I was glad to discover that I didn’t remember the majority of the Deathly Hallows from the first time I read it. I had vague memories of major plot points, but had forgotten enough to be able to read with the same uncertainty and excitement that comes with reading a new book. I was glad because the Deathly Hallows was the first Harry Potter book to disappoint me. I wasn’t ready for there to be no more Hogwarts classes, no more trips under the invisibility cloak to Hagrid’s house, no more Quidditch, no more House Cup drama. This time I was able to approach the book with a completely different mindset, already knowing not to expect what wouldn’t come. This allowed me to appreciate the Deathly Hallows for what it is, rather than what it is not. And what it is is a masterfully woven (and dare I say perfect?) ending to the greatest series I have ever read.
Perhaps the only moment that remains problematic in my eyes is Ron’s unceremonious desertion of Harry and Hermione in Chapter 15. I still find it unfathomable that he would leave the way he did, after all the life/death scenarios they’ve survived together. I don’t find the locket’s influence to provide an adequate excuse, because Hermione never wavers in her support of Harry, and I had always believed their respective relationships with Harry to be of a similar caliber. Nor do I find Ron’s inner turmoil, which reveals itself when the locket is opened, to be an excuse, because the majority of his exposed fears were irrelevant to his decision to leave. The only adequate explanation in my eyes would be that Harry and Ron did not become as close as I understood Rowling to imply in the first six books. That is just my own perspective on things.
Moments I found particularly poignant usually involve the death of a character. I know some readers find Dobby to be annoying, but I have always found him immensely enjoyable. No one understands why Harry chooses to bury him using physical labor, because no one but Harry seems to understand that Dobby made more of an imprint on the world than most wizards could dream of making. When Harry writes into the grave stone “HERE LIES DOBBY, A FREE ELF,” I swear I almost lost it.
Severus Snape’s death was more poignant the second time reading the book, because I already knew the contents of Snape’s memories, as he lay there dying. After all that Snape and Harry had been through, after all of the fights and coldblooded fury, Snape spent his last dying moments giving everything he had to help Harry. Then, in the epilogue, once Harry fully understands Snape’s role in the downfall of Voldemort, Harry calls him “probably the bravest man [he] ever knew.” And I agree.
Reading through the books from beginning to end, I still believe Dumbledore is infallible. I understand why some readers would be furious at his treatment of Harry rather like a tool or a pawn in game of chess, but I am incapable of seeing him that way. In fact, I think the handling of his backstory in the Deathly Hallows only makes him a better character, because it humanizes a character that often fraternized with godliness. He espoused the power of love on regular basis, but such intense advocacy could only come from someone who had witnessed firsthand the consequences of the absence of love, as he had on several occasions in his younger life.
In a larger context, I think the Harry Potter series is unparalleled in its ability to tell a compelling coming of age story in a fantasy setting. It has traditional values running through it about good conquering evil and sacrifice, but it makes it clear (as many fantasy books do not) that it is not always easy to make the right choice, and the even the right choice can sometimes be a gray one. Even Dumbledore struggles between his love for an innocent child and a self-imposed responsibility to help “the greater good.” I think it is also a great book for coming to terms with death, or as Dumbledore calls it, “the next great adventure.” For something so natural and common, death is often ingrained in children as something to fear and to hate. Behind the lines, the Harry Potter books are very much about coming to terms with the deaths of others, whether it’s your parents, your friends, or someone so inspiring that the world is just seems a little bit darker without them. This thematic combination of love and death makes it compelling not just for children, but for people of every age.
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