The people who know the truth behind Beedle's story is a sum total of one: Dumbledore. And he's dead by the time we hear the story, so I suppose really it's zero. But ghost Dumbledore does refer to the Hallows as such.

Heh, reading this quote again, it occurs to me that Dumbledore may be implying that he and Grindelwald considered making horcruxes but decided on finding the hallows instead.

 

No, the only people who even mention Hallows are the trio, Xenophilius Lovegood, Dumbledore and his brother Aberforth.

In fact, even Ollivander doesn't know anything about the Hallows even when Harry mentioned it to him.

---------- Post automerged at 07:45 ---------- Previous post was at 07:41 ----------

That's not entirely correct. Aberforth also knows about them, and he's certainly alive, so does Xenophilius Lovegood, but since he's a bit strange I guess you could ignore him.

 

By "the truth about the Hallows" I assumed you meant the fact that they're not legendary objects made by Death but simply powerful magical artefacts made by regular wizards.

 

Isn't Dumbledore just speculating? While his word does have a certain credibility, even he thinks 'it's more likely' is all, not that it's a certainty.

 

All that would mean is that no one knows the "truth behind the story", therefore the answer to the question is still yes.

 

Even Dumbledore isn't sure, whether the Deathly Hollows were really created by Death or if the Peverells were just damn awesome wizards having created extremely powerful artifacts.

 

Well, why don't we look at it this way?

After Harry found out about the Hallows, he met Xenophilius who knew. He met Aberforth who also knew. Dumbledore, of course knew. Xenophilius himself wears a locket with the symbol of DH and if I am not wrong, implies that he is a part of the group who do know the full story behind the three objects.

Ollivander, as a wandmaker, might only be interested in the Elder Wand, which was the only part of the tale he remembered.

And lastly, the design on the locket is considered as Grindelwald's mark by some groups.

So, we may also conclude that the real story behind the Beedle might be rare but not exclusive to only those particular canon characters.

 

Dumbledore isn't sure about it in the same way he wasn't sure that Voldemort had made horcruxes prior to HBP. I.e. it's just a statement of false modesty.

 

Ask me to remember my own birthday and I'll have to take a minute. Ask me to remember some random, inconsequential fact about a book I read 10 years ago and I'm spot on every time. Memory is weird.

 

You mean to tell me you have not re-read it since?

 

Pretty much. I've read the books about twice each and occasionally looked up quotes in them but otherwise I've got a bunch of other books to go through before re-reading.

 

That is some crazy crazy memory. The effect Harry Potter had on us...

 

Cheers all; I could probably have phrased the question better, but basically what I was getting at was were they ever referred to as Hallows in the story, leading the Deathly Hallows to be a recognised term even if they were believed to be a fairytale.

 

It helps that I've been reading fanfic since about 2005, which has helped keep certain kinds of information relevant in my head.

 

No, there is nothing to suggest that. On the contrary, the fact that Ollivander didn't even recognize the term implies that it wasn't well known, fairy tale or otherwise.

 

I didn't want to revive this old thread, so I decided to ask here:

Did JKR ever reconcile the known exception to Gamp's Law of Elementary Transfiguration (as in food) with the ability to transfigure inanimate objects into animals?

 

Nope.
10char

 

Was it ever mentioned how either Orion or Walburga Black died? Or even Alphard?

 

Nope, it was never said how they died, just that they did.

 

I think Kreacher said Walburga died of a broken heart or something to that effect.