Speculations and Assertions- The Prophecy

Yes, I did promise some Harry Potter on this blog. I have a lot to say on the subject, and since this is my personal forum, I am pleased to NOT listen to other's ideas, NOT refrain from saying 'your ideas are stupid', and NOT have to try to get along with others.

These are MY assertions posted to MY blog. So there.

Harry: Live or Die?

Well, this is the big question, isn't it? Will our heroic hero make it past adolescence? Will the spectacled son of Lily and James bless their memories with grandchildren? Will the pure-hearted Harry triumph over the pure evil that is Lord Voldemort?

The Prophecy

There has been much speculation since Harry (and we) heard the prophecy in OoTP. For reference, here it is in its entirety:

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 will 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 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...

Oooohhh, it's so tantalizing, yet tells us nothing. The only reason the Chosen One is Harry is because Voldemort chose Harry. Coulda, shoulda, woulda been Neville.

Here is where I need to digress into the story of our friend Oedipus. No incest jokes please. If you're in any way familiar with the story, you know that Oedipus didn't crush on his mom in the way that the Freudian concept implies. In fact, Oedipus didn't even know Jocasta, who became his wife, was his mom. Neither did she. These events are actually incidental to the story- it's not about sleeping with your mom, it's about not being able to escape your fate. (among other things. Apologies to you classical scholars out there for my pedestrian interpretation.)

Oedipus' father was told a prophecy made about his son killing him and sleeping with Jocasta. In reaction, he sent his infant son with a shepherd who was supposed to leave him to die on a mountain. Of course, the shepherd takes pity on the baby and gives him to a shepherd buddy, who takes him far away and presents him to his own king, who raises him as his own.

Oedipus is later given the same prophecy his father was- Oedipus will kill his father and sleep with his mother. Thinking the people who raised him are his parents, he leaves home to keep the prophecy from happening.

On his travels, he comes across a traveling party, gets in an altercation with the leader and kills him. Of course, this man is his father, just nobody knows it yet. Part one of the prophecy comes true.

I'm not going to go into the sphinx thingy here- if you want to know about it, read the story yourself. The next series of events end with Oedipus being given the throne vacated by the man he just killed, plus the hand of Jocasta, his widow. And Oedipus' mother, BTW. Part two of the prophecy- done. You can't escape your fate.

There is more to the story involving Oedipus unknowingly setting a nasty curse upon himself and his kingdom, but again, if you want to know about all that, read it yourself.

George Lucas also borrowed from Oedipus when he created the Star Wars universe. To summarize: It was prophesied that a force-strong individual would emerge, gain power and bring balance to the Force (more apologies to you SW-heads out there). We all believe it's supposed to be Anakin Skywalker (played in the movies by the delicious Hayden Christenson), and at the end of episode three, an anguished Obi-Wan (played by the equally appetizing Ewan McGregor, one of my personal all-time favorites, but anyway) screams at a bleeding and dying Anakin, "You were the Chosen One! You were supposed to destroy the Sith! Not join them!"

A couple decades go by, Anakin is now the feared Sith Lord Darth Vader, the Emperor's evil puppet; young Luke learns the truth about his family, tries to reach his father through the power of love; Vader eventually succumbs to the Light and kills the Emperor. Thus the prophecy is fulfilled, just not as we expected. Again, you can't escape your fate. Anakin was meant to destroy the Sith, and he did. (Now I know that in the SW books the Emperor pulls a Voldemort-like resurrection and goes on in Emperor-like fashion with a new body. But that's not what we're talking about here, so let it go.)

Now we know that the inimitable Joanne Rowling studied the classics in school, so she is of course in the position to borrow from and expand on the Oedipus theme. Prophecies are a tricky business, something that Dumbledore has a hard time pounding into Harry's head during their private lessons. In Oedipus' case the fact that he put so much store in the prophecy led to it coming true. This is also the mistake that Voldy makes- if he hadn't believed it so much, he wouldn't have tried to kill Harry, an act which actually made Harry more powerful and more likely and able to completely destroy Voldy.

Another tricky thing about this particular prophecy is the fact that Voldy only heard, apparently, the part that said the one with the power to vanquish Voldy will be born at the end of July to parents that have defied him three times. He doesn't know that he himself will mark the baby as his equal, nor that either must die at the other's hands because they can't coexist. Voldy only thinks that Harry has the power to kill Voldy. That's why Voldy tried to kill Harry before he got the chance.

Anyway, to answer the question, "Will Harry survive to the end?" I think he will, for a couple reasons. First, and probably the most pragmatic, the entire series is seen through the Harry-filter. Though written in the omniscient POV, it is really a story about Harry. The two opening scenes of HBP seem to challenge this, since they happen without Harry and Harry doesn't even learn about the events that transpire in them, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

The second reason I believe Harry will survive is because I just don't believe that JKR would do that to us, or to herself. She knows we love Harry, we know she loves Harry, we love her and she loves us, so I just don't think she will kill him off.

But thirdly, I just can't believe that she will totally abandon her recurring themes of good triumphing over evil and love being more powerful than hate. The entire thing won't make sense, literally and literarily (is that a word?). Though I do believe Harry will be greviously injured and those he loves will be injured and/or killed. Particularly the poor Weasleys will be affected- Harry loves them too much.

But again back to the Oedipal tie-in. Truth is, Harry can't avoid his fate. *Harry* knows that he and Voldy can't both live vis a vie the prophecy, but Harry's personal motivation is getting rid of evil in the personification of Voldy- not fulfilling the prophecy. Harry is driven to destroy the force that killed his parents, killed the Prewitts (who, incidentally, were Molly Weasley's brothers, if you didn't know), killed Cedric, killed Madam Bones, killed Sirius and destroyed Neville's family- not do what the prophecy tells him. Same difference- prophecy fulfilled; period, end of sentence.

Of course, the lovely and talented JKR loves to surprise us. Very few fandom speculations have been correct.