Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (novel): Difference between revisions

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The seventh and final installment of the ''[[Harry Potter]]'' series. Published in 2007. Harry's not going to school this year, but don't worry, it's for a good cause. Harry, Ron and Hermione's only hope to defeat Voldemort is destroying all his [[Soul Jar|Horcruxes]] as he [[All Your Base Are Belong to Us|infiltrates the Ministry.]]

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{{tropelist|Tropes exclusive to this book or at least especially prominent}}

* [[Aborted Arc]]: Played with. While Neville does become a [[Took a Level in Badass|freedom fighter]] and even {{spoiler|destroys Voldemort's final Horcrux}}, some fans were expecting him to be the one to defeat Bellatrix, as she tortured his parents to insanity. Mrs. Weasley ends up defeating Bellatrix instead.

* [[Achilles in His Tent]]: Ron. {{spoiler|He tried to come back almost immediately.}}

* [[Afterlife Antechamber]]: {{spoiler|Harry in King's Cross.}}

* [[Anticlimax]]: Many fans agree that the [[Final Battle|final confrontation]] between [[The Chosen One|Harry]] and [[Complete Monster|Lord]] [[Big Bad|Voldemort]] was a bit of a let-down. {{spoiler|Voldemort casts the Killing Curse at Harry with the [[Artifact of Death|Elder Wand]], but since Harry is its true master, the curse backfires and kills Voldemort}}. From a storytelling point of view, the true climax of the novel was when Voldemort "killed" Harry in the forest (and sealed his own fate), everything after that was denouement, but Voldemort did not know that.

** Averted in the film, however, where Harry and Voldemort have an epic duel for five minutes, {{spoiler|with Voldemort flying around all over Hogwarts and Harry holding on for dear life. Then their wands induce [[Call Back|Priori Incantatem]] from each other, and they duel for almost a minute before Neville cuts Nagini in two, which causes Voldemort to disintegrate due to all the Horcruxes being destroyed.}}

** {{spoiler|Not really. It's clear that Voldemort's killing curse is pushed back at him resulting in his death similar to the book.}}

* [[Anti-Villain]]: The Malfoys. At this point, the only thing they want is for the family to survive together. {{spoiler|In fact, the moment they learned that Draco is still alive, they take the opportunity to lie to Voldemort about Harry's fate.}}

* [[And I Must Scream]]: {{spoiler|Voldemort's final fate according to [[Word of God]], as previewed in "King's Cross". He is in the boundary of life and death, never dying, but never living at the same time.}}

* [[The Atoner]]: {{spoiler|Snape, Dumbledore, and Grindelwald}}. Regulus Black was also [[The Atoner]], although he is dead before the book begins.

** The Malfoy family, and Draco in particular, play with this trope. Draco legitimately regrets joining up with the Death Eaters and his role in Dumbledore's death, but he never actively tries to redeem himself, partly because he's in too deep and partly just because of a lack of character. In the end he settles for what might be called passive resistance.

* [[Babies Ever After]]: Just about everyone, it seems.

* [[Badass]]: Neville Longbottom. Yes, Neville.

* [[Big Damn Heroes]]: Frequently. Almost every good character gets such a moment.

* [[The Big Damn Kiss]]: {{spoiler|Ron and Hermione}}, the one their shippers were about to have heart attacks in anticipation of.

* [[Bittersweet Ending]]: {{spoiler|Voldemort is gone once and for all, everyone who fought in the battle is hailed as a hero. Percy, Dudley, Kreacher, and (perhaps) even Malfoy finally make peace with Harry, and for once, a competent Minister of Magic is instated.}} The bad news? Lots of people are dead. Lots. And, annoyingly, a few people who probably deserve death or imprisonment [[Karma Houdini|seem to evade it in the end]] (or, at least, don't have their fates mentioned in the book). It's not a perfect world.

* [[Book Ends]]: after Harry defeats Voldemort for the first time (when he is but a one-year-old baby) Hagrid brings him to Privet Drive using Sirius' flying motorcycle. Sixteen years later, when the Order gets Harry away from Privet Drive before the blood wards fall, Hagrid is the one that takes Harry away... on Sirius' flying motorcycle.

* [[Changed My Mind, Kid]]: Ron walks out on Harry and Hermione. His return, just in time to save Harry, is a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]].

* [[Call Forward]]: James' remark about Slytherin is exactly the same as Draco's remark about Hufflepuff in Book 1. Similarly, Sirius says the same thing about Slytherin that Ron had said about Gryffindor.

* [[The Cavalry]]: Brought by ''Slughorn'', of all people. And another with Kreacher.

* [[Circling Monologue]]: Between Harry and Voldemort during their final showdown.

* [[Conspiracy Theorist]]/[[You Fail Biology Forever]]: In-universe; the [[A Nazi by Any Other Name|Muggle-born Registration Commission]] exploits the fact that, basically, ''no-one'' is sure where Muggle-borns get their magical abilities from in the first place to have them trialled for "stealing" magic. Had they known, they probably wouldn't have cared.

* [[Contemptible Cover]]: [[Your Mileage May Vary]], but for many the British/Canadian children's cover (pictured in the article) was one of these.

* [[Fighter, Mage, Thief]]: The Elder Wand (Fighter), the Resurrection Stone (Mage), and the Invisibility Cloak (Thief).

* [[Final Battle]]: And how!

* [[Flirting Under Fire]]: How {{spoiler|Ron and Hermione get together}}.

* [[Foe Yay]]/[[Ho Yay]]: Dumbledore and Grindlewald in the backstory. And canon too, at least on Dumbledore's part.

* [[Follow the White Rabbit]]: The doe Patronus. {{spoiler|It's Snape's, and has the same form as Lily's.}}

* [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]]: Ginny's "farewell present" to Harry, cut short by Ron's interruption.

** Even though the book's [[Precision F-Strike]] ''technically'' never gets beyond "bitch", Mundungus Fletcher uses the line "That wouldn't have been effing difficult..." "Effing" of course being a self-censored [[Precision F-Strike]]. Ron also uses this a few chapters later, and Vernon Dursley had used it in the fifth book.

* [[High Heel Face Turn]]: {{spoiler|Narcissa Malfoy}}

* [[Hoist by His Own Petard]]:

** Remember how Voldemort got so evil that {{spoiler|he created an accidental Horcrux in Harry's scar}}? Hell, remember the Schrodinger's Prophecy he could've chosen to ''ignore'', but didn't, and in doing so, created his own worst enemy? You-Know-Who is practically the king of this trope.

** {{spoiler|Crabbe (Goyle in the movie) with his own Fiendfyre spell.}}

** The Elder Wand.

** The Sword of Gryffindor, [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|appropriately enough]]. Shame no one uses it for legitimate sword fights to demonstrate its true potential.

* [[It Is Not Your Time]]: {{spoiler|Harry's [[Near-Death Experience]] at the end of the book. He meets Dumbledore and during this time they discuss his going back to the living}}.

* [[Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique]]: Harry, Hermione, Ron, Lupin, Dobby, and Kreacher, after capturing Mundungus, pretty much used this trope to force him to reveal who he sold Slytherin's Locket to, and then (although by accident rather than deliberately, due to the shock of the revelation of who he sold it to) scalded him.

** Dumbledore's Army at Hogwarts.

* [[Last-Minute Hookup]]:

* [[Let's Get Dangerous]]: Molly Weasley is getting into a fight with Death Eaters -- '''holy crap did she just kill somebody'''?! [[Word of God]] is that Molly is just a better fighter than her would-be nemesis.

* [[Like Brother and Sister]]: Harry reassures Ron that this is how he loves Hermione after Ron is given [["The Reason You Suck" Speech]] by the {{spoiler|spiritual hallucinations of Harry and Hermione}} defending the locket Horcrux.

** Also, everything that happens in "King's Cross". As Harry [[Lampshade Hanging|says]], "Is this all in my head or is it real?" and gets a [[Mathematician's Answer]] in response. Since Harry doesn't learn anything he couldn't have worked out on his own, there's really no way to be sure.

* [[Merciful Minion]]: Draco refuses to admit the prisoner was Harry. Later, Narcissa crosses this trope with [[Death Faked for You]] and tells Voldemort that Harry is dead.

* [[Moment Killer]]: Twice: once by Ron and the other time by Harry. Harry did have a good reason for it, though.

{{quote|'''Harry:''' "OI! There's a war going on here!"}}

* [[Nice Job Fixing It, Villain]]: Thanks to a combination of his [[Pride]], [[Evil Cannot Comprehend Good|incomprehension of certain aspects of base human nature]], and incomplete knowledge of the prophecy which causes it to become [[Self-Fulfilling Prophecy|self-fulfilling]], Voldemort in many ways directly contributes to his own downfall.

** (For instance, the man ''destroys one of his own [[Soul Jar]]s.'' It was part of a huge [[Batman Gambit]] set up by Dumbledore, but, ''still''.)

* [[Noble Shoplifter]]: Hermione keeps doing this while the Trio are on the run.

* [[No Man Should Have This Power]]: Harry destroys the Hallows for this reason.

* [[Nothing Is the Same Anymore]]: ''Deathly Hallows'' is notable in that it breaks from the [[Strictly Formula|standard story structure]]. The [[Power Trio]] does not go back to Hogwarts until the [[Final Battle]]. Instead they are on the run because the Death Eaters pulled a coup d'etat on the Ministry of Magic and started [[Putting on the Reich]].

* [[Now or Never Kiss]]: Two, both before the final battle.

{{quote|"I know mate, so it's now or never, right?"}}

* [[N-Word Privileges]]: Hermione refers to herself as a Mudblood and when Ron objects, she explains that she's proud that she can refer to herself that way instead of the Death Eaters doing it.

* [[Oblivious to Love]]: {{spoiler|Lily seems completely oblivious to the fact that Snape has been in love with her since they were children}}.

** Also, Ron's pretty good at not noticing that Hermione's in love with him, despite him being in love with ''her''.

** In the book, {{spoiler|before the Dursleys leave Privet Drive, Dudley shows concern about Harry’s safety, tells Harry that he doesn’t consider him to be "a waste of space," is thankful to him for saving his life, and even shakes his hand}}. For {{spoiler|Dudley}}, this is positive [[Character Development]] and a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] rolled into one, {{spoiler|because it presents Dudley as finally accepting and appreciating Harry}}. Disappointingly, this is left out in the film, though it's included in the [[DVD/Blu Ray|Blu Ray]] deleted scenes.

** Also in the book, Dean Thomas is seen in the final battle casting spells with a new wand, having obtained it during the battle, as we see him enter the final battle without one. It's true he's a minor character, but this is an unarmed teenager who took ownership of a wand by forcefully taking it from a trained killer in the middle of a kill or be killed melee between good and evil.

* [[Only Mostly Dead]]: {{spoiler|Harry's hit by the Killing Curse and [[Near-Death Experience|could be considered dead]] - but it only really kills the [[Soul Fragment]] left by Voldemort.}}

* [[Posthumous Character]]: Grindelwald and Regulus Black. {{spoiler|And Dumbledore.}}

* [[The Power of Friendship]]: after six books where Harry is always telling his friends to stay safe and that he will do things on his own, this book shows how he finally accepts his friends' help.

* [[Ship Tease]]: The Horcrux taunts Ron Weasley with the sight of Harry and Hermione kissing.

* [[Shoot the Messenger]]: And everyone else in the room.

* [[So Proud of You]]: {{spoiler|Lily, and later Dumbledore, to Harry.}}

* [[Soul Jar]]: Horcruxes, although each one only contains a fraction of his soul.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Fantasy Literature]]

[[Category:Young Adult Literature]]

[[Category:Children's Literature]]

[[Category:Literature of the 2000s]]