Harry as Murderer?

[Ken Hutchinson]

No: HPFGUIDX 158247

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Miles" <miles at ...> wrote:
>
> > Miles wrote:
> > <snip>
> >> And I'm quite sure, that she will not make her hero Harry doing
> >> something so important she herself thinks is wrong in terms of
> >> ethics.
> >
> > Harry knows that, according
> > to this, one of them must die at the others hand.
> 
> Miles:
> Now, the prophecy tells that "one must die at the hand of the other" and
> that the boy can "vanquish" Lord Voldemort. It does NOT say "the boy
will
> kill him". Both could be interpreteted like that, but something quite
> different can happen without contradicting the exact words of the
prophecy.
> I think it's important that the prophecy is not clear. JKR herself
stated,
> that the exact phrases are very important.
> 


Ken:

I agree, a prophecy in a novel must be ambiguous otherwise it gives
away the game. The novel "Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell" which is
also about English magic but has a far different take on it likewise
has a prophecy that is central to the story. I think it is a much more
interesting prophecy partly because it is related in a very poetic
form. I don't suppose it would make much sense out of its context but
it almost could stand on its own in a book of poetry. All the major
characters in the book dismiss it as babbling since the character who
delivers it is little more than a street bum. Every word of it is
literally fulfilled, just not in the way a simple reading of it would
suggest.

So I would say that to be an effective plot device without being a
spoiler a good prophecy in a novel has to have alternate readings. By
including a prophecy in a novel the author signs a "literary contract"
with the reader to the effect that the prophecy will be satisfied in a
way that reader will accept is literal. In HP even that normal
convention has an escape clause. DD tells Harry and the reader not to
put too much stock in the prophecy. In this particular case I would
not feel cheated if the prophecy were left unfulfilled and I might
even prefer it that way. In any event DD's words make it even harder
to predict what will happen with respect to the prophecy than it is in
most stories that have one.

Ken