FAQ Poll Answer - Royal Word Choices - CAUTION

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 129122

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "lifeavantgarde"
<musicofsilence at h...> wrote:
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> I don't know about anyone else, but while reading through JKR's 
> answer to the FAQ poll, I nearly went into apoplectic fits at some 
> of her very curious word choices:
> 
> "[...] he was also (without realising it) choosing which boy to 
> anoint as the Chosen One – to give him tools no other wizard 
> possessed – the scar and the ability it conferred, a magical window 
> into Voldemort's mind."
> 
> I do find the use of the capitalized words "Chosen One" along with 
> the word "anoint" highly interesting. This to me (along with some 
> word choices which she uses later on in the answer) to draw very 
> very strong royal connotations. 
>
> ...edited...
> 
> 
> Then
> "So where does this leave Neville, the boy who was so nearly King?"
> 
> EXCUSE ME!? OK...I had to read this sentence about four times before 
> being sure that I would be able to read the rest without needing 
> smelling salts. ... This, I feel, is the second time she's referred
> to Harry in royal terms. If Neville was nearly King, than that 
> actually *makes* Harry KING. Of what? Why use this bizarre phrase? 
> ...edited...
> 
> ...edited..
> 
> Any takes on this? I feel the royal connotations are *quite* heavy 
> in this answer. Harry as King? Who's the prince?
> 
> Stefanie, who is going a bit mad, yes.

bboyminn:

Before we all go off the deep end, or at least feel a compelling need
to reach for the smelling salts, let's ponder that concepts of
analogy, metaphor, and figure of speech.

If you search Google for the exact phrase "The Boy Who Would Be King",
amazingly, you will receive 800 matches to that /exact/ phrase. I
think JKR is just borrowing symbolic references to discribe Harry and
Neville, and I think we should be very careful not to start to apply
literal interpretation of what she said.

True, Harry is 'the chosen one', which we have all known since the
beginning of the story. We have known even before the Prophecy that
Harry was special and that it was his destiny to fight Voldemort. In
that same vein, Harry is the 'anointed one', but only in the sense
that he is the 'selected one' which brings us right back to the
'chosen one' which we have all always known. He's the hero of the
story, it's his hero's journey, so of course he is the
'chosen/anointed/selected/destine/fated' one who has to defeat the bad
guy.

And, by extention, now that we know the Prophecy and the detail
surrounding it, that makes Neville the boy who would almost be 'king',
almost the 'chosen one', almost the 'anointed one', almost the
'selected one', almost the main hero, almost Harry.

I strongly suspect all these references are symbolic figures of speech
and are simply a way for her to convey her message which is to compare
and contrast Harry and Neville, but should not be taken literally or
as hidden clues.

I think the most telling statements in the entire JKR-FAQ post are
contained in the last paragraph -

"Of course, none of this should be taken to mean that Neville does not
have a significant part to play in the last two novels, or the fight
against Voldemort. As for the prophecy itself, it remains ambiguous,
not only to readers, but to my characters. Prophecies (think of
Nostradamus!) are usually open to many different interpretations. That
is both their strength and their weakness."

Neville isn't out of the game just yet, and Prophecies are ambiguous,
something many of us here have commented on repeatedly. Also, the
Prophecy is subject to the interpretation of the /characters/ which
means that Dumbledore is only guessing as to what it means. I have no
doubt, that there will be a HUGE PLOT TWIST thrown at us related to
what we and Dumbledore THINK the Prophecy says. Only in hindsight will
it finally make true sense.

Just a few thoughts.

Steve/bboyminn