Must Harry Die?

[Andrew]

No: HPFGUIDX 121220


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Hannah" <hannahmarder at y...> 
wrote:
> 
> A-Mac wrote:
> > 
> > I am tired of people saying that Harry must die for LV to die so 
I 
> > figured we could disect the prophecy. If that has already been 
> done 
> > then slap me in the face.
> > 
> > "'The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord 
> approaches...Born 
> > to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month 
> > dies...and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will 
> > have power the Dark Lord knows not...'"
> > 
> > This is the plain and simple part. No arguements hopefully.
> > 
> 
> Hannah:  Well, I think there are quite a few eg. 'what constitutes 
> defied?' 'what is the power the DL knows not?' 'what does it mean 
by 
> marking him as his equal?' etc.  But they're not relevant for the 
> purposes of this discussion, i.e. if Harry has to die or not
> 
> 
The obvious is not always the wrong answer. Defied obviously means 
went against him in some way, and we have been told that Harry's 
parents and Neville's parents did this. Marked is obviously the 
scar, but I have no theory about the power that the DL knows not, 
unless it is Harry's love/willingness to die as seen when LV 
posessed Harry.
> > "'...and either must die at the hand of the other for neither 
can 
> > live while the other survives...the One with the power to 
vanquish 
> > the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies...'"
> > 
> > This is the part that seesm to cause trouble.
> > 
> > Let us take this apart...
> > 
> > "'either must die at the hand of the other'"
> > either means =  Harry OR Lord Voldemort
> > neither means = Not Harry AND Not Lord Voldemort
> > 
> > Harry OR Lord Voldemort must die becuase Not Harry and Not Lord 
> > Voldemort can live.
> > 
> > Plain and simple. The prophecy states nothing about them both 
> having 
> > to die. Will they? I do not know. It does not say that neither 
can 
> > die, but Harry does not have to die.
> 
> Hannah:  I agree with you, I've never read it as meaning both have 
> to die, and neither do Harry and DD - they seem to think it's an 
> either/or situation.  Both could die, but the prophecy doesn't 
> appear to require it.
> 
> I have never believed JKR will kill Harry.  I just don't think 
> she'll do it.  No real logic behind it, just a gut feeling.  I 
even 
> have doubts if she'll kill one of the trio, though that she may do 
> as the climax to book 7.  
> 
> JKR has as good as said there is some trickery going on with the 
> phrasing of the prophecy (she claims to have worded it 'very 
> carefully').  My favourite candidates for areas where she's 
pulling 
> the wool over out eyes are the 'at the hand of the other' 
and 'while 
> the other still survives.'  There are a lot of possiblities thrown 
> up by those vague little phrases.
> 
> In fact I'm still not convinced it even refers to Harry.  It's 
just 
> too easy to be led to believe that, and it's never a good idea to 
> take a thing like that for granted in Potterverse. The more we 
think 
> it means Harry has to sacrifice himself to rid the world of LV, 
the 
> more likely it is that something completely different is going to 
> happen in the end.
> 
> Hannah

For once I am going to take a gamble and take the straightforward 
meaning of the prophecy. If a hidden meaning ends up being true then 
so be it, but JKR never lied to us she just gave small clues that 
would eventually be fully realized. If there are hidden clues in the 
prophecy then please state your theory. I would like to hear a 
theory since I have none myself.

A-Mac