Hey everyone,
Welcome to another installment of Harry Potter Theory,
in today’s video we’re going to be discussing Harry Potter, the Prisoner of Azkaban, Dementors,
and Tom Riddle. More specifically- we’re going to be discussing a recurring event
in the Prisoner of Azkaban- Harry’s encounters with Dementors- and the shocking truth behind
what Harry hears during these attacks. I’m also going to be discussing a theory for
WHY Dementors seem to be so drawn to Harry.Are his numerous run-ins with dementors the result of
sheer dumb misfortune? Or were they drawn to him for another, more sinister reason?
Dementors are of course the prison-guards of Azkaban,
giant dark-cloaked creatures 3 metres tall with dark grey scabby skin. And if they don’t
sound awful enough already- it turns out they’re also representative of depression.
“Dementors are among the foulest creatures that walk this earth. They infest the darkest,
filthiest places, they glory in decay and despair, they drain peace, hope, and happiness
out of the air around them. Even Muggles feel their presence, though they can’t see them.
Get too near a Dementor and every good feeling, every happy memory will be sucked out of you.
If it can, the Dementor will feed on you long enough to reduce you to something like
itself — soul-less and evil. You’ll be left with nothing but the worst experiences of your life.”
One of the recurring moments throughout the third book/movie is the appearance of Dementors
and the particularly chilling effect that they have on Harry Potter himself. Every time Harry
is confronted with a Dementor, he hears the screams of his mother as she is murdered by
Lord Voldemort. This first occurs right near the beginning of the Prisoner of Azkaban.
“An intense cold swept over them all. Harry felt his own breath catch in his chest. The
cold went deeper than his skin. It was inside his chest, it was inside his very heart. . . .
Harry’s eyes rolled up into his head. He couldn’t see. He was drowning in cold.
There was a rushing in his ears as though of water. He was being dragged downward,
the roaring growing louder… And then, from far away, he heard screaming, terrible,
terrified, pleading screams. He wanted to help whoever it was, he tried to move his arms,
but couldn’t . . . a thick white fog was swirling around him, inside him.”
Harry recalls one of his attacks:
"When they get near me — I can hear Voldemort murdering my mum."
Now, let me start off by saying that it’s pretty much the general consensus that the scream Harry
hears while on the train back to Hogwarts in The Prisoner of Azkaban belongs to his mother, Lily.
Why is she screaming? Well- she’s screaming because Voldemort is in her family’s home-
and she is pleading with him to spare Harry’s life- to take her instead.
The reason for this assumption is because when one encounters a dementor they are forced to
relive how they felt during the worst memory of their lives. Logically, in Harry’s case,
this would be the murder of his mother (which he was conscious for, albeit a baby).
But what I want to do today is challenge this notion and this quote from Harry. Battling a
dementor, fighting for his soul, is certainly no pleasant or ‘easy’ experience to deal with,
which is why I think that Harry may have things upside down.
In the disorientating experience that is a dementor attack, I’m of the impression that
what Harry heard wasn’t actually ‘his’ memory at all- but rather, Voldemorts.
Let me explain.
It all started on the night of the attack on the Potter cottage- Wednesday October 31st. It was
on this day that Voldemort travelled to the town of Godric’s Hollow where the Potter family lived.
It was here that Voldemort, in an attempt to murder Harry, ended up murdering James & Lily.
He had a very specific goal, and that was to kill Harry. After disposing of his parents,
the time finally came for Voldemort to end Harry- letting out one last ‘Avada Kedavra’.
Voldemort had full intention of killing Harry, as without his death,
there was no way of ensuring that the prophecy wouldn’t come true (or so he thought). At last,
he points his wand at harry- unleashing the killing curse upon the small child.
However, the curse was stopped in its tracks. For you see,
a loving sacrifice that Lily had put in place ensured that Harry was protected.
This meant that Voldemort’s killing curse came firing right back at him.
What Voldemort essentially did on this day was turn Harry in to a Horcrux.
You see, when Voldemort tried to kill Harry, the curse rebounded which split voldemort's
soul - but because Voldemort's body was gone, the victim of his own curse, he could no longer
encase the soul fragment to complete the horcrux creation. Part of horcrux creation
involves an encasing spell which actually puts the soul outside of the body in to a physical object.
Because Voldemort’s soul was left without any attachment, it latched itself to Harry.
For this reason, Harry contained Voldemort’s soul fragment, but was never possessed by it.
What this did do, however, was form a close connection between the two of them.
A piece of his soul now existed within Harry- which meant that the pair
shared some thoughts and abilities. Harry’s ability to speak parseltongue, for example,
came from this bond. On a higher level, though, their lives were now tied to one another.
So- what does this mean for Harry’s experience on the train?
Well- it meant that Harry was living out VOLDEMORT’s worst memory, of course. The pair
had a psychic connection, and it’s reinforced again and again throughout the story that,
in a lot of ways, their minds are interconnected on this kind of level.
After the attack on the train Harry is considerably drained-
and it’s emphasized throughout the story that he’s ‘extra’ sensitive
to dementors. So, why would that be? Well- it’s because every time he’s attacked he
gets to live out the worst memories of TWO individuals- his and Voldemorts.
When Harry hears ‘screaming’ on the train - it’s from two perspectives, his own and Voldemorts.
It makes perfect sense that the two would share a
‘worst’ memory as well. Harry’s WORST memory being the murder of his mother,
and Voldemor’ts worst memory being the night that he was bested- unable to kill the ‘boy who lived’.
As if a first-hand experience of your mother dying wasn’t enough,
Harry got to relive it every time he was attacked by Dementors. Not only that,
but he also got to experience all of the anguish and pain associated with Voldemort’s worst
memory- ALL at the same time. In essence, Harry is TWICE as sensitive to dementors.
Okay- so that answers the questions of what Harry really hard, as well as WHY Harry is
so sensitive to the Dementor’s Kiss. However, it doesn’t answer WHY they’re so attracted to him.
Constantly putting himself in harm’s way aside- they seem to always be going after him.
The Dementors’ primary form of attack- the ‘Dementor’s Kiss’- is effectively
a means of sucking out that person’s soul- a fate worse than death. So, if their main
motivation is to suck out more souls- then why should they be particularly drawn to Harry?
Remus Lupin seemed to always express that it was the horrors of Harry’s past that
drew them closer to him- but I don’t agree with that. I’ve got a different theory.
Like I mentioned earlier, when Voldemort travelled to Godric’s Hollow
he inadvertently made Harry a living Horcrux- placing a piece of his own soul inside of him.
This meant that Harry not only carried ONE soul with him, but a piece of someone else’s as well.
Bearing this in my mind theory is this: the Dementors were attracted to the extra soul that
Harry carried with him. Harry went about his life and business with an extra soul strapped to him,
and I think that this made him a target to Dementors- a sort of
2 for the price of 1. To a dementor, Harry was the ultimate treat.
What do you guys think of these theories? Leave a comment down below.
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Until next time
Remember
It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live