CHAPDISC: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Ch. 19: The Silver Doe

[Bex]

No: HPFGUIDX 182767

> LauraW:
> > Is there any reason to believe that Lily modeled her Patronus after
> > James?  What if she learned to do the Patronus charm first and
> > James chose the stag to woo her?  In several scenes that we see,
> > James is trying to get Lily's attention while she seems uninterested.
> 
Oryomai:
> Nothing says it couldn't have happened that way.  The way I personally
> interpret it is tying Lily to James.  Also, I don't think that you can
> "pick" your Patronus -- it's whatever happens.  We've heard  about
> James as a stag since PoA and suddenly Severus' love of Lily is
> represented by a doe.  The reader has a connection of Stag=James for
> years before the Lily part comes along.  James is a much more
> developed character than Lily in the series...with the exception of DH
> the only thing we really know about her is that she died for Harry.  I
> feel that it fits more to have the representation establish Lily to
> James.  This is just my personal interpretation of it of course.


Quick correction:
We do not know what James' /Patronus/ was. His /Animagus/ form was a
stag, and per JK, you don't choose that. 

It's possible that Lily's Patronus being a doe is mere coincidence in
the WW (what the characters themselves are aware of), meaning that
she's always produced a doe patronus, and she just happened to marry a
fella who can transform himself into a stag. I can see James using
this: "See? We're meant for each other!"

But in the *story* (plotline, themes, and literary devices), JK made
Lily's Patronus be the feminine equivalent of James' physical
manifestation to let the reader make the link. (It's dessssstiny!)


~Bex