Harry Potter and the Four Horcruxes (was: Title of Book 7 - Esoteric Wording)

[Neri]

No: HPFGUIDX 163100

SPOILER SPACE: if you don't know yet what is the title of Book 7, go 
and find out (please).

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> > wynnleaf
> > Here is a link that's floating around on the Lexicon 
> > Forum and might be of interest in reading about 
> > "hallows" as sacred objects.  
> > 
> > http://www.mystical-www.co.uk/arthuriana2z/h.htm 
> > 
> > Go to Arthurian A-Z and click "H" to read about "hallows."

> bboyminn:
> 
> Excellent link, and most importantly, it does put it into
> the framework of a noun, and opens up new possibilities.
> If you notice, this provided link is to the Four Hallows 
> of Ireland -
> 
> 1. The Pole of Combat;
> 2. The Sword of Light;
> 3. The Cauldron of Cure;
> 4. The Stone of Destiny.
> 
> or as represented in more modern terms -
> 
> 1. The Sword;
> 2. The Spear;
> 3. The Cup;
> 4. The Pentacle.
> 


Neri
I tend to agree that the new title refers to the missing Horcruxes, 
with an allusion to the myth of the Four Hallows of the Tuatha de 
Danaan. The match is definitely too good to be mere coincidence. 
First there's the word "hallows", secondly there's the word "deathly" 
(and not "dead" or "deadly") that fits the Horcruxes well. Thirdly 
there is the number: Four Hallows against four missing Horcruxes. And 
then there's already a good match in the identities of three out of 
the Four Hallows: 

1. Gryffindor's Sword
2. An unknown Ravenclaw trinket
3. Hufflepuff Cup
4. The Slytherin Locket

I remind you that JKR had already used Tarot symbolism in HBP: the 
name of the chapter "The Lightning-Struck Tower" is the name of a 
Tarot card depicting a person falling off a tower. 

Of course, JKR is known to employ mythical symbolism in a rather 
loose way, and even if she does use the allusion to the Four Hallows, 
she's hardly obliged to do it consistently. But still, it would be 
interesting to see how the Four Hallows parallel might help us with 
Horcruxes clues and speculations. The first clue is that there are 
indeed four Horcruxes left, and that they should correspond to the 
four Houses. The Slytherin Locket and the Hufflepuff Cup already 
correspond well with the Pentacle (also known as "the Jewel") and the 
Cup.

The next nice clue is for the Ravenclaw Horcrux. Some of us have 
already hypothesized immediately after HBP that this should be RR's 
old wand, because of the Tarot symbolism (in the Tarot version of the 
Four Hallows "The Spear" is also known as "The Wand"). This would fit 
with the Ravenclaw Horcrux being the lone wand in Ollivander's window 
in SS/PS. There are several additional clues that go well with that 
wand: 

i) The Ollivanders being in business since several hundreds of years 
BC, which would make it easy for them to manufacture RR's wand merely 
1000 years ago.

ii) The fact that a wand only fits one Wizard, meaning that after 
RR's death, her wand would not be in use anymore.

iii) JKR recently saying that we will learn more about the 
relationship between the Wizard and the wand in Book 7 (should I 
start writing DH? DEHA?).

iv) Tom Riddle refusing Dumbledore's offer to take him to Diagon Ally 
to buy his school things. This means Tom could notice the wand in 
Ollivander's window without Dumbledore knowing about it.

v) The suspicious disappearance of Ollivander in HBP. There's also 
the fact that Neville bought the last wand before this disappearance. 
It could be that Ollivander slipped the Ravenclaw wand to Neville, or 
at least that Neville saw some important clue when he was there.

Now to the even more intriguing part: the Gryffindor Horcrux. 
Generally the Four Hallows/Four Houses parallel seems to work against 
Nagini being a Horcrux, since she's not related to Gryffindor and not 
to the Four Hallows. This agrees with what some of us have been 
suspecting for some time, that Nagini being a Horcrux is a red 
herring. 

Strictly, the Four Hallows/Four Houses parallel would suggest that 
the Gryffindor Horcrux should be the Sword. However, I find it 
difficult to believe that Dumbledore could be so stupid as to never 
realizing this in all the years he had it, not to mention that Harry 
had already used the sword while disposing of another Horcrux. I 
guess the Sword can still be one of the four founder's Hallows, even 
if not strictly a *deathly* Hallow (that is, not a Horcrux) just for 
completeness. There's another possibility, however: Voldemort might 
try to steal the Sword from Hogwarts in Book 7 in order to make it 
his last Horcrux. This would fit with the theory that one of 
Voldemort's soul is inside Harry, and Voldemort has been suspecting 
it for some time, and making plans to retrieve it in order to encase 
it in another Horcrux. I've theorized Nagini was slated to be this 
Horcrux, but maybe Voldemort has plans for the Sword.  

Another interesting clue of the parallel is that, as in the original 
myth, the Four Hallows might have Four Guardians. These may have been 
originally appointed to guard the Founders' trinkets. So perhaps the 
Smiths were appointed guardians of the Cup, the Gaunts guardians of 
the Locket, the Ollivanders guardians of the Wand and the Dumbledores 
guardians of the Sword. Alternatively this clue might also mean that 
Voldemort appointed his own guardians for each of the Horcruxes, just 
as Lucius was appointed to guard the diary. It is hinted in Spinner's 
End that Bellatrix was a guardian of a Horcrux but isn't anymore, 
maybe because she lost it. And perhaps Regulus learned about the 
Locket from a guardian who talked too much.


Neri