Why JKR Killed Sirius, the Veil, and the Deathly Hallows
So I've been listening to MuggleCast lately and re-reading Order of the Phoenix, and something about the scene where Sirius slips beyond the Veil and something someone had said just clicked into place. I did a bit more research and I present a theory for you guys to pick apart and tell me I'm wrong. This is bound to be pretty long and it might not make sense, but I can almost promise it's all relevant and will all make sense and tie together in a nice (but possibly disfigured) little package in the end. I hope.:)
Allow me to draw your attention to the conversation Harry and Luna have on page 863 of the American edition:
"...and anyway, it's not like I'll never see mum again, is it."
"Er-isn't it?" said Harry uncertainly.
She shook her head in disbelief. "Oh, come on. You heard them, just behind the veil, didn't you?"
"You mean..."
"In that room with the archway. They were just lurking out of sight, that's all. You heard them."
They looked at each other. Luna was smiling slightly. Harry did not know what to say, or think. Luna believed so many extraordinary things...yet he had been sure he had heard voices behind the veil too...
Let's talk about the Veil first, shall we? I touched on this in a theory I had a while ago after Order of the Phoenix came out, but in Celtic mythology, there is something called the Veil Between the Worlds. The Celts (and other cultures as well) believed when a soul died, they slipped beyond this Veil to a sort of parallel universe, and came to the realm of the living when their loved ones were in an hour of great need. I've read countless stories from people who have lost those closest to them, and when most in need, their presence was felt. If you haven't heard such a story, let me tell you one: lost my grandfather three years ago this August to lung cancer and while we weren't terribly close, I do think of him and I do miss him. One day a few months ago, my sweet boyfriend was playing a Sinatra song that reminded me of my grandfather...and I just started crying. It all just hit me at once-how I couldn't believe it had been two years since I'd heard his voice, how I'd never hear it again, everything I wanted to tell him, and how much I missed him. A few nights later, I was laying awake in bed, listening to my sweet boy sleeping, and thinking about my grandfather. You know that feeling you get when someone is standing over your shoulder, but you can't see them? I felt like that, on that night. The air tensed a bit, my heart raced, and I just knew he was there with me. We talked silently for a moment, and when I was alright, he was gone, my heart was still, and I went to sleep. If you've never been visited by someone who has passed on...that's exactly how it feels like.
All that being said, even though Sirius has slipped to the other side of the Veil, his spirit is still lingering around somewhere. Dumbledore said "The dead we love never truly need us." Billy Joel wrote, "Someday we'll all be gone/but lullabies go on and on/they never die/that's how you and I will be." Same difference. The spirits of those we've loved live on, waiting to come to us in our hour of greatest need. Even though Lupin told Harry Sirius was a brave and clever man, Hagrid told him Sirius had died the way he wanted to (in battle), and Nearly Headless Nick said Sirius would have gone on because he wasn't afraid of death, I firmly believe his spirit is lingering somewhere out there, waiting to help Harry in his hour of greatest need-when he has to destroy the last horcrux and kill Voldemort.
We'll get back to the Celts, the Veil, and Sirius in a moment. Let's talk about these Deathly Hallows for a minute.
Some people have theorized that the Deathly Hallows will be an actual object or place within the world. This is a fair assumption, considering the titles of all the other books- the Sorcerer's Stone (an object), the Chamber of Secrets (okay, fair enough, it was a place), the Prisoner of Azkaban (a person), the Goblet of Fire (another object), the Order of the Phoenix (a lot of people), the Half-Blood Prince (another person).
I think it could mean something else all together, and will be an allusion to a major event in the book. In every book, something strange and hugely important always and without fail happens on Halloween. It is, after all, JKR's favorite holiday. In some parts of the world, Halloween is also called "All HALLOWS Eve". Remember I was talking about the Celts? They believed the Veil Between the Worlds thinned on a certain day of the year, making it the easiest day of the year to communicate with the dead. Take a wild guess when they believed this occurred. If you said Halloween, you'd be correct.
I'm starting to get the idea that Harry will have to meet and defeat Voldemort several times and in several forms throughout the book (as he goes about finding and destroying all the horcruxes, similar to what happened in Chamber of Secrets with Riddle and the diary) before they get to the final battle. With all that I've said thus far, I'm really starting to think sometime around Halloween, Harry will face Voldemort for the first time in the book and Sirius will be there with Harry (in some form or another) to help him complete the task he has before him.
JK has been telling us since Order of the Phoenix came out that there is a very good reason why she had to kill off Sirius, and we'll finally get to find out why in July. I can't hardly wait. It ruddy well better be explained, else she'll have throngs of angry fans at her doorstep demanding answers-though I suspect she will anyways, even after the series is completed.
Someone said on the cover of the US edition of Deathly Hallows, it looked like a place in the Department of Mysteries where the Veil is kept. You can even see a bit of it on the cover. I believe their first meeting between Harry and Voldemort happen in the Department of Mysteries. On Halloween. On the night of the year when the Veil is the thinnest, when Harry will need Sirius the most, and he'll be able to help. JKR has said she killed him off for a reason, though she hated to do it, there was a very good reason. Even if his friends are with him, he'll find himself alone facing Voldemort and when he needs him most, Sirius' spirit will, in some fashion, give him a hand. I imagine somewhat the way his parents helped out in Goblet of Fire, lingering a bit to distract him while Harry got away.
Deathly Hallows might be more straightforward than we think it is-we'll see a major battle on Halloween, and there will be many deaths, perhaps that of a major character.
A quick word about Dumbledore. I think we'll see quite a bit of him, as we delve more into the past. I think he'll come to Harry's aid in ways we (and Harry) can only imagine right now. To my knowledge, we never got an explanation of what happens to a person's Pensieve when they die.
You can go to this site to get a better idea of the Veil, if you'd like.:)
It's late (early?) and I am quite possibly delusional, so feel free to tell me so.
Allow me to draw your attention to the conversation Harry and Luna have on page 863 of the American edition:
"...and anyway, it's not like I'll never see mum again, is it."
"Er-isn't it?" said Harry uncertainly.
She shook her head in disbelief. "Oh, come on. You heard them, just behind the veil, didn't you?"
"You mean..."
"In that room with the archway. They were just lurking out of sight, that's all. You heard them."
They looked at each other. Luna was smiling slightly. Harry did not know what to say, or think. Luna believed so many extraordinary things...yet he had been sure he had heard voices behind the veil too...
Let's talk about the Veil first, shall we? I touched on this in a theory I had a while ago after Order of the Phoenix came out, but in Celtic mythology, there is something called the Veil Between the Worlds. The Celts (and other cultures as well) believed when a soul died, they slipped beyond this Veil to a sort of parallel universe, and came to the realm of the living when their loved ones were in an hour of great need. I've read countless stories from people who have lost those closest to them, and when most in need, their presence was felt. If you haven't heard such a story, let me tell you one: lost my grandfather three years ago this August to lung cancer and while we weren't terribly close, I do think of him and I do miss him. One day a few months ago, my sweet boyfriend was playing a Sinatra song that reminded me of my grandfather...and I just started crying. It all just hit me at once-how I couldn't believe it had been two years since I'd heard his voice, how I'd never hear it again, everything I wanted to tell him, and how much I missed him. A few nights later, I was laying awake in bed, listening to my sweet boy sleeping, and thinking about my grandfather. You know that feeling you get when someone is standing over your shoulder, but you can't see them? I felt like that, on that night. The air tensed a bit, my heart raced, and I just knew he was there with me. We talked silently for a moment, and when I was alright, he was gone, my heart was still, and I went to sleep. If you've never been visited by someone who has passed on...that's exactly how it feels like.
All that being said, even though Sirius has slipped to the other side of the Veil, his spirit is still lingering around somewhere. Dumbledore said "The dead we love never truly need us." Billy Joel wrote, "Someday we'll all be gone/but lullabies go on and on/they never die/that's how you and I will be." Same difference. The spirits of those we've loved live on, waiting to come to us in our hour of greatest need. Even though Lupin told Harry Sirius was a brave and clever man, Hagrid told him Sirius had died the way he wanted to (in battle), and Nearly Headless Nick said Sirius would have gone on because he wasn't afraid of death, I firmly believe his spirit is lingering somewhere out there, waiting to help Harry in his hour of greatest need-when he has to destroy the last horcrux and kill Voldemort.
We'll get back to the Celts, the Veil, and Sirius in a moment. Let's talk about these Deathly Hallows for a minute.
Some people have theorized that the Deathly Hallows will be an actual object or place within the world. This is a fair assumption, considering the titles of all the other books- the Sorcerer's Stone (an object), the Chamber of Secrets (okay, fair enough, it was a place), the Prisoner of Azkaban (a person), the Goblet of Fire (another object), the Order of the Phoenix (a lot of people), the Half-Blood Prince (another person).
I think it could mean something else all together, and will be an allusion to a major event in the book. In every book, something strange and hugely important always and without fail happens on Halloween. It is, after all, JKR's favorite holiday. In some parts of the world, Halloween is also called "All HALLOWS Eve". Remember I was talking about the Celts? They believed the Veil Between the Worlds thinned on a certain day of the year, making it the easiest day of the year to communicate with the dead. Take a wild guess when they believed this occurred. If you said Halloween, you'd be correct.
I'm starting to get the idea that Harry will have to meet and defeat Voldemort several times and in several forms throughout the book (as he goes about finding and destroying all the horcruxes, similar to what happened in Chamber of Secrets with Riddle and the diary) before they get to the final battle. With all that I've said thus far, I'm really starting to think sometime around Halloween, Harry will face Voldemort for the first time in the book and Sirius will be there with Harry (in some form or another) to help him complete the task he has before him.
JK has been telling us since Order of the Phoenix came out that there is a very good reason why she had to kill off Sirius, and we'll finally get to find out why in July. I can't hardly wait. It ruddy well better be explained, else she'll have throngs of angry fans at her doorstep demanding answers-though I suspect she will anyways, even after the series is completed.
Someone said on the cover of the US edition of Deathly Hallows, it looked like a place in the Department of Mysteries where the Veil is kept. You can even see a bit of it on the cover. I believe their first meeting between Harry and Voldemort happen in the Department of Mysteries. On Halloween. On the night of the year when the Veil is the thinnest, when Harry will need Sirius the most, and he'll be able to help. JKR has said she killed him off for a reason, though she hated to do it, there was a very good reason. Even if his friends are with him, he'll find himself alone facing Voldemort and when he needs him most, Sirius' spirit will, in some fashion, give him a hand. I imagine somewhat the way his parents helped out in Goblet of Fire, lingering a bit to distract him while Harry got away.
Deathly Hallows might be more straightforward than we think it is-we'll see a major battle on Halloween, and there will be many deaths, perhaps that of a major character.
A quick word about Dumbledore. I think we'll see quite a bit of him, as we delve more into the past. I think he'll come to Harry's aid in ways we (and Harry) can only imagine right now. To my knowledge, we never got an explanation of what happens to a person's Pensieve when they die.
You can go to this site to get a better idea of the Veil, if you'd like.:)
It's late (early?) and I am quite possibly delusional, so feel free to tell me so.