Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
July 22, 2007
I finished my first reading of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and am getting ready to embark upon a second read-through. This is what I do with all Harry Potter books. I tear through them as quickly as I can for the major plot points, then re-read more slowly and try to answer my remaining questions and disappointments by paying attention to detail.
Spoilers after the jump.
After my first reading, I can safely say that Hallows rounds off all the major questions left open by the first six books. We learn why Dumbledore trusts Snape (and just why Snape hated Harry’s dad so much). We come to find that Harry is indeed a Horcrux that Voldemort never intended to make.
What I found so frustrating is the ultimate weakness of Voldemort at the end. Despite the casualties — and they are many — it seems almost too easy for Harry to end Voldemort’s reign of terror. At the end, Tom Riddle is a pretty pathetic villain. By contrast, Harry is armed with his understanding of the most powerful universal magic. He wears it like armor. He never seems to falter or doubt. In this story, there is no temptation of the Christ.
As I re-read, I may abandon this perspective. But for now this is the order (from favorite to least favorite) that my preference for the books falls:
- Order of the Phoenix
- Half-Blood Prince
- Prisoner of Azkaban
- Deathly Hallows
- Goblet of Fire
- Sorcerer’s Stone
- Chamber of Secrets
July 25th, 2007 at 2:16 pm
– SPOILERS IN RESPONSE –
I can understand your frustration with the ending, specifically Voldemort’s downfall. The climactic battle between Harry and Voldemort, well, wasn’t. It felt more like another narrow scrape Harry barely got through with the help of his friends and some handy coincidences.
After thinking about the rest of the book (and the entire series), however, I changed my mind. Sure, we didn’t get the big Good vs. Evil duel at the end, the showy battle of who had the biggest special effects, but I think that’s actually the point. Harry didn’t triumph because he was the strongest wizard or because he had the most powerful weapons. He triumphed because he had legions of people willing to believe in him, willing to help him, willing to fight by his side. Accordingly, his triumph wasn’t carried out in one sweeping motion, but rather finished off after steadily eroding Voldemort’s power until he was reduced to that one last piece of Tom Riddle, alone, fractured and powerless. (Make your own Hitler connection. As Eddie Izzard would say, “in a ditch, covered in petrol, on fire.”)
Themes throughout the book seem to back this up, but like you said, it’ll take a second reading to really pick up on them. Harry’s search shudders forward, finding failure as often as success (and learning from both). His friends lose ground (and lives) through almost the entire story, but in the end they surge back because they’ve learned to work together. The horcruxes themselves aren’t just for Harry to find and destroy; everyone ends up taking a whack at one, even Voldemort himself. There was also a recurring theme of indirectly benefitting from previous good deeds, as when Harry’s death ruse only succeeds because he saved Draco Malfoy earlier.
To me, though, the contrast between Harry’s death and Riddle’s death were the kicker. When Harry died, his friends rallied and fought even more fiercely to win the battle for him. When Voldemort died, his supporters (and his empire) evaporated almost immediately. More than anything else, that underscored the reason why Riddle was defeated (again); his whole approach was flawed, unsustainable.
Despite all that, I still have one issue with the ending. Harry’s explanation of how Voldemort’s wand really owed allegiance to him was too convoluted and its effect too tidy, to the point where it stretched belief. I can understand Voldemort ending with a whimper, but ending on a technicality?
July 27th, 2007 at 11:32 am
[...] a lot more sense to me to read the book once and enjoy it than to use my friend Teresa’s twice-through method (Spoilers here!), which involves a lot more [...]