The Afterlife (was Re: Of Sorting and Snape)

[prep0strus]

No: HPFGUIDX 175705

What happens to our beloved dead? Do they retain personalities? Are
they forever
lost to
us... or are they supporting us, just in some way we can't always
perceive? The
answers to
these questions from DH are the kind that would be of comfort to those who
grieve, and
presumably comforted the author as well.
Julie H, chicago


I've wondered this a lot, especially as we've been given more glimpses
of the afterlife.  It's not just this total mystery.  There are a lot
of times in the series we've seen the living interact with the dead,
and it's only served to confuse me more.

Ghosts are the simplest.  A shadow of the living.  It seems their
soul, their personality, all of their being is present, on earth, as a
shadow of what once was.  Able to speak, but do little else.  The only
confusing aspect is if a ghost were to have a portrait (I'll get into
portraits later as they are the most confusing aspect of death) – is
this even possible?  Would they be aspects of the same soul?  Would a
ghost be able to talk with his portrait persona?

What else have we seen?

Well, if we assume the King's Cross to not be entirely in Harry's
head, because I don't see that as being definitive either way, here we
have a purgatory, or at least a place of transition before the true
afterlife.  And here we also see Dumbledore, who is dead.  The
question is, did he wait here for Harry?  Was he able to return from
the true afterlife in order to meet Harry?  Or, is the reality a
mixture of reality and Harry's psyche – he is in a place between life
and death, but Dumbledore is an aspect of himself?

Then, there are the regurgitated spells from GoF.  Harry's parents,
Cedric
 I find these to be some of the most disturbing visions of the
dead that we have seen.  Are they the souls of the people Voldy
killed, literally trapped in the wand until Harry releases them?  This
seems unlikely, for every person who died due to the wand actions of
another would be unable to advance to the afterlife.  But they do
drift upwards, apparently towards heaven.  If they are not the souls,
are they shadows of the people?  

Here I think of Tom Riddle in CoS.  We learned later that the diary
was a Horcrux, but at the time, Tom was a `memory'.  Trapped at the
time the diary was made, and had he been able to achieve his goal, he
would have returned to life as Tom Riddle from that point, starting a
divergent path from that of Voldy.  Somehow the Horcruxes both anchor
the soul to earth, so that when Voldy loses his body, he is anchored
from that point on – he does not revert (as far as I can tell) to the
person he was at the creation of any of the Horcruxes – as well as
offer a `rebirth' option, providing a copy of the soul at the point of
horcrux creation, ready to be released and start over from that point.
 This itself offers strange possibilities, as theoretically there
could be multiple Riddles, from different Horcrux creations, alive at
the same time, possibly in conflict with each other (because could
Voldemorte team up with anyone, even himself?).  This doesn't seem to
be what JKR was planning for, but had Tom escaped and Ginny died in
CoS, but the events of GoF still took place
 soul pieces like
flatworms, cut apart and assuming their own identities?  Or is each
fragmented, flawed piece going to seek to bond with the others when it
meets them again?

But back to the regurgitated spells – are they memories, shadows of
souls copied at the moment of their death, and are simply going to
heaven to merge with the true souls who have been there the whole
time?  It doesn't seem like a perfect answer, but it appeals to me
more than the trapped souls theory.  And, as Lupin and Sirius are
present at the end (though we don't really know how Lupin died, it may
not have been by wand, and perhaps Sirius's death was more attributed
to the basement shower stall of death) it appears their souls are not
trapped having not been regurgitated.

Which brings us to the Resurrection Stone figures.  It's hard to judge
entirely based on the children's story of the Three Hallows
 that is,
we know, a story, and likely exaggerated, but those who return from
the dead are not happy and cannot truly be home in the world of the
living.  This leads me to believe that the presences that accompany
Harry really are the souls of his loved ones – they appear to even
choose their own images, as James is dressed the same as the night of
his death, but Sirius & Lupin imagine themselves younger and more hale
than Harry last saw them alive.  I have to wonder how Tonks, Moody,
etc. were when the four of them were suddenly blinked out of one
existence into another.  A comment from Lily letting Harry know he's
grown over the last 3 years would go a long way to identifying whether
the same consciousness was present in GoF, but alas, not to be.

The final, and most confusing aspect of the afterlife is the portrait.
 A really cool idea, when all the portraits we meet are people who are
already dead.  But when I start to consider people we knew alive and
are now dead, it's a lot more confusing.

Dumbeldore's portrait continues to influence events.  Now, is that an
aspect of magic that mimics the person's feelings at the time of death
and allows them to continue working?  Or is it an aspect of their
actual soul?  I can't imagine the dead person is trapped in the frame
like a ghost is trapped on earth, but is it one soul that can travel
between the afterlife and the portraits?  That seems unlikely as well,
because that means as a Hogwarts Headmaster you NEVER get to retire –
you'll be working forever, no rest for the weary.  What if Harry had
recalled Dumbledore with the stone in the office?  And, again, what if
a ghost had a portrait?

Finally, who gets portraits?  At first, I assumed it was a privilege
for the rich and powerful, who would make arrangements before death. 
Sirius, not expecting death, wouldn't have made such arrangements. 
And then, some institutions, like Hogwarts, would have automatic
placement spells to have them appear upon death of the headmaster. 
But (admittedly, not in the books) JKR tells us Snape will get a
portrait later thanks to Harry.  Well, if that's the case, why doesn't
EVERYONE have a portrait?  Portrait insurance should be a huge part of
life insurance.  Makes for a different talk with loved ones.  Who
needs to keep those you love in your heart?

"Don't worry, Timmy, when I die, I'll never leave you.  I'll always be
here
 in the den." 

Harry is more than rich enough!  He should have portraits of his
parents, Sirius, everybody!  Based on Dumbledore's portrait's
involvement in the world, it may not be quite the same as life, but it
must really be awesome for someone to have someone they love NEVER
have to stop talking with them and giving them advice.  And, somehow,
it does not carry with it the negative connotations of being a ghost
or being resurrected by the stone.  I don't know what the portraits
are exactly, soul-wise, but I do know that I want one of everyone I've
ever lost.  It would be hard, I suppose, with someone you loved, to
never be able to hold them again, but in most cases
being able to go
home and talk to Sirius or get to know his parents seems like it would
be a great thing for Harry.

I doubt there are many answers to these questions, but if anyone has
thoughts, I'd love to hear them.  The afterlife is much more
complicated when it overlaps with the duringlife.

~Adam (Prep0strus)