Hey everyone,
Welcome to another installment of Harry Potter Theory. In today’s video, we’re going
to be discussing the events of the night of October 31st 1981 - the attack on Godric’s
Hollow. It was the night that Lord Voldemort-in an an effort to stop the fabled prophecy from
coming true- travelled to the humble home of the Potters with one goal in mind: kill
the boy.
It all started in the year 1980 when Sybill Trelawney, at a job interview for a position
at Hogwarts, had a vision of the Prophecy in Hogsmeade pub:
“The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches ... born to those who
have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies ... and the Dark Lord will mark
him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not ... and either must die
at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives ... the one with
the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies…”
Snape, who served Voldemort at the time, overheard the whole thing and informed him of what he
had heard. From there, it was just a matter of determining WHO this boy was. Through the
process of elimination - it came down to two boys: Harry Potter or Neville Longbottom.
However, Voldemort ended up choosing the Potters. In an effort to protect their boy from Voldemort,
the Potters went in to hiding, and extreme security measures were put in to place. Not
only were they protected by the Fidelius charm- but they also had the Order of the Phoenix
backing them. The Fidelius charm is an incredibly powerful
piece of magic that conceals a secret inside of a chosen secret keeper’s soul, and in
this instance the secret was the Potters location. The only hole in their plan was the man that
they had chosen as secret keeper - Peter Pettigrew. A sniveling excuse for man, Pettigrew changed
sides and gave up the location of the Potters to Voldemort- leaving them wide open to his
attack.
When the time came for Voldemort to strike he approached the Potters humble home in the
night- and what started off as just another unassuming October day, eventually became
a day that would change the course of history. Though Voldemort was a murderous man- he did
not go to the Potters home to kill Harry’s parents- he only wanted to kill Harry- the
boy that threatened his regime. Though they did sometimes meddle in his affairs, James
and Lily Potter were not a threat to Voldemort- they were however in the way-serving as obstacles
that prevented him from killing Harry.
When he entered their home James Potter was the first to get in his way- the first line
of defence protecting Lily & Harry. However- James had one very big problem: He didn’t
have his wand on him. The Potters were caught completely off guard because they never suspected
that their location would be revealed - and that they would be betrayed by their secret
keeper. Because he didn’t have his wand, he was no match for Voldemort- though I suspect
that even with it Voldemort would have made quick work of him. James was a talented wizard-
but not even close to the level of the dark lord. From there Voldemort began making his
way toward Lily and baby Harry- still dead set on his goal of killing the boy.
[Voldemort] was over the threshold as James came sprinting down the hall. It was easy,
too easy, he had not even picked up his wand ...
"Lily, take Harry and go! It's him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off -"
Hold him off, without a wand in his hand! ... He laughed before casting the curse ...
"Avada Kedavra!"
Though Voldemort did not give James the same luxury, when he approached Lily he gave her
an opportunity- a chance to step aside- a way to live. He explained that if she simply
stepped away and let him have Harry, that he would spare her life. This was at the request
of Severus Snape who loved LIly and likely deeply regretted relaying the prophecy to
Voldemort. Unsurprisingly, however, Lily did not allow Voldemort to have her son- and refused-
this lead to Voldemort murdering her with the killing curse.
With both parents out of the way it was time for baby Harry- the boy who threatened his
power- to go. Wasting no time, Voldemort fired a killing curse at Harry- but what happened
next changed the course of wizarding history. Rather than Harry dying, the killing curse
rebounded back at Voldemort, destroying him..For a time. However, tragically, this date not
only marked the destruction of Voldemort, but the destruction of the Potter family as
well.
Without drilling down in to it too much, baby Harry was protected from Voldemort because
of Lily’s loving sacrifice- her sacrificial protection. In Harry Potter- it’s commonly
expressed that love trumps all other manners of powerful magic- and in this instance that
power was truly showcased in its totality- stopping the dark lord in his tracks.
"Your mother died to save you. If there is one thing Voldemort cannot understand, it
is love. He didn't realise that love as powerful as your mother's for you leaves its own mark.
Not a scar, no visible sign... to have been loved so deeply, even though the person who
loved us is gone, will give us some protection forever."
However, I’ve always wondered one thing- why didn’t James’s loving sacrifice protect
LILY? We can clearly see him sacrificing himself:
"Lily, take Harry and go! It's him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off -"
And he clearly loved Lily / Harry with all of his heart- so why didn’t this same powerful
love help to protect the rest of his family? He knew he was going to die- and he made the
ultimate sacrifice to protect them- where was the ‘sacrificial protection’? It turns
out that Rowling has actually been asked this very question in an interview:
INT: This is one of my burning questions since the third book - why did Voldemort offer Lily
so many chances to live? Would he actually have let her live?
JKR: Mhm.
INT: Why?
JKR: Can't tell you. But he did offer; you're absolutely right. Don't you want to ask me
why James's death didn't protect Lily and Harry? There's your answer - you've just answered
your own question - because she could have lived - and chose to die. James was going
to be killed anyway. Do you see what I mean? I'm not saying James wasn't ready to; he died
trying to protect his family, but he was going to be murdered anyway. He had no - he wasn't
given a choice, so he rushed into it in a kind of animal way. I think there are distinctions
in courage. James was immensely brave. But the caliber of Lily's bravery was, I think
in this instance, higher because she could have saved herself. Now any mother, any normal
mother would have done what Lily did. So in that sense, her courage too was of an animal
quality but she was given time to choose. James wasn't. It's like an intruder entering
your house, isn't it? You would instinctively rush them. But if in cold blood you were told,
"Get out of the way," you know, what would you do? I mean, I don't think any mother would
stand aside from their child. But does that answer it? She did very consciously lay down
her life. She had a clear choice.
INT: And James didn't.
JKR: Did he clearly die to try and protect Harry specifically given a clear choice? No.
It's a subtle distinction and there's slightly more to it than that but that's most of the
answer.
In essence, Rowling explains that the difference between James' death and Lily's is that Voldemort
always intended to kill James- and James was always meant to die. Voldemort never had any
intention of letting James live- but he WAS willing to let Lily live. He gave her multiple
chances to step aside and save herself- but she still wasn’t willing to let him have
Harry. The fact that she could have saved herself, but didn’t, showcases her EXTREME
love for Harry. Since James was always destined to die, it would have been impossible for
him to showcase this same level of sacrifice- even if he loved Harry and Lily just as much
as Lily loved Harry.
And that’s it for this video! Did you guys ever wonder this? Let me know in the comment
section below
Until next time
Remember
To the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure.