Well, Forum Registration has been closed and a few of us are steering clear of the internet for awhile (in hopes of not being spoiled) but some of us are still around.

So let's discuss some HP.

Previous Discussion Points
Discussion Point I -- Harry's Legacy
Discussion Point II -- The Dreaded Epilogue

Question Three: You reach page 700-and-something finally. In bold letters reads the title to the chapter you've been waiting for for [insert appropriate number] of years. Your hands sweat with anticipation and you tremble as you read on, hoping.... What happens?

Meaning... put yourself in the position of J.K. Rowling and pretend you're writing the final showdown between Voldemort and Harry. Presume to know what's going to happen. Use clues from the previous book, avoid the herrings and gauge both Harry and Voldemort's abilities.

Perhaps you're a really optimistic DLPer who thinks Voldemort has a chance. Perhaps you think they'll both die or suffer consequences. You're the sleuth, and you're guessing what's going to happen.

Me personally - I don't think highly of Harry Potter. I just can't see him holding his own against Voldemort unless there's some sort of creepy possession from previously dead people going on. And I don't think that's going to happen so I have to sort of guess from what we have.

As strange as it may sound and as terrible as it might be, I think this series will end with deus ex machina. Meaning, another instance where fate intervenes and saves our hero. The cause this time? The same culprit as always - love.

I think the final battle will occur either at the Ministry or Hogwarts. I think the Room of Love (unknown name so I'm using that) discussed by Dumbledore in Order of the Phoenix is a red herring. I think that's been well placed to get people thinking - hey, that's obviously what's going to happen. He's going to do something with the room of love.

I don't see Rowling forcing us to go to a place we've already been to that isn't a prominent fixture in Harry's life (meaning, it's one and done for the Department of Mysteries). But Hogwarts still retains appeal due to Voldemort and Harry's obsession over it - a sort of... duel over who gets to call Hogwarts home.

There's a lot to do with Lily's green eyes I'm hoping. Red eyes on a Slytherin and Green eyes on a Gryffindor. There's a lot of 1, -1 matrixy stuff going on and we have a lot of similarities and a lot of dissimilarities. The eyes are so confusing because we just don't know how important they are.

Could they just be filler since they could've been talked about in Book 5 or 6 as Rowling promised? Or is that another Red Herring by an author whose only fear is any secrets of her major plot being leaked too early.

So the showdown occurs either at Hogwarts or... the Deathly Hallows becomes a location of importance. I know nothing of the Deathly Hallows really. Could they be a place of death? Are they a magical teapot? It kind of sucks because if it's held there we really have no attachment to the place because it's been created this book.

That sucks.

So...

I think the showdown will occur at Hogwarts between David (Harry) and Goliath (Voldemort) and fate intervenes in favor of David, as is required.

You can make this fun and come up with ways Voldemort could win or draw but I don't see it happening. I think Harry has suffered far too much to be given any penalty in this final showdown.

How love comes into it, I'm baffled. Maybe the kicker comes that Voldemort and Harry are literally brothers now, sharing the same blood and Harry shows a random act of kindness, something Voldemort has probably never experienced and that is his undoing? Maybe it's familial love or something? Maybe Lily's love still exists as a barrier? Maybe Harry's own blood can't be used against itself?

Think of how weak Voldemort became when Harry thought of Sirius while he was being possessed. Imagine how we'll feel when Harry loves someone. We practically cry. Now imagine Voldemort receiving kindness.

Holy shit.

I might die.

Shoot.

 

I really think that if she wants to make a believable ending Harry will need to die. Volie is on a whole different level than everyone. Innless she makes her ultimate bad guy who we have been hearing about and only really seeing in action once, into some loser who can barley fight and blatantly overpowers Harry with no real explanation I think he will die. I think this would be the only fitting way for the series to end considering what the 6th book gave us.

 

But how would Voldemort defeat Harry? How does the world go on afterwards? There has to be some logic behind it.

Is it a Catch-22 situation? Does Darkness prevail or does Voldemort come to an understanding after having killed Harry Potter? Is Harry like some sort of Human Unicorn (so pure and just) and he (Voldemort) expends his other "half-life" (having killed a Unicorn in Book I) by offing Harry?

Is that the sacrifice? Is it a Christian ending where Harry sacrifices himself?

Need to be a bit creative .

 

You said my exact thoughts BioPlague. Harry is no super dueling master and he won't beat Voldemort in a fair duel. The power of love will intervene and Harry will destroy Voldemort because 'Voldemort has never felt love before so it will obviously destroy him.' The book will end with all the fangirls screaming because the H/G 'LOVE SHIELD' saved the day and all us here at DLP wondering what the hell just happened and who sold JKR the obviously very good crack.

 

The location of the final duel - the Department of Mysteries, the Veil Room.

I don't think Rowling will completely gloss over the final battle. She'll probably have Harry hold his own by applying skills and spells he had gathered throughout the series (possibly broom flight, DA curses, maybe a good luck potion etc). Voldesmort, of course, will be act superior and condescending and he'll simply put Harry through his paces, steering away from the cool spells we've seen in OOTP.

Of course, Voldemort will eventually overpower Harry, at which point the Power of Love will intervene. How? Probably less cool and dramatic than anything we could think off.

An example: Both Voldemort and Harry fall into the Veil and Harry is saved by Sirius' echo.

*shrugs*

 

I need to call her and find out about that crack I could definitely find a use for some that good.


Harry will get his asskicked at first just like in every encounter except the baby and Sorcerers stone where he kicked ass atfirst with lily's protection. Then the power that the boy-who-lived and the whore-who-crushes-on-the-boy-who-lived's love will shine through and destroy Tom. (throws up)

 

I think the possession scene in OotP gives us a hint on how Harry will win.

When Voldemort possesses Harry, and then Harry thinks of lovey-dovey thoughts, Voldemort experiences a lot of pain, and had to retreat in OotP.

So, to win against Voledmort, Harry just has to learn how to possess people, and then possess Voldemort while thinking of how much he loves people etc. which will destroy Voldemort.

However, as this actually involves Harrylearning something and some skill on his part, I doubt it will happen like this. Far more likely is that Voldemort will attempt to possess Harry again and somehow become trapped in Harry's head where the process mentioned above will kill Voldemort.

 

IP just gave me an idea. Instead of them both falling into the veil, I imagine a brother wand thing to happen near the veil. Harry's willpower wins the battle again. But, instead of Priori Incantatem, the magic causes all the death Voldemort has caused to come out of the veil. The bodies surround Voldemort, and drag him off through the veil.

Or, Hogwarts duel, and shit happens. I don't know.

 

Nice idea, Rostam. They've talked about the vel to much for it not to play a significant part. That sounds like a pretty feasible ending, really. rep for you.

 

Some fic or another I read recently did that actually, or something similar to it. Except that the recalled spirits attacked Voldemort rather than dragging him back through the veil with them.

 

I don't care as long as we don't have a "Harry I am your Father" moment. Who knows, maybe in an act of "luv", Ginny will sacrifice herself for a AK that is aimed at Harry's head.

As far as the final battle goes, I hope for a long, bloody battle. I doubt it will happen. I think that it will come down to a battle of "wills" between the Voldemort and Harry, and Harry will be knocked out or some shit like that. While knocked out, Harry receives a vision from his mother or something fucked up like that. Harry awakens and transforms into something akin to Super Saiyan fulled with luv and righteousness and all that jazz.

 

Ginny's gonna almost get killed and he's gonna go berserk. I hear that there's a great line where someone calls Bellatrix a bitch in a shriek of rage. It's supposedly hilarious. I think that that's where the line comes from.

 

the location will be at Godric's Hollows. It started there and its going to end there.

Its quite likely the death of Voldemort will be something to do with love, since every single fucking book has practically ended with it. Book 1, Lily's love whacked Quirrell, Book 2, Fawkes saving Harry's life with the phoenix tears, well, thats practically love, in some sort of twisted Harry-Fawkes-Dumbledore way. Book 3, Harry's love for Sirius drove away the (100?) Dementors and all that other crap. Book 4, the echoes of Voldemort's victims save Harry because they love him, Book 5 love love love, i forget how book six ended, something with Dumbledore's love freezing Harry and preventing from him getting an AK in the face as well.

See. Its going to end with love in some sort of twisted crappy sorta thing.