For millions of people around the globe, the Harry Potter book and film series were the
closest they'd ever come to experiencing actual magic. The journey of the young wizard, from
an orphan who lived under the stairs at his cruel aunt's home into the legendary hero
who defeated the world's darkest villain, was nothing short of epic.
The final installment of the story was as complex as it needed to be to wrap up seven
chapters' worth of sorcerer storytelling. So, to make sure you caught everything important
at the end, let's shed a little lumos light on what happened in the conclusion to the
Harry Potter saga.
"Wicked!"
Snape's true side comes through
In the beginning of the final film, dementors loomed over Hogwarts. Professor Snape observed
from on high how much devastation the Dark Lord's looming presence had caused his school.
But he had to carry on because it was all part of the plan no one else knew about.
See, Snape might've seemed like a terrible person throughout the whole series, but his
true loyalties became clear in his final moments. He was ultimately expelled from school and
killed by Voldemort's snake, just so the Dark Lord could take true ownership of the Elder
Wand.
Some friend Voldy was.
Harry overheard everything and tried to rush in and help Snape as soon as You Know Who
was gone, but it was too late. Instead, Snape used his last moments to give his least favorite
student a teardrop full of memories.
In them, Harry discovered the gut-wrenching backstory of Snape's unrequited love for Harry's
mother Lily.
"After all this time?"
"Always."
As it turned out, he'd been crazy about her since childhood and was also looking after
Harry the whole time by feigning allegiance to the Dark Lord. The only reason he murdered
Dumbledore was because the headmaster was already dying and didn't want Draco Malfoy
to be forced to do the deed.
Snape's open contempt for Harry at Hogwarts was still pretty real, since he looked so
much like his dad James, but he was trying to protect Harry all the while so he could
fulfill his destiny to defeat the Dark Lord.
It probably didn't hurt Snape's feelings too much that Harry Potter was always meant to
die in his big battle with Voldemort, though. Speaking of which…
No Resurrection Stone required
There's a reason Dumbledore had his eye on Harry Potter from day one and helped fan the
flames on Harry's "chosen one" persona in the wizarding community. He was one of the
few people who knew that Harry was predestined to die in a battle against Voldemort.
"You have the grim."
Harry finally realized the truth about his fate once he saw Snape's memories and found
he out he himself was the final horcrux.
"A part of Voldemort lives inside him."
After Helga Hufflepuff's cup was destroyed, and the Diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw was done
for, Harry left Hermione and Ron to deal with the snake while he set off on what he knew
was a suicide mission to face Voldemort in the Forbidden Forest.
"So when the time comes the boy must die?"
"Yes."
He didn't exactly know what would happen after that, of course, but he trusted the late headmaster
enough to follow his lead, even to his own death if necessary.
"The Boy Who Lived, come to die."
Upon going gently into that good night, Harry awakened in what appeared to be a milky white
vision of King's Cross Station, where he'd hopped onto Platform 9¾ so many times before.
Dumbledore awaited him with news that he'd successfully killed off the part of Voldemort
that remained inside of him in the process of dying. So, Harry had a choice to board
a train back to the realm of the living or to just move on … to where, he didn't say.
Harry, knowing his battle wasn't done, opted for the former. He left behind the scaly,
tiny version of Voldemort that had infected his mind for so long, and used his perceived
death to gain an advantage. Hagrid carried him back to the school just as an unknowing
Voldemort started bragging about his conquest to garner new recruits — and got an unexpected
surprise.
The Elder Wand was his all along
No matter how many horcruxes Harry and his friends successfully destroyed, Voldemort
was still a more powerful wizard than all of them. So, when Harry arose from the dead
to pick a final fight with the Dark Lord, he was very quickly overtaken by You-Know-Who.
But Voldemort still couldn't kill him with the wand again, even after he'd taken ownership
from Snape. Why? Well, it turned out that Snape wasn't the one who'd gained control
of the Elder Wand in the first place, so it didn't actually pass to Voldemort upon Snape's
execution.
While Snape had indeed killed Dumbledore and taken possession of the wand in Half-Blood
Prince, it was Draco who'd originally disarmed Dumbledore, and thus received the allegiance
of the Elder Wand. Then, when Harry disarmed him in their subsequent duel, it was Harry
who'd laid claim to the Elder Wand.
So, while the Elder Wand was successfully used to strike its master down in the forest
— when Harry had surrendered himself to the Dark Lord — he still wasn't disarmed
of the wand in that battle. It remained loyal to Harry, instead of Voldemort. And it wasn't
the only magical instrument that came into play to take ol' Snakeface down.
A key weapon presented itself
The Sword of Gryffindor had been an instrumental tool in destroying horcruxes throughout Harry
Potter lore. Dumbledore used it to destroy the Gaunt family ring. Harry retrieved it
from the frozen lake, and Ron used it to destroy the locket that was causing his buddy so much
mental anguish. Despite knowing its powers, Harry offered the sword to Griphook in exchange
for his help to get them into Bellatrix Lestrange's vault at Gringotts.
Griphook returned to villainy soon after, though, and left Harry and his friends in
the lurch by abandoning them in the vault caverns with no promise to get them out. Hermione,
always with a clever idea up her sleeve, led the trio to ride a dungeon-bound dragon out
of the bank, with Griphook perishing in the fiery skirmish that ensued.
"That's unfortunate."
The sword then disappeared from his grip, to present itself to a more worthy pair of
hands.
"That was brilliant. Absolutely brilliant."
Later on, when Hermione and Ron were back at Hogwarts trying to lure Nagini away, the
Sword presented itself to Neville Longbottom so he could slice the snake's head off and
deal Voldemort one last crucial blow as he fought his ultimate battle with Harry.
Unlike other similar weapons in the Harry Potter-verse, the Sword knew no master, and
simply chose whoever was worthiest at the time. And few were more worthy than Neville.
"People die every day!"
"He didn't die in vain. But you will."
After that, the Elder Wand returned to Harry and left Voldemort falling to pieces. Literally.
The Deathly Hallows come together at last
There was an interesting Easter egg contained in Harry's first shot of the last film. As
he mourned Dobby's beachfront grave, he looked in a triangular fragment of a mirror the elf
had possessed. Thanks to the circular nature of his glasses, it created the symbol of the
Deathly Hallows in the reflection as a wink to how all three elements would eventually
be his.
As explained in The Tale of the Three Brothers in the second-to-last movie, the Deathly Hallows
consisted of the Elder Wand, the Cloak of Invisibility, and the Resurrection Stone.
When combined, they gave a wizard untold power, the ability to disappear from Death's purview,
and a means to bring back lost souls. Voldemort got his hands on one — the Elder Wand — while
Harry had been casually given the cloak in his earliest days at Hogwarts, not knowing
its strength. He eventually recovered the Stone, too, after kissing his Snitch goodbye
with the intention of sacrificing himself.
Unlike Voldemort, however, Harry didn't aim to use these items for world domination once
he came into possession of all three. Instead, he snapped the Elder Wand in half and dropped
the Resurrection Stone in the Forbidden Forest to be trampled into the dirt by a centaur.
He did keep the cloak for himself because, it had once belonged to his late father — and
who'd give up an invisibility cloak? He'd later pass the Cloak down to his own son,
James Sirius Potter — and James' younger brother, Albus Severus, who would later swipe
it in the events of The Cursed Child.
Speaking of which …
The next generation
In the 19-years-ahead epilogue to Deathly Hallows, we met Harry Potter's trio of children
with Ginny Weasley. Particular attention was paid to Albus Severus Potter, his second son,
as he prepared to board the Hogwarts Express for his start at the school. The boy was contending
with the possibility that he might not make it into Gryffindor, and Harry consoled him
as best he could.
"Let's just say that I am."
"Then Slytherin house will have gained a wonderful young wizard."
Little did we know at the time of this movie's release release, but this was ushering in
a new generation of wizarding journeys, which plays out on the stage in Rowling's Harry
Potter and the Cursed Child.
Was it all in his head?
There's a popular fan theory that everything that happened to Harry Potter outside of Privet
Drive was a mental making of his young, abused mind, and Deathly Hallows did little to dispel
that theory.
In fact, the movies seemed to give a wink to that possibility by having Harry ask his
late Professor if his crazy adventure was all just happening in his head.
"Of course it's happening inside your head Harry. Why should that mean that it's not
real?"
So, was the entirety of the Harry Potter universe fiction coming from the imagination of a desperate
boy who lived under the stairs and who wished for something more?
"Actually if I think about it, it doesn't seem curious at all."
Thanks for watching! Click the Looper icon to subscribe to our YouTube channel. Plus
check out all this cool stuff we know you'll love, too!