Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Chapter 32
Chapter 32: The Elder Wand
OK. Man. A lot happened in this chapter. Lots and lots of fighting. Lavender may or may not have been bitten by Fenrir Grayback. Hagrid may or may not have finally been killed by the monsters he loves (that would be a little too ironic, dontcha think?). Luna, Ernie, and Seamus get to kick some dementor ass. And Snape’s dead.
It’s interesting that Voldemort felt he had to kill Snape to master the Elder Wand. One wonders how it was (not) working that led him to decide it hadn’t accepted him?
The big deal, of course, is the memory Snape gives to Harry as he dies. I’m going to finally record the prediction I made about Snape a couple of weeks ago:
- Dumbledore trusted Snape.
- Dumbledore trusted Snape because of the remorse Snape showed over causing the deaths James and Lily by revealing the prophecy to Voldemort.
- But Snape hated James.
- Snape called himself the Half-Blood Prince. We know this from book 6, which made a huge deal over the identity of the Half-Blood Prince, even though the HBP subplot wasn’t integral to the story. (This occurred to me when I was trying to guess what might get cut when they turn book 6 into a movie; the HBP would be a good candidate if it weren’t the title.) It must be important that Snape is a half-blood.
- Lily Evans was Muggle-born.
- So, I’m predicting that Severus and Lily knew each other, that Severus was in love with her, and that it was regret over Lily’s death, not James’s, that led Snape to work as a double agent for Dumbledore. When he dies, he looks (creepily) into Harry’s eyes, eyes that look just like Lily’s.
How good or evil does this make Snape? Was killing Dumbledore part of the plan? What has Snape been up to in book 7? That will be interesting to see.
And when will Harry look at the memory? Presumably after the battle? Where’s the Pensieve, anyway?
Two of the three Hallows are on the grounds of Hogwarts tonight. (I’ve come around to believing that Harry’s Cloak is a Hallow after the Death Eater’s summoning spell failed to work several chapters ago.) Could the Resurrection Stone be in the Snitch? How are the gang going to kill Nagini? What did Harry’s wand do way back in chapter 4? So many questions!
Hagrid better not be killed by a bunch of giant spiders.
No spoilers for later chapters in the comments! There are hardly any chapters left!
Popularity: 35% [?]
How did you possibly stop reading at this point?!?
Lisa, it was an exertion of will power I have never before and probably will never again muster.
Okay, predictions? Here’s one:
1) Let’s say Matt’s right, Snape was in love with Lily, and his remorse over her death made Snape come back to Dumbledore. (If this is true, you sort of have to wonder what kind of idiot Snape was to think that a half-blood witch would somehow be exempt from Voldemort’s reign of terror.)
2) In order for that regret to be genuine, Snape would have to be, ultimately, good. I mean, it means nothing if she died and he used it as an excuse to gain Dumbledore’s confidence. That final scene suggests there was something real there.
3) If he’s good, what the hell HAS he been doing all year aside from allowing Death Eaters to torture students?
4) We still haven’t solved the mystery of the silver doe.
5) We know that people’s patronuses can change in a moment of loss or sadness…like when Tonks’s became Lupin’s when she was in (unrequited) love with him.
6) What do you think are the chances that Lily’s patronus was a doe (emphasis on the eyes notable)?
7) What do you think are the chances that Snape knew perfectly well that the Gryffindore’s sword he put in Gringott’s was a fake? The kids trying to steal it — what a perfect excuse for him to need to remove it.
I probably have some details wrong — or the whole thing wrong — but that theory rings correct to me, so I’m publicly stating it so if it’s correct I can take credit later.
Ooh, honey, that’s brilliant. James/stag, Lily/doe.
I also forgot to mention how much I enjoyed Hermione’s “Are you a wizard or what?!” which was a nice callback to book 1.
By the way, I implore any other commenters not to confirm or deny our theories!
I thought of the whole doe/stag relationship too, which led me to think that perhaps Petunia was involved. Dumbledore may have left the sword with her and her one and only feat of magic was to conjure the patronus. While I am sure this theory is completely false, I just thought I should throw it out there.