- Hey brother.
Guys, have you ever wondered what happened to Voldemort
after he attacks Harry with Avada Kedavra
in the Forbidden Forest?
Harry, of course, goes on to have
this incredible lengthy discussion with Dumbledore
where he reveals all of the mysteries of the books
up till this point,
including Dumbledore's own backstory
which he continues to lie to Harry about, even in death.
Didn't see Grindelwald again
until their famous duel in 1945,
how do you explain this?
It's like on national
global broadcast wizarding television.
Also, it feels like you left out some very important details
while you were counseling Harry
on defeating one of the world's most darkest wizards
considering the fact that you have
a considerable amount of experience
defeating the world's darkest wizards.
(sighs) I digress.
The real point here though
is that ultimately Harry is given this decision
as to whether or not from this place that he's in
he wants to pass on to death
or travel back to the land of the living
where he can actually take one final stab
at defeating Voldemort once and for all.
But after Harry does make the decision
to return back to life,
we discover that Harry wasn't the only one impacted
by Voldemort's spell.
Voldemort himself is also kind of recovering
and standing back up from the impact.
So the big question here is,
what happened to him during this entire sequence of events?
Did he just get knocked unconscious?
Did he have his own version of King's Cross Station,
if you will?
Was he actually the gross baby looking thing
listening in on Dumbledore and Harry's conversation,
or was that the piece of Voldemort's soul
that had been existing inside of Harry this entire time?
And on top of all the rest,
what would've happened if Harry had made
a different decision?
What if he had just decided in this moment
to simply pass on?
Well, today we find out.
(upbeat music)
♪ Hey brother ♪
- Okay, so the King's Cross scene is filled
with so many huge plot points
that all simultaneously seem to try to satisfy
the various themes of all seven books.
So let's walk through the entire scene step by step
to ensure we don't miss anything.
So what we know is that Harry learns
that he must accept death,
that this is the path to victory,
and as such he walks into the Forbidden Forest
unarmed and prepared to die.
He is hit by Avada Kedavra and wakes up in a white void
that we ultimately learn is actually King's Cross Station,
or a version of it.
And this space that he's existing in
is what actually happens instead of passing on to death.
And the reason why this happens
goes all the way back to "Goblet of Fire"
where Voldemort specifically wants to use Harry's blood
to return his physical form
so that he can physically touch him,
which does in fact work,
but it also means that Harry's mom, Lily's sacrifice
continues to exist on inside of Voldemort,
effectively creating what we've always
affectionately referred to as a Lovecrux,
tethering Harry to life.
Because, as you'll recall,
normally Horcrux is a container
that holds a piece of someone's soul
to achieve this same purpose.
In this case, Voldemort has become the container
holding a piece of Lily's love for Harry,
and as a result Voldemort's very existence
anchors Harry to life
in the same way that the piece of Voldemort's soul
inside of Harry
anchors Voldemort to life.
This is the whole neither can live
while the other survives bit.
But so then the question is,
what actually happens when Voldemort hits Harry
with Avada Kedavra in this case?
Well, the short answer is
that neither of them actually dies for real
but they find themselves in a place called limbo.
This is going to be the space found between life and death
and for Harry is represented by King's Cross Station.
And the reason why it is specifically King's Cross Station
for Harry in particular
is because that is the physical location
where Harry left the muggle world behind him
and entered the wizarding world.
It's where his old life ends and his new journey begins.
Incidentally, he does this through Platform 9 3/4,
which is very interesting when you consider the fact
that Harry is born on July 31st
and his family is attacked exactly 15 months later
on October 31st or Halloween.
The interesting thing about specifically 15 months later
is that it also happens to be 1 1/4 years
after Harry was born,
and Harry is collected by Hagrid on his 11th birthday
almost to the very second,
meaning Harry lived in the muggle world with the Dursleys
for almost exactly 9 3/4 years.
It's just mind blowing.
All fun facts aside, though,
that is the reason, if you've ever been curious,
why Harry's version of limbo takes the form
of King's Cross Station,
and it's also what could happen here inside of limbo.
He could leave his actual life behind
and journey on to the great beyond.
It's a metaphor,
and you might be thinking to yourself,
well, sure, yeah, that makes perfect sense for Harry,
but what about Voldemort?
Wouldn't he have some kind of say
in what this limbo looks like too?
After all, it seems like Harry at the very least
is able to materialize anything he wants or needs,
including fresh new robes or his old principal.
It seems like if Voldemort was having a say
in this space in some capacity
that it would be like raining snakes
or there'd be like skull-lined wallpaper or something.
Certainly it feels like just less white overall, I think.
That being said, though,
I do still think there's an argument to be made
for the fact that for both Tom Riddle and Harry
boarding the Hogwarts Express
was a fairly similar experience.
So I guess there is an argument to be made
for the idea that like this is the place
that both of their subconsciouses
were able to agree or decide on.
In fact, at one point in time,
Harry is actually able to fully understand and relate
to the fact that Tom Riddle felt
so much more at home at Hogwarts
than he ever did at the orphanage.
However, all that being said,
I don't think Voldemort has any say
about this space whatsoever.
As Dumbledore says, "This is your party," or whatever.
Not whatever, specifically what he says is,
"This is, as they say, your party,"
in chapter 35 of "Deathly Hallows."
Of course, the fact that Dumbledore is there at all
is also kind of like the exception
that seems to prove the rule.
On some level it feels like he has his own ability
to just simply be there at all
and not provide Harry with information that he needs
but with information
Harry couldn't have ever known otherwise.
Like it's not information
that Harry always maybe deep down knew inside,
it's like actual intimate details
about the Dumbledore's family's history
and his relationship with Grindelwald.
And so how Dumbledore is there in the first place
and able to convey this information to Harry
is kind of a mystery unto itself
and a video for another day,
so be sure to subscribe
and hit the bell for notifications, it helps.
Either way, though,
there is someone else inside of this scene
who is absolutely positively and definitely present
for everything that's going on,
and that is Voldemort.
One of the things that simply can't help but stick out
inside of this scene
that otherwise seems warm and cozy and fuzzy
is the bloody skeletal fledgling remains of Voldemort
that Dumbledore sort of seems to ignore off in the corner.
And when I personally first,
and actually many times after that,
read this particular passage,
I always sort of assumed that what we were seeing there
was the piece of Voldemort's soul
that had existed inside of Harry all these years,
like a physical manifestation, if you will,
of the part of Voldemort's soul that made Harry a Horcrux.
And so it felt like what we were seeing
was Harry's whole and complete soul in warm and comfy robes
while, on the other hand, the fragment of Voldemort's soul
was just this strange skeletal baby thing.
Both individual occupants of this particular form of limbo.
Harry, of course, makes the decision to return back to life
and that piece of soul simply moves on,
thus it is destroyed,
making Harry one step closer
to fully and completely defeating Voldemort.
That has been my interpretation of this scene
for a very long time
and I feel like it makes sense,
and yet also I still don't think that's what's happening.
Instead, that piece of Voldemort's soul
that lodged itself inside of Harry,
the piece that makes him a Horcrux,
the piece that allows him to speak Parseltongue
and have that strange connection with Voldemort
that Horcrux was immediately destroyed by Voldemort himself
with the Avada Kedavra curse.
It's gone, it itself has no other anchor,
it dies right away.
Meaning that flayed baby skeletal thing,
that is Voldemort Prime himself,
the actual man leading the opposing army, the Dark Lord,
the one who just cast Avada Kedavra, that's him.
What we are seeing is a representation
of both Harry's and Voldemort's souls.
Harry's is whole and complete,
but Voldemort's, on the other hand,
has been ripped to shreds.
That's why Harry is capable of controlling his surroundings,
summoning anything that he needs,
conversing with Dumbledore,
while Voldemort on the other hand is just stuck,
locked in a constant state of suffering.
And this might be kind of surprising
because when you see Voldemort out in the real world
he's tall and strong and formidable,
healthy-ish if not a little bit noseless.
But what we're seeing is what he would look like
on the inside,
what's left of his soul.
In fact, he's probably even worse off
than just simply the damage that he has done to himself
by ripping his soul to create all of his various Horcruxes.
Because, if you'll recall,
all the way back in "The Philosopher's Stone"
we see that Quirrell is drinking unicorn's blood
as a way to sustain Voldemort
while they're sharing that body,
and Firenze tells us that anyone who does this
will continue to live on
but they will live a half life, a cursed life.
And while this obviously sounds bad,
we never get a really obvious explanation
as to the implications of it
for the rest of the series,
until this very moment.
This is what your soul would look like
after ripping it eight times for various Horcruxes,
drinking unicorn blood,
and just countless other murders
that weren't intended to create other Horcruxes.
This is also why you don't have to feel
even an ounce of worry about Dumbledore being rude or mean
to something that vaguely resembles a baby,
because it's definitely not a baby, it's Voldemort.
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So, to answer the initial question of,
what does Voldemort see inside of his version of limbo,
inside of King's Cross?
Some argument can be made for
it's exactly the same thing as Harry.
He's in the same place.
But I also think the real answer here is
that he's not seeing anything at all,
he's just simply and completely suffering.
So when we see him reawaken in the forest,
that's what he's awaking from, pain.
But that being said,
here's another question I've spent
a lot of time wondering on.
What would've happened
if Harry had made a different decision?
What if he had decided to simply move on,
board a train, leave?
And with that, I don't just mean like,
what would've happened to Harry,
but what would've happened
to whatever that version of Voldemort is as well?
And while it's certainly hard to say for sure,
here's what I think.
If Harry had made the decision to simply move on,
then Harry of course would just have simply died.
And with that,
I think that that fledgling version of Voldemort
would have gone with him
and that piece of Voldemort's soul
would also have been destroyed.
Which means that if you were a Death Eater
watching this scene unfold back in the Forbidden Forest,
what you would've seen is both Harry and Voldemort collapse
and neither of them ever would've returned to life.
And you might be thinking like, well, hey,
that's really not a bad outcome overall, right?
I mean, Harry had gone into the forest
intending to die in the first place
and this absolutely ensures
that Voldemort's destroyed, right?
If that's the case, then why risk coming back?
And there's two reasons actually.
The first is that Nagini is simply still out there
yet to be destroyed.
So what would really happen there is
that Voldemort Prime, if you will,
would be reduced back to like a mist version or form,
which is kind of how Quirrell finds him
in the forest of Albania,
or kind of like what we see fly through Harry
at the end of "Philosopher's Stone."
That piece of him, the Voldemort Prime piece,
would just be totally and completely gone,
but that piece of soul inside of Nagini
would continue to anchor him to life,
and until that was destroyed
he would still be capable of returning.
Either way, though, it would mean that Voldemort
would not be totally and completely defeated.
But then there's the other reason,
and I'm sure this was a far less motivating reason for Harry
because he's just simply so noble,
is that in that scenario where Harry chooses death
is that Harry himself would remain dead,
which I personally would find a lot harder to stomach.
And so by coming back he is able to defeat Nagini,
or in this case Neville eventually does,
and also once and for all take down Voldemort Prime.
But so that still leaves one major stone left unturned,
and that is while living is of course
still preferable to death,
one of the major themes of the story
is that death is not necessarily a bad thing,
it can be a good thing and at some point to be accepted.
And it's Harry's ability to embrace this particular idea
that sets him apart from every other character
and what ultimately makes him the master of death.
But if death isn't considered a bad thing,
then in some way isn't Voldemort's defeat
a like mercy style of fate?
Like we know that Voldemort fears death above all else
but we also see lots of other characters
who have already passed on.
James, Lily, Sirius, Remus, and Cedric,
and they all seem okay.
So does that mean that somehow
despite all of his other evil
that in the afterlife Voldemort might actually too
be all right?
And the answer here is no,
but to his credit Harry does try to give him this.
If you recall, early on in "Deathly Hallows,"
Hermione has discovered a piece of information
as to how one might actually go about reassembling
their fragmented pieces of soul.
"Remorse," said Hermione.
"You've got to really feel what you've done.
There's a footnote.
Apparently the pain of it can destroy you.
I can't see Voldemort attempting it somehow, can you?"
But still in the final battle
Harry does offer Voldemort exactly this opportunity.
"Before you try to kill me,
I'd advise you to think about what you've done.
Think and try for some remorse, Riddle."
But if you think about it, it's kind of like,
to what end is Harry going for here?
Because all of the Horcruxes are destroyed,
there is no reassembling of the fragments of his soul
left on the table.
And the thing is, that's not even what Harry's offering.
He's not offering a chance at redemption
or even reassembling the pieces of his soul.
Instead, what he's offering is
exactly what Dumbledore explained would happen
if Harry were to, say, board a train.
He would just simply move on, to leave limbo,
and to pass on to the actual afterlife.
And because Harry has already traveled
to limbo before with Voldemort,
he knows what happens to him otherwise.
It's the fledgling skeletal baby thing.
In fact, he even tells him so.
"It's your one last chance," said Harry.
"It's all you've got left.
I've seen what you'll be otherwise.
Be a man.
Try, try for some remorse."
Harry is a good enough person
that he's trying to save even Voldemort
from what his fate will be.
But, of course, Voldemort is Voldemort
and, of course, refuses.
And so, instead,
after the final Avada Kedavra curse backfires on him,
he does not pass on to the afterlife.
He is forever trapped inside of limbo
as that maimed version of his soul,
completely and utterly unanchored from life
and destined to suffer for eternity,
unable to live and unable to die.
It's actually this exact same explanation,
in case you're curious,
why Voldemort is never able to return as a ghost.
But there you go, guys.
That is what Voldemort would've seen inside of King's Cross
and what happened to him after he dies,
if you can even call it that.
(upbeat music)
But as ever, guys, thank you so much for watching.
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If you'd like to check out our entire supercut
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You can check that out right over here.
But otherwise, until next time, bye.