Deathly Hallowed Thoughts

I finished reading Deathly Hallows at 3 pm this afternoon.

SPOILERS BELOW!

My first thought is that Rowling must be absolutely crazy or perhaps quite brilliant or more possibly both - the final Harry Potter book runs so deep into metaphysics and such, that I wonder how many folks will actually finish it. If she had introduced this in her other books, I really think the readership would have dropped off. Not that it should have, you understand. I am only referring to would have most likely occured. And not that she held back so as to make more money or anything foolish like that. She's been leading us all along to a place where we can understand what she has wanted to say about death, but we had to travel the path, not just have it dumped in our laps. We had to grow like Harry so we could understand like Harry. But how many of us will understand? And that's where she must be crazy...

It's not my purpoe here to list the dead or the wounded. Instead it is to give my first foggy thoughts on Deathly Hallows. I repeat, they are very foggy (but haven't had much sleep!).

First, in my opinion (metaphysics aside), what Rowling did for Ron Weasley and Severus Snape in this book was worth the reading alone. The chapter entitled "The Silver Doe" is absolutely beautiful - and Ron's soul has never been so clearly laid bare than it is here. We all knew this was in Ron; I'm just glad for the cathartic black and white that finally made it REAL.

Ironically, it is also this same chapter that begins to tell the story of Severus Snape, who turns out to be what I've always guessed, and thank God, not badly done. The ending of the chapter entitled "The Elder Wand" just about killed me when I reread it after finishing the book. The first time I read it, I thought Snape was using Occlumency/Legilimancy, but on the second read, the "Look...at...me..." just almost ripped my guts out...when I realized...what he was doing...

The other characters feel - oddly - like the actors that play them. Full of more potential that is sadly not used. This is not a criticism, in fact just the opposite - I am saying that there is little doubt that these characters have a greater life than we see on the pages. It is like being surrounded by the coolest 50 people in the world, but for only 2 hours - you leave with an ache and an admiration.

Moving on to the metaphysics or spirituality of these books, Rowling does what she's been promising to do - and that is tell us what she thinks about death. It isn't simple - in any way. There is no one character with all the answers all the time - Dumbledore's death had made that certain in the last book. I had hoped that Lupin would step in and be Dumbledore, Jr., but almost as though she read my mind, Lupin succumbs to his character flaws and must give his energy (though this is unseen to the reader) to righting himself in time for the final battle.

Thus it is only Harry, Ron and Hermione in a rain soaked tent trying to work it all out. Which of course, is the way it had to be, ,but still you can't help feeling for three teenagers in Coleman in the middle of winter - no matter how magical they are.

I was surprised to find that Rowling did not take us more clearly into the world of the dead - I had expected her to give us her opinion, but it almost appears that her opinion is that the world of the dead is unknowable to us, and therefore unexplorable. I actually agree to a large extent - I am often quite appauled by pop-portrayals of heaven - the first that comes to mind is "Titanic Heaven" in the movie "The Titanic". Yet others have spoken of heaven through symbolism - Revelation to "The Great Divorce". I confess, I expected her to join those ranks, but she declined.

Instead though, the dead come to us (with one MAJOR exception, which I will discuss further down). Rowling once again insist that "the dead we love never truly leave us" and we find them walking along side Harry in the chapter "The Forest Again" as he walks toward his most feared moment. I am reminded of the words Dumbledore used to discribe Cedric Diggory's after death appearance to Harry - he calls the phenomenon not Cedric, but an echo, as if Cedric is calling across a canyon. Yet the appearances of the dead who accompany Harry in this book are desribed as closer in appearance to the young Tom Riddle of the Diary in COS than an echo like Cedric. The Riddle of COS was a portion of a soul which was feeding off the life of a young girl - this evil is of course not the point with Harry's Cloud of Witnesses - but instead, I THINK, Rowling is suggesting that the actual beings are at hand, not their echoes from across a canyon.

Rowling puts in an interesting little point during this seen among the dead. She says of Harry that he is not "fetching them" but just the opposite - the dead are "fetching him." Without going in to great plot detail, it had been discussed earlier in the story that bringing the dead back was not a very nice thing to do, so the combination of these two points in the book fascinate me. I am reminded of the stories of those who have died - particularly in the past before we doped people silly to make dying easier - they say that the dying often appear to be talking to those who have gone on before them. With our modern mindset, I believe we call this delirium, but it appears Rowling may be questioning that one. Fine by me...

So the dead we love come and fetch us, that I can understand, but what else is going on in this scene? I have no idea... The presence of the Resurrection Stone thoughout this novel is hard for me to discern. When the trio are told about it, Hermione questions it - believing it can not be real. She says, "Well, how can that be real?" The reply? "Prove that it is not." To which Hermione correctly points out that we could believe anything if proving it's nonexistance was the only reason not to believe. The response to this outburst is simply "Yes, you could. I'm glad to see you are opening your mind a little."

This makes me laugh.

However, it is this Resurrection Stone which calls the dead back to life - or those who have gone on back to where they have left - and this is something, according to the book, which is against the wishes of the dead...except for Harry's dead...who are "fetching him"...even though he used the Resurrection Stone...which I find confusing.

Anyway, most people think heaven is another place away from Earth, and it seems quite clear that Rowling does too - so what can we say about Rowling's Land of the Dead?

She won't show it to us, but she does she us a sort of...in between place? It is a place where Harry meets Dumbledore, but where Dumbledore still weeps for the wrong he has done in the past. It is a place in which Dumbledore seems very much like he was when he left us - a wise man, a good man, but still a man who has not yet been judged and thus found peace. It is also here in this place that Harry is told that he could "catch a train" and go "on" if he wanted to, but there is unfinished business back in the land of the living, so Harry goes back. So what was this place? Dumbledore seems unable to see his surroundings in this scene - calling it "your [Harry] party now", but to Harry it is unquestioningly King's Cross - which is of course the title of the chapter. Later, Dumbledore suggests that this place is both real AND in Harry's head.

So it's a real place in Harry's head where Dumbledore who is dead but not yet at peace can come but not discern but that Harry can discern as King's Cross and from which Harry could go "on" if he wanted to...Did I mention that I was confused?

Now Harry, of course, must be and is purified of the evil clinging to his soul. He must die to live. His death provides protection for all those he loves, just as Lily's did for him all those years ago. Only Harry does not die, but comes back from King's Cross because his blood is still running in the veins of another. In coming back, he gives hope to those fighting and finishes Voldemort once and for all. this of course, is completely Christus Victor (why isn't it 'cristus'? do they do that 'H' thing in latin?), as you can see. God becomes one of us and takes on our disease, Harry is one of us and takes on the disease of the wizarding world by taking on a piece of Voldemort's soul. Satan power is broken when Christ willingly lays down his life for us, Voldemort's defeat looms when Harry willingly lays down his life for the others. Those who live under the protection of Christ still face enemy attacts, but are not defeated (even in death); those who live under Harry's protection (after he has "died" for them) still face attacts by Voldemort, but cannot ultimately be defeated. Jesus dies and comes back, defeating human sin, Harry "dies" (or travels to King's Cross in his mind), defeats the "sin" or the piece of Voldemort's soul within him and comes back to life. Christ is coming again to finish the deal, Harry comes again to Voldemort and finishes the deal.

And the inscription on the Potter's tombstone is "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death" which is 1Corinthians 15:26 of course.

So - final thoughts on this post - before I dare to look to the outside world - are simply this: Rowling's world is happening, as the dispensationalists call it, in "The Church Age" or, the oft (over)used phrase of those who don't know what dispensations are, "The Here and Not Yet". She extends this idea to the dead, so that they are also waiting - still "not yet". Though she does not explain the Not Yet, or the land of the dead or heaven or what will come, for that is not within the scope of her story, she points to it with many signs:
1) The Corinthian Passage above
2) Another tombstone which says "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
3) Harry's trip to "almost dead" takes him to King's Cross - which has been there all along, but surely carries significance as the place Harry's mind takes him while being "mostly dead".
4) Harry (and Lily) acting "christ-like" in such an obvious way.
5) Others...
As for the Resurrection Stone and the objects which are the Deathly Hallows - I totally don't get them. I do think I was right to say that the title has a double meaning - that the "bigger" meaning is "the deathly process of sanctification" which is what Harry goes through. If the Hallows, as objects have greater meaning, then I'll have to take that from the forums I've yet to visit.

Alrighty - that's all for now...

posted by Headless-in-GR @ 7/22/2007 02:46:00 AM