Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

"HP7" redirects here. For the postal district for Amersham, see HP postcode area.

Deathly Hallows redirects here. For other uses, see Deathly Hallows (disambiguation).

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is the seventh and final of the Harry Potter novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The book was released on July 21, 2007, ending the series that began in 1997 with the publication of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. This book chronicles the events directly following Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2005), and leads to the long-awaited final confrontation between Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort.

Deathly Hallows is published in the United Kingdom by Bloomsbury Publishing, in the United States by Scholastic, in Canada by Raincoast Books, and in Australia and New Zealand by Allen & Unwin. Released globally in ninety-three countries, Deathly Hallows broke sales records as the fastest-selling book ever, selling more than 11 million copies in the first twenty-four hours following its release. The previous record, nine million in its first day, had been held by Half-Blood Prince.

Epigraph

All the books in the Harry Potter series have dedications, but Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is the only one to include an epigraph. It contains two quotes relating to death and friendship. The first quotation is an English translation from Ancient Greek of a passage from The Libation Bearers, by the 5th century BC playwright Aeschylus. The second quotation is from More Fruits of Solitude (1682) by William Penn, the Quaker author and founder of the American Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. On the page, the unusual layout of the epigraph resembles the shape of Harry's scar. The dedication resembles his scar even more closely, and reads, "The dedication of this book is split seven ways: to Neil, to Jessica, to David, to Kenzie, to Di, to Anne, and to you, if you have stuck with Harry until the very end".

Plot

The final summer

Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters plan to ambush Harry Potter when he leaves the Dursley home with the Order of the Phoenix for the final time. While talking about this plan, Voldemort kills Hogwarts' old Muggle Studies teacher, Professor Charity Burbage. The Dursleys, who have always disdained and mocked the magical world, finally agree to allow the Order to place them in hiding to protect them from Voldemort once Harry's magical protection expires on his 17th birthday. Voldemort also seeks a new wand to defeat Harry's wand, and takes Lucius Malfoy's, with high hopes that it will kill Harry. Members of the Order arrive to escort Harry to a safe house (before his 17th birthday), including recently married Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks, making use of Polyjuice potion to produce six Potter decoys. Nonetheless, they are attacked en route by Death Eaters. Harry narrowly escapes, while Hedwig (Harry's owl), and Mad-Eye Moody are killed. George Weasley loses an ear to Severus Snape's Sectumsempra. Harry is confronted by Voldemort, but his wand destroys Malfoy's in a wave of golden fire. At the Burrow, Minister of Magic Rufus Scrimgeour arrives to give Harry, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger bequests from Albus Dumbledore's will. Ron receives the Deluminator, and Hermione is left a children's book, The Tales of Beedle the Bard. Harry inherits Godric Gryffindor's Sword and the Snitch he caught in his first-ever Quidditch match, bearing the mysterious phrase "I open at the close". The sword, however, was kept by the Ministry, who claimed it to be 'an important historical artifact.' The trio, while puzzled, presume the items will help them in their Horcrux hunt.

The search begins

At Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour's wedding reception, Kingsley Shacklebolt's Patronus arrives, announcing that Scrimgeour is dead and the Ministry of Magic has fallen under Voldemort's control. This terrifies the guests and starts a panic. As Death Eaters approach, Harry, Ron and Hermione Disapparate to Tottenham Court Road, where they hide in an empty cafe to plan their next move. However, the Death Eaters find them there and a confrontation ensues. Narrowly escaping, they eventually find and take refuge in 12 Grimmauld Place.

While at Grimmauld Place, Remus Lupin arrives with a proposition to join them in their quest, when he announces that he has left Nymphadora, his wife, because he had found out she was pregnant, and he feared the child would carry his lycanthropy. Harry mocks his old Professor into a rage that sends him flying across the room, but his efforts had the desired effect: Harry would later learn that Remus returned to his family shortly after the argument. Harry deduces from a sign on a bedroom door that Sirius Black's brother Regulus was the "R.A.B" who removed the Locket Horcrux from the sea cave.^[HP6] Hermione recalls seeing a locket whilst cleaning the house during the events of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. They discover that the house-elf Kreacher had stolen the locket from the items to be thrown out. Kreacher admits that he had placed the Locket Horcrux in the cave as ordered by Voldemort, and Regulus later died after retrieving it and deceiving Voldemort (though Voldemort didn't know what Regulus had done). With the help of Kreacher and an unwilling Mundungus Fletcher they learn that the locket is now in Dolores Umbridge's possession (Mundungus having stolen the locket and given it to Umbridge as a bribe). The trio successfully infiltrate the Ministry of Magic, with the aid of Polyjuice potion and recover the locket, while saving suspected Muggle-Borns from the Ministry. Grimmauld Place is compromised when they attempt to escape, forcing them to flee to the countryside.

The trio begin to travel the country, looking for Horcruxes and means to destroy them. Overhearing a discussion between Griphook the Goblin and several others, including Muggle-Born Dean Thomas and Nymphadora's father, Ted Tonks, the trio learn that the Sword of Gryffindor, now at Hogwarts and in the office of Severus Snape, the new Headmaster, is a fake. Ginny and her friends were thwarted in their attempted theft of it. Griphook says to Dean that they were punished severely by Snape. Harry decides to find the real one that can destroy the Horcruxes; some time after this Ron and Harry argue over his lack of a plan for finding and destroying the Horcruxes. Ron leaves and Hermione is seen crying several times after this. Harry and Hermione search for the sword in Godric's Hollow, where Harry finds his parents' gravesites, as well as their house, which has fallen into disarray. While looking at the house, Harry and Hermione are beckoned by Bathilda Bagshot into her home. Knowing something isn't right in her dusty house, Harry follows her upstairs, where she transforms into Voldemort's snake, Nagini. Voldemort himself appears almost immediately after. Hermione casts a Blasting Curse which ricochets around the room, facilitating their escape, but also irreparably damaging Harry's wand, leaving a thin strand of phoenix feather connecting the two halves together.

Hermione apparates Harry to the Forest of Dean, a place Hermione visited as a child. A silver doe-shaped Patronus leads Harry to an icy pond containing the real Sword of Gryffindor. As Harry dives into the freezing water to retrieve it, the locket Horcrux tightens around his neck, strangling him. He is saved by Ron, who was guided back to the pair by the deluminator Dumbledore gave him. Ron recovers the sword and destroys the locket with it, after the locket conjured up phantom images of Harry and Hermione that tell him that they were happy without Ron, and Fake-Hermione says that she would never love Ron. Ron is devastated, but Harry convinces him that what it said wasn't true. Ron warns that Voldemort's name is now Tabooed; speaking it reveals the speaker's location to Voldemort and the Death Eaters.

The Deathly Hallows

The mysterious recurring symbol is revealed to represent the legendary Deathly Hallows.

The trio learn from Xenophilius Lovegood that the cryptic symbol they have repeatedly encountered represents the three Deathly Hallows: the Elder Wand, the Resurrection Stone and the Invisibility Cloak. Xenophilius tells about the Deathly Hallows and the story of the Three Brothers who each took respective "gifts" from death. When pressed about Luna's absence, Lovegood admits that Death Eaters abducted her in retaliation for supporting Harry in his paper, The Quibbler. Hoping for Luna's return, he has alerted Death Eaters of the trio's whereabouts, but they escape. Shortly after this escape, Harry figures out that the clues are suggesting that he already has one of the Hallows (the Invisibility Cloak), and may have been secretly given another one in Dumbledore's will (the Resurrection Stone, hidden inside the snitch). His possession of the Invisibility Cloak proves him to be a descendant of Ignotus Peverell, the third brother, who is buried at Godric's Hollow.

Soon after, Harry accidentally uses the name of Voldemort, and the trio are captured and taken to Malfoy Manor, where they join the imprisoned Luna, Dean, Ollivander and Griphook. Finding Gryffindor's Sword among the trio's possessions, Bellatrix Lestrange fears they have broken into her Gringotts vault, and tortures Hermione for information. Help arrives in the form of Dobby, who Apparates into the cellar and rescues Luna, Dean and Ollivander. Harry and Ron rush upstairs to rescue Hermione; Ron disarms Bellatrix and Harry takes Draco's wand. Dobby reappears, and they Disapparate to Bill and Fleur Weasley's cottage; Dobby is struck by a knife during the escape, and dies immediately afterwards. Voldemort, having been alerted to Harry being captured, arrives at Malfoy Manor almost immediately after Harry escapes and proceeds to torture the remaining Death Eaters. He then leaves them and goes to Hogwarts and takes the Elder Wand from Dumbledore's tomb, believing that Dumbledore took it from Grindelwald after their famous duel.

At the cottage, Ollivander confirms the Elder Wand's existence and says that a wand can transfer allegiance if its owner is defeated or disarmed. Ollivander adds a caveat: although the Elder Wand is unbeatable, its master is not, and must always guard against a surprise attack. Bellatrix's behaviour convinces the trio that another Horcrux is hidden in the Lestrange vault. Aided by Griphook, they penetrate Gringotts' defences and retrieve Hufflepuff's Cup, although they lose the sword to Griphook in the process. The trio escape Gringotts on the back of a guard dragon. Voldemort is then informed of the theft of the cup, and realises that his Horcruxes are being destroyed; through his mental connection to Harry he unintentionally reveals that another Horcrux is hidden at Hogwarts.

The Battle of Hogwarts

First act

In Hogsmeade, Aberforth Dumbledore protects the trio from the Death Eaters occupying the village, and helps smuggle them into Hogwarts. Harry alerts the Hogwarts staff and their former classmates to Voldemort's impending invasion, as allies continue to arrive. Luna Lovegood suggests that the fifth Horcrux could be Ravenclaw's lost diadem; Harry and Luna go to Ravenclaw's common room, but are confronted by Alecto Carrow, who summons Voldemort, and is stunned by Luna almost immediately. Soon afterward, both Amycus Carrow and Professor McGonagall enter Ravenclaw Tower. Upon seeing Amycus spit in McGonagall's face, Harry immediately reveals himself and uses the Cruciatus Curse on him. After alerting the Heads of House, Professor McGonagall encounters Snape in a corridor and engages him in a ferocious duel, the likes of which Harry has only seen between Dumbledore and Voldemort. Snape escapes by jumping out of a window and "flying" towards the perimeter wall. Harry recalls seeing the diadem in the Room of Requirement when he hid his Potions book there the previous year. Meanwhile, Hermione destroys the Cup Horcrux with a basilisk fang that she and Ron retrieved from the Chamber of Secrets. The Order of the Phoenix, members of Dumbledore's Army and other anti-Voldemort relatives of students arrive at Hogwarts, where battle commences. Percy Weasley arrives late and runs into his entire family. There is a reunion as Percy apologises for his previous behaviour. In the Room of Requirement, Ron mentions that the house elves are still in the kitchens and in danger, whereupon Hermione runs over to Ron and kisses him. The trio reenter the Room of Requirement and are attacked by Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle. Crabbe mishandles the powerful Fiendfyre spell, killing himself and destroying the diadem, but the others escape unharmed. During the battle, several of the Weasley brothers are dueling members of the Ministry of Magic. Percy and Fred are dueling the Minister himself, Pius Thicknesse, who has been corrupted by Voldemort. Percy jokes that he is resigning from the Ministry, and Fred gleefully notes this as an explosion rocks the corridor, shattering one wall and killing Fred instantly. A shattered Percy refuses to leave the body until it is hidden. The group then hurl themselves back into the battle.

Harry glimpses Voldemort's mind again and leads the trio to the Shrieking Shack. They witness Voldemort kill Snape, believing it will make him the Elder Wand's master. As Snape dies, he gives Harry his memories that prove Snape's loyalty to Dumbledore, motivated by his lifelong love for Harry's mother Lily. After being cursed by Gaunt's Ring Horcrux, a doomed Dumbledore had ordered Snape to kill him at a strategic time, sparing Draco from carrying out Voldemort's order to murder him. It was Snape who sent the doe Patronus to the forest. The memories also reveal that Harry himself is a Horcrux; he must die in order to destroy Voldemort.

King's Cross

Resigned to death, Harry approaches Voldemort's camp in the Forbidden Forest, informing no one except Neville whom he asks to kill Voldemort's snake if he gets the chance. Along the way, he realizes what the inscription on the snitch Dumbledore gave him meant. He tells the snitch that he is about to die and finds the Resurrection Stone inside it. Whereupon he summons the spirits of his parents, Sirius Black and the recently killed Remus Lupin, who accompany him to Voldemort's camp. Voldemort casts the Avada Kedavra curse at Harry.

Awakening in an ethereal place that looks to him like King's Cross station, Harry is unsure whether he is alive or dead. Dumbledore appears and explains that Voldemort's Horcrux within Harry has been destroyed. He says that just as Voldemort cannot die while his soul fragments remain, Voldemort cannot kill Harry because he used Harry's blood (which carries the ancient magical protection his mother gave to him through her sacrifice years before) in his resurrection.^[HP4] Voldemort's killing curse instead destroyed the only thing within Harry that did not carry Lily Potter's protection — the fragment of the Dark Lord's own soul he unknowingly passed to Harry the night his mother and father sacrificed themselves to save him. Harry glimpses a representation of Voldemort's true self: a weeping, deformed child that Dumbledore describes as 'beyond any of our help'. Harry is also given an explanation as to why his wand acted on its own accord against Voldemort: Harry's wand recognized Voldemort as his enemy and responsed accordingly. Because Voldemort was using another wizard's wand - since learning of the twin-core connection between his and Harry's wand - the wand he used was ill-equipped for the unexpected challenge.

Second act and final confrontation

Harry revives, but feigns death. Voldemort orders Narcissa Malfoy to check Harry. Doing so, she realises that Harry is alive and quietly asks him if her son Draco is still alive. Harry mutters that Draco is fine, prompting her to lie to Voldemort and declare that Harry is dead, as she and her husband Lucius no longer care about anything other than their son's safety. Harry is carried to Hogwarts as Voldemort's trophy by the captured Hagrid and displayed to agonised supporters gathered in the school hall. When Neville Longbottom defies Voldemort, the Sorting Hat is thrust onto his head and set aflame.

A sudden disturbance is brought about by Grawp, the centaurs and the giants. Neville pulls off the Sorting Hat, draws Gryffindor's sword from it and decapitates Nagini with a single stroke, destroying the final Horcrux. Harry moves around under his invisibility cloak and lends aid throughout the ensuing battle, as his supporters rally to defy Voldemort and the Death Eaters one last time. Reinforcements arrive in the form of the people of Hogsmeade, the friends and family of everyone who remained to fight all led by Professor Slughorn and Charlie Weasley, the centaurs (shamed into action by Hagrid), the Thestrals and Hippogriffs led by Buckbeak and the House Elves led by Kreacher. Bellatrix Lestrange engages Hermione, Luna and Ginny in a fight in the Great Hall, but after firing a Killing curse that misses Ginny by an inch, an enraged Molly Weasley takes over from the three girls and defeats Bellatrix in a deadly duel. Knowing that he is the Elder Wand's true master, Harry finally confronts Voldemort, informing him that when Draco Malfoy disarmed Dumbledore on the Astronomy Tower,^[HP6] he unknowingly became the Elder Wand's master; this allegiance was then transferred to Harry when he won Draco's wand at Malfoy Manor. During this Harry challenges Voldemort to "try for some remorse" however Voldemort is unconcerned. Voldemort then casts another Killing Curse at Harry, but the spell rebounds off Harry's disarming spell, killing Voldemort, and leaving Harry victorious.

Among the fatalities are Fred Weasley, Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks, Colin Creevey, and Bellatrix Lestrange. Roughly fifty of Potter's allies are killed, along with an undisclosed number of Death Eaters. After the battle, Harry tells Dumbledore's portrait that he is keeping the Invisibility Cloak, but the Resurrection Stone will remain lost in the forest. The Elder Wand shall be returned to Dumbledore's tomb, where its power will be extinguished if Harry dies undefeated. Dumbledore approves. Before returning the Elder Wand to the tomb, Harry uses it to repair his own wand.

Epilogue

Nineteen years later, Harry and Ginny Weasley are married and have three children: James Sirius, Albus Severus, and Lily Luna. Ron married Hermione and has two children, Rose and Hugo. The families meet at King's Cross station, where a nervous Albus is departing for his first year at Hogwarts. Harry's nineteen-year-old godson, Teddy Lupin, is found kissing Victoire Weasley (Bill and Fleur's daughter) in a train carriage. Harry sees Draco Malfoy and his wife Astoria Greengrass (revealed on Rowling's website behind the door) with their son, Scorpius. Neville Longbottom is now the Hogwarts Herbology professor and remains friends with the two families. Harry comforts Albus, who is worried he will be sorted into Slytherin. He tells his son that one of his two namesakes, Severus Snape, was a Slytherin and the bravest man he had ever met. He adds that the Sorting Hat takes one's own choice into account, and also considered making Harry a Slytherin.

Rowling's commentary and supplement

In an interview, online chat, the Wizard of the Month section of her website, and during her 2007 U.S. Open Book Tour, Rowling revealed additional character information that she chose not to include in the book. She stated that:

• Harry becomes an Auror for the Ministry of Magic, and is later appointed head of the department. He keeps Sirius's motorcycle, which Arthur Weasley repaired for him, but he can no longer speak Parseltongue after the destruction of Voldemort's soul fragment within him.
• Ginny Weasley plays for the Holyhead Harpies Quidditch team for a time, leaves to establish a family with Harry and later becomes the lead Quidditch correspondent for the Daily Prophet.
• Ron Weasley works at George's store for a time, Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, then joins Harry as an Auror.
• Hermione finds her parents in Australia and removes the memory modification charm she had put on them for safety. She initially works for the Ministry of Magic in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, greatly improving life for house elves and their ilk. She later moves to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and assists in eradicating oppressive, pro-pureblood laws. She was also the only member of the trio to go back and complete her seventh year at Hogwarts.
• Dumbledore's relationship with Gellert Grindelwald extended beyond mere friendship; indeed, Rowling has revealed that "Dumbledore is gay, actually", and harboured romantic feelings for Grindelwald.
• After his death, Voldemort is forced to exist in the stunted form Harry witnessed in the King's Cross limbo; his crimes were too severe for him to become a ghost.

Rowling also explained the fates of several secondary characters:

• George Weasley continues his successful joke shop. George married fellow Quidditch player Angelina Johnson and has two children: a son named Fred, in memory of his late twin brother, and a daughter, Roxanne.
• Luna Lovegood searches the world for odd and unique creatures. She eventually marries Rolf, a grandson of the famed naturalist Newt Scamander. , writer of Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them. They have twins called Lorcan and Lysander. Her father's publication, The Quibbler, has returned to its usual condition of "advanced lunacy" and is appreciated for its unintentional humour.
• Draco Malfoy married Astoria Greengrass and had a son named Scorpius.
• Percy Weasley married a woman named Audrey and had two daughters, named Molly and Lucy.
• Firenze is welcomed back into his herd, who finally acknowledge the virtue of his pro-human leanings.
• Dolores Umbridge is arrested, interrogated, and imprisoned for crimes against Muggle-borns. The amount of time she serves in prison is unknown.
• Cho Chang went on to marry a Muggle.
• Neville Longbottom becomes professor of Herbology at Hogwarts and marries Hannah Abbott, who is now the landlady of the Leaky Cauldron.
• Besides Victoire Weasley, Bill and Fleur Weasley have a younger son and a younger daughter, named Dominique and Louis.
• On her website, Rowling posted a Weasley family tree, showing that Harry's children's full names are James Sirius Potter, Albus Severus Potter, and Lily Luna Potter.

There have been transformations in the wider wizarding world:

• Kingsley Shacklebolt is the permanent Minister of Magic, with Percy Weasley working under him as a high official. Among the reforms introduced by Shacklebolt, Azkaban no longer uses Dementors. Consequently, the world is now a "much sunnier place". Harry, Ron, and Hermione have also been instrumental in reforming the Ministry.
• At Hogwarts, Slytherin House has become more diluted and is no longer the pure-blood bastion it once was, although its dark reputation lingers.
• Voldemort's jinx on the Defense Against the Dark Arts position is broken with his death. There is now a permanent Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Harry comes to the Defense Against the Dark Arts class to lecture several times a year.
• A portrait of Snape, who briefly served as Hogwarts Headmaster, does not appear in the headmaster's office as he abandoned his post. Harry ensures the addition of Snape's portrait, and publicly reveals Snape's true allegiance.

Pre-release history

Choice of title

Shortly before releasing the title, J. K. Rowling announced that she had considered three titles for the book. The final title, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was released to the public on December 21, 2006 via a special Christmas-themed hangman puzzle on Rowling's website, confirmed shortly afterwards by the book's publishers. Asked during a live chat as to the other titles she had been considering, Rowling mentioned Harry Potter and the Elder Wand and Harry Potter and the Peverell Quest.

Marketing campaigns

File:Hpdeathlyhallowsscholastic fullcover.gif

Jacket art of Scholastic (US) edition.

Scholastic's seven questions

In the build-up to the book's release, American publisher Scholastic released seven questions that fans would find answered in the final book: Who will live? Who will die? Is Snape good or evil? Will Hogwarts reopen? Who winds up with whom? Where are the Horcruxes? Will Voldemort be defeated? What are the Deathly Hallows?

The launch was celebrated by an all-night book signing and reading at the Natural History Museum in London, which Rowling attended along with 1700 guests chosen by ballot. Rowling toured the USA in October 2007, where another event was held at Carnegie Hall in New York with tickets allocated by sweepstake.

Scholastic Inc., the American publisher of the Harry Potter series, launched a multi-million dollar "THERE WILL SOON BE 7" marketing campaign with a 'Knight Bus' travelling to forty libraries across the United States, online fan discussions and competitions, collectible bookmarks, tattoos, and the staged release of seven Deathly Hallows questions most debated by fans.

Scholastic also hosted "Harry Potter Place"  — a magical and interactive street celebration at Scholastic headquarters in New York City, where the first U.S. signed edition of Deathly Hallows was unveiled on July 20 2007. The festivities included a 20 foot (6 metre)-high Whomping Willow, face-painting, wand-making, fire-eaters, magicians, jugglers and stilt-walkers.

Several bookstores set up small kiosks displaying free-to-take bookmarks. The bookmarks show reasons why Severus Snape should be considered a friend or a foe on opposite sides along with the Deathly Hallows logo at the bottom.

J. K. Rowling arranged with her publishers for a poster bearing the face of the missing Madeleine McCann to be made available to book sellers when Deathly Hallows was launched on 21 July and said that she hoped that the posters would be displayed prominently in shops all over the world.

Rowling on finishing the book

Rowling completed the book while staying at the Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh in January 2007, and left a signed statement on a marble bust of Hermes in her room which read: "J.K. Rowling finished writing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in this room (652) on 11 January 2007". In a statement on her website, she said, "I've never felt such a mixture of extreme emotions in my life, never dreamed I could feel simultaneously heartbroken and euphoric." She compared her mixed feelings to those expressed by Charles Dickens in the preface of the 1850 edition of David Copperfield, "a two-years' imaginative task." "To which," she added, "I can only sigh, try seventeen years, Charles..." She ended her message, "Deathly Hallows is my favourite, and that is the most wonderful way to finish the series."

When asked before publication about the forthcoming book, Rowling stated that she could not change the ending even if she wanted to. "These books have been plotted for such a long time, and for six books now, that they're all leading a certain direction. So, I really can't." She also commented that the final volume related closely to the previous book in the series, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, "almost as though they are two halves of the same novel." She has said that the last chapter of the book was written "in something like 1990", as part of her earliest work on the series.

Spoiler embargo

Rowling made a public request that anyone with information about the content of the last book should keep it to themselves, in order to avoid spoiling the experience for other readers. To this end, Bloomsbury invested GB£10 million in an attempt to keep the book's contents secure until the July 21 release date. Arthur Levine, U.S. editor of the Harry Potter series, denied distributing any copies of Deathly Hallows in advance for press review, but two U.S. papers published early reviews anyway.

Online leaks and early delivery

In the week prior to its release, a number of texts purporting to be genuine leaks appeared in various forms. On July 16, a set of photographs representing all 759 pages of the U.S. edition was leaked and was fully transcribed prior to the official release date. The photographs later appeared on websites and peer-to-peer networks, leading Scholastic to seek a subpoena in order to identify one source. This represented the most serious security breach in the Harry Potter series' history. Rowling and her lawyer admitted that there were genuine online leaks. Reviews published in both The Baltimore Sun and The New York Times on July 18, 2007 corroborated many of the plot elements from this leak, and about one day prior to release, The New York Times confirmed that the main circulating leak was real.

Scholastic announced that approximately one ten-thousandth (0.0001) of the U.S. supply had been shipped early  — interpreted to mean about 1,200 copies. One reader in Maryland received a copy of the book in the mail from DeepDiscount.com four days before it was launched, which evoked incredulous responses on the part of both Scholastic and DeepDiscount. Scholastic initially reported that they were satisfied it had been a "human error" and would not discuss possible penalties. However, the following day Scholastic announced that it would be launching legal action against DeepDiscount.com and its distributor, Levy Home Entertainment. Scholastic has filed for damages in Chicago's Circuit Court of Cook County, claiming that DeepDiscount engaged in a "complete and flagrant violation of the agreements that they knew were part of the carefully constructed release of this eagerly awaited book." Some of the early release books soon appeared on eBay, in one case being sold to Publishers Weekly for US$250 from an initial price of US$18.

Price wars and other controversies

ASDA, plus several other UK supermarkets, had already taken pre-orders for the book at a heavily discounted price. ASDA then sparked a further price war two days before the book's launch by announcing they would sell it for just GB£5.00 a copy (about US$10). Other retail chains also offered the book at discounted prices. In Malaysia, a similar price war brought about controversy regarding sales of the book. The book's early Saturday morning release in Israel was criticised for violating the Sabbath.

Critical reception

The Baltimore Sun's critic, Mary Carole McCauley, praised the series as "a classic bildungsroman, or coming-of-age tale." She noted that "[b]ook seven... lacks much of the charm and humor that distinguished the earlier novels. Even the writing is more prosaic", but then observed that given the book's darker subject matter, "how could it be otherwise?"

Reviewer Alice Fordham from The Times writes that "Rowling’s genius is not just her total realisation of a fantasy world, but the quieter skill of creating characters that bounce off the page, real and flawed and brave and lovable." Fordham concludes, "We have been a long way together, and neither [Rowling] nor Harry let us down in the end."

By contrast, Jenny Sawyer of the Christian Science Monitor says that while "There is much to love about the Harry Potter series, from its brilliantly realised magical world to its multilayered narrative," however, "A story is about someone who changes. And, puberty aside, Harry doesn't change much. As envisioned by Rowling, he walks the path of good so unwaveringly that his final victory over Voldemort feels, not just inevitable, but hollow."

Stephen King criticised the reactions of some reviewers to the books, including McCauley, for jumping too quickly to surface conclusions of the work. He felt this was inevitable, because of the extreme secrecy before launch which did not allow reviewers time to read and consider the book, but meant that many early reviews lacked depth. Rather than finding the writing style disappointing he felt it had matured and improved. He acknowledged that the subject matter of the books had become more adult, and that Rowling had clearly been writing with the adult audience firmly in mind since the middle of the series. He compared the works in this respect to Huckleberry Finn and Alice in Wonderland which also achieved success and have become established classics, in part by appealing to the adult audience as well as children.

In the August 12, 2007 New York Times, Christopher Hitchens compared the series to World War Two-era English boarding school stories, and while he wrote that "Rowling has won imperishable renown" for the series as a whole, he also opined that her "repeated tactic of deus ex machina has a deplorable effect on both the plot and the dialogue", that the mid-book camping chapters are "abysmally long" and that Voldemort "becomes more tiresome than an Ian Fleming villain."

Speed-reading world champion Anne Jones read the book's 199,900 words in 47 minutes and 1 second. She said, "Without being too critical, the plot does seem to be a bit complicated, but I would not change a word. Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows is a real page-turner."

Time magazine's Lev Grossman named it one of the Top 10 Fiction Books of 2007, ranking it at #8, and praising Rowling for proving that books can still be a global mass medium. Opining that the book is "dense with Rowling's ruling themes: love and death", Grossman compared the novel to the earlier books in the series thus: "This isn't the most elegant of the Potter volumes, but it feels like an ending, the final iteration of Rowling's abiding thematic concern: the overwhelming importance of continuing to love in the face of death."

Translations

Main article: Harry Potter in translation

Following a pre-release question from the Swedish publisher about the difficulty of translating the two words "Deathly Hallows" without having read the book, Rowling revealed an alternative title from which non-English editions could be translated: Harry Potter and the Relics of Death.

The first translation to be released was the Ukrainian translation, on September 25, 2007 (as Гаррі Поттер і смертельні реліквії).

The Polish title is Harry Potter i Insygnia Śmierci - Harry Potter and the Insignia of Death - a title chosen in an internet poll of fans.

The hindi translation "Harry Potter aur Maut ke Tohfe" (हैरी पॉटर और मौत के तोहफे) released by Manjul Publication in India on June 27th, 2008.Harry Potter in Hindi Released in Indore

Film adaptations

A two-part film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is planned, with David Yates, who directed the preceding two films, directing both parts. Part I is slated for release on November 19, 2010, and Part II in May 2011. The script was delayed as Steve Kloves was not able to start working on it until the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike had ended. Filming begins in February 2009 and will last for a year. Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson will reprise their roles as Harry, Ron and Hermione, while Helena Bonham Carter, Brendan Gleeson, Timothy Spall, David Thewlis, Helen McCrory, Robbie Coltrane, and Jason Isaacs have confirmed they will reprise their roles as Bellatrix Lestrange, Mad-Eye Moody, Peter Pettigrew, Remus Lupin, Narcissa Malfoy, Rubeus Hagrid and Lucius Malfoy respectively. Imelda Staunton wishes to reprise the role of Dolores Umbridge.

John Williams, who composed the scores to the first three films, has expressed interest in returning to score the films.

Editions

File:Harry Potter Deathly Hallows stack.JPG

Stack of the Scholastic version displayed at Comic Con 2007.

Bloomsbury (United Kingdom, Australia, Brazil, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa, etc.)

• ISBN 0-7475-9105-9 Hardcover
• ISBN 0-7475-9106-7 Hardcover (adult edition)
• ISBN 0-7475-9107-5 Hardcover (special edition)

Scholastic (United States, etc.)

• ISBN 0-545-01022-5 Hardcover
• ISBN 0-545-02937-6 Deluxe Hardcover; Raincoast (Canada, etc. - Same as Bloomsbury editions)
• ISBN 1551929767 Hardcover
• ISBN 1551929783 Hardcover (adult edition)

External links

• J.K. Rowling's Official Website
• Harry Potter at Bloomsbury.com web site U.K. publisher book information
• Harry Potter at Scholastic.com web site U.S. publisher book information
• Harry Potter at Raincoast.com web site Canadian publisher book information
• Harry Potter at Allen & Unwin web site Australia-New Zealand publisher book information