"the other"

[Jenni A. M. Merrifield]

No: HPFGUIDX 171918


<DELURK>

I had a thought about the wording in part of Trelawney's original
prophecy this morning and wanted to find out if it had been discussed
here before.  If it has, could someone direct me to the best threads on
the subject.  If not, I'd appreciate your thoughts, in these last 4-1/2
days before DH-day.

In the past Jo has said that she worded the prophecy "very carefully",
suggesting that a key to understanding it is in how we interpret the
words.  One theory along these lines is that Snape might be "the one"
identified by "The one with the power to vanquish the dark lord
approaches" because Snape was "approaching the door" at that moment
(personally, I don't hold this to be so, based on the last line of the
prophecy, "The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born
as the seventh month dies" as Snape was born in the past and his
birthday is in January anyway)

My "theory" (if you can call it that) concerns the interpretation of the
words in the fourth line of the prophecy: "And either must die at the
hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives...",
specifically, the identity of "the other".

My first assumption is that the "either" and the "neither" in this line
refer to "the Dark Lord" and "he" from the previous line ("And the Dark
Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord
knows not..."), and that "he" refers to "The one with the power to
vanquish the Dark Lord" from the first line ("The one with the power to
vanquish the Dark Lord approaches"). Not an unreasonable conclusion with
which most other interpretations appear to agree.

The second assumption that is generally made is that the phrase "the
other," where it appears in this line, refers to one or the other of the
two individuals who are refered to by the noun either or neither.
Accepting this assumption, the general meaning of the fourth line would
appear to be as follows:

Either one or the other of the two individuals identified by
"either"/"neither" must die at the hand of the other one of those two
individuals because, ultimately, both of these two individuals will be
unable to continue living as long as the other one of those two
individuals also continues to survive.

My thought, however, is that, perhaps, this assumption is false. 
Perhaps, "the other" refers to a third individual, that is, someone who
is not "the Dark Lord" or "The one with the power to vanquish the Dark
Lord". If this assumption is accepted instead, the general meaning of
the fourth line would appear to be as follows:

Either one or the other of the two individuals identified by
"either"/"neither" must die at the hand of a third individual identified
by "the other" and neither of these two individuals will be able to
continue living as long as this third individual survives.

It isn't quite as neat as the former - for one thing, if "neither" one
of the first two can live if the third one survives, why is it that only
"either" of the first two must be killed by the third?  I submit that
it's possible that "either" could be read as an inclusive OR ("this OR
that OR both") rather than an exclusive OR ("this OR that") but I
readily admit that it is a bit of a stretch to read it that way nor do I
like the thought that Harry AND Voldemort will be killed by a third
party! Alternatively, it is possible that there are some aspects of the
situation that will occur that the prophecy leaves unvoiced - for
example, perhaps the prophecy itself is assuming that the third
individual will die after killing either of the first two, thereby
allowing the other one of the first two individuals to live on.

In any case, while not a pat answer it doesn't seem like a completely
improbable interpretation, so I thought I'd throw it out there. Of
course, if it is correct that raises one new question:  WHO is "the
other" if it is a third person?

A couple of possibilities immediately spring to mind:

    * Neville (as the other who was "born as the seventh month dies")   *
Snape (given the complexity of his character and the ambiguous status of
his loyalty)

Well, that's it.  Have at it. :-D

</DELURK>

:-j(enni)



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