end up in trouble.  (Dudley
turns to lying, beating up kids, and smoking)  Putting him in a situation
out of the spotlight prevents this first possibility.  So, yes, his decision
was limited but in order to protect Harry's mentality not because the
prophecy said so.
 
Ok, this child just turned a terrible "gang" into a flailing group.  Would
you leave him where he would be seen on every corner thus giving this group
the opportunity for revenge?  No.  You put him in a place to protect him.
It's a witness protection relocation of sorts.  Again, Dumbledore's choices
are limited but not because of the prophecy.
 
Therefore, even if there was no knowledge of the prophecy and this child's
destiny, this decision could still be made and for very different reasons.
 
    Lupinlore states:
 
As I've said in another post, on a surface reading of "either must kill the
other for neither can live while the other survives," we have three
scenarios:

A) Harry kills Voldy and survives, saving the WW
B) Harry kills Voldy and Voldy kills Harry, the WW survives
C) Voldy kills Harry and survives, the WW is destroyed

Note, there IS no scenario by which the WW can be destroyed and Harry
survives.  Given this, the prophecy neatly closes off the most problematic
choice DD could make.  It's simply not a possible choice. Once again, the
prophecy is a device to safeguard him from possible moral ambiguity.  In
contrast to the above situation, I think this largely succeeds.  I still
feel it is a form of cheating, however.  Rather than have Albus face this
wrenching decision, and suffer the consequences, if only in readers' minds,
JKR neatly rescues him by once again taking away his power of choice.
 
    End Snip


Again, I agree with your three scenarios, but I believe there is a fourth
scenario as well as a decision that can be made in the short term that
greatly affects those possible scenarios.
 
D) Harry kills Voldy and survives, the WW is "destroyed"
 
Ok, I know, I know, first question... How can this be?  It's all in how your
read what destroyed can mean.  In the case of the WW it can be physically
destroyed as in scenario C or it can be idealistically destroyed as in
scenario D.  Still don't see how... what if in the process of killing Voldy,
the WW is revealed to the Muggle World?  Would this not in essence "destroy"
the WW?  There would not be two separate "worlds", thus the WW would not be
of existence and "destroyed".  
 
Now, decision time.  As the "final battle" unveils itself it reveals two
possible choices to defeat Voldy.  The first courageous concept that
requires the ultimate sacrifice from Harry thus taking both of their lives
and saving the WW.  (Scenario B)  The second is a concept not yet revealed
by JK that will defeat Voldy but is so powerful that it will reveal itself
to all of the WW and Muggle World.  It is not feasible to be able to hide
this from the muggles and thus the WW will no longer be hidden and thus...
destroyed.  (Scenario D)  This could very well be the decision that
Dumbledore faces.  Would it truly be utter destruction for the WW to be
revealed and thus worth the sacrifice of Harry?  You be the judge.  For the
WW it could be a lose-lose situation.
 
Farfetched, I am sure but truly another possibility simply by looking at it
on a different light.  The choice is still out there, will Dumbledore be up
to the challenge?
 
Amy (stargazer)
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 


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