One month after the release of the very last Harry Potter book, “The Deathly Hallows”, here’s what I think of the final installment on the very famous series. If you have read my earlier entries regarding all things Harry Potter, you can deduce that I am not a fan of the Harry-Ginny pairing, and even though their relationship had been sealed after Gryffindor won the Quidditch cup on Harry’s sixth year over what could have been “several sunlit days,” I still don’t think they belong together. No, I am not sour-graping, nor am I one of those fans that think “Harry should marry me”, I just think that Harry deserves a far better witch than Ginny. Enough of the relationships babble, maybe on my next post, but this time let’s get on with the more important plot points.
This is the last book, a lot of loose ends left after six books had to be tied into one tight knot, but then again - come to think of it – should they really need to be closed? It is sometimes good story-telling when some things were left hanging, giving readers something to think about – opening a whole new world of possibilities that could only prosper in their very own imaginations.
At the end of book six, “The Half-Blood Prince,” readers were left mourning over Dumbledore’s death and a lot of loathing for Severus Snape, who killed the old wizard with Harry as the witness and some Death Eaters. It was such a terrible loss for the wizarding world at the very height of war against Lord Voldemort. What a despicable act to ‘’murder’’ the greatest wizard of modern times, Chief Warlock of Wizengamot, Chairman of the International Confederation of Wizards and Order of Merlin, First Class. But in most stories, the old and wise ‘’mentors‘’ tend to die even before the final battle commences: think of Gandalf falling at the depths of Moria in ‘’The Fellowship of the Ring’’ or of Brom dying so early in Eragon. When a lot of people are in the ‘’Snape is a very bad man’’ camp, I am more in the ‘’Snape is Dumbledore’s man’’ camp. He may have killed the old man (yes, he is definitely dead) with Avada Kedavra (the Killing Curse), but I believed then that there’s more to it than meets the eye. Just like Harry, I trusted Dumbledore; even if Harry don’t meet eye to eye with the old man regarding Snape, I still trust Dumbledore that the slimy git is ‘’now no more a Death Eater’’ than the Headmaster.
The final book opens with the complex and still mysterious Severus Snape, and the first chapter further enflames the hearts of those ‘’Snape is bad’’ fans. In this chapter, we also witness how cruel and twisted are the views of Lord Voldemort. We got our first death, though we know nothing much of this person but that she was a Hogwarts professor for Muggle Studies. “Nagini, dinner,” this is definitely no longer a children’s book.
I love Albus Dumbledore, as I have said before, and by the second chapter doubts of
Don’t you hate the Dursleys? Well, we got another and final chapter with them; this is the first chapter that made me cry. I had never imagined that Dudley’s lines could ever make me cry but when he said ‘’I don’t think you’re a waste of space,’’ I bawled. I am expecting something from Aunt Petunia here, as much as Harry, but there was nothing; although more words from her would make this a much sappy opener. This chapter is funny and melancholic at the same time and I loved it when Harry looked around the house at Number 4 Privet Drive one last time, and memories of his miserable youth were recalled.
When I saw the chapter title ‘’Seven Potters’’ from the spoilers four or five days before the official release, I thought that we’d learn about Harry’s ancestry; I was definitely mistaken. This is a chapter when merged with the next, would make the filmmakers dance with glee; it’s an action-packed sequence with a lot of special effects. Harry, multiplied by seven with the help of polyjuice potion, and members of the Order of the Phoenix were chased by Death Eaters. It’s a pursuit on broomsticks, thestrals, and a flying motorcycle, and of wizards firing curses and hexes as each other. Lovely! Harry won over Lord Voldemort. Yey! The only sad news on this one is that we lost Hedwig (Harry’s pet owl) and the consummate warrior, Mad-eye Moody. Aww! I cried again.
Albus Dumbledore died and he left quite a few things for his favourite students: Harry, Ron and Hermione; such odd gifts but you’ll know they have uses in the end. Bill and Fleur got married and we now witness what the wedding is like in the wizarding world: fantastic! Viktor Krum is back just to let Harry know what is the meaning of the symbol that Luna’s father was wearing; but I love his line ‘’ Vot is the point of being an international Quidditch player if all the good-looking girls are taken?’’ Chaos ensued at the wedding and the story was further propelled to set sailing, which let us back to Grimmauld Place and learned of what had become of the real locket that was supposed to be the reason Harry and Dumbledore went to the cave that fateful night on Harry’s sixth year. We also discover here who R.A.B was and hear of Kreacher’s sad tale. Sob! Sob! More Sob! Okay, I bawled my eyes out reading the house-elf’s story. Here’s another one-liner from Ron that lightened up the mood: ‘’Overkill, mate.’’
Did you love Dolores Umbridge in the fifth book? We met her one more time in this final tome - though a very brief one. She still is that despicable 6!+c#. From a heist at the Ministry of Magic we followed our hero as he hides in the forest with his friends. This part really dragged on and I started to get impatient the same way as Ron did. And at this point plot holes are starting to stack up. They finally got the real locket (one of the Horcruxes) and Harry, Ron and Hermione took turns wearing them; and it affects their personality (hmm… didn’t that remind you of the ‘’One Ring’’?).
And then I got the twist I was hoping for since book four: Ron left. He left the two in their hiding place to go home because he can’t stand being left out when Harry and Hermione start to make plans. He abandoned them in their quest to destroy Voldemort’s Horcruxes. Yey! Ron is going to turn a weasel, but I was wrong… again: two chapters later he’s back and played the hero by saving Harry’s life. So, Ron becomes the hero and saves Harry and destroyed the locket, but pulling Godric Gryffindor’s sword from the icy water is just too Arthurian for me. Harry and Hermione went to Godric’s Hollow to go back and see where it all began. Harry visits his parents’ graves and, yes, I cried in this chapter as Harry cries. Let me just quote here one of my favourite passages: ‘’The empty words could not disguise the fact that his parents’ mouldering remains lay beneath snow and stone, indifferent, unknowing. And tears came before he could stop them, boiling hot then instantly freezing on his face, and what was the point in wiping them off, or pretending? He let them fall, his lips pressed hard together, looking down at the thick snow hiding from his eyes the place where the last of Lily and James lay, bones now, surely, or dust, not knowing or caring that their living son stood so near, his heart still beating, alive because of their sacrifice and close to wishing, at this moment, that he was sleeping under the snow with them.’’
Harry meets a new character in Luna Lovegood’s father, who is as eccentric as his daughter, and fans are introduced to this whole new thing called the ‘’Deathly Hallows’’. The three hallows are all together different banana from the horcruxes and they pose another dilemma for our hero. These three things, if possessed by one person, will make him the master of death, which is what, as Harry thought, he greatly needs to defeat Voldemort. He later learns that he already had the two in his possession and Voldemort is tracking down the very last one, the Elder Wand.
What the heck is this Elder Wand? According to legend, this very old wand is considered to be unbeatable and anyone who wields it cannot be defeated in a duel; due to this characteristic, the wand has left a bloody trail in wizarding history. Some people thought that you have to kill the present owner of the wand not become the new master of the wand, but little was it known that killing was not needed and you only have to defeat or disarm the owner to get the wand’s allegiance. This is where it becomes murky and hard to decipher for fans. Anyway, we will learn here about Dumbledore’s triumph over Grindelwald and has transpired after the famous duel. So did Harry got the Elder Wand? Oh yeah, he did. He got its allegiance through accident: on some kind of rumble between two kids.
In book three, when Harry ‘’saved’’ Peter Pettigrew from being murdered by his friends, Dumbledore mentioned of the life-debt Wormtail owes to Harry and it might be of use in the end; didn’t that remind you of Gandalf talking to Frodo of the mercy given by Bilbo to Gollum? The question is did it happen? Did Pettigrew pay-off his life-debt? Fans all thought of it unfolding in a grand way, like Wormtail standing in front of Harry to block a Killing Curse, although in the book, that was not the case. Wormtail died in his own hands, literally; remember that in the fourth book he was given a silver hand by his master when he voluntarily cut-off the original one to serve as ‘’ingredient’’ in the potion that would give Voldemort a body. This silver hand acted on its own accord when Pettigrew made a slight hesitation when he was about to throttle Harry.
What becomes of Dobby the house-elf? Harry’s biggest fan and very willing helper, Dobby died saving Harry’s life one more time. This is the part where I cried a lot; from the moment Harry saw the silver dagger on Dobby’s chest, when the elf said his last words ‘’Harry… Potter…’’, when Harry dug the grave with the use of a spade and without magic, the eulogy given by Luna, to the marker Harry made saying ‘’Dobby, a free elf’’.
Hagrid said that it would be crazy to rob Gringotts bank and Harry, Ron and Hermione actually tried and succeeded. It was a suspenseful and funny sequence and finished off with them flying on top of a dragon. From this on everything went of a faster pace. We go back to Hogwarts and meet everybody there including Percy! His return was funny and touching and that sent me again on another crying binge.
Severus Snape was the most mystifying and ambiguous character and only towards the do we get to learn of his true colors; I’m right! I can’t believe that the theory I have been following was correct: Snape was and still is in love with Lily. I knew that there was more to that chapter in the fifth book, ‘’Snape’s Worst Memory’’ than just being turned upside down and having your dirty knickers being shown to the rest of the school. And when Snape’s dying words to Harry were ‘’Look…at…me…’’ and the green eyes found the black, I wept liked a child. It say’s so much why JK Rowling kept on saying that Harry’s eyes were every important and why that added scene in the third film between Lupin and Harry at the bridge made the author almost gasped in surprise.
I knew the final battle will be at Hogwarts, this is the place where Harry and Voldemort both felt at home, and as what Harry thought in his final hours - and what could be one of the best lines in the book and makes me shed tears every time I read them - ‘’Hogwarts was the first and best home he had known. He and Voldemort and Snape, the abandoned boys, had all found here…’’ The Dark Forest was featured again in this final battle, and this leads us back to the first encounter between Harry and Voldemort on Harry’s first year in school. One centaur helped Harry escaped then and the other centaurs were furious with this because they thought that had meddled with what was written in the stars. Harry deduced then that he was supposed to have died that night in Voldemort’s hands only that it was prevented by Firenze. Ronan and Bane were right only that they got the wrong time; Harry indeed died at the Forest, sacrificing himself for the lives of others. ‘’The Forest Again’’ was the chapter that JK Rowling broke down after writing, and I knew why while was reading it. After all the years of hardships Harry has to go through, and here he was walking to his death with impressions of his parents, Sirius and Lupin by his side. ‘’You’ve been so brave,’’ his mom told him and his dad said, ’’We are… so proud of you.’’ I howled and almost died with Harry.
Religious critics could be eating their words now after this final book. Harry’s story is heartrending and tragic; it may have been littered with magic but there are an awful lot of religious themes addressed in the entire series. I’m not gonna say more here; I will deal with the other characters and their journey, more especially with Neville, in another post. Finally, Harry got what he wanted when he looked at the Mirror of Erised back on his first year: a family.
