There have been a lot of people that said they hated the final battle between Voldemort and Harry because it really wasn't a battle. Many have claimed that Harry would have lost if not for the Elder Wand issue and that it was lame.

Without getting into flames and insults about each other's ideas; I would be interested to know what people had expected the final duel to be like? Support your position with canon-based facts or conclusions from books 1-6. Even if those conclusions were proven wrong by book 7 they can still be valid support for what you anticipated the battle to be. Then explain why you did/didn't like the duel as written in DH.

Again, lets please keep the inflammatory replies out of this. Everyone has a different opinion and that's great. I'm curious as to what others had in mind and why to see if maybe I'd missed something others had picked up on.




As to what I expected the final duel to be; I honestly don't know. The idea that Harry would stand toe-to-toe with Voldemort in a duel never really fit with the story as I read it. Voldemort simply had too much of an advantage in both skill and knowledge. I just never saw Harry winning an actual duel.

I had figured that the brother wands would come into play along with Voldemort's arrogance; much as it did in GoF. The thought that Harry would be able to pull off a surprise attack of some sort while the brother wands did their thing was really what I was expecting. I had pretty much concluded that "the power he knows not" would be whatever he did/used in the surprise attack.

In regards to the duel in the book I'm of slightly mixed feelings. On the one hand I felt a little let down. It was less of a "show" than I had hoped for. Yet, on the other hand when I look at the "big picture" I feel that the whole thing fit rather well into the story. Let me explain...

Harry Potter wasn't a special child. He was born to normal parents of above average power and talent as described in the books. The only things he had going for him were a prophecy and a rebounded killing curse. He was just a normal kid put into a position few could handle. What made Harry special and a true Hero is that despite not being super smart or powerful he still stood up and did his part.

He made plenty of mistakes and stupid errors, but frankly I think that's why I like his character in this series. He's human; he's a kid learning how to live life while facing challenges no one can understand. He's a real life type hero. Harry just tried to make the best of what cards he was dealt and live up to the huge expectations everyone thrust on him. A normal person would have given up and called it quits or even worse. Harry though, with only determination, will power, and a few loyal friends managed to make it through.

The final battle showed Harry's greatest strength against Voldemort's greatest weakness. Harry had the power the Dark Lord knows not in the form of simple self knowledge. He never deluded himself into thinking he was a super wizard or Voldemort's equal in terms of power. He knew his limitations, but he also knew his advantages. Voldemort's ego would never let him see his limitations or the possibility that Harry could beat him.

In the end the battle showed the ultimate truth in a way. It was simple yet spoke louder than words. Voldemort killed himself through his ego. Harry saved everyone by trying to do the right thing and knowingly standing up to a far superior opponent armed with only a bit of knowledge his enemy didn't have.

While not action packed or exciting as I would have liked I did feel that the whole scene fit well into the story being told. I'm sure many would disagree, but there you have it.

 

i really think the final battle should of been a little better. The whole deathly hallows thing kinda put that jk knew harry was just too pussy to defeat voldemort by himself without then elder wand, etc.

But beating voldemort with a disarming spell?

How. Fucking. Lame.

the whole battle was badly done, I read fanfic's final battles that was better than jk's.

0.5/5 final battle wise.

 

Based on previous books, the information we have been given, and Harry's personality I thought for sure the Final Battle would of been in the Department of Mysteries. The reason I didn't like the battle was because there was no basis for it in any of the previous books. What about the veil, and the room that no one can open?


What I thought was going to happen was Harry for whatever reason goes to the Ministry to fight Voldemort. The fight leads into the Department of Mysteries, priori incantatem goes off, and Voldemort falls into the veil. Corny but hey there was at least evidence in previous books that would support this. If not this then at least incorporate the room that can't be open somehow. Why else was it even mentioned?

I agree completely that the purpose of the books is to show that it doesn't take power to defeat your foe but the willingness to fight even through unsurmountable odds (gag), so I wasn't expecting a grandiose battle but that ending was too a)anticlimactic, b) random. If she included the mention of an unbeatable wand, and Harry was its master I would of liked to see some badass fighting with the wand making up for Harry's crappiness.

 

I thought the final battle would happen at Godric's Hollow. I also pictured it with Harry running and ducking behind things to aviod AKs with him throwing the occasional hex. And the finally the power he knew not comming about and killing Voldemort.

 

I was hoping Harry would pick up a few more curses during this book (maybe from Prince's notes or something Dumbledore had left him). During the final duel (yes a duel, not a bitch talk session), I was hoping to see Harry trying to fend off Voldemort's attacks long enough for whatever deus ex machine JKR had set up to step in.

I certainly didn't expect a total negation of HP world, where some fucking junk and screwy divination crap matters more than wizards and their magic.

BTW, Molly killing Bellatrix is just another aspect of this stupid point JKR, in all her wisdom, had decided to make.

 

I like Voldemort getting outsmarted, but the one spell (and bloody Expelliarmus of all things) was annoying. I understand why she did it, and I'm sure the little kids reading won't mind, so meh.

 

I didn't like Bellatrix being bested in a duel by Molly fucking Weasley, just didn't seem logical that one of Voldemort's best Death Eaters would get killed by a housewife?

Looking at the rest of the series though, Harry's knowledge and magic seemed to stop growing at the end of book 4, and keeping with that, I suppose it's only logical that he beats Voldemort due to the latter's own ego.

But I really hoped that on his "Quest", he would be able to pick up on some new stuff, and not need to have his life saved by Hermione every time they were in danger.

The final battle really disappointed me though, circling each other for what seemed like 10 minutes talking to each other, and in the end, throwing one spell at each other? And Harry's had to be a disarming one? Way too anticlimatic, and certainly a letdown in my opinion.

 

In all honesty it went the way that I had expected to go in the end. If you go along with the cannon there was no possible way that he could have learned the true knowledge that it would have required to defeat Voldermort. Like Kender said, Harry Potter was basically a normal child whom was in the wrong place at the right time and got struck by the dark lord and caused his downfall. Besides that there was nothing else. He was a normal kid, no super special ultra Kamehameha 'I'ma kick yo' ass back to Kansas Dorthy' abilities, just a normal kid with "normal" magic.

Looking at it that way when I read the ending I realized that it was pretty much well done. It used simple knowledge and it showed Voldermort just how much of a fool that it could be. No it wasn't as dramatic as I would have preferred but it was still alright. But no, really... what was with Molly and Bellatrix? How the HECK did that work out? I was positive a Longbottom would have got her at least...but that's JKR for you I suppose.

 

...You'd be amazed at the power of a mother when her kids are in danger. The Adrenaline that must have been flowing in Molly Weasley was no doubt enough to give her the edge in that fight. It doesn't even matter how skilled Bellatrix was in that; Molly was pissed, and Bella was playing around. Hence, Mrs. Adrenaline gets in a lucky shot, and Bellatrix Lestrange dies. Sure, it would make more sense for Neville, the badass that he is, to tear her to shreds, but it's more amusing this way.

Also...Regarding the actual topic of this thread, I'd have to say that whatever I was expecting, I was not expecting what I received. No matter how obvious it would be that it would come down to Deus Ex Machina (seeing as how Harry was nowhere near a match for Voldemort), I was expecting the duel to last more than one spell. Maybe Harry would get his ass handed to him for a little while, then let the Deus Ex Machina come into play? I don't know; almost anything would have been better than that duel.

 

Kinder Cleric
I think that your version is true Harry was always just harry
I didn't have enough imagination to figure out how things would
go so I always assumed harry would die
I will say I liked the dialogue in the final battle it was campy as hell
Harry was all Clint Eastwood
"so ya gotta think punk does the wand know who I am
Tell me do ya feel lucky Go ahead make my day"LOL

Regarding Molly beating Bella I honestly believe that when JK came
up with series she wanted harry to be a girl (don't get me wrong I hate those stupid what if harry was a girl fics)and she changed it at someone's suggestion and the rest was history. My point is that she gets so caught up in girlpower moments and the women in the series are so strong(overbearing) that I think she infused the personallities she wanted harry to have in some of her over the top characters and that's why I think she does things like super hermionie and genny and letting molly win because she wants to strike one for the sisters.

 

To be honest, I thought (and hoped) that Voldemort would straight up murder Harry. Okay, that was more of a hope than an expectation. Voldemort should have killed Harry, but JKR wouldn't let it happen. It would have been pretty funny if, after all of Harry's previous struggles, Voldemort just killed him and took over the world. Oh well.

 

A quick note on the Molly/Bella thing:

I, like most, never saw that little duel coming. As totally out of left field as it was, and as mind boggling as the results, I'm okay with it. Why? It was f-ing funny that's why. It was so unexpected and eye-popping "WTF?!" that I laughed out loud. That lone gets that bit a stamp of approval.

 

Oh, I know; even if I can rationalize how Molly could win that fight, it still came completely out of nowhere, and was worth at least a laugh or two.

Or, maybe it was worth just staring at the page for about five minutes, amazed that Mrs. Weasley even had the capability to swear. Good lord, that caught me by surprise.

 

I agree, it was just too hilarious and random. Would you have seen it coming?

Molly's "NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!" popped out so much I had to read it a few times before I realized that I was actually reading.

One of the few parts of the story that hadn't been written about in fanfiction yet, I'd think.

 

What all of bitching about Molly beating Bella doesn't understand is the Power-of-Kitchen. Not even Merlin would've bothered to invent a shield to stop a water-boiling charm or potato-mashing charm. It is my belief that Bella was hit in the chest by one of these.

All explanations about a simple ignorant boy defeating the greatest wizard makes sense, but it doesn't mean I have to like it. Atleast a few minutes of dueling would have been nice. After all people have been following this series for years and it was honestly a letdown.

 

That is the other thing I found amusing
I don't know if I'm right or not but I think BITCH
was(besides bloody)the first curse word used in
cannon
I like the idea of the it having been a water boiling charm
You just can't beat Jo for pure camp

 

As I see it, Harry wouldn't have stood a chance if the duel had lasted any longer. It had to be decided by the first spell or Voldemort would have simply overwhelmed him.

 

Bitch was used in the 2nd book, actually. Aunt Marge refered to Lily in such a way "Something wrong with the bitch, something wrong with the pup" or some such trite. But yeah, the actual use of it as an offending word would be a bit shocking. Maybe she wanted to moonlight as a real author, for like...adults...just for one sentence. Granted, she failed horribly considering how shitty and 12-year-old-fan-girl the whole story was, but guess she tried as best she could.

But there's a general rule of thumb. If you haven't been a teenager in 20+ years...don't base an entire series of stories around that age. Because its near universally impossible to do it correctly for most, and flat out is impossible for JK to have done at all.

 

i expected voldemort to taunt harry causing to totally lose his cool leading to accidental/very powerful magic that caught voldemort by surprise or something like that
IN MY OPINION, Rowling made this book way to kiddyish but at least she didn't end it like "and they ALL survived happily ever after" or something
though i do miss mad-eye(he was cool!!)

 

I expected this battle to be fought in the DOM and for a while Harry to get bullied around untill the power-he-knows-not comes into play. Not some super charged wand that will back fire on Voldie.