Through a Glass, Darkly

7/14/2007

Your attention please. I’d like to say a few words: Eternal Glory.

Filed under: — Kari @

If bookstores and websites can put out books full of Harry Potter predictions, why can’t Mike and I get in on that game? Well, we don’t have a publisher, but other than that, why can’t we get in on that game? So, here is our giant post full of our best Harry Potter predictions. You don’t have to pay to read our post. And, when we are more right than all those books, we will laugh in their faces. Laugh, I say! And so, in no particular order, here are the predictions of Mike and Kari, sometimes with the added bonus of percentages that mean very little. You may notice that we don’t completely agree on everything. I should go ahead and confess that this post is less about gloating over Borders or MuggleNet, who would care very little. That’s right, it’s about eternal Harry Potter gloating rights. We’ll revisit this post after Deathly Hallows to see who is the most right.

Gentle reader, I desperately want to be the most right. But I am sure you know that about me already.

QUESTION: How many times will Kari cry?

MIKE: Twice per chapter.

KARI: Are we including the party? Because, embarrassingly enough, I have had to fight back tears at midnight when all the kids are cheering. Kids cheering! For a book! I love that! So, once at the party, three times during the book itself. And then, after finishing, for the rest of the day.

MIKE: Three times during the book itself? Know thyself! I amend your answer for you. Ten times at the very least.

QUESTION: How many times will Mike cry?

MIKE: Five. I mean this is it. The end.

KARI: Mike will only cry if something happens to Ginny.

Actual speculative discussion of theories and ideas below the cut. If you don’t like thinking about this stuff, beware. (But we don’t know any spoilers. It’s all speculation from the books and from things she’s said.)

QUESTION: Will Harry Potter die?

MIKE: 100% chance he survives. As someone who has read these books several times through, I become more convinced of this. When I started the last reread with that question looming heavy over me, I knew for sure when I read the chapter title for book 1, chapter 1… “The Boy Who Lived.” This is the contract that Rowling signed with her readers…this is the story of a boy who lives.

KARI: No. I have never believed he was going to die. I don’t think she is writing that kind of story – he was an orphan who was mistreated and unloved and lived in a cupboard full of spiders and she gives him this quest and then she’s going to kill him? No. I have recently become concerned that he’s maybe going to have to lose his powers, but, again, he’s finally happy and she’s going to take that away from him? No. I give it a 95% chance or greater that he’s going to live. I feel very confident.

MIKE: Are all your answers going to be this long?

KARI: Yes. This post is for Eternal Glory.

QUESTION: Is Snape good or evil?

MIKE: Snape is complex. He is following Dumbledore’s orders. I’m 79% sure. He can only be redeemed in my eyes if he sacrifices himself to save a student, which he might have already done when he killed Dumbledore to save Draco. Killing someone is gruesome to the soul, and Dumbledore needed Snape to do that to save Draco. However, if Snape was this great wizard, he might have been able to protect Draco and Dumbledore on the rooftop instead of the path that was laid out before him. Snape’s not a nice guy, but I believe he is loyal to Dumbledore.

KARI: I hate this question. I think that Snape is a very bad man, regardless of whether he was on Dumbledore’s side or not. As Sirius said, the world isn’t divided into good people and Death Eaters. I desperately want him to be evil, possibly because that was my original gut reaction and I want to have been right. But I’d say there’s an 89% chance he’s actually good, even if I don’t like it. (That means there’s an 11% chance I’ll get my wishes. I really want my 89% to be wrong. I will feel really vindicated if he’s evil.) He’ll die either way.

MIKE: Wow! I’m less convinced than you.

KARI: I’m not convinced that he is. But I’m convinced she’s going to WRITE that he is. Whether I buy it or not, we’ll see.

QUESTION: Will Ron and Hermione die?

MIKE: No. But if one of them were to die, it would be Ron. I give it a 9 ¾ % chance that Ron will die.

KARI: I agree; they will live. But if one of them is in jeopardy, it’s Ron.

MIKE: When Harry was in the veil room he said the name of two voices that he thought heard. One was Sirius who later fell behind the veil. Harry also thought he heard Ron’s voice from behind the veil, and that makes me very nervous.

KARI: The “chess scene” in the first book makes me nervous, too, with Ron sacrificing himself.

QUESTION: Will Ginny die?

MIKE: Not if J.K. Rowling values her life.

KARI: *covers ears* Lalalalalalala. I can’t hear the question. I cannot entertain the thought that she would die.

QUESTION: Is Irma Pince Snape’s mother in hiding?

MIKE: God, I hope so.

KARI: This is one of the only things she could do to make me feel charitable towards Snape. If his mother had to be put into hiding (a la what Dumbledore told Draco), I would dig that. I give it an 8% chance of actually happening, but I am rooting for it.

QUESTION: Will Hogwarts reopen? Will the trio attend?

MIKE: Yes, Hogwarts will reopen, and yes, the trio will attend.

KARI: Really?

MIKE: Hermione has to do her N.E.W.T.s. And someone is going to approach Harry and encourage him to go back, that he has a lot to learn at Hogwarts. My guess is Aberforth.

KARI: I think the school will reopen and the trio will go there to look for information or a horcrux, but they will not attend.

MIKE: I think they will pretend to attend. It just doesn’t make sense to me that there isn’t more for Harry to learn. I mean the only spell he knows is “Expelliarmus!”

KARI: That spell saved his life in the graveyard, she said reproachfully.

QUESTION: Who will be the D.A.D.A. teacher this year?

MIKE: Maybe somebody from the Order who hasn’t taught.

KARI: Tonks?

MIKE: Dawlish.

KARI: He’s not in the Order.

(much giggling ensues)

KARI: Kingsley Shacklebolt?

MIKE: Tonks and Shacklebolt are aurors.

KARI: Good point.

MIKE: My guess, pulling this out of nowhere: Hestia Jones. It’s time we had a good female D.A.D.A. teacher.

KARI: Could someone else move into Transfiguration and McGonagall teach it?

MIKE: No. When she duels, she says, “Take that!” That’s not how you fight.

KARI: I’m guessing either Bill or Tonks.

QUESTION: What will happen to Neville?

MIKE: I want Neville to live. But he has to take out Bellatrix, and that may cost him his life.

KARI: Yeah, he’s going to die. But not without taking down Bellatrix.

MIKE: He has a 51% of dying.

KARI: I give him an 88% chance of dying after defeating Bellatrix.

QUESTION: Will we go behind the veil?

MIKE: Yes. And we will also enter the love room.

KARI: I would like to enter the love room with you.

MIKE: Focus.

KARI: I also think we will go behind the veil. My latest and greatest theory about this is that there’s something that’s . . . opposite a horcrux. And perhaps that’s what will allow Harry to go behind the veil. What will he do behind the veil? Talk to Sirius?

MIKE: I don’t know. It could be a battle with Voldemort.

KARI: I think he’s going to talk to Sirius. I also think the cover of the book is behind the veil.

MIKE: I think it could be.

QUESTION: Speaking of Sirius, will Harry communicate with him via the mirror, or will the mirror have a different significance altogether?

MIKE: We know he’s going to talk to Sirius, right?

KARI: Do we?

MIKE: Don’t we?

KARI: *goes to look it up* Oh, I guess so. So, will he communicate with him via the mirror or what?

MIKE: I don’t think Sirius brought the mirror with him to the Ministry of Magic.

KARI: Way to shoot down my theory.

MIKE: Eternal Glory.

KARI: Well, I don’t know if Sirius had it with him. But let’s say he did. Or let’s say there’s ANOTHER mirror and Regulus had it. And let’s say that it DOES work beyond the veil.

MIKE: I don’t think it works beyond the veil. Remember, it didn’t work at the end of book 5.

KARI: SHE SAID IT IS GOING TO BE IMPORTANT.

MIKE: Okay.

KARI: I think somehow he will use it to get information from Regulus about the horcruxes. That is my theory.

MIKE: It may just be a way for Harry to communicate with Ron and Hermione while he’s on the horcrux hunt.

KARI: Your theory is BORING.

MIKE: Thanks.

QUESTION: Will Hagrid live?

MIKE: No. I give him a 40% chance of living.

KARI: Full disclosure: I am SICK OF HAGRID. But she clearly likes him a whole lot, because we had to sit through all those stupid Care of Magical Creatures classes and stupid Grawp and stupid Norbert and stupid GIANT SPIDERS. So I think he’s going to live, because she loves him so much she is going to spare him. I give him an 80% chance of living.

MIKE: The less Hagrid, the better.

KARI: OH!

MIKE: What?

KARI: I just want to say that I hate the theory that Hagrid will be made head of Gryffindor since McGonagall is headmistress. HATE. That theory makes me want to stab myself in the eye with a pencil.

MIKE: Calm down or we end the discussion. Do you have another question?

QUESTION: Does Grawp have a part to play?

MIKE: Obviously.

KARI: He bloody well better.

MIKE: Temper. How bout we make a deal? If Grawp doesn’t play a significant role, we cut out that part of the book. Then Harry and Hermione get to see Ron win the Quidditch cup. That was so unfair.

KARI: Ron deserved his moment of glory. STUPID GRAWP.

QUESTION: Will Percy redeem himself? What will happen with him?

MIKE: He will be given the opportunity but will not come around and will die because of it. That’s known as pulling an “Ursula.”

KARI: Ursula like . . . The Little Mermaid?

MIKE: Ursula like Indiana Jones. Reaching for the grail instead of taking Indy’s hand.

KARI: Well, I think the same as you. Percy will be given a chance to apologize and he’ll be too prideful to take it. And I think he’s going to die.

QUESTION: Any other deaths you want to predict on the record?

KARI: Mrs. Weasley. I’m sorry, but it’s true.

MIKE: Mr. Weasley isn’t going to die. He’ll become Minister of Magic.

KARI: Oh, right, because Ron said that them winning the Quidditch Cup was as likely as his dad being Minister of Magic.

MIKE: They won.

KARI: That would be a nice thing to happen.

MIKE: Mad-Eye will die. It’s how he’s meant to go out.

KARI: Lucius? Draco? What do you think?

MIKE: Draco will live, Lucius will probably die.

KARI: I think it’s the opposite. I don’t think Draco will make it. But Lucius will bust out of prison and be awesome.

MIKE: You are confusing movie Lucius with book Lucius.

KARI: Yes, it does seem that way.

MIKE: Any teachers?

KARI: McGonagall is the one I care the most about, and I think she’s going to make it.

MIKE: We should have some teachers in this book snuff it, you know, other than Quirrell, Dumbledore, Snape, and Hagrid. How about Professor Binns?

KARI: Nice one, but he’s already dead.

MIKE: Other than McGonagall, I don’t feel attached to any other teacher.

QUESTION: Will Trelawney make a third accurate prediction? If so, any guesses as to its content?

MIKE: They do come in threes.

KARI: Yes, absolutely.

MIKE: It will lead into her new series.

KARI: Veto. It will be some crucial thing just before Harry enters his final showdown with Voldemort.

QUESTION: Is Harry a horcrux?

MIKE: Not his whole being.

KARI: This is your final answer. For Eternal Glory.

MIKE: I know.

KARI: I think Harry being a horcrux seems a little too obvious. And yet, I think his scar is (or was) a horcrux. I also think the dementors are going to help with the horcruxes somehow. Come on, they suck souls. That’s their job. It’s what they do. Horcruxes are like snacks to them. Horcrux hors d’oeuvres.

MIKE: You’re so clever with your clever words. His scar is very important. If his scar was a horcrux, which it seems likely it would be, then Harry might be able to use that part of Voldy’s soul to find the other horcruxes…kind of like a horcrux detector. I do like the theory that his scar was a horcrux but is no longer because of being possessed by Voldy at the end of book 5 and that caused the horcruxes to merge back together. However, if that is true, I don’t think Harry will ever be able to figure that out.

KARI: I like that theory, too, but it does pose some difficulties.

QUESTION: What are your horcrux theories?

MIKE: I think some of them have been destroyed or collected.

KARI: Regulus got at least one more, I think. Does Kreacher have them?

MIKE: He has the locket. Or Aberforth could have it.

KARI: I agree with that. I also don’t think Nagini is a horcrux. I think Dumbledore was wrong. Do you think any horcruxes are at Hogwarts?

MIKE: I don’t know. But I think that Nagini could be a horcrux because Harry was able to connect with that part of Voldermort’s soul in book 5. Goes back to my horcrux detector theory. But Hogwarts could have one and they’ll find it while they are attending classes. I’m pro education.

KARI: My instinct is that there aren’t any. I am . . . 62% sure there aren’t any horcruxes at Hogwarts. If there is one . . . maybe the award for special services to the school, or something in the Room of Requirement.

MIKE: Anything else?

KARI: I think Grindelwald is the other person who made horcruxes. Maybe Dumbledore even had to get rid of them that first time, though I can’t imagine why he wouldn’t tell Harry that. There are a lot of things, though, I think he should have told Harry. So that I, the reader, could know them.

QUESTION: What part will the flying Ford Anglia play?

MIKE: I don’t think it has a part. I just think it will reappear.

KARI: Dobby will fly the car into battle. I have no idea.

QUESTION: Will the centaurs take a side, or will they continue to stand idly by?

MIKE: I think they will side against evil, but they will not join ranks with humans. They will do their own thing to fight Voldermort.

KARI: I think that the centaurs will finally decide that they have to get involved. But I don’t think that Firenze will help them make that decision. I think they will still be pissed at him.

QUESTION: Will the house elves be set free?

MIKE: No. I think it’s a long-term goal for Hermione. It won’t happen overnight. It’ll be in the epilogue.

KARI: Well, I think they are going to fight. And I think after they help with the fight, whoever is in charge will set them free. Mr. Weasley, if he becomes Minister of Magic.

QUESTION: Do you think Harry will travel back in time to the night his parents were murdered? Was he the person under the invisibility cloak?

MIKE: It’s a nice theory, but no.

KARI: I think it’s a fantastic theory. But it seems wrong to me, to have that much time travel. I can see an hour here and there, but not over a decade.

QUESTION: Then what WAS under the invisibility cloak?

MIKE: How do we know something was under the cloak?

KARI: Well. JKR said that a question she’d never been asked was why Dumbledore had James Potter’s invisibility cloak when Dumbledore himself doesn’t need a cloak to be invisible. But then she didn’t answer.

MIKE: Oh.

KARI: And that is why some people think that Harry traveled back in time and was himself under the cloak. And then, he was the one to go and tell Dumbledore that Voldemort had attacked, which explains the question of how Dumbledore knew to send Hagrid to get baby Harry.

MIKE: Oh.

KARI: I think about this stuff too much.

MIKE: Yes.

KARI: People even think it’s possible that someone else was there, like maybe even Snape, and whoever it is duels with Future!Harry, and that’s how the house gets busted up.

MIKE: We should stop thinking about this. If we don’t stop thinking about it, it’s going to blow our minds.

KARI: Watching it all come together is going to blow my mind regardless. I am 100% sure.

MIKE: I don’t know what was under the invisibility cloak, but I do think Snape was there. As a bat.

KARI: For the record, I hate the “Snape loved Lily” theory. Hate. It. I refuse to believe that Snape asked Voldemort to spare Lily because he was in love with her. So cheesy.

MIKE: I like that theory.

KARI: Oh.

QUESTION: Will we see any of Luna’s creatures?

MIKE: No.

KARI: Oh, I think at least one of them will be real. Just to prove Hermione wrong.

QUESTION: What did Harry’s parents do?

MIKE: Why don’t we know this?

KARI: Harry is very un-inquisitive.

MIKE: James was an auror and Lily was a housewife.

KARI: Veto.

MIKE: Just kidding. I like the theory that she worked in the love room.

KARI: I think she worked in the Department of Mysteries. In the love room. But I think James was unemployed. Like, his only job was fighting Voldemort, but he didn’t get paid for it. I think it would be funny if he really was unemployed after all. They clearly had plenty of money so it wouldn’t have mattered.

QUESTION: Will Harry use an Unforgivable Curse?

MIKE: I don’t think he has enough hate in him to succeed.

KARI: I think he will try again and be unsuccessful again.

QUESTION: How will Harry ultimately defeat Voldemort, assuming he can get rid of all the horcruxes?

KARI: Giant wizard orgy. Group hug. Something like that. Except not cheesy. But . . . Harry is not to Voldemort’s level. So it’s got to be something with love, some kind of sacrifice. I think maybe Harry will try to sacrifice himself for Ron or Hermione or Ginny or Neville and some of that old magic, some of that deeper magic from before the dawn of time will show up, somehow finishing what his mother started or completing her sacrifice or something like that. And that is how they will defeat Voldemort. But Harry will live. Let me be very clear.

MIKE: I think that Harry is going to grow up a lot in this book. A lot of the things he’s done in previous books have been luck, but I think this time he will actually know what to do, like Neo in the Matrix. And as it says in John 15:13, “Greater love has no man than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.” And I think Harry will make a choice to sacrifice his life for his friends, and when he does that, the curse Voldemort uses to kill Harry instead of his friends will again backfire and destroy Voldemort for good. And all the angels will rejoice.

KARI: Similar answers. Very nice.

MIKE: Different references, though.

QUESTION: What is the significance of Harry having Lily’s eyes?

MIKE: Well, it may have something to do with the sacrificial love that she had for him can be seen in his eyes. However, one of my crazy theories is that Harry might be able to use his eyes to bring his mother back to life. Kind of like that reverse horcrux thing you mentioned earlier. It’d be really nice if he could get a proper hug from his mum.

KARI: I just don’t know about this one. People say it a lot. You look like your dad, Harry, but you have your mother’s eyes.

QUESTION: Will the four houses of Hogwarts be merged into one?

KARI: Yes. I think that there will be so few students that they will all be in one house.

MIKE: I don’t think it will happen in this book, but in the epilogue, yes

QUESTION: How will Pettigrew pay back his life debt?

MIKE: How many people can turn on Voldemort in this book and join Harry? I just don’t think all the turning on Voldemort will happen in the final battle. Maybe Peter will come back earlier in the book and kill a death eater that is trying to do something evil to Harry. I mean if Regulus could have tried getting out during the last war than others should try and get out in this book.

KARI: I don’t think that Peter will have to turn on Voldemort to help Harry. And I don’t really know what a life debt means, I’m not sure that’s been spelled out. I do think Peter will help, and I think he will intentionally help, but I don’t think that means he’ll “turn good.” He’s too weak.

QUESTION: Looking back what were your all time favorite scenes from the series, so far?

MIKE: Dumbledore fleeing his office in book Phoenix.

KARI: I don’t think I’d put that in my list. Interesting.

MIKE: I always look forward to it in the book. How about the moment that Hermione Granger became friends with Harry and Ron. That was a great sentence. And that might have been where we decided to stop calling her Lucy.

KARI: Yes, I don’t think I mentioned it in the reread, but we called Hermione “Lucy” at first, because we were reading them out loud, and we didn’t know how to say her name. And we didn’t think she was going to be all that important, because she was so annoying. But then we had to actually call her by her name. Except, like Krum, we mispronounced it. Until I went to Scholastic’s website and found out how to say it.

MIKE: That was a long explanation.

KARI: It’s the exposition, it has to go somewhere. Okay, another of my favorite scenes is, I hate to say it, the graveyard scene at the end of book 4. I mean, really. That whole scene really upped the ante for the rest of the series. Voldemort is back. And they dueled. And Harry got away, thanks to his parents. What. The. Heck.

MIKE: His resurrection was awesome. It was the shortest chapter she’s ever written. I couldn’t believe it happened so fast. And the whole Mad Eye/Barty Crouch twist was mind-blowing.

KARI: And, not to keep harping on book 4, but one of my favorite lines in the whole series is in Dumbledore’s speech at the end, about making choices between what is right and what is easy. The whole end of book 4, from the graveyard to Dumbledore’s speech, is one of my favorite bits in the whole series.

MIKE: Speaking of mind-blowing, the reveal in the Shrieking Shack blew my mind.

KARI: That’s another good one, though I don’t know if it’s one of my favorites because every time I re-read it I’m thinking about how it’s going to end sadly. Can I go back to book 4? Since it’s my favorite? The second task, I will always remember reading the second task, because we had that picnic on the beach and I was so sure Ron was going to die. I was in agony. That’s a favorite of mine.

MIKE: I like Ginny scenes.

KARI: Surprise, surprise.

MIKE: Her valentine for Harry.

KARI: That is an excellent scene.

MIKE: When she comforted Harry by letting him know that he wasn’t being possessed by Voldemort in Order of the Phoenix.

KARI: She was yelling at him.

MIKE: And when they kiss.

KARI: That was another scene I will remember reading out loud, because you were reading and I was in the kitchen because I couldn’t sit still. I was so nervous for them. Yay, Harry and Ginny!

MIKE: Their breakup is really memorable too. It’s so well written. Again it tears me up.

KARI: I don’t think I like Harry/Ginny quite as much as you do. Let’s see, what are some other scenes I really like? “Wangoballwime?” is a classic. And I like how, when Harry tells Ron and Hermione about kissing Cho, Ron is hysterically laughing on the floor.

MIKE: There were some touching moments in book 5. Like when Harry loses it with his friends when he arrives at Grimmauld Place and they are very sympathetic.

KARI: I like that, too, how good they are with him.

MIKE: Or when Hermione says V-Voldemort for the first time.

KARI: I wouldn’t have chosen that, I don’t think. But if we’re talking book 5, we cannot leave out, “Give her hell from us, Peeves!”

MIKE: I liked Educational Degree 27 because that is when people started to believe Harry. I loved Hermione’s gloating smile.

KARI: And then there is my favorite scene in the whole series. Christmas on the Closed Ward.

MIKE: Yeah, that is such a great scene, even though it isn’t my favorite scene, it is one of the scenes I can sympathize with the most in the whole books. That candy wrapper tears me up!

KARI: When I think about book 5, I don’t think about any of the things you mentioned. I think about Neville and how he gets brave and determined. Those snippets are my favorite, I think.

MIKE: I like Luna’s scene with Harry at the end of Phoenix. I really hope she gets a good ending.

KARI: To go all the way back to book 1, I think that it’s kind of silly to use Dumbledore’s big explanations at the end as favorite scenes, but when he explains about Harry’s mom and her sacrifice, that’s when I got hooked on the series. I think that’s a favorite scene. And now, because I love Neville so much, the scene where Dumbledore awards him the ten extra points is a favorite. OH! And when Harry chooses to sit with Neville and Luna at the beginning of book 6, and when he takes her to Slughorn’s party. I love that.

MIKE: Anything else from the earlier books?

KARI: Little stuff, like after Harry blows up Aunt Marge and gets to stay at The Leaky Cauldron and eat ice cream. The first time he sees The Burrow. Neville’s boggart. When they win the Quidditch cup and Oliver Wood cries.

MIKE: When Dumbledore says he’s not afraid because Harry is with him.

KARI: That is not from an earlier book.

MIKE: It gets me every time.

KARI: McGonagall’s showdown with Umbridge in “Career Advice” is a great scene. And her later, “They unscrew the other way.” Oh, and The Mirror of Erised and Mrs. Weasley’s boggart. I love that she is as worried about Harry as she is, that he’s part of her family.

MIKE: Speaking of the Weasleys, how about when Mr. Weasley says it was a lucky day for the Weasley family when Ron sat next to Harry on the Hogwarts express.

KARI: Holy Moses, that makes me cry.

MIKE: I always look forward to Harry finding what looked to be Victor Krum’s toy arm under his bed shortly after the Yule Ball.

KARI: That’s about all I can think of. Oh, when Dumbledore makes the cups hit the Dursleys’ heads at the beginning of book 6.

MIKE: That’s a good scene.

KARI: Indeed.

MIKE: I think we are done here.

KARI: Finally.

QUESTION: It was long said that “scar” would be the last word of the book (though it is one of the last words now, from what I hear). Would you like to speculate what your ideal last paragraph would be?

MIKE: I’ll give it a shot…
“They all gathered around the Weasley dinner table for Christmas dinner; it had grown so much over the years. The meal was something that reminded Harry of his first feast at Hogwarts. The plates of food were piled two feet tall and Dobby kept refilling them whenever they started to drop below a foot. Fred and George were jabbing at Ron about his first Quidditch match during his fifth year. Ron even joined in on the laughing. Harry smiled to Ginny and then lovingly touched the tops of his children’s heads. He gazed over to Ron and Hermione and they both looked at him. He raised his glass and gave a smile. They knew what he meant; they knew he was so glad to be with his family and his friends and would not trade this moment for once again having magical powers or to have that famous scar.”

KARI: I suck at this sort of thing. And your ending is SAD. I HATE THAT THEORY.
“In the midst of the celebration, Harry looked around at his friends and knew they were all remembering what had been lost, weighing the cost just as much as he was. Sirius, Dumbledore, Neville, Mrs. Weasley. So many people gone in order to bring about Voldemort’s downfall. He thought, most of all, of his parents, and the night he lost them. The night Voldemort had marked him with the scar that changed his life.”

(BLEH that is so bad. But this was Mike’s idea, so I had to make an attempt.)

Okay, people, this has gone on long enough. Anything you want us to go on the record predicting? Any comments of your own? We are in the home stretch, people. This is it. We’re going to know the answers. And one of us is going to have Eternal Glory. hehe.

14 Responses to “Your attention please. I’d like to say a few words: Eternal Glory.”

  1. CJ Says:

    SO LONG and I read every word. No predicitions here (HARRY LIVES. I think the last chapter should be titled “The Boy Who Lived.” and I think you may be right about Mrs. Weasley although that makes me SAD. And I love Harry and Ginny together.). But now I think I need to reread the series. However, I don’t think I WILL reread it before book seven! ONE WEEK!

  2. Susan Says:

    Mike’s ending made me CRY. I am going to be a freaking MESS at the end of book 7!

  3. brian Says:

    Elsa. The chick in Indiana Jones was named Elsa, not Ursula.

    (That’s as close as I can come to eternal glory…being a Indiana Jones dork.)

  4. Jeff H Says:

    I love this post so much.

    I think Draco Malfoy dies, but I think he redeems himself in his death. Pretty sure Wormtail dies too, maybe in some redeeming way, also. Snape is also a “gonna die in a redeeming way” candidate.

    Neville is gonna totally jack up Bellatrix and I can’t wait.

    I think Ron, Harry, and Hermione live. I just wouldn’t be right to lose one of them. Ginny probaby lives, too.

    Not sure about the Weasley parents…I *think* they’ll live, but I could be wrong.

  5. Andrea Says:

    Yay! I’ve been looking forward to this post for a while! I read pretty much the whole thing out loud to my best friend who’s visiting (and got me hooked on HP to begin with), and we had some good spin-off discussion.
    Every time I think I believe one thing (Harry is a horcrux, Neville will die, etc), I think of or read something else that makes me think about it differently. I can’t wait for the speculation to be over, once and for all. :)
    (I need to call you about Friday night!)

  6. brandi Says:

    I love this post! So fun. Also, I thought Mike meant Ursula as in Phoebe’s sister.

  7. Kari Says:

    I don’t know if any of you will see this, but we have tons and tons of theories we forgot to mention, even though we worked on this post for a few weeks. hehe. Anyway, I forgot my favorite Dursley theory, and I really really want to mention it, which is that there will be an attack on Harry while he is at the Dursleys and he will be forced to offer them protection at 12 Grimmauld Place. I would love to see Vernon there.

    And . . . she said there is a person who will do magic later in life, and I think maybe it’ll be Dudley.

  8. cozart Says:

    love personified; whoever loses his life for my sake will find it; “you will lose everything

    i’m going to be the naysayer (eternal glory!). first, i would hate it if both lucius and draco weren’t dead by the end of book 7. if only one of then dies, i hope it’s draco. i seriously hate that boy.

    second, snape is good and will somehow be redeemed. he has to be.

    those are the only two “minor” characters that i have strong opinions on.

    now for the main event. harry will die. i am convinced that there is no other way because i believe that it IS that kind of story. and most of my convincing is also due to the chapter title, “the boy who lived.” why did he live? there must have been a purpose. i think a greater tragedy at the end of the series would be for harry to not sacrifice himself for love the way his parents did (and i think all the references to lilly’s eyes come in here as well). if harry doesn’t die, then, to me at least, it will seem like there was never any real threat to his safety; that all the prophecies and training and mysteries were just smoke and mirrors.

    i think what most convinces me is book 5, particularly the events in the department of mysteries. two things here: dumbledore’s response to voldemort that there are things much worse than death and harry’s thought that if he dies he’ll be able to see sirius again. and not only sirius, but he’ll be able to be with his parents again, the only way that i think harry can be truly happy. that’s what the books are all about, right? harry and his parents. “a family that sacrifices together, stays together” :)

    i know it’s not in the book, but the line in the movie (and all the trailers and tv spots) where voldemort tells harry “you will lose…everything” has also convinced me of this. if harry dies, he won’t lose everything. he’ll gain much more than he’ll lose. i don’t think rowling will be taking anything away from harry if she offs him, but she’ll be giving him the only thing he truly and deeply wants: to be with his parents again.

    there are more reasons i think he’ll die, but i don’t want to write a tome in a comment. i will say, though, that killing him is also the only possible way that i think rowling will truly be able to stick to her commitment that she’ll never write about harry again after book 7.

    only a little over 4 days left til we find out!!

  9. cozart Says:

    crap. that first line was me taking notes about a blog post i might do. ignore it. :)

  10. Kari Says:

    I don’t think that being with his parents is the only thing he wants, though. Otherwise, what was the point of giving him deep relationships with Ron and Hermione, giving him the relationship with Ginny. He has things here to live for, too. He hasn’t just been sitting around moping for his parents, as much as he misses them.

    As far as the prophecy being smoke and mirrors, I don’t get the impression that we are supposed to believe that the prophecy meant that Harry was “predestined” to fight Voldemort. Dumbledore said again and again that the prophecy was only important because Voldemort - and now Harry - choose to make it so. The theme of the books, again and again, is that choices are what is important. There are some “real” prophecies, but I don’t think we’re supposed to put weight in prophecy, but rather in choice. Divination is mostly played for laughs, after all.

    With that in mind, I don’t disagree that Harry going to have to make some kind of sacrifice (or at least try), but I don’t think that means he’s going to die. It may be part of going behind the veil, which I do think will happen.

    And I never really understand the, “She has to kill him so she won’t write about him,” or the, “She has to kill him so that other people don’t write about him,” theories. I mean, she seems like a pretty determined/disciplined person. If she says she’s done, I believe her. And I don’t think that Harry has to die for her to be done telling his story.

  11. cozart Says:

    “choice” and “predestination” can exist side by side quite nicely ;) (and i would argue that it was “predestined” that they would have a final showdown; otherwise, again, everything that came before is all for naught beginning with harry’s survival the night his parents died).

    and divination may be played for laughs, but there’s always the possibility that that could be ironic, especially with “miss know-it-all” being the primary jester. and while dumbledore may be right in part about voldemort and harry choosing to make the prophecy important, i don’t believe at all that if harry had shrugged it off then that would mean that he would never come to that final showdown and all would be well.

    and do you have to sit around moping for the one thing you truly want in order to truly want it? the one and only thing that i truly, deeply long for is to be with Christ in glory, but that doesn’t mean that i just mope around while i’m stuck on earth. there’s a lot for me to live for here, but the one thing i truly want and desire transcends this earth. i think it’s much the same with harry. harry very much loves his friends, but i think his truest and deepest desire is to be with his parents.

    another point that convinces me he will die comes in here and also goes back to that line, “you will lose everything” (i thought this before the ads for the movie came out, but that line put it in place for me; i think it’s significant that they chose to add that line to the film).

    voldemort thinks that killing harry will ensure victory for he and the death eaters, but it’s quite the opposite. another biblical allusion here as it is often said that the demons rejoiced at the death of Christ, thinking they had overcome God, only to be triumphed over and openly shamed (Col 2) by the death and resurrection of Jesus.

    i think the sacrifice that harry will make will be a lot like this in that, through love, harry will overcome the hate and evil of voldemort and the death eaters and they will be destroyed and shamed by the death of “the boy who lived,” rather than be victorious through that death. so rather than harry losing everything by his death, evil will lose everything as it is overthrown by love.

    i said i wasn’t going to comment on other characters, but this is also why i don’t think either ron or hermione will die. just as i believe the books have been pointing to harry’s death all along, so do i also believe that they’ve been pointing to ron and hermione as the ones who will carry on after the big battle is over.

  12. Kari Says:

    Well, obviously Harry can’t shrug it off if Voldemort won’t. I think it was the Leaky Cauldron interview in which JKR specifically said that if they both sort of shook hands and walked away, the prophecy wouldn’t mean anything. That’s why Dumbledore kept telling Harry not to put too much weight on the prophecy. It only has power if he chooses to let it, and he chooses to because Voldemort is trying to kill him (which is an okay reason, I guess ;) ). Voldemort chooses to . . . partly, I think, because he believes the prophecy has power over him, and partly because he is evil incarnate. But if Voldemort had been like, “Well, I don’t believe in prophecies,” at the beginning, we wouldn’t have a series. That’s the impression I get from JKR.

    I also think you are placing way more significance in the, “At least he’d be with Sirius,” line than I do, because . . . it was at the end of an awful year, in the midst of the most pain he’d ever experienced. Any of us would feel that way, that it wouldn’t be so bad to die rather than have Voldemort possess our bodies. I have some other thoughts on this, based on personal experience, that I’d really rather not post here.

    I can’t really . . . put any stock in anything from the films, since they aren’t canon. The films are basically meaningless as far as I am concerned. I can only argue from what JKR says and the books say, especially since the films have been made without complete knowledge of the last book. The only thing I think that line means is that, from what I remember, they didn’t have Dumbledore say [during the fight], “There are things worth than death [horcruxes, destroying your soul],” so they had Voldemort imply that Harry was going to lose everything in contrast to Harry’s realization that love and friendship are what is most important. I agree that your interpretation is compelling, but I’m just not convinced.

    Maybe the veil is the answer to a lot of this. Many “epic quest” stories have the main character entering the land of the dead, and that’s why I think that part of the story will take place behind the veil. If Voldemort and Harry do battle behind the veil and Harry returns, it would be, in a sense, his death and resurrection. I think something like that is very likely, especially since we have been given so much Christ imagery surrounding Harry. But I think Harry is going to survive the battle.

  13. cozart Says:

    i like that last paragraph a lot. i think that would be the only way (at least that i can think of) that i would accept an ending where harry lives.

  14. Kari Says:

    I am going to post this for Mike - he hopes/theorizes that, in the epilogue, Harry will look into the Mirror of Erised and see himself.

    It may be a little too happy, but . . . I like happy.

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