Harry Potter Divination

With the grand finale of the Harry Potter series due out on July 21 the London bettors have spoken - Harry is history:

All bets are off on the fate of Harry Potter.

London bookies are so convinced that the boy wizard will be a goner when the seventh and final novel of J.K. Rowling's series hits stores next month that they've stopped taking wagers on his fate.

"Every penny was on Harry dying, and it became untenable," sighed Rupert Adams, spokesman for London bookmaker William Hill.

So now Hill has shifted betting to possible killers. The villainous Lord Voldemort is the favorite at 2-1. Professor Snape comes in at 5-2.

"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" goes on sale July 21. Its American publisher, Scholastic Corp., is retailing the book for $34.99.

Rowling has said two characters will die in the final installment, but didn't say which two.

More coverage here.

First, a bit of history - London bookies had a similar experience roughly six weeks prior to the publication of book six, when the betting on Dumbledore's demise became one-way:

A spokesperson for the internet betting told the Sun, "We have taken nearly £6,000 worth of bets on Dumbledore in the past seven days. All have been played in Bungay or nearby Beccles. A lot of punters have opened new accounts and placed a maximum bet of £50 each on what is an obscure market. That made us sit up and take note."

The site last week cut the odds on Dumbledore from 2:1 to 4:6, while Ladbroke's are now refusing to take bets any more bets on the death of Dumbledore, on the basis that some people have obviously read the book.

So the current timing is right, and let me add this - I have the reigning Harry Potter trivia champions of not one but *two* schools currently in residence, and they both predict Harry's demise, so the markets may be right.  However, let me toss out the possibility of a head-fake - if I were working at Bloomsbury, the British publisher, and I thought I could close the betting market by having a cadre of loyal employees push five or ten thousand pounds across the betting window, I would put that in my promotional budget quicker than you could say "Voldemort's a goner".  C'mon, we are talking about a book that will gross over a hundred million in its first weekend; this sort of Surprise! market manipulation would be money well spent.

That said, I can easily grasp the case for Harry being a goner.  The case for his survival has two pillars - grandchildren and libraries.  Ms, Rowling surely hopes to have grandkids visiting her at the Rowling Estate one day; such visits may be a bit chillier if the grandkids are unhappy spending time with the World Infamous Woman Who Killed Harry Potter.

And Ms. Rowling must have contemplated her legacy - will the Harry Potter series be taking up space on library shelves fifty years from now as a beloved children's classic if Harry gets whacked?  How many parents will want to start their children on that particular journey with that particular destination?

Oh, well - maybe Ms. Rowling can make it work.  Certainly Harry's death was foreshadowed in Book One when he and Ron Weasely looked in the Mirror of Desire.  Ron saw personal glory for himself, but all Harry saw was being with his family.  Hard luck - Harry's family is dead, so there is only one way to join them.

Not that there is anything wrong with that!  As Ms. Rowling made clear with the deaths of Sirius Black and Albus Dumbledore, death is only a transition, and should not be feared (that is a very Christian message, BTW; Islamic, too).  And note this - the foundation of Voldemort's evil is his fear of death. 

My Bold Prediction is that in the final showdown between Harry and He Who Must Not Be Named it will be Dick Cheney's Voldemort's fear of death that proves to be his fatal weakness.  Seriously - do you really think Harry is going to out-spell or out-magic Voldemort?  No way - something more elemental will bail Harry out, as it has in his other showdowns with Voldemort.  But will Harry die?  Geez, I still think Dumbledore is coming back.  I understand the argument for Harry dying, but I just don't feel it.  OK, Keep Hope and Harry alive!  And Dumbledore too!  That's it, Harry - live free or die hard.

Enough for now, but do ask me about Hagrid (gone) and Snape (Harry's protector and Lily's avenger).

MORE:  Dave Kopel on Severus Snape.  Let me note two things: "RAB" is Regulus Arcturus  Black" - I especially like the foreign language clue at Wikipedia.

And secondly, Snape's motivation is not so complicated - Lily Potter is the unrequited love of his life.  Snape protects Harry because he is Lily's son, and hates him because he is James' son.  And when Voldemort killed Lily, he signed his own death warrant; Snapes efforts within the DeathEaters are all oriented to gaining vengeance (and Dumbledore knows all of this).

Snape and Lily bonded as the two best potioners in the history of Hogwarts.  And the worst day of Snapes life (from the pensive scene with Harry in Book 5) was not because he was bullied by James Potter (a commonplace) but because he spurned Lily's help and called her a muggle, thereby severing their relationship.

I am so right about this...

Comments

[clarice]

I'm with you. The grandchildren argument is a winner, TM.

[Cecil Turner]

Don't recall the exact verbiage (and it resists my attempt to Google), but Dumbledore earlier bragged of being able to provide refuge against Voldemort that even transcended death. Taken together with his conviction Snape was on the side of the Angels, and the machinations around Snape's continued interactions with the Deatheaters suggests an obvious literary dodge that's consistent with all the observed facts:

1. Dumbledore is right about everything;
2. Snape's killing of him was a theatrical illusion;
3. Snape's now-impeccable credentials allows him to infiltrate and betray the Death Eaters.

Obvious setting for the climax: armed with Snape's inside knowledge, Harry defeats Voldemort. Dumbledore returns from the dead, happy endings all round. Makes a great movie . . . no kiddie tears in the popcorn. (Bad for business, that.)

[qquirl]

Harry Potter is about Lucifer. The kids go into a world that is alot like dreaming or the Matrix; world for a computer programmer who was driven insane by his employer who 'fired' him.

The group that is worshipping and using Lucifer has been damned by their school. It's safe as long as the old wizard guy is around. Of course he died for real. I didn't see any of the kids movies. The flying is definitely Lucifer. Close eyes and go flying. Of course they know this as they enter that world and understand they are worshipping Lucifer. This they have chosen for generations.

So, yes, Harry is gonna die. He's gonna die because he chose Lucifer and he knows it.

Most Luciferians know this too and start trading. The earth is a mess because of these. They have all kinds of excuses for worshipping Lucifer and never stop, but come up with more excuses and trade other people's bodies and lives to justify their worship of Lucifer. They aren't even human anymore and neither are any other humans because of their worship and trading. So, the simple answer is providing God with what he ordered. A new heaven and new earth. This means all existence. Satan, being smart, figured this a long time ago. So, he sent Hitler a gift. The gift was the bots. An unbeatable army. The bots can kill all his enemies. They have fission and can cease all existence. Hitler passed on these, a fool.

So, being Satan, he has an offer. The offer is now that Luciferians have created hell on earth he will provide these things with the option to be human again. God's perfect creation.

Of course, being Satan, there is a trap. The bots and fission. The humans that have been damned by Satan and provided with perfection of God have a choice. Provide God with his wish, a new heaven and new earth. Cease all existence.

The answer is yes. The answer has always been yes. Existence is damning. Heaven and hell are more existence. So, the religious people were damned by going to Cavalry. They know this and are willing to make that deal. God, of course, should be followed and his answer provided.

Yup, there is one more deal. No new heaven and new earth. Anwyhow, the fear of death is real because we cease to exist because we have been damned to exist in this hell, so, you really don't wanna die. That is all ther is.

[soccerdad]

I more or less agree with the grandchildren theory and I'd agree that Hagrid is a goner.

Harry doesn't need to kill Voldemort. Wormtongue will do it. (Just as Wormtail knocked off Sarumen.)

And of course Snape's a good guy, he wasn't mocking Harry at the end of the Half Blood Prince, he was giving him advice!

Have you seen Dave Kopel's speculation?

[hoosierhoops]

Harry Potter is about Lucifer. The kids go into a world that is alot like dreaming or the Matrix; world for a computer programmer who was driven insane by his employer who 'fired' him.

qquirl
Gosh, I kidof of looked at Harry Potter as a fantasy flight of imagination for kids to enjoy. Thier imaginations soar into an unreal fantasy world of magic..Sort of like when we read as kids King Arthur and the round table replete with wizards and fantasy for a young growing mind.
Your Dark musings and interpretations of a childrens book reminds me more of the exorcist and Damon chronicles part 1 to 3.
or worse the prophesy 1 and 2.
or in political parlance.." Charlottes Web, the Bush years"
Regards,

[cathyf]

Harry Potter has always been about choosing between "what is right and what is easy." (To quote Dumbledore...) Forget the grandchildren argument -- if Harry lives, it will not be because Rowling thought that doing it right was too hard.

[glenda]

Please-quirls and cyclos of the blog--The premise
of Harry is "The boy who lived" First Chapter, book I. Harry and Volde will fight to the death, with Snape helping with a time-turner in hand(Book III). It will go back to before Voldemort killed
Harry's parents, so he will grow up without the
tragedy and all us "muggles" none the wiser for it!
(and an endless amount of new stories available)

[alcibiades]

Harry is the boy who lived. So I think he'll live.

I was so sure that Dumbledore was going to die, I thought he was going to die at the end of Book 4, instead of Sirius.

But really I think he'll think he has to die to destroy the final horcrux, which is his scar, and will accept that fate, and then, he'll have a die then live again experience, and come back without the horcrux scar.

Isn't scar supposed to be the final word of the book.

[qquirl]

Okay, it's not about dems using and killing to get into and stay in politics. Worms and wormwwood.

fantasy flight of imagination
what is right and what is easy
mind

Perfection before God.

What is a time turner? Satan is time. Bots use this.

Dumbledore is right about everything, but why would he be raised from the dead and sent back to earth unless he was damned?

[Maybeex]

In my opinion, the best proof that Dumbledore and Snape set up Dumbledore's death scene is the begging that Dumbledore did. "Please, Please."
It is unlike Dumbledore to snivel for his own life. He would only plead for Snape to do the hard thing he had to do.

I don't think Harry will die, because I think love prevails. If he does die, I dread it at least in part because that will be leaked the minute the book is released to the general public, and it will ruin it.

[Am I A Pundit Now?]

Hmm, no, it can't be Harry that dies, because then the story isn't over.

Voldemort then has Weasleys, Grangers, Slughorn, etc. and so on to kill, and so the saga doesn't really end.

Only Voldemort dying puts the whole damn thing to rest.

All I know is that it won't be Neville Longbottom that does it.

[Am I A Pundit Now?]

Er, would Potter and Voldemort killing each other be a satisfying ending?

[Tom Maguire]

It is unlike Dumbledore to snivel for his own life. He would only plead for Snape to do the hard thing he had to do.

Completely agree - Snape had to kill Dumbledore, sever ties with the order of the Phoenix, and throw in fully with the DeathEaters - not what he wanted to be doing with his life.

As to Snape's motivation - he was a marvel of a potioner, as we learned in the half Blood Prince. But Lilly Potter was a brilliant potioner as well, and in the same class; I am sure they must have had some sort of mutual bond, and I believe she was the 9mostly unrequited) love of Snape's life.

And the worst day of Snape's life (as per Harry's experience with the pensieve in Book 5)? Getting hassled by James Potter was a twice-weekly and no big deal, but at the end of that scene Snape called Lily a muggle (or something) and severed their relationship forever.

Harry is Lily's son, so Snape has to protect him, but also James' son, so Snape hates him.

Ad when Voldemort killed Lily, he would have spared himself some aggravation if he had just killed himself on the spot as well - Snape will track him and kill him, or die trying. Or both.

Neville Longbottom thumps Bellatrix, who would spare herself some pain by ending it now as well.

[Maybeex]

I am sure they must have had some sort of mutual bond, and I believe she was the 9mostly unrequited) love of Snape's life.

Oh, very very good. I love the idea of Snape seeking vengeance on Voldemort for killing the love of his live, Lily.
THAT is good.

[maryrose]

Harry lives to fight another day. Snape and Hagrid die helping defend Harry. Ron and Hermoine declare thir love for each other. Dumbledore returns safely.

[cathyf]

I don't think Harry will die, because I think love prevails.

I absolutely disagree. The whole point of the whole story is that fear of death causes evil, and that sometimes for love to prevail a good person must die. (How's that for a core Christian theme, eh?)

My prediction is that in the last book Harry (and various of his friends) will destroy all but the last horcrux, which is, of course, Harry's scar. Then Ron, Hermione and Harry will together destroy Harry's scar, with full knowledge that it will probably kill Harry, and it will. And Ron and Hermione will name their firstborn either Harry or Harriette.

Lily died to save Harry from Voldemort, so Harry could die to save the world from Voldemort.

[catsrule]

Harry does not die, but neither does he kill Voldemort. Hermione does. She represents all Muggle-born and half-blood wizards that Voldemort and the Death Eaters have been trying to stamp out. She has been the key to the story all along.

When Voldemort dies, everyone that he killed returns to life, including James and Lily Potter. So the prophecy of Harry's reunion with his parents is fulfilled.

I think it also may end with the end of wizardry entirely as a result of Hermione's victory over Voldemort. Since true evil has finally been conquered, there is no need for magic or potions to defend the world against it. Harry and his parents become normal humans and are reconciled with the Dursleys. Hogwarts disappears.

[cathyf]

Ooo... catsrule, I like that one. I never would have thought of it that way, but it is very nice.

So, when all of the wizards become muggles, do you think that they will remember magic at all?

[clarice]

Hmm--someone might suggest that's also an anology to the transition from childhood to adolescence and adulthood--the end of magical thinking and with luck a reconciliation with one's parents.I like it catsrule.

[qquirl]

The crux of the hor may be that Lucifer is just that. hor of hors. So, Harry might be killed and resurrected with his family and allowed to live in the world in which they died, like heaven. So, the Potters end in the real world and die in the world they chose. The family was loved in th e other world and decided to saty.

Potters? Planters. Dead are buried. Death eaters?