Killing tears the soul apart redux. Luna and sacrifice

[vmonte]

No: HPFGUIDX 139475

Alla:

Whole story about Tom Riddle creating Horcruxes is a metaphor, which
to me stands for "killing tears your soul apart." So, I would give
quotations and page numbers for every time Harry watches the story of
Tom's Riddle life. Too many numbers to quote, sorry. :-)

I just realised that another very important moment in canon may
foreshadow the idea that killing tears your soul apart.

I am talking about Harry not letting Sirius and Remus kill Peter.
Now, of course Harry has no clue about horcruxes yet, but could be
that giving the motivation for his decision as:

"I'm not doing this for you. I'm doing it because - I don't reckon
my dad would've wanted them to become killers- just for you" - PoA,
paperback, p.376.

The narrator may foreshadow that Harry is saving Remus and Sirius
souls here and prevents them from hurting, splitting. Notice, that
this is the killing that many would have called righteous, or at
least righteous revenge - Peter certainly committed many sins, IMO,
and still Hary stops it because he thinks that Remus and Sirius
should not be killers ( or he thinks that James would have thought
so, whatever).

vmonte:
Why did JKR insert Luna into the Harry Potter Saga?

At the end of OOTP Harry spent several frantic hours trying to find
ways to contact Sirius. He tried contacting him by mirror and by
reaching out to Nearly Headless Nick. The Lexicon explains how
Harry's method of trying to contact Sirius via Nick, the ghost, is
very much in the same vain as people who try to contact the dead via
séances. In the middle of Harry's grief he bumps into Luna who gives
Harry the comfort he seeks. She tells Harry that she knows that she
will someday see her dead mother again. It's Luna's "almost
Christian belief in an afterlife" that makes Harry feel better
(Lexicon quote).

Now in the HBP we are told that killing splits the soul. We have
seen Voldemort, Peter, Bella, and Snape kill. Alla pointed out that
in PoA Harry does not allow Sirius and Lupin to kill Peter because he
does not think that his father would have wanted them to become
killers. Harry is not aware of soul splitting during PoA but
something tells him (rightly) that killing is not right. We all know
this to be true, but it is interesting that JKR is already priming us
for the idea of soul splitting in HBP.

Nora has also pointed to the fact that JKR's statements regarding
Occlumency leads her to believe that this skill is not all that it's
cracked up to be, and that it takes a certain kind of person to do
this. It's important that the person be able to compartmentalize
their emotions – push away their emotions.

In other words it's like wearing a mask, putting on a false facade.
Nora's comment made me remember this moment in HBP.

"I have not asked you to take out your books," said Snape, closing
the door and moving to face the class from behind his desk; Hermione
hastily dropped her copy of ** Confronting the Faceless ** back into
her bag and stowed it under her chair (page 177, The-Half-Blood
Prince). I remember this moment because the title of the book also
made me think of the faceless chess pieces in SS/PS.

So far JKR has only shown DEs (and former DEs) kill. She hasn't
shown any Order members killing yet—not even in self-defense. It must
mean that she does not think of killing lightly. Defensive spells
are ok, but unforgivable curses are inexcusable. (I'm not sure how
she will avoid the Order from killing in book 7, unless she is
planning on some kind of Karmic justice where those that kill for the
good side also die while saving another.)

We also know that there is a lot of Lily in Harry. She seems to have
been a loyal, brave, and caring person. Her big gift to Harry was
that she sacrificed herself for his life. We also know that Harry is
not afraid of death. At the end of The Order of the Phoenix, during
Voldemort's mental assault, Harry asked for it. Harry could no longer
endure the pain and he asked to die—his first thought was of Sirius.
And it was his love of Sirius that drove Voldemort out of his mind.

It seems rather reasonable to assume that in the end, Harry's battle
with Voldemort will be similar in nature. Voldemort will try to
remove the horcrux from Harry's head, and it will kill him. At some 
point in time during book 7 Harry will find out what his mother did 
to protect him and he will understand what he carries inside his
scar.

Poor Luna! I can see this girl dying midway through the book. Will 
Harry remember her religious faith in the afterlife and find the 
resolve to sacrifice himself for the greater good? Yes, I think so. 
Harry will choose to sacrifice himself for the people he loves.

I hope Ginny's experience with DiaryTom has given her some knowledge 
to save Harry. I hope she comes to his rescue.

The scene in the cave with Dumbledore is looking more like a preview
of Voldemort's downfall.

Vivian

http://www.hp-lexicon.org/wizards/luna.html