I was just thinking: we never really get a definite answer as to what the "Power He Knows Not" is. There seem to be a variety of different things it could be:

Possession and Mastery of the Elder Wand

This could be it because it is through this that Voldemort is actually defeated.

Being a Master of Death

It could be this because this is what allowed Harry to get rid of the horcrux within himself, be the true master of the hallows (including the Elder wand) and grant protection to all the people at the Battle of Hogwarts from Voldemort.

The Power of Love

Dumbledore said in OotP that Harry's power is love - or more specifically his heart.

The Power of Will

Dumbledore said in HBP that Harry's power was that he was the one with the will to see everything through to the end - he was the only one who would actually actively go after Voldemort with all that he was after Dumbledore was gone.

The Power of a Whole Soul

Dumbledore said in HBP that Harry's greatest advantage over Voldemort is that he has a complete and pure soul, which Voldemort underestimates the power of.

So which is it? Or is it a combination of all of them?

 

The power of a whole soul is ... interesting. I hadn't thought of that. Still, I don't remember any implications that Harry and Voldemort's conflict had a spiritual aspect. As I remember, at the end it was a battle of wills. And Harry was willing to give his life to that battle while Voldemort would not.

I've spent some time wondering about the "power he knows not." I Really don't like to believe that it's a martyr complex, because, you know, ick - do we want our children to believe that dying for the cause is a Good Thing? We're supposed to make the other poor bastard die for HIS cause. These books are aimed at early-to-mid-teens. I'm not sure I'd actually encourage my child to read them.

I'll probably push Dr.Doolittle, Alice in Wonderland, and Lord of the Rings, instead. Those heros were interesting and strong and survivors.

 

I saw it the Power he knows not as being 'Love'

I always assumed it was Harry making the same loving sacrifice for the enemies of Voldemort that his mother made for him. It held untold power that Voldemort had no comprehension of. He had know idea, despite acknowledging he should have foreseen the old magics at work when he killed Lily, that Harry willing sacrificing his life would give protection to everyone in the battle. Voldemort just could not grasp the strenght of Love over his magic which is fueled by hate.

 

I interpreted as the willingness to accept death, and not run away from it. Voldemort, who has always feared death could never understand the power of sacrifice which Harry did in DH (my gag reflex is working over drive while writing this, but I think its the most concrete theory, however stupid), and thus Harry who was willing to die to save everyone ended up triumphant.

That is the power the Dark Lord knows not; suicidal emo bullshit.

The big plot hole JK tended to leave out was the room in the DoM which contained the power Harry had in abundance, and was being studied.

 

It would be hard to stop a child from reading the HP books, given the kind of promotion that the books/movies/extras get, both in pop culture and in schools. I've a six year old son who was turned on to HP books by a well-meaning kindergarten teacher. (He's now read the first four books). Better is to let the child read, but discuss and help with the interpretation and context.

Back on topic, so long as "knows" in the prophesy isn't interpreted in the biblical sense (cue visual of Voldemort with wand and tub of vaseline), I don't see the power being the Mastery of Death or Possession/Mastery of the Elder Wand. Voldemort knew quite a bit about the properties and history of the Deathstick and I would be surprised if, given the resources he had, he were not able to discover its importance as one of the Hallows.

My money is on indomitable will, though I too find the "whole soul" idea intriguing.

 

Wand and vaseline (cue visual of pissed-off wand returning to its natural form - the Slayer's Scythe!)
* takes a moment to wipe gore (and other ... stuff) off keyboard *

The "whole soul" concept would be an acceptable alternate explanation for Voldemort's humiliating display at the graveyard.
I've always assumed that a decade of being disembodied was what caused psycho-Riddle to become raving madman Voldemort. Newly reincarnated Voldemort was weakened in many ways - including his will power and ability to think in combat. The thing is, Voldemort was very much on his game during the battle at the DoM. His only mistake was in showing up in person. Once there, Voldemort showed what I have to consider stellar combat skills, especially considering JKR's refusal to put much effort into developing combat spells. If a "whole soul" was THAT important, then V would have been taken down by Harry and AD Right Then. Harry was badly handicapped by the horcrux-scar, but he was far from incapacitated.

 

I personally find the power lacking in any sense in the end. A whole soul makes no sense because it is clear that Riddle became more powerful after he made his horcruxes among other things. Voldemort seemed smart enough that he would realize whether it would weaken him more to have a split soul versus a whole soul.

I guess I could see that it would be Harry's willingness to put everything on the line, but Voldemort seemed just as willing to risk and put things on the line. I mean the man performed what would surely be a dangerous feat and ripped his own soul in pieces to try and gain immortality, that is not the act of some one unwilling to take risks.

I would say that love could be it, however Voldemort obviously understood that enough to perform a ritual that would protect him from that power. He even states that he did not think of those types of ancient magics, however that would still mean that he would know that power and just did not think it would come into play, but when it did he took measures to avoid it.

It can't be the deathly hallow objects since he went after the wand, he just made a mistake in who he thought was the last master (That whole thing was absolute crap anyway, Draco being the master of the wand, he did not defeat Dumbledore, what bull).

I have seriously wondered on this topic for a while and have resigned it to being the largest plot hole that J.K. has left for us.

Wait, I know what it is now, the power Voldemort knew not... The power of a cash hungry author who controlled his fate and made him lose to appease her fans and sell books. It's so obvious now.

 

I agree with anlun in that one of the main aspects that brought Voldemort's downfall and, consequently, Harry's victory was the former's fear of death and the latter's acceptance of it.

I think it can also be taken a little further. Not only was Voldemort afraid of death, but time and time again, he underestimated the power of selfless sacrifice. He himself went through life with selfish motives and assumed that everyone else operated with the same mindset. His plans were usually foiled because of the variable of selfless sacrifice (usually on the part of Harry, although Lily's and Snape's are notable as well) that he discounted.

I'd argue that Harry's power in the end was a combination of an acceptance of death as well as his selfless nature.

So Rowling is preaching acceptance of death AND altruism.

Incidentally, so do suicide bombers. Go figure...

 

It's pretty obvious that more or less all of the actual magic displayed in the books was nothing more than a plot device. The 'wizards' displayed in the books are simply muggles with magic, and whenever any sort of significant magic had to be used, it was made specifically to fit the plot at that point - even if that same spell was very different before, or should have been used in a previous situation.

Given that, it's likely true that she was pulling the entire series out of her ass after the first book or two. By the fourth book, it had obviously begun to fall apart - the plot was good, but the spells were presenting glaring issues regarding previous encounters, particularly with Voldemort.

The 'power he knows not', then - and bear in mind that the phrase in question doesn't mean power that he doesn't know of, but rather that he doesn't know, as there's a significant difference between the two - is whatever suits the plot at the moment, potentially including but not limited to all the suggestions above. In other words, the power is a plot device, presumably designed to both force Harry into fighting Voldemort and give him the means to do so, that's in turn a plot device used to justify whatever outlandish and ridiculous things Harry has to do to survive.


Given all that, I absolutely agree with the notion that the Harry Potter series should be kept away from (younger) kids, in favor of series like Lord of the Rings. We don't need idiots with stupid notions of what a hero is and no idea of the unpleasant nature of war and combat. Fantasy is a very dangerous thing, and needs to be consistent and realistic if it is to be exposed to impressionable minds. Pretty much anyone who can read can tell that it's not real, but they can't so much distinguish that about the morals or similarly complex concepts presented.

Narion

 

The power he knows not was ... luck.

Really, think about it. Harry was a talentless idiot while Voldemort was supposed to be a highly learned genius, but still Harry won.

Clearly Harry's victory was nothing but luck, and it's equally obvious that Voldemort didn't have any of that.

 

The Deus Ex Machina.

... and in HBP Dumbledore went on about how the prophecy may or may not be real. Who knows?

 

You know, Harry's mind never was secure. It was just Dumbledore's interpretation.

Dumbledore: "Now that Voldemort possessed you once and saw that you have this love-lulz-power, he'd avoid doing it again. You're 100% Voldemort-intruding safe. Here's the ultra-secret prophecy WE don't want Voldemort to come into possession."
Harry: Oh, really? Great! No more occlumency for Harry tonight.
Dumbledore: Yeah, I'll have to find another way to have you spend time with Snape, though.

Maybe it was a part of the greater scheme, something we will probably never know. After all, Dumbledore manipulated Harry's life so he'd be so emo he wouldn't hesitate to throw his life away for a bunch of crazy retard people who don't deserve to live.

On a completely unrelated note, The Doctor, your sig is buggy. It's annoying.

 

The power was love - in the form of that funky protection thing that let him burn the shit out of Quirrelmort. Lasted up until his blood was forcibly taken, then it was (as many have said) pure dumb luck.

You know how when you're playing 8-ball, and you hit in the 8-ball as you're two shots away from winnning? Voldemort = guy who hit in the 8-ball; Harry never really won, his opponent just kept fucking up.

 

If the protection was useless, then why did Dumbles make Harry go back to the Dursleys every summer?

 

To mold him into a compliant weapon. There really aren't many other rational explanations; if the protection was so high and mighty Harry wouldn't be able to randomly skive off from the Dursleys whenever Dumbledore saw fit, nor would Harry need twenty-four hour surveilance while there.

The 'power he knew not' was Dumbledore. Dumbles set the pieces in place, then martyred himself to set the plan in motion. The entire defeat of Voldemort was orchestrated by Dumbledore and Snape; Harry and friends were just along to play their assigned roles. One of the most disappointing things in the HP series for me was how Harry was gradually and purposefully stripped of his independence and drive.

 

AD HAD to have Harry stay at his abusive relatives' home - otherwise the Heir to the Potter, Black, Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, and Merlin vaults would discover that he was a multi-trillionaire, held 51% of the seats on the Wizengamott, was title holder of Hogwarts, Diagon Alley, and Buckingham Palace, and he would find the paintings of his parents, Lupin, Black, and Pettigrew, which would provide proof that Sirius was innocent and would inform Harry that Dumbledore HAD the proof all along and refused to use it, consciously casting an innocent man into Hell-on-Earth. The paintings would also teach young Potter spells that would reveal multiple bindings on Harry's magical core, and that AD had blocked Harry's metamorphmagus Talent as well as Harry's ability to assume multiple magical animagus forms.
(I was going to go on, hitting every cliche' I could, but I've lost interest. I doubt anyone has read this far, anyway.)

 

Actually, and I have this on good authority, the real reason was that Albus Dumbledore set up the wards to give him a heroin-like kick every time Harry suffered.

No ache, no slake.

No misery, no jizzery.

No spasm, no joy-gasm.

Albus Dumbledore: epitomical sadist.

(And no, I didn't read that far).

 

* horror *

JOY-GASM?!!?

 

Come upstairs, my dear. Let me show you...

my etchings.

 

Don't forget the easy-to-use nutrient potions that Hermione/Ginny/Luna/Bella/LV will find, giving ol' Harry a ten-foot donger.