The Effect of the Prophecy

[jelly92784]

No: HPFGUIDX 169171

Charmed Force: What's the big deal with the second half of the 
Prophecy? I mean, really, we already knew it was kill or be killed.

The first part:
"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches
 born to
those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies
and
the Dark Lord shall mark him as his equal, but he will have power the
Dark Lord knows not
"

The second part:
"and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live
while the other survives
the one with the power to vanquish the Dark
Lord will be born as the seventh month dies
"


Janelle: 

I'm going to disagree with your division of the prophecy here.  
Although I don't have my books with me and can't check exactly, I'm 
pretty sure that the prophecy is divided like this:

The first part: 
"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... born to 
those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies...

The second part:
"and the Dark Lord shall mark him as his equal, but he will have power 
the Dark Lord knows not... and either must die at the hand of the 
other...."

Harry learns the entire thing at the end of OOP, but is told that 
Voldemort only ever heard the first part.  Voldemort didn't hear the 
part about marking the chosen one as his equal and is desperate to hear 
it now (during OOP) to figure out why he couldn't kill Harry the first 
time he tried. Harry knows that it is kill or be killed, but Voldemort 
doesn't, at least not officially from the prophecy.  All he knows is 
that the one with the power to vanquish him approaches, which he 
interpreted to mean Harry.  And so Voldemort sets out to kill Harry, 
not knowing that he must mark Harry in order for him to become his 
equal.  If Voldie hadn't marked Harry, Harry never would have had the 
power to vanquish him.

So the second half of the prophecy is a big deal because of the way it 
affected Voldie's actions, not Harry's.