Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

“Even You-Know-Who can’t split himself into seven.”

This passing comment from Mad-Eye Moody emphasizes how little the adult wizards know about the reality of Voldemort’s Horcruxes. Harry, Ron, and Hermione exchange knowing looks, reminding one another of the challenge they must face alone. Three teenagers will be responsible for ensuring that the sacrifices of their friends and family are not in vain, and the secret must be kept to ensure that the plan goes accordingly.

“We’re coming with you. That was decided months ago—years, really.”

When Harry tries to talk Ron and Hermione out of coming with him on his journey to destroy the Horcruxes, Hermione points out that they have never backed down from a challenge before. Throughout the years, when Harry faced a daunting task, his friends were right there by his side, ready to jump into action. From the moment they faced a troll in a bathroom during their first year at Hogwarts, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were destined to go through the most difficult challenges together.

“Her future was free and unencumbered, whereas his…he could see nothing but Voldemort ahead.”

When Harry kisses Ginny at the Burrow, he allows himself to momentarily forget why he broke up with her. In a sudden rush, Harry imagines a world where Ginny goes on to marry another man, and he feels not only jealousy but remorse. Harry realizes that Ginny has something he doesn’t: hope for a possible future. Harry goes into this mission knowing he will have to lay down his life to ensure that the people he loves (like Ginny) can have a chance at a future.

“The Ministry has fallen. Scrimgeour is dead. They are coming.”

The overthrow of the Ministry signals a dramatic shift in the wizarding world. For years, Voldemort sympathizers have operated under covert secrecy. However, when the Ministry falls to the Death Eaters in Chapter 8, the message is clear: the Death Eaters are no longer hiding, and Voldemort is as good as running the Ministry of Magic. Voldemort now has the might of the Ministry to track down Harry Potter, and he and his friends must run at once to avoid capture.

“Speaking as your ex-Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, [...] you shouldn’t be quite so quick to lower your defenses.”

Lupin reminds his former students that no one is to be trusted in a world where Voldemort has such complete control. Anyone could be a double agent or a Death Eater in disguise, and Lupin stresses the importance of keeping their defenses up. Lupin does not want to inspire paranoia but wants to help Harry and his friends stay safe in this strange, frightening new world of chaos and betrayal.

“The Ministry is determined to root out such usurpers of magical power, and to this end has issued an invitation to every so-called Muggle-born to present themselves for interview by the newly appointed Muggle-born Registration Commission.”

Harry has always had a complicated relationship with the Ministry of Magic. At times, the Ministry does little to ensure the protection of its most vulnerable citizens, such as Muggle-borns and underage wizards. The fall of the Ministry, however, reveals how insidious ideas can infiltrate a governing body and create harmful policies. The Ministry is only as good as the people running it, and with Death Eaters at the helm, the Ministry has become an enormous extension of Voldemort’s power and bigotry.

“Beneath the title was a picture of a red rose with a simpering face in the middle of its petals, being strangled by a green weed with fangs and a scowl.”

The cartoon printed on the Ministry’s anti-Muggle-born propaganda posters employs a classic technique of fascist governments. By depicting Muggle-borns as dangerous, evil weeds, Umbridge believes she can turn the tide of public opinion against them. And because Muggle-borns overwhelmingly oppose the bigotry of Voldemort, removing their wands and stripping them of their power eliminates a significant amount of opposition to Voldemort.

“The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.”

This quote on the graves of Lily and James Potter comes from the New Testament of the Christian Bible. In the context of The Deathly Hallows, the quote ties into the overarching theme of death as a means of separating people from their loved ones, but also the fear of death. Harry must overcome his fear of dying to face Voldemort in the forest, and in doing so, he defeats his greatest enemy: the fear of being separated from the people he loves in the living world by death.

“They were the same age as we are now. And here we are, risking our lives to fight the Dark Arts, and there he was, in a huddle with his new best friend, plotting their rise to power over the Muggles.”

The news of Dumbledore’s teenage proclivities with Grindelwald and his ideology angers Harry. When Hermione argues that Dumbledore was a teenager and shouldn’t be held responsible for the things he believed in his youth, Harry points out that he and Hermione are also teenagers, and they are still choosing to do the right thing. As Harry points out, youth is not an excuse for committing evil acts or submitting to unsavory beliefs.

“You-Know-Who’s after the Elder Wand.”

Ever since Voldemort tried to duel Harry in his fourth year at Hogwarts and was unsuccessful, he has been obsessed with solving the “wand problem.” Harry and Voldemort’s wands are inexplicably bound to one another, and Voldemort believes that to finally kill Harry Potter, he will have to use the most powerful wand in existence. Harry realizes the imminent danger of a weapon like this being wielded by Voldemort, and the gravity of this moment fuels the acceleration of the hunt for the Horcruxes.

“‘The Boy Who Lived’ remains a symbol of everything for which we are fighting: the triumph of good, the power of innocence, the need to keep resisting.”

Lupin explains the public draw toward Harry Potter and why people turn to Harry as a symbol of hope. Harry may have survived Voldemort’s attack as a baby, but as a young man, he has tirelessly fought against the Dark Lord. Harry’s determination and natural inclination to do the right thing inspires countless others to take up the fight against Voldemort.

“Dobby has no master! [...] Dobby is a free elf, and Dobby has come to save Harry Potter and his friends!”

During Harry’s second year at Hogwarts, he frees Dobby from his terrible masters, the Malfoys. Since this moment, Dobby has loved Harry and been a devoted friend and helper. For Dobby, the best use of his freedom is saving Harry and his friends, and the ferocity of his final words captures the heart of his relationship with Harry.

“As the Dark Lord becomes ever more powerful, your race is set still more firmly above mine! Gringotts falls under Wizarding rule, house-elves are slaughtered, and who amongst the wand-carriers protests?”

Griphook’s comments remind the reader that in the fight against Voldemort, Muggle-borns aren’t the only ones who suffer from Voldemort’s bigotry. Indeed, magical creatures like Griphook, Dobby, the centaurs, and even wizards like Hagrid and Lupin have always faced discrimination. Griphook criticizes the whole of wizardkind for allowing things to get this bad, and he has little hope that anything will change.

“We’ve all got to listen to her explain how Muggles are like animals, stupid and dirty, and how they drove wizards into hiding by being vicious toward them, and how the natural order is being reestablished.”

Neville’s report about the cruelty and bigotry of the Carrows reveals one of Voldemort’s more insidious plans coming to fruition. Years ago, Voldemort tried to get a job teaching at Hogwarts in hopes of recruiting more Death Eaters, and now with the Carrows at the helm, his wish might finally be coming true. The Carrows teach an altered, hate-filled version of the world, meant to turn young minds to the ideology of the Death Eaters.

“Was he turning into Dumbledore, keeping his secrets clutched to his chest, afraid to trust?”

Despite Harry’s constant anger over Dumbledore’s tendency to keep secrets, he finds himself tempted to follow in Dumbledore’s footsteps. By refusing help from Neville and the members of the D.A. who want to assist him, Harry may be jeopardizing his mission. When he finally opens up a little about the mission, Luna helps him find one of the final Horcruxes, and without her help, Voldemort might have never been defeated.

“Tom Riddle would certainly have understood Helena Ravenclaw’s desire to possess fabulous objects to which she had little right.”

Voldemort’s fixation with historical magical artifacts is first explored during Harry’s sixth year at Hogwarts. Voldemort felt such a deep sense of entitlement that he saw no issue with stealing precious items to turn into Horcruxes. Similarly, Harry notes that the Gray Lady also fell victim to this mindset when she stole her mother’s diadem, and this desire to possess “fabulous objects” leads to destruction time and time again.

“The Elder Wand belongs to the wizard who killed its last owner. You killed Albus Dumbledore. While you live, Severus, the Elder Wand cannot be truly mine.”

Like many believers in the power of the Elder Wand, Voldemort misunderstands the transaction that must take place for the wand to transfer its power. Harry, who has a natural inclination toward gentleness and mercy, disarmed Malfoy and was able to obtain the wand peacefully. Voldemort, however, follows in the footsteps of every blood-hungry wizard who came before him, and although murder is not necessary for possessing the Elder Wand, he turns his brutal, bloodthirsty gaze on someone whom he believes to be a loyal servant.

“Part of Lord Voldemort lives inside Harry [...]. And while that fragment of soul, unmissed by Voldemort, remains attached to and protected by Harry, Lord Voldemort cannot die.”

One of the most dramatic and important revelations in The Deathly Hallows comes during this conversation between Snape and Dumbledore. For years, fans of the Harry Potter series have watched as Harry narrowly avoided death and assumed that he would never die at the hands of Voldemort. But finally, the truth comes out: Harry must die, and there is no other way to defeat Voldemort.

“You have kept him alive so that he can die at the right moment?”

Snape’s relationship with Harry is complicated, and in him, the Potions master sees the mingling of love and hate. Snape hated James Potter, but his love for Lily is why he ensured Harry’s protection throughout the years. In this moment, Snape’s outrage reveals his deep love for Lily Potter, and the thought of Harry being offered as a sacrifice spits in the face of his love and devotion.

“Of house-elves and children’s tales, of love, loyalty, and innocence, Voldemort knows and understands nothing.”

The power of love is celebrated throughout the Harry Potter series, and in The Deathly Hallows, Dumbledore reminds Harry that Voldemort’s lack of understanding when it comes to love will be his downfall. Harry shows mercy and compassion for others, not only those who can help him, and Voldemort underestimates the powerful magic that comes into play when a person is willing to sacrifice for their friends.

“I was gifted, I was brilliant. I wanted to escape. I wanted to shine. I wanted glory.”

In the King’s Cross afterlife, Dumbledore admits to Harry that he made grave mistakes in his youth. Like Harry, Dumbledore does not make excuses or say he was too young to understand what he was doing with Grindelwald. Instead, Dumbledore explains that he was overcome by pride and selfish ambition to be great.

“Do not pity the dead, Harry. Pity the living, and above all, those who live without love.”

As Harry watches the pathetic fragment of Voldemort’s soul struggling on the ground in the King’s Cross afterlife, he is seized with revulsion and pity. Dumbledore reminds him that there is nothing they can do to help this creature, and when a person dies, pity won’t bring the person back. He urges Harry to think of his friends who still need him instead and pity those like Voldemort who will never understand the warmth and safety of love.

“There are no more Horcruxes. It’s just you and me. Neither can live while the other survives.”

In his final showdown with Voldemort, Harry quotes the prophecy that drove Voldemort to try to kill him so many years ago. One of them must die here and now, and with no Horcruxes left, they are finally dueling on an even playing field. The showdown is reminiscent of the night Voldemort tried to kill Harry in his baby crib, and once again, love and innocence conquer evil.