The Prophecy

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 174897

---  Bart Lidofsky <bartl at ...> wrote:
>
> JKR claims that she worded the prophecy VERY carefully.
> 
> Well, I'm still scratching my head over it. 
> Specifically, "and either must die at the hand of the
> other for neither can live while the other survives..."
> Well, clearly, they both lived for several years while
> the other survived. And one did NOT die at the hand of
> the other; Morty kept offing himself until it took. 
> All he needed was antlers, a squirrel, a hat, and "This
> time for sure!" before casting YAAK. 
> 
> So, can anybody here, who actually understands the 
> prophecy, explain it to me?
> 
> Bart
>

bboyminn:

Can anyone explain the Prophecy to you? Actually, NO.
It is the nature of Prophecies to be misunderstood
and misinterpreted. Usually, it is only after the
fact, that even a limited subjective interpretation
is possible.

Think of Nostradamus, someone who live in the 16th
century. People are still using his prophecies 
today to predict the end of the world. Trouble is,
using him as a base, they have predicted the end
of the world several times over, and of course,
sooner or later, they are bound to get it right
even if just by accident. 

As to '...neither can live while the other survives...'
it comes down to your definition of 'live'. After
the fact, it seem as if it should have said, 'neither
can DIE while the other survives'. I think that really
is what it is meant to say, but it does so in a very
mysterious and round about way.  

As to 'either must die at the hand of the other', it
hinges on your definitions of 'hand'. Could Voldemort's
death scene have occurred the way it did with anyone
other than Harry? I don't think so. In a sense, Harry
is responsible for Voldemort's death because Harry
understood what it would take to kill him. 

So, Voldemort is dead, figuratively, by Harry's hand,
because no other 'hand' understood how to kill him.
Voldemort is literally dead by his own curse, but that
curse only rebounded on him because he was up against
Harry. Consider the perspective of the wizard world,
don't you think they interpret the scene as Harry 
killing Voldemort even if they know he didn't literally
kill him? I think so. 

So, we can never really truly understand any prophecy,
we can only try to twist the facts to fit it after the 
fact. 

Just a thought.

Steve/bboyminn