hp

Plot

While in the Malfoy Manor, Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters plan to ambush Harry Potter when he leaves the Dursley home with the Order of the Phoenix for the final time. Voldemort takes Lucius Malfoy's wand, in the hope that it will be able to kill Harry.

Meanwhile, Harry disposes of things he would not need, as he does not plan to go back to study at Hogwarts – notably, his Quidditch robes. Indeed, Harry would not have this year an occasion to play Quidditch; however, on three key occasions – getting hold of the Hufflepuff Cup and the Ravenclaw Diadem, and during the final fight with Voldemort – the "unerring skill of the Seeker" would be vitally useful to him in snatching an object out of the air.

Members of the Order of the Phoenix are ambushed by Death Eaters as they attempt to escort Harry from the Dursleys' to a safe house by broomstick using decoys. Harry's wand, seemingly of its own accord, countercurses Voldemort when Harry is attacked, allowing him to narrowly escape. Hedwig and Mad-Eye Moody are killed, and George Weasley loses an ear.

The trio go to The Burrow where Minister for Magic Rufus Scrimgeour arrives to give Harry, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger bequests from Albus Dumbledore's will. Ron receives the Deluminator, Hermione is left a children's book, The Tales of Beedle the Bard, and Harry inherits Godric Gryffindor's Sword and a Snitch, bearing the mysterious phrase "I open at the close". The Ministry claimed the sword to be “an important historical artefact”, however, and kept it.

At Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour's wedding reception, a Patronus, conjured by Kingsley Shacklebolt arrives, announcing that the Ministry of Magic has fallen under Voldemort's control, and that Ministry officials, and Death Eaters are on their way to The Burrow at that moment. As the wedding dissolves into chaos, Death Eaters approach, and Harry, Ron, and Hermione disapparate to Tottenham Court Road, where they hide in an empty cafe to plan their next move. However, the Death Eaters find them there and they narrowly escape. They eventually find and take refuge in 12 Grimmauld Place.

While at Grimmauld Place, Harry deduces that Sirius Black's brother Regulus was the "R.A.B" who removed the Locket Horcrux from the sea cave.[HP6] Hermione recalls seeing a locket whilst cleaning the house, and they discover that the house-elf Kreacher had stolen the locket from the items to be thrown out. Kreacher tells them that he had placed the Locket Horcrux in the cave as ordered by Voldemort, and Regulus later died after retrieving it and deceiving Voldemort. With the help of Kreacher and Mundungus Fletcher they learn that the locket is now in Dolores Umbridge's possession. The trio successfully infiltrate the Ministry of Magic and recover the locket. However, Grimmauld Place is compromised when they return, forcing them to flee to the countryside.

The trio begin to travel the country, looking for Horcruxes and the means to destroy them. Overhearing a discussion between Griphook the goblin, Dean Thomas, Ted Tonks, Dirk Cresswell, and Gornuk (another goblin), the trio learn that the Sword of Gryffindor that is held at Hogwarts is a fake. Harry decides to find the real sword that can destroy the Horcruxes; some time after this Ron and Harry argue over Harry's lack of a plan, after which Ron abandons the group. Harry and Hermione search for the sword in Godric's Hollow, as well as Harry's old house. While looking at the house, Harry and Hermione are beckoned by Bathilda Bagshot into her home. Knowing something is not right, Harry follows her upstairs, where she transforms into Nagini. Voldemort himself appears almost immediately after. Hermione casts a Blasting Curse that ricochets around the room, facilitating their escape, but also irreparably damaging Harry's wand. When Voldemort realises they have escaped him, his fury is so strong that Harry is forced to see Voldemort's memory of the night he had killed Harry's parents, leading Harry to fall unconscious.

Hermione apparates Harry to the Forest of Dean. While he is on watch, a silver doe-shaped Patronus leads Harry to an icy pond containing the real Sword of Gryffindor. As Harry dives into the freezing water to retrieve it, the locket Horcrux starts strangling him. Ron, who was guided back to the pair by the Deluminator that Dumbledore gave him, saves him. Ron recovers the sword and destroys the locket with it. Ron warns that Voldemort's name is now Tabooed: speaking it reveals the speaker's location to Voldemort and the Death Eaters.

The mysterious recurring symbol is revealed to represent the legendary Deathly Hallows.

The trio learn from Xenophilius Lovegood that the symbol they have encountered represents the three Deathly Hallows: the Elder Wand, the Resurrection Stone, and the Invisibility Cloak. Xenophilius tells them about the Deathly Hallows and the story of the Three Brothers who each took respective "gifts" from Death. When pressed about Luna's absence, Lovegood admits that Death Eaters abducted her. Hoping for Luna's return, he has alerted Death Eaters of the trio's whereabouts, but the trio escape. Shortly after this escape, Harry figures out that the Invisibility Cloak is one of the Deathly Hallows.

Soon after, Harry accidentally uses the name of Voldemort, and the trio are captured by a gang of Snatchers, led by one of Voldemort's followers and taken to Malfoy Manor, where they join the imprisoned Luna, Dean, Mr Ollivander, and Griphook. Finding Gryffindor's Sword among the trio's possessions, Bellatrix Lestrange fears they have broken into her Gringotts vault, and tortures Hermione for information. Help arrives in the form of Dobby, who apparates into the cellar and rescues Luna, Dean and Ollivander. This attracts the attention of Lucius Malfoy, who summons Wormtail to the cellar to check on the prisoners. As he enters the cellar, Harry and Ron attack Wormtail.[HP4] Harry reminds Wormtail of his life debt after Harry saved his life.[HP3] Wormtail hesitates and is subsequently strangled to death by his own silver hand for his betrayal. Harry and Ron rush upstairs to rescue Hermione; Ron disarms Bellatrix and Harry takes Draco Malfoy's wand. Dobby reappears, and they disapparate to Bill and Fleur's Shell Cottage; Dobby is struck by Bellatrix's knife during the escape, and dies afterwards. Voldemort, having been alerted to Harry being captured, arrives at Malfoy Manor almost immediately after Harry escapes and tortures the remaining Death Eaters. He then leaves them, goes to Hogwarts, and takes the Elder Wand from Dumbledore's tomb.

At the cottage, Ollivander confirms the Elder Wand's existence and says that a wand can transfer allegiance if its owner is defeated or disarmed. Ollivander adds a caveat: although the Elder Wand is unbeatable, its master is not. Bellatrix's behaviour convinces the trio that another Horcrux is hidden in the Lestrange vault. Aided by Griphook, they penetrate Gringotts' defences and retrieve Hufflepuff's Cup, although they lose the sword to Griphook in the process. The trio escape Gringotts on the back of a guard dragon. Voldemort is then informed of the theft of the cup, and realises that his Horcruxes are being destroyed; through his mental connection to Harry, he unintentionally reveals that another Horcrux is hidden at Hogwarts.

In Hogsmeade, Aberforth Dumbledore is able to smuggle the trio out of Hogsmeade and into Hogwarts. Harry alerts everyone in Hogwarts of Voldemort's imminent arrival. Luna Lovegood suggests that the fifth Horcrux could be Ravenclaw's lost diadem. Harry recalls seeing the diadem in the Room of Requirement when he hid his Potions book there the previous year. Meanwhile, Hermione destroys the Cup Horcrux with a basilisk fang. Various allies of Harry gather in the school, where the Battle of Hogwarts commences. In the Room of Requirement, Ron mentions that the house elves are still in the kitchens and in danger, whereupon Hermione runs over to Ron and kisses him.

While the trio are in the Room of Requirement, Draco Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle attack them. Crabbe mishandles the powerful Fiendfyre spell, killing himself and destroying the diadem, but the others escape unharmed.

During the battle, several of the Weasley brothers are duelling members of the Ministry of Magic. Percy and Fred are duelling the corrupted Minister Pius Thicknesse, when an explosion rocks the corridor, shattering one wall and killing Fred instantly.

Harry catches a glimpse of Voldemort's mind again, and it leads the trio to the Shrieking Shack. Here they witness Voldemort kill Snape, believing it will make him the Elder Wand's master. Voldemort leaves the Shack, and the trio approaches the dying Snape. As Snape dies, he gives his memories to Harry that prove Snape's loyalty to Dumbledore, motivated by his lifelong love for Harry's mother Lily. After being cursed by Gaunt's Ring Horcrux, a doomed Dumbledore had ordered Snape to kill him at a strategic time, sparing Draco from carrying out Voldemort's order to murder him. The memories also reveal that Harry himself is a Horcrux; he must die in order to destroy Voldemort.

Resigned to death, Harry leaves to go to Voldemort's camp in the Forbidden Forest, and meets Neville Longbottom, whom he asks to kill Nagini if he gets the chance. Along the way, he realises that the Snitch holds the Resurrection Stone inside it, and is able to retrieve it, whereupon he summons the spirits of his parents, Sirius Black and the recently killed Remus Lupin, who accompany him to Voldemort's camp. Voldemort then casts the Avada Kedavra curse at Harry.

Awakening in an ethereal place that looks to him like King's Cross station, Harry is unsure whether he is alive or dead. Dumbledore appears and explains that Voldemort's Horcrux within Harry has been destroyed. He says that just as Voldemort cannot die while his soul fragments remain, Voldemort cannot kill Harry because he used Harry's blood in his resurrection.[HP4] Voldemort's killing curse instead destroyed the unknown fragment of Voldemort's own soul that lay inside Harry. Harry glimpses a representation of Voldemort's true self: a weeping, deformed child whom Dumbledore describes as "beyond any of our help." Harry is then given the chance to return to the battle, being advised that he could possibly end it once and for all.

Harry revives, but feigns death. Voldemort orders Narcissa Malfoy to check Harry. Doing so, she realises that Harry is alive, and she asks him very quietly if her son Draco is still alive, to which Harry whispers yes. Narcissa, no longer caring about anything but her son, lies to Voldemort, telling him that Harry is dead. Harry is carried to Hogwarts as Voldemort's trophy by the captured Hagrid and is displayed to agonised supporters gathered in the school entrance hall. When Neville Longbottom defies an invitation from Voldemort to join the Death Eaters (due to his pureblood status), the Sorting Hat is thrust onto his head and set aflame.

Grawp, the centaurs, and the giants add to a sudden disturbance caused by reinforcements from Hogsmeade residents and students' families yelling war cries as they spill over the walls of the school. Neville then pulls off the Sorting Hat, draws Gryffindor's Sword from it, and decapitates Nagini with a single stroke, destroying the final Horcrux. Harry moves around under his Invisibility Cloak and lends aid throughout the ensuing battle, as his supporters rally to defy Voldemort and the Death Eaters one last time. More reinforcements arrive in the form of the house-elves of Hogwarts, whipped into a fighting frenzy by Kreacher, they attack the Death Eaters with knives. Eventually, the battle pares down to Voldemort simultaneously dueling Professors McGonagall and Slughorn, as well as Kingsley Shacklebolt. Likewise, Bellatrix engages Hermione, Ginny and Luna in a fight. After Bellatrix tries to strike Ginny with a Killing Curse, she is confronted and killed by Mrs Weasley. Furious at losing his most loyal servant, Voldemort blasts his opponents off their feet. Harry casts a Shield Charm to prevent Voldemort from harming Mrs Weasley. Then, knowing that he is the Elder Wand's true master, Harry finally takes off the Invisibility Cloak and confronts Voldemort. Unable to get Voldemort to even try feeling remorse, which could possibly have saved him, Harry informs Voldemort that when Draco disarmed Dumbledore on the Astronomy Tower, he unknowingly became the Elder Wand's master;[HP6] this allegiance was then transferred to Harry when he won Draco's wand at Malfoy Manor. Voldemort then casts another Killing Curse at Harry, but the Elder Wand's allegiance prevents it from harming its Master, and the spell rebounds off Harry's disarming spell, killing Voldemort, and leaving Harry victorious.

Among the fatalities are Fred Weasley, Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks, Colin Creevey, and fifty other people who died fighting the Death Eaters, as well as Voldemort and Bellatrix. Harry accepts thanks from his supporters and helps to comfort the grieving. He slips away to the Headmaster's Office and is greeted by thunderous applause from the previous Headmasters' portraits. With the help of Dumbledore via his portrait, Harry decides that the Elder Wand should be returned to Dumbledore's tomb, where its power will be extinguished if he (Harry) dies undefeated, that the Stone will be left and forgotten in the Forbidden Forest, and that the Cloak would continue to be a Potter family heirloom. Before returning the Elder Wand to the tomb, Harry uses it to repair his own wand, which was previously thought to have been irreparably damaged. He then looks forward to sleeping in his bed in Gryffindor Tower, wondering if Kreacher would bring him a sandwich there.

Epilogue

Nineteen years later, Harry and Ginny Weasley are married and have three children: James Sirius, Albus Severus, and Lily Luna. Ron married Hermione and has two children, Rose and Hugo. The families meet at King's Cross station, where a nervous Albus is departing for his first year at Hogwarts. Draco Malfoy and his wife are also there with their son, Scorpius. Harry's godson, Teddy Lupin, is found kissing Victoire Weasley (Bill and Fleur's daughter) in a train carriage. Neville Longbottom is now the Hogwarts Herbology professor and remains friends with the two families. The book ends with these final words: "The scar had not pained Harry for nineteen years. All was well."

Rowling's commentary and supplement

In an interview,[44] online chat,[7][45] the Wizard of the Month section of her website, and during her 2007 U.S. Open Book Tour, Rowling revealed additional character information that she chose not to include in the book. The first bits of information were about the trio and their families, starting with Harry.

She said that Harry became an Auror for the Ministry of Magic, and was later appointed head of the department. He also kept Sirius's motorcycle, which Arthur Weasley repaired for him, but he can no longer speak Parseltongue after the destruction of Voldemort's soul fragment within him. She also said that Ginny Weasley played for the Holyhead Harpies Quidditch team for a time, then left to establish a family with Harry, and later became the lead Quidditch correspondent for the Daily Prophet. Ron Weasley worked at George's store for a time, Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, and then joined Harry as an Auror. Hermione found her parents in Australia, and removed the memory modification charm she had put on them for safety. Initially, she worked for the Ministry of Magic in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, greatly improving life for house elves. She later moved to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and assisted in eradicating oppressive, pro-pureblood laws. She was also the only member of the trio to go back and complete her seventh year at Hogwarts. Rowling then went on to explain that Dumbledore's relationship with Gellert Grindelwald extended beyond mere friendship; indeed, Rowling has revealed that "Dumbledore is gay, actually",[46] and harboured romantic feelings for Grindelwald.[47] Next, Rowling revealed the fate of Voldemort. After his death, he was forced to exist in the stunted form Harry witnessed in the King's Cross limbo, as his crimes were too severe for him to become a ghost.

Rowling also explained the fates of several secondary characters, starting with the Weasleys. George Weasley continued his successful joke shop. George married fellow Quidditch player Angelina Johnson and had two children: a son named Fred, in memory of his late twin brother, and a daughter, Roxanne. Next, Rowling proceeded to explain Luna Lovegood's future, saying that she searched the world for odd and unique creatures. She eventually married Rolf, a grandson of the famed naturalist Newt Scamander,[45] writer of Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them. They have twins called Lorcan and Lysander. Her father's publication, The Quibbler, has returned to its usual condition of "advanced lunacy" and is appreciated for its unintentional humour.

Rowling then gave briefer histories on some more of the minor characters, as follows. Draco Malfoy's wife, Astoria (or Asteria), was the younger sister of his Slytherin classmate Daphne Greengrass. Percy Weasley married a woman named Audrey and had two daughters, named Molly and Lucy. Firenze was welcomed back into his herd, who finally acknowledged the virtue of his pro-human leanings. Dolores Umbridge was arrested, interrogated, and imprisoned for crimes against Muggle-borns. Cho Chang went on to marry a Muggle.[48] Viktor Krum found love in his native Bulgaria.[49] Neville Longbottom became professor of Herbology at Hogwarts and married Hannah Abbott, who became the landlady of the Leaky Cauldron.[50] Bill and Fleur Weasley had a total of three children, a younger son named Louis, and two daughters, named Dominique and Victoire.

Rowling also revealed further transformations in the wider wizarding world as follows. Kingsley Shacklebolt became the permanent Minister of Magic, with Percy Weasley working under him as a high official. Among the reforms introduced by Shacklebolt, Azkaban no longer used Dementors. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were also instrumental in reforming the Ministry.[7] At Hogwarts, Slytherin House became more diluted and no longer held the title as the pure-blood bastion it once was, although its dark reputation lingered.[7] Voldemort's jinx on the Defence Against the Dark Arts position was broken with his death, and there was a permanent Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher stated. Harry also is said to come to the Defence Against the Dark Arts class to lecture several times a year.[44] Lastly, Rowling says that a portrait of Snape, who briefly served as Hogwarts Headmaster, had not appeared in the headmaster's office, as he had abandoned his post. Harry then ensures the addition of Snape's portrait, and publicly revealed Snape's true allegiance.[7]

Critical reception

The Baltimore Sun's critic, Mary Carole McCauley, praised the series as "a classic bildungsroman, or coming-of-age tale." She noted that "[b]ook seven... lacks much of the charm and humor that distinguished the earlier novels. Even the writing is more prosaic", but then observed that given the book's darker subject matter, "how could it be otherwise?"[51]

Reviewer Alice Fordham from The Times writes that "Rowling’s genius is not just her total realisation of a fantasy world, but the quieter skill of creating characters that bounce off the page, real and flawed and brave and lovable." Fordham concludes, "We have been a long way together, and neither Rowling nor Harry let us down in the end."[52]

By contrast, Jenny Sawyer of the Christian Science Monitor says that while "There is much to love about the Harry Potter series, from its brilliantly realised magical world to its multilayered narrative," however, "A story is about someone who changes. And, puberty aside, Harry doesn't change much. As envisioned by Rowling, he walks the path of good so unwaveringly that his final victory over Voldemort feels, not just inevitable, but hollow."[53]

Stephen King criticised the reactions of some reviewers to the books, including McCauley, for jumping too quickly to surface conclusions of the work.[54] He felt this was inevitable, because of the extreme secrecy before launch which did not allow reviewers time to read and consider the book, but meant that many early reviews lacked depth. Rather than finding the writing style disappointing, he felt it had matured and improved. He acknowledged that the subject matter of the books had become more adult, and that Rowling had clearly been writing with the adult audience firmly in mind since the middle of the series. He compared the works in this respect to Huckleberry Finn and Alice in Wonderland which achieved success and have become established classics, in part by appealing to the adult audience as well as children.

In the 12 August 2007 New York Times, Christopher Hitchens compared the series to World War Two-era English boarding school stories, and while he wrote that "Rowling has won imperishable renown" for the series as a whole, he also opined that her "repeated tactic of deus ex machina has a deplorable effect on both the plot and the dialogue", that the mid-book camping chapters are "abysmally long" and that Voldemort "becomes more tiresome than an Ian Fleming villain."[55]

Speed-reading world champion Anne Jones read the book's 199,900 words in 47 minutes and 1 second. She said, "Without being too critical, the plot does seem to be a bit complicated, but I would not change a word. Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows is a real page-turner."[56]

Time magazine's Lev Grossman named it one of the Top 10 Fiction Books of 2007, ranking it at #8, and praising Rowling for proving that books can still be a global mass medium. Opining that the book is "dense with Rowling's ruling themes: love and death", Grossman compared the novel to the earlier books in the series thus: "This isn't the most elegant of the Potter volumes, but it feels like an ending, the final iteration of Rowling's abiding thematic concern: the overwhelming importance of continuing to love in the face of death."[57][58]

Translations
Main article: Harry Potter in translation

Because of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows' worldwide fame, it has been translated into many languages. The first translation to be released was the Ukrainian translation, on 25 September 2007 (as Гаррі Поттер і смертельні реліквії).[3] The Swedish title of the book was revealed by Rowling as Harry Potter and the Relics of Death, following a pre-release question from the Swedish publisher about the difficulty of translating the two words "Deathly Hallows" without having read the book.[4] The first Polish translation was released on 26 January 2008[5] with a new title: Harry Potter i Insygnia Śmierci - Harry Potter and the Insignia of Death.[59] The Hindi translation "Harry Potter aur Maut ke Tohfe" (हैरी पॉटर और मौत के तोहफे) translated as "Harry Potter and the Gifts of Death" was released by Manjul Publication in India on 27 June 2008.[6]

Film adaptations

A two-part film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is planned, with David Yates, who directed the preceding two films, directing both parts. Part I is slated for release on 19 November 2010, and Part II in May 2011.[60][61] The script was delayed as Steve Kloves was not able to start working on it until the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike had ended.[62] Filming begins in February 2009 and will last for a year.[63] Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson will reprise their roles as Harry, Ron and Hermione,[64] respectively, while Helena Bonham Carter, Brendan Gleeson, Timothy Spall, David Thewlis, Helen McCrory, Robbie Coltrane, Jason Isaacs, Miriam Margolyes, and Julie Walters have confirmed they will reprise their roles as Bellatrix Lestrange, Mad-Eye Moody, Peter Pettigrew, Remus Lupin, Narcissa Malfoy, Rubeus Hagrid, Lucius Malfoy, Pomona Sprout, and Molly Weasley, respectively.[65][66][67][68][69][70][71][72]

John Williams, who composed the scores to the first three films, has expressed interest in returning to score the films.