Lonely Final Battle: Regarding the Deathly Hallows Part 2
The final act of The Deathly Hallows really is a shift for the entire book series. There's an apocalyptic intensity to the Battle of Hogwarts with beloved characters that are occasionally killed with little more than a passing line of text. It's a numbing experience in some ways, emotionally, and certainly unrelenting. But, through it all, Harry himself remains steadfast and constant. That's both the strength and tragedy inherent to the scarred protagonist: To garner a reputation as The Boy Who Lived means that said boy has to be surrounded by death.
I think the reason why something like Harry Potter could only really come from the United Kingdom is how it was never really afraid to lean into the macabre and not in that try-too-hard Tim Burton kind of way. There's something distinctly British about that, the frankness about discussing death that is often a relatively uncomfortable topic in American discourse. The real underlying theme to the Harry Potter franchise is the power and importance of love in all its forms (romantic, platonic, familial) in the face of death and hate. Harry survived because of his mother's love and continues to succeed in his ongoing battles against evil because of the love of his friends. Voldemort can never truly defeat Harry because he operates with a complete lack of love; he abhors it.
Some of my absolute favorite moments in the entire franchise occur in the closing act of The Deathly Hallows. Harry's usage of the Resurrection Stone in the Forbidden Forest as he goes towards what will assuredly be his death (And, in a way, it actually is) to get that final boost of encouragement from everyone he's ever lost is something that gets me misty just thinking about.
Harry's entire vision in King's Cross Station providing him one final conversation with Albus Dumbledore is the other big moment that I'll always be thankful for this novel series bringing into the world. The conversations with Dumbledore punctuating each adventure were always a highlight; much more than a what-did-we-learn-this-time moment for me as a reader. They had been a running feature in The Half-Blood Prince which made sense because that entire book is a bit of a sendoff for Albus and I was so happy to see that we'd get this one last moment between the two.
Harry Potter, for me, came at a time in my life when I was in between accepted children's fare like Goosebumps and the Redwall series and I was making headway into proper, adult fiction and appropriately cut right down the middle of the two. Just as the main characters were growing up, learning of their own potential in the face of burgeoning adulthood, I was growing up too. The books were first published in the United States towards the end of elementary school and finished when I was entering the second half of college. There are some pertinent parallels in that.
After I finished The Deathly Hallows, I thought that was it. Harry Potter would forever be in the rearview mirror after that. But one constant I failed to take into account is that is that Hollywood gets the final say when a successful franchise is done. Harry Potter may be last seen sending his children off to school. But it would be far from the last time the Wizarding World would be seen.
I think the reason why something like Harry Potter could only really come from the United Kingdom is how it was never really afraid to lean into the macabre and not in that try-too-hard Tim Burton kind of way. There's something distinctly British about that, the frankness about discussing death that is often a relatively uncomfortable topic in American discourse. The real underlying theme to the Harry Potter franchise is the power and importance of love in all its forms (romantic, platonic, familial) in the face of death and hate. Harry survived because of his mother's love and continues to succeed in his ongoing battles against evil because of the love of his friends. Voldemort can never truly defeat Harry because he operates with a complete lack of love; he abhors it.
Some of my absolute favorite moments in the entire franchise occur in the closing act of The Deathly Hallows. Harry's usage of the Resurrection Stone in the Forbidden Forest as he goes towards what will assuredly be his death (And, in a way, it actually is) to get that final boost of encouragement from everyone he's ever lost is something that gets me misty just thinking about.
Harry's entire vision in King's Cross Station providing him one final conversation with Albus Dumbledore is the other big moment that I'll always be thankful for this novel series bringing into the world. The conversations with Dumbledore punctuating each adventure were always a highlight; much more than a what-did-we-learn-this-time moment for me as a reader. They had been a running feature in The Half-Blood Prince which made sense because that entire book is a bit of a sendoff for Albus and I was so happy to see that we'd get this one last moment between the two.
Harry Potter, for me, came at a time in my life when I was in between accepted children's fare like Goosebumps and the Redwall series and I was making headway into proper, adult fiction and appropriately cut right down the middle of the two. Just as the main characters were growing up, learning of their own potential in the face of burgeoning adulthood, I was growing up too. The books were first published in the United States towards the end of elementary school and finished when I was entering the second half of college. There are some pertinent parallels in that.
After I finished The Deathly Hallows, I thought that was it. Harry Potter would forever be in the rearview mirror after that. But one constant I failed to take into account is that is that Hollywood gets the final say when a successful franchise is done. Harry Potter may be last seen sending his children off to school. But it would be far from the last time the Wizarding World would be seen.
