JKR's FAQ Poll- Ambiguity in the Prophecy

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 129386

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "gelite67" <gelite67 at y...> wrote:
> 
> ... JKR ... admitted the prophecy remains ambiguous to her fans and 
> to her characters.
> 
> Her characters, hmmm.  ...edited...
> 
> But what about DD?  Is the prophesy still ambiguous to him, or does 
> he think he has it all figured out?  Could this be Jo's way of 
> hinting that DD may be wrong in his interpretation, still yet?
> 
> Angie


bboyminn:

I think a lot of people know ABOUT the Prophecy. A few others know the
Prophecy itself, but only in summary form. A very very few others
including Dumbledore, of course, know the Prophecy in detail.

For example, I think members of the Order and assorted relevant
members of the government know ABOUT the Prophecy and some of them, to
varying degrees, know what the Prophecy says. I think there is
probably a small group of peope who have had the Prophecy fully
explained to them, and  I think an even smaller number who know it in
it's entirety. 

Dumbledore is not real big on giving anyone any more details than they
need to know. You could say he plays his cards very close to the
chest. I think one of the reason the Ministry monitors Harry so
closely is because they know /about/ the Prophecy; they know that
relatively speaking, Harry is the 'chosen one'. 

That makes Harry very valuable to the future of the wizard world, and
that certainly explains why they have indulged him to some extent. To
me, it makes far more sense for them to value, protect, and indulge
Harry for who and what he /will be/ in future, rather than for what he
has done in the distant past. 

But beyond the fact that Harry is prophesied to defeat the Dark Lord,
I don't think the Ministry knows much more, because, in Dumbledore's
eyes, that's all they need to know to do their job. Members of the
Order have similar but not identical knowledge of the Prophecy, but
again, it's no more than they need to do their job. 

As far as JKR commenting that the Prophecy is ambiguous to her
characters, YES, I very much think she means Dumbledore. Prophecies
are never straight forward, and rarely make true sense until after the
fact. Many of us here have speculated that Dumbledore has indeed made
a miscalculation in his interpretation of the Prophecy. 

In addition, as far as we know at this point, Harry and Dumbledore are
the only living people who know the Propehcy in it's entirety. There
may be others, but these two we know. However, it seem very reasonable
that at some point in the next book Harry is going to confide in Ron
and Hermione. Further, at some point, I expect Harry and Neville to
have a discussion on the matter. So those are additional character to
whom the Prophecy will be 'ambiguous'.

Just a few thoughts.

Steve/bboyminn