A Circular Route Back to Godric's Hollow for the End

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 166911

Goddlefrood wrote:
>
> The Long and Winding Road Back to Godric's Hollow
> 
> There are several theorists ( and I'm sure you know who you 
> are ;)) who postulate that the books reflect each other. 
><snip>
> 
> It led me to the title of this piece in that I formed the view 
> that the story of Harry Potter is very much a circular one. It 
> began due to what occurred at Godric's Hollow at the Potter's 
> house on the night of 31st October - 1st November when Harry was 
> just over a year old, and it will end there in DH with the final 
> confrontation between he and Lord Voldemort. That is the view I 
> have formed anyway. This is not to say that Harry will not visit
> Godric's Hollow elsewhere in DH.
<snip>
> My analysis of that is that the scene is of Harry and Voldemort 
> behind the ruins of the Potter family home, but in front of a 
> graveyard. The curved structure in the background that encloses
> the scene may be supposed to represent an aqueduct, but it is 
> unlike any aqueduct of which I have cognizance (they tend to be
> straight and slightly tilted to take advantage of the force of 
> gravity;)).
<snip>

Carol responds:
Godric's Hollow is a partially or mostly Muggle village (Hogsmeade is
the only all-wizard village in Britain). Consequently, IMO, any
graveyard in Godric's Hollow (which I've always imagined to be in
Wales) would resemble that in Little Hangleton, which we encountered
in GoF. HBP mentions a village church in Little Hangleton; perhaps
Harry was baptized in a similar church in Godric's Hollow--depending,
of course, on how long the Potters were living there before the
Fidelius Charm was cast. In any case, I see no reason to imagine a
Roman ruin in Godric's Hollow, much less a Roman graveyard. Nor, IIRC,
did the Romans bury their dead in anything resembling this circular
structures with its many archways. They used underground catacombs, to
my knowledge. (I wouldn't be surprised to find something of that sort
at Hogwarts, but not at Godric's Hollow.)

To me, the backdrop GrandPre's painting looks very much like the
coliseum in Rome:

http://www.jonathanstephens.com/italy-large/Coliseum%20Rome%20Italy.jpg

Harry mentally compares himself to a gladiator entering the arena (HBP
Am. ed. 512), and to me, that's exactly what the round, arched
building suggests: an amphitheater or arena. The shadowy spectators I
take to be shades of the dead, probably Voldemort's victims,
interested in the outcome but powerless to help or hinder it. Whether
the Veil is involved or not, I have trouble deciding. (Not that the
Veil itself has any powers; it's only a covering for the archway
leading into what I take to be the realm of the dead or the afterlife.)

At any rate, I agree with Goddlefrood that the backdrop is not an
aqueduct, but I disagree that it has anything to do with Godric's
Hollow, where I expect to see the ruins of a cottage and two ordinary
tombstones, possibly triggering some useful memory.

Carol, still about half-convinced that the final confrontation will
take place in the DoM but unable to fully reconcile that idea with
GrandPre's cover art