Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Overthinking It - Reflections on Deathly Hallows, as it applies to the Philosopher's Stone and beyond

K, the seventh Harry Potter book revolves around the Deathly Hallows, three magical objects that were supposedly crafted by Death, and given to the Peverell brothers, sometime in the middle of the thirteenth century (I'm using harrypotter.wikia.org for most of these dates).  The Invisibility Cloak, owned by Ignotus Peverell, was passed down the male family line, eventually getting to James Potter.  The cloak was loaned to Albus Dumbledore, and when James was killed by Tom Riddle (suck it, Voldy) in 1980, he kept it until Harry's first Christmas at Hogwarts, December 1991.

So, this cloak is supposed to be forged by Death? And yet, Dumbledore can see though it.  Oh, and Alastor Moody can see through it, though the magic eye helps.  Moody's magic eye is more powerful than Death itself?  Not to mention, anyone with the ability to cast Homenum Revelio can locate the person under the Cloak, and the person also shows up on the Marauder's Map, which had f*cking Peter Pettigrew on the production team.  Like, seriously, that Cloak might have retained its invisibility for over seven centuries, but it kinda sucks.  Come on, Death, you've gotta up your game.

K, so now we have the Resurrection Stone, which was passed down the family line to one Marvolo Gaunt.  Yeah, recognize the name Marvolo?  Somewhere, a Peverell got it on with a Slytherin, as we know that Voldy's the heir of Salazar Slytherin, and apparently also of Cadmus Peverell.  So, this Stone, embedded in a ring, makes its way to our old friend Tom.  Tom, we assume, didn't just take up a random interest in the Elder Wand in the seventh book, so wouldn't you think he'd recognize that little logo on his ring? I guess not.  Either way, Tom ends up turning it into a Horcrux.

WAIT.  Full stop.  The Resurrection Stone.  Is a Horcrux.  Oooookay... we'll let that slide for now.  Anyways, Albus Dumbledore finds this ring sometime during Order of the Phoenix, iirc, and instead of destroying it, decides he'd rather wear it and try to resurrect his sister Ariana.  Moron needs to read some more fairy tales.  Of course, he gets cursed by the ring, and eventually dies.  But before he does, he breaks the Ring and the Stone with the Sword of Gryffindor.  Well, at least Hallows are more powerful than Horcruxes, as this one survives.

Then, we have the Elder Wand, which was won by Dumbledore when he defeated his best friend, Gellert Grindelwald, in a duel in 1945 (NOOO significance in THAT year at all... >.>).  So, at some point or another, Dumbledore has been in possession of each Deathly Hallow.

K, so throughout the first four books, two of the Hallows are accounted for, and from Order on, we can track all three Hallows.  Draco owns the Elder Wand for a while, Tom has at different points owned the Elder Wand and Resurrection Stone, Albus has owned all three, but not simultaneously... and Harry actually owned all three simultaneously, as soon as he disarmed Draco in Malfoy Manor (as he had the Stone by then).  Throughout the entire second half of the book, and second movie, Harry is the Master of Death. O.o

Now, the first Horcrux to be destroyed was Tom's Diary, waaaaay back in Chamber.  This diary had the ability to store a projection of Voldy as a 17-year-old, and through Ginny Weasley, caused all sorts of Muggle-born-petrifying shenanigans.  Though the books never say if it was charmed to do that regardless of being a Horcrux, we assume that the projection WAS, in fact, the piece of Tom's soul that was stored within.  This begs the question... WHY AREN'T ANY OF THE OTHER HORCRUXES AS BADASS AS THE DIARY?  I mean, we've got the Locket, that's got itself a cool little guilt-trip thing built into it, and the Ring has that whole curse that nearly killed Albus if Severus Snape hadn't first.  But seriously!  That diary had more power in it than all of the others combined.  And Tom made the mistake of giving it to Lucius. Frickin' Lucius Malfoy, of all people.

And finally, as a minor though... Harry Potter was the only Horcrux not destroyed by Salazar Slytherin's Basilisk, as they mention that the Sword of Gryffindor can only destroy Horcruxes because it absorbed Basilisk venom when Harry slew it.  Just saying.  And since it was Tom himself that destroyed his soul in Harry, Tom literally caused the death of each of his Horcruxes, due to the creature that helped him create the very first one, the diary, by killing Myrtle.  Perhaps this implies the owner of the Horcrux is the only thing that can destroy it?  Who knows... besides JKR, of course.

1 comment:

  1. Also, both Basilisks and Horcruxes were created by Herpo the Foul, so both Harry and Voldemort owe their respective successes to this guy. Interesting.

    ReplyDelete