End of an Era, Part 4

So we have finally arrived. This is the end of the road, the last book in the long Harry Potter series: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I'm not sure where to begin with this book, but I guess the best option is to just start at, well, the beginning.

Deathly Hallows starts out pretty much exactly where Half-Blood Prince left off. And right from the get-go, you can tell that this book isn't like the others. Maybe it's the fact that this is the last book and once you turn that final page, you've reached the edge of the world, the end. Or maybe it's because, of all the books in the series, none carries as much tension or foreboding as this one. There is a constant sense of lurking fear, of danger that is there and present just beyond your perception. I think that it is for this reason that Rowling decided to jump right into the action (and kick start the body count) by having Harry's flight from his house on Privet Drive to the Burrow.

As I said before, this book is much more intense and dark than any previous one. And the first few chapters are nothing if not perfect examples of this. The protection that Harry had bestowed upon him by his mother's sacrifice breaks when he comes of age, in other words turns 17. So they must move him to some place more secure, and more secret. Even though I knew that this book would be fraught with danger, I still assumed that this little journey, while exciting and eventful of course, would not exactly be death-defying. It was too early, I thought, to be killing people off just yet. How wrong I was. No sooner had the party left with their six decoys, than they were instantly attacked by the Death Eaters and Voldemort himself, who, it seems, can now fly without aid of a broom. Fantastic.

I think Rowling wanted to set the record straight right then and there: this story is not going to be a children's tale where the good guys all live happily ever after. No, we left that notion behind in Order of the Phoenix. There will be death, pain, sorrow, danger, and loss. And to illustrate this point, Hedwig, Harry's faithful snowy owl that has been an important, if peripheral, part of the last six books, is killed in the frantic flight from the Death Eaters. I remember that I was almost as shocked as when Dumbledore was killed. I suppose it makes sense to a certain degree. Harry has known for a long time that in the end he must finish this alone and so this is just the next in a long line of losses for Harry. And it would not end soon. Before the end of the first quarter of the book, we not only lose Hedwig, but Mad-Eye Moody. This is not your kid's Harry Potter.

But with this immediate punch to the gut, the next few chapters are enough to make up for it all. When Harry arrives at the burrow he is thrust into the preparations for Bill and Fleur's wedding. I think this was a brilliant decision on Rowling's part, and the wedding itself it just a delight to read. Weddings are something that we have some experience with, either through attending those of friends and family, or participating in our own. Weddings, despite the many and varied traditions and forms all over the world, have one thing in common. They bring a sense of hope and joy, even in a world that feels as though it could crack at any moment. They can make you forget for one day, the troubles of the world. And wizard weddings are no different, though there seems to be quite a bit more sparks and floating things involved.

This was definitely one of my favorite parts of the book. It was a very well written piece that could have easily destroyed the flow and tone of the book by feeling forced or out of place, but I think Rowling succeeded in her goal which was to make you forget for just a few pages, the threat of Voldemort and the sense that no one was safe. Looking back I think that between the outlandish dress of Luna's father, the exasperation of dealing with Ron's Aunt Muriel, or the delightful descriptions of the magical decorations, I actually forgot for a moment about Voldemort, the Death Eaters, and the mission to find the Horcruxes. It was very pleasant. And then came the lines from Kingsley's Patronus that shattered my brief daydream and literally sent a chill down my spine: "The Ministry has fallen. Scrimgeour is dead. They are coming."

That line was like a slap in the face. It was a sudden and shocking reminder that things are not going to be easy for the trio in this book. The Ministry, while full of power-hungry and pompous windbags, did at least provide a semblance of stability and protection. Rowling is quite critical of government it would appear, and the repeated blunders of the Ministry of Magic are evidence of that. Their collapse at the hands of the Death Eaters demonstrates that not only is Voldemort far more powerful than he was before, but now that the last check against his power has been removed there will be nothing between him and Harry as he can now move freely and openly. And of course when the Ministry falls, the enchantments they placed on the Burrow to protect Harry are broken, and within the first few lines of the next chapter, Death Eaters start materializing at the wedding and Harry, Ron, and Hermione are forced to flee.

This is the point where we enter the final phase of Harry Potter. With the Order scattered, the Ministry broken, and Voldemort running unchecked there is nothing left for the trio to rely on except each other. This, I think, is one of the most crucial points of the final book and one of the reasons Dumbledore had to die in Half-Blood Prince. Harry Potter is many things, but most of all it is a story about facing and overcoming the fear of Death. Harry knows that he is the only one that can kill Voldemort and in the end, he must face him alone and in so doing face his own mortality. And yet, he is not alone. It was a fateful day indeed when Harry and Ron shared that car on the train nearly ten years ago. Even more so when Hermione, the straight-and-narrow-to-a-fault, lied to Professor McGonagal about the troll to get Harry and Ron out of trouble. These two friends have stood by him through not only near death experiences, but through jealousy, anger, secrets, and envy. Harry must take the final journey alone, this is true. But he could not hope to make it that far without their help. Each person's skills and traits complement those of the others, making them stronger together than they are apart. Hermione's intelligence and wit, and Ron's loyalty and (despite himself, bravery) are strengths without which Harry could never hope to achieve what seems impossible. Because not only does he have to find a way to kill the most dangerous wizard in the world, but he must also track down and destroy the four remaining Horcruxes.

As expected, a good portion of this book is devoted to finding and destroying the Horcruxes. I'll say one thing for book seven, it certainly does not lack for adventure, excitement, and death-defying escapes and first quest they undertake is to track down the real version of Slytherin's locket and finish what Harry and Dumbledore could not. I don't think Rowling could have come up with a more convoluted path than the one she lays out for them to follow to the real locket. After learning that the mysterious R.A.B. from the note in the fake locket is Regulus A. Black, Sirius' brother, and that Mundugus had stolen the locket from Kretcher, who had stolen it from the pile of junk thrown out by everyone in book five when cleaning the house for the Order of the Phoenix, and then how someone from the ministry had confiscated it from Mundungas on the street as an illegal object, we learn that someone is none other than Dolores Umbridge. Despite this rather twisted (and quite frankly, contrived) path this brings up a very interesting bit of foreshadowing that appeared way back in book five as the real Horcrux is mentioned as a very heavy locket that could not be opened, which means that Rowling had planted the seeds of the Horcruxes quite a long time ago.

If there is one fault I can find with this whole Horcrux mechanism it is that far too much time and energy is spent finding and attempting to destroy a single Horcrux: the locket. True, there are multiple goals that the trio must achieve in order to destroy it: find the real thing, retrieve it, find a way to destroy it (a la the Baslisk venom-infused Sword of Gryffindor) but consider all the time spent in book six just getting the damn thing from the cave, then how long it takes to locate the real thing, THEN they have to break into the Ministry and steal it from around the neck of, who else? Dolores Umbridge. After this lengthy and rather fatiguing journey, the finding of the rest of the Horcruxes is rather swift, with the retrieval and destruction of Ravenclaw's diadem downright abrupt. It was as if Rowling had realized that Deathly Hallows was becoming "Harry Potter Spends Nine Months Looking for Horcruxes and a Sword". In fact, it is not until very late in the book that we actually learn of the truth of the Deathly Hallows, and what implications they have for our intrepid hero.

Part five will be posted shortly. And this time, I will reveal my favorite character and why book seven is my favorite in the series, despite it's flaws.