Hey everyone,
Welcome to another installment of Harry Potter Theory. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday,
and I just wanted to let you all know that I’ve got tons and tons of videos planned
for 2021. For today’s video, I’m going to be discussing the Order of the Phoenix
and the hunt for Horcruxes.
The Order of the Phoenix is of course a secret society that was originally founded by Dumbledore
in the year 1970. The purpose of the organization was to oppose Lord Voldemort and his followers-
and it was this same organization that valiantly fought against Voldemort and his followers
for 11 years before Voldemort’s FIRST defeat. After the first war the Order disbanded, however,
when Voldemort returned in 1995 they picked up where they left off. The organization is
filled with a multitude of powerful witches and wizards- each boasting their own unique
magical abilities- but one thing that could potentially appear strange is: why didn’t
they help Harry locate Horcruxes? Surely an organization full of powerful Aurors and professors
could have helped Harry, Ron and Hermione- couldn’t they?
A horcrux is an object in which a dark witch or wizard has imbued part of their soul. The
ultimate purpose of creating a horcrux is to achieve immortality. However, the truly
sinister component of creating a horcrux is that in order to produce one, you must MURDER
someone. Voldemort began creating his horcruxes in the year 1943- starting with the diary
of Tom Riddle which was produced as a result of the murder of Moaning Myrtle. After that-
he went on to make many more- and the tricky part about Horcruxes is that they can almost
be anything- making them exceptionally hard to locate. As long as the Horcruxes existed-
Voldemort would continue to stay alive- which meant that locating and destroying them was
essential.
So..again - If destroying Voldemort’s horcruxes was the ONLY way to defeat him- why on earth
was the task left to 3 students? Why didn’t they use the manpower of the Order? The answer
to this is actually pretty simple- the reason that the Order didn’t help is that they
simply didn’t know about Horcruxes. When Dumbledore told Harry about the existence
of Horcruxes originally-it was between him and Harry only. Dumbledore also instructed
Harry not to tell anyone else (with the exception of Ron and Hermione) and never told anyone
else himself. But there’s also a little bit more to it than that.
The following conversation between Harry and McGonagall at the end of the Half-Blood prince
reinforces this:
After glancing once at this portrait, Professor McGonagall made an odd movement as though
steeling herself, then rounded the desk to look at Harry, her face taut and lined.
“Harry,” she said, “I would like to know what you and Professor Dumbledore were
doing this evening when you left the school.”
“I can’t tell you that, Professor,” said Harry. He had expected the question and
had his answer ready. It had been here, in this very room, that Dumbledore had told him
that he was to confide the contents of their lessons to nobody but Ron and Hermione.
“Harry, it might be important,” said Professor McGonagall.
“It is,” said Harry, “very, but he didn’t want me to tell anyone.”
Professor McGonagall glared at him. “Potter” — Harry registered the renewed use of his
surname — “in the light of Professor Dumbledore’s death, I think you must see that the situation
has changed somewhat —
“I don’t think so,” said Harry, shrugging. “Professor Dumbledore never told me to stop
following his orders if he died.”
So, what’s the deal? Why didn’t Dumbledore want anyone else to know about the Horcruxes?
Why did he tell Harry alone, and leave everyone else in the dark? Surely he should have seen
value in the Order knowing - shouldn’t he? Here’s the thing- Dumbledore felt that every
extra person who knew about Horcruxes was a possible weakness. If word spread about
Horcruxes somehow- and Voldemort himself found out- then he would have likely put additional
preventative measures in place to protect them- ensuring his immortality. Not only that,
but Dumbledore didn’t want to put additional lives in danger- although Harry didn’t find
that part out until the end. Dumbledore always knew that Harry would need to die in order
for Voldemort to be defeated- so he figured that it was safe for Harry to go after Horcruxes
because he was always destined to die anyway.
“Dumbledore’s betrayal was almost nothing. Of course there had been a bigger plan; Harry
had simply been too foolish to see it, he realized that now. He had never questioned
his own assumption that Dumbledore wanted him alive. Now he saw that his life span had
always been determined by how long it took to eliminate all the Horcruxes. Dumbledore
had passed the job of destroying them to him, and obediently he had continued to chip away
at the bonds tying not only Voldemort, but himself, to life! How neat, how elegant, not
to waste any more lives, but to give the dangerous task to the boy who had already been marked
for slaughter, and whose death would not be a calamity, but another blow against Voldemort.”
The only reason that Dumbledore allowed Harry to tell Ron and Hermione was that he figured
that Harry would probably tell them anyway. Harry also asked.
He turned to go, then another question occurred to him, and he turned back again. “Sir,
am I allowed to tell Ron and Hermione everything you’ve told me?”
Dumbledore considered him for a moment, then said, “Yes, I think Mr. Weasley and Miss
Granger have proved themselves trustworthy. But Harry, I am going to ask you to ask them
not to repeat any of this to anybody else. It would not be a good idea if word got around
how much I know, or suspect, about Lord Voldemort’s secrets.”
“No, sir, I’ll make sure it’s just Ron and Hermione. Good night.”
Harry followed Dumbledore’s orders to a tee- and even when he was questioned by Lupin
at Grimmauld place - Harry never revealed what his mission was- he only acknowledged
that he HAD a mission. Lupin and the Order were naturally curious about what Harry was
up to- and wanted to help, but Harry wouldn’t give it up:
Lupin hesitated.
“I’ll understand if you can’t confirm this, Harry, but the Order is under the impression
that Dumbledore left you a mission.”
“He did,” Harry replied, “and Ron and Hermione are in on it and they’re coming
with me.”
“Can you confide in me what the mission is?”
Harry looked into the prematurely lined face, framed in thick but graying hair, and wished
that he could return a different answer.
“I can’t, Remus, I’m sorry. If Dumbledore didn’t tell you I don’t think I can.”
“I thought you’d say that,” said Lupin, looking disappointed. “But I might still
be of some use to you. You know what I am and what I can do. I could come with you to
provide protection. There would be no need to tell me exactly what you were up to.”
Harry hesitated. It was a very tempting offer, though how they would be able to keep their
mission secret from Lupin if he were there with them all the time he could not imagine.
The reason for Harry’s hesitation of accepting Lupin’s offer was that he felt that there
would be no way that he could complete his mission in their presence without them finding
out in some capacity. In order for Harry to successfully pursue his mission- no one could
know, and he simply couldn’t take that risk- no matter how much he would have liked their
help and company.
In the end, the only person that Harry sort of told about Horcruxes was Neville, and that
was right towards the end of the second wizarding war. On his way to Voldemort, Harry, realizing
that he would die, felt that there should always be three living people that knew about
the Horcruxes. When he bumped in to Neville just before seeing Voldemort, he instructed
Neville to kill Voldemort’s snake Nagini- explaining that Nagini needed to die in order
for Voldemort to die.
Harry!” Neville looked suddenly scared. “Harry, you’re not thinking of handing
yourself over?”
“No,” Harry lied easily. “ ’Course not ... this is something else. But I might
be out of sight for a while. You know Voldemort’s snake, Neville? He’s got a huge snake. ... Calls
it Nagini ...”
“I’ve heard, yeah. ... What about it?”
“It’s got to be killed. Ron and Hermione know that, but just in case they — ”
The awfulness of that possibility smothered him for a moment, made it impossible to keep
talking. But he pulled himself together again: This was crucial, he must be like Dumbledore,
keep a cool head, make sure there were backups, others to carry on. Dumbledore had died knowing
that three people still knew about the Horcruxes; now Neville would take Harry’s place: There
would still be three in the secret.
“Just in case they’re — busy — and you get the chance — ”
“Kill the snake?”
“Kill the snake,” Harry repeated.
So- I hope that answers the question. If you enjoyed the video please hit the like button
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Remember
It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live