Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Template:HPBooks Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is the seventh and final book in the Harry Potter series of novels by J. K. Rowling.

The book title was announced on December 21 2006 via a special Christmas-themed hangman puzzle on Rowling's website and confirmed shortly afterwards by the book's publishers. Rowling has stated that the final volume relates very 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." It follows the journey of the series' protagonist Harry Potter as he attempts to bring an end to his archenemy, Lord Voldemort.

The book is scheduled to be released globally in English-speaking countries shortly after midnight 00:01, British Summer Time, on July 21 2007. However, in the U.S. (which spans several time zones), the book will be released for sale within each time zone at 00:01 local time, a few hours after the other English-speaking countries. The book reached the top spot on both the Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble bestseller lists just a few hours after the date was announced on 1 February 2007. American publisher Scholastic announced an initial print run of 12 million copies, together with an advertising campaign, including the staged release of the seven questions most debated by fans. The book is expected to be 608 pages in the British edition, and has been confirmed to be 784 pages in the US edition. Retailers such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Borders are reporting that more orders have been placed for this book than for any other book in history.

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: "JK Rowling finished writing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in this room (652) on 11 January 2007". In a web update on 6 February 2007, Rowling wrote, "While each of the previous Potter books has strong claims on my affections, 'Deathly Hallows' is my favourite, and that is the most wonderful way to finish the series." The launch will be celebrated by an all night book signing and reading at the Natural History Museum in London which Rowling will attend along with 1700 guests chosen by ballot.

Rowling made a public request that anyone with advance information about the last book should keep it to themselves, to avoid spoiling the experience for the many readers who do not want to know the ending in advance.

Background to the series

Further information: Harry Potter

The Harry Potter series was originally published as a children's book by British publisher Bloomsbury, and American publisher Scholastic Press. It rapidly became a phenomenal success amongst children and adults alike. The books each chronicle one year at school for the characters concerned and follows a long tradition of children's series about life in schools. Perhaps unlike some of the traditional series of this format, each book has matured and expanded in complexity and scope compared to the last, approximately developing with the age of the principal characters (later books are also significantly darker in tone than earlier ones ). Although the author has said that she comprehensively plotted the entire series of books before the first was published, and that this plot remains unchanged, she has also stated that it has undergone a number of revisions. The books started as relatively slim volumes (223 pages Philosopher's Stone UK ed.), but have grown as the series progressed (766 pages Order of the Phoenix UK ed.).

The books contain a significant element of fantasy and magic, but this is combined with a detective-novel approach to the story. Each volume contains a complete problem and task for the heroes to complete, but each has also added to the background information about the wizarding world in general and contains many pieces of information whose importance only becomes apparent in later volumes (foreshadowing). Thus, a considerable fan following has developed of people wanting to discover how the many loose ends and unfinished adventures in the book will finally be completed. The author has stated that, more than with any other book in the series, the final volume completes the unfinished story from book six. She has also stated that she doesn't have plans for any further novels concerning Harry Potter.

Rowling has stated that she takes great pleasure from the interest of fans in the series. When asked how she felt about fans working out details of the plot, she replied: "I love the theories more than I can possibly say. I take it as the highest compliment that people analyse the books so much and think about what might happen next so much. There are people who have got very close to the end of the final series." She also stated that she could not now change the ending of the book, 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 ".

Official jacket summaries

UK Edition

With the release of the book jacket images, Bloomsbury also released the inside flap and back cover texts:

Inside Flap:

Harry has been burdened with a dark, dangerous and seemingly impossible task: that of locating and destroying Voldemort’s remaining Horcruxes. Never has Harry felt so alone, or faced a future so full of shadows. But Harry must somehow find within himself the strength to complete the task he has been given. He must leave the warmth, safety, and companionship of The Burrow and follow without fear or hesitation the inexorable path laid out for him. In this final, seventh installment of the Harry Potter series, J.K. Rowling unveils in spectacular fashion the answers to the many questions that have been so eagerly awaited. The spellbinding, richly woven narrative, which plunges, twists and turns at a breathtaking pace, confirms the author as a mistress of storytelling, whose books will be read, reread and read again.

Back Cover:

Harry is waiting in Privet Drive. The Order of the Phoenix is coming to escort him safely away without Voldemort and his supporters knowing – if they can. But what will Harry do then? How can he fulfil the momentous and seemingly impossible task that Professor Dumbledore has left him with?

Cover Spine: The top of the cover spine has a symbol showing a triangle with a circle in it cut in half. All the other covers show that the image on the cover spine has a huge importance in the book. What this symbol means has been debated by Harry Potter fans. It is thought that it could be to do with the Ancient Runes, as JK Rowling has talked about runes in the Harry Potter series, and the fact that Hermione also studied it as a subject could show its importance to the final book. It also happens to combine the Greek letters delta and phi.

U.S. Edition

Scholastic has also released the details of the American cover. For the fourth time (and the first since Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban), the cover is a wraparound, meaning that it is comprised of a single image spanning over the entirety of the front, back and spine of the book. David Saylor, art director at Scholastic, describes the cover as:

The structures around Harry show evident destruction and in the shadows behind him, we see outlines of other people. On the back cover, spidery hands are outstretched toward Harry. Only when the book is opened does one see a powerful image of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, his glowing red eyes peering out from his hood.

Mary GrandPré, the illustrator of the U.S. edition books, has not used a monochromic color scheme, as she did with Order of the Phoenix (blue hues) and Half-Blood Prince (green hues). Instead, she has reverted back to the color schemes of the first four books.

The meaning of "Deathly Hallows"

File:Hp dh hangman.JPG

The book's title revealed on J. K. Rowling's website.

Shortly before the release of the title, JK Rowling announced that she had considered three different titles for the book. The title "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" was released to the public from her web site, on 21st December 2006. The particular date has given rise to some interest, due to two prophecies included in Order of the Phoenix, that state "...at the solstice will come a new... and none will come after..."

When asked "What does 'Deathly Hallows' mean?" J.K. Rowling responded, "Any clarification of the meaning of 'Hallows' would give away too much of the story - well, it would, wouldn't it? Being the title and all. So I'm afraid I'm not answering." She also declined to say what her two other shortlisted titles had been, at least until after publication. The phrase "Deathly Hallows" was trademarked under the name "Stone Connect (UK) Limited" on December 5, 2006, along with 5 other phrases. It was later denied that any of the others had ever been contenders for the actual title. The word "hallows" had already appeared in phrases registered by representatives of Warner Brothers before publication of Half-Blood Prince. "Hallows of Hogwarts" and "Hogwarts Hallows" were registered as trademarks by Seabottom Productions Ltd in 2003-2004, amongst a number of fake titles.

Hallow is a word usually used as a verb, meaning "to make holy or sacred, to sanctify or consecrate, to venerate". However, in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the word hallows appears as a noun. In modern English, the word is used as a noun in "All Hallows' Day" or "All Saints' Day," which is the day after Halloween or "All Hallows' Eve". Hallows can refer to saints, the relics of saints, the relics of gods, or shrines in which the relics are kept. Since the essence of these saints or gods were often considered present at their shrines and in their relics, hallows came to refer to the saints or gods themselves, rather than just their relics or shrines. Hallow is not to be confused with hollow, such as in Godric's Hollow. The release of the title has resulted in considerable speculation as to its possible meanings.

Following the difficulties experienced by the book's translators in adapting the title to their own language, the Swedish interpreters announced that Rowling had offered the alternate title Harry Potter and the Relics of Death, which in Swedish is rendered as Harry Potter och dödsrelikerna.

Unresolved plot elements from previous books

• Harry will return to the home of his Muggle (non-magical) relatives, the Dursleys (whose cooperation has been requested by Albus Dumbledore), during the school holiday. The magical protection Dumbledore arranged, which requires Harry to have a home with them, is set to expire on his upcoming birthday, when he comes of age.Template:HBP

• Harry comes of age (for wizards) when he turns 17 on July 31, and is then allowed to perform magic outside of school and to obtain a license to Apparate. His friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, and many of his classmates, already turned 17 during the sixth year, and Neville Longbottom turns 17 on July 30 - the day before Harry does.

• Harry plans to visit the remains of his parents' home in Godric's Hollow. Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger plan on accompanying him on this trip.Template:HBP

• Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour plan on getting married in August. Several of the main characters have been invited.Template:HBP

• It is unclear what will happen to Hogwarts after the attack on the school at the end of Half-Blood Prince, but Harry has said he will leave school to continue his battle against Voldemort. If the school reopens, replacements will be required for Severus Snape (Defence Against the Dark Arts instructor and head of Slytherin house) and possibly Minerva McGonagall (Transfiguration instructor, head of Gryffindor house and deputy Headmistress) in the event that she becomes Headmistress.Template:HBP Template:HBP

• Harry must destroy all of Voldemort's remaining Horcruxes before Voldemort can be defeated. Dumbledore believed there were six, and that two so far have been destroyed (the Gaunt ring and Riddle's diary).Template:HBP

• There is no explanation at the end of Half-Blood Prince as to the true identity of the mysterious "R.A.B.", who claimed to have stolen one of Voldemort's Horcruxes, a locket, with the intent to destroy it, while replacing it with a fake locket, later recovered by Harry and Dumbledore.Template:HBP The most likely candidate is Regulus Black, whom Rowling said was "a fine guess" for R.A.B.'s identity in an interview. This theory is supported by the fact that in translations of R.A.B., the third initial is altered to correspond with the initial letter of the word Black in that language. Additionally, when cleaning out the cupboards in 12 Grimmauld Place, Harry and the others found a heavy locket that they were unable to open. This may have been part of Mundungus' collection of stolen items from Grimmauld Place that he has passed on elsewhere.Template:HP5

• Because Harry convinced Remus Lupin and Sirius Black to spare Peter Pettigrew's life in book 3, Pettigrew owes Harry a life debt.Template:HP3 There was no indication in books 3-6 that this debt had been repaid.

• Snape's loyalties remain in doubt. Although he supposedly kills Dumbledore in the Half-Blood Prince, it is not known whether this furthered a plan of Voldemort's or Dumbledore's. Snape owes a life debt to Harry's father, James, and has saved Harry's life twice. The question of whether Snape is good or evil has also been presented as a major marketing element for the book, with competing posters proclaiming him as either a hero or a villain.

Information from Rowling

• Rowling drafted the last chapter of the book several years ago, to give her an ending to work up to. The last word of the last chapter of the book was said to be scar, according to Rowling in a 1999 interview . She also suggested the last chapter and last word could change. This last chapter contains details of what happens to each surviving character:

  This is the thing that I was very dubious about showing you... this is the final chapter of book seven. This is really where I wrap everything up, it's the epilogue. And I basically say what happens to everyone after they leave school - those who survive - because there are deaths - more deaths coming. It was a way of saying to myself, 'Well, you will get it, you will get to book seven one day. And then you'll need this!' So I'd just like to remind all the children I know who come around my house and start sneaking into cupboards that it's not there anymore - I don't keep it at home anymore for very, very, very obvious reasons. So there it is.

• Rowling has stated that there will be no Quidditch matches in Deathly Hallows.

• J. K. Rowling said in 2001 that Harry might get another pet at some point. Although Buckbeak may have filled this role (Harry obtained possession of the Hippogriff after the death of Sirius Black, albeit under Hagrid's care), she also hinted that Fawkes, Dumbledore's phoenix, might have another role.

• We will learn something very important about Lily:

Now, the important thing about Harry's mother - the really, really significant thing - you're going to find out in two parts. You'll find out a lot more about her in book five, or you'll find out something very significant about her in book five, and you'll find out something incredibly important about her in book seven." – J. K. Rowling

• Rowling has long said that the fact that Harry's eyes resemble his mother's is "very important."

• Severus Snape has been an important and enigmatic character throughout the books, as his true loyalty has always remained unclear. It is to be anticipated that as a surviving major character, his loyalty will be settled in the final confrontation of the book.

Questioner: There’s an important kind of redemptive pattern to Snape.

Rowling: He, um, there’s so much I wish I could say to you, and I can't because it would ruin. I promise you, whoever asked that question, can I just say to you that I'm slightly stunned that you've said that and you'll find out why I'm so stunned if you read Book Seven. That's all I’m going to say.

• She has stated we will learn more about Peter Pettigrew and Dumbledore and their respective families.

• At the Edinburgh book festival, Rowling mentioned that something more would be revealed about Petunia Dursley. Nothing of note occurred in book 6, so this remains to be discovered.

"..there is a little bit more to Aunt Petunia than meets the eye...She is not a squib, although that is a very good guess. Oh, I am giving a lot away here. I am being shockingly indiscreet."

Rowling repeated this comment at the Radio City charity reading in August 2006. She clarified by stating that Aunt Petunia will not perform magic.

• Rowling has said that some non-magical character will perform magic late in life under desperate circumstances. However, Petunia will not be the one to perform magic (see above).

• Also at Edinburgh, Rita Skeeter was mentioned: "She is loathsome . . . but I can't help admiring her toughness. . . . There is more to come on Rita"

• On Dolores Umbridge, "It's too much fun to torture her not to have another little bit more before I finish"

• Rowling has said that Ginny Weasley is quite powerful, that we have seen a taste of that in the past, and we will see it again.

• Viktor Krum is set for a reappearance.

• Kreacher, the former Black Family house elf which passed to Harry's ownership with the death of Sirius Black, may make an appearance. Rowling told the filmmakers of Order of the Phoenix to include the character in the movie, because he is "very important."

• The two-way mirror given to Harry by Sirius Black and his flying motorbike will return. In fact, Rowling has mentioned in one of her FAQs that the two way mirror "will help more than you think." Rowling refused to comment whether Sirius himself might in some way reappear, but she has also said that there was a reason why he had to die.

• Arthur Weasley's flying car, which was last seen in the Hogwarts forest,Template:HP2 will reappear.

• Rowling refused to comment when asked whether the locked door in the Department of Mysteries in the Ministry of Magic would feature in the final book.

• Dumbledore was said to have a "gleam of triumph" in his eyes when told that Voldemort had restored his body using Harry's blood, at the end of Goblet of Fire (Ch. 36). Rowling has confirmed that this is "still enormously significant".

• Rowling revealed in a 1999 interview that one of Harry's classmates, though not Harry himself, will become a Hogwarts teacher. When asked, Rowling also ruled out Ron. This implies that Hogwarts will re-open at some point.

• In an interview after the completion of the Prisoner of Azkaban film, she commented that director Alfonso Cuarón had "put things in the film that, without knowing it, foreshadow things that are going to happen in the final two books. So I really got goosebumps when I saw a couple of those things, and I thought people are going to look back on the film and think those were put in deliberately as clues."

• There are indications that at least two of the main characters will die. In a June 2006 interview about the previously-written ending, Rowling stated that:

"One character got a reprieve, but I have to say two die that I didn't intend to die...A price has to be paid. We are dealing with pure evil...They go for the main characters...well, I do".

• When further questioned in June 2006 about authors who kill off their main characters, Rowling said "I can completely understand, however, the mentality of an author who thinks, well, I'm going to kill them off because that means there can be no non-author-written sequels".

• Rowling clarified that "Dumbledore is definitely dead", when asked by Salman Rushdie and others at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Rowling answered the same question three times, each time with increasing conviction. However, on the set of the Order of the Phoenix film, she remarked; "Dumbledore's giving me a lot of trouble". When asked "But isn't he dead?" by Daniel Radcliffe, she explained; "Well, yeah, but it's more complex ...."

• When asked what questions she should have been asked, she admitted that "the final book contains a couple of pieces of information that I don't think you could guess at", and declined to explain further. On 13 September, 2006 she updated her website saying that when she was asked that question, her mind went blank. Since she couldn't make amends, she created a NAQ section of her website, in tribute to the girl who asked the question. In her NAQ section, she states:

"Why did Dumbledore have James' invisibility cloak at the time of James' death, given that Dumbledore could make himself invisible without a cloak?"

On 29 September 2006, she revealed that Severus Snape was not under the cloak the night of the Potters' death in the Rumours Section.

• Asked which five of her characters she would like to invite to dinner, she chose Harry, Hermione and Ron, but then hesitated before choosing her last characters, saying "See... I know who's actually dead," unsure whether she was permitted to invite those who are 'dead'.

• Lord Voldemort was voted best villain at the Big Bad Read poll. Responding to the news Rowling commented:

"I hope those of you who voted for him in the big bad read enjoy reading about him in book seven, where he finally gets the leg room for which he has been aching all those years in exile."

• The remaining Horcruxes (According to Dumbledore's theory) that Harry needs to find are: an item from either Gryffindor or Ravenclaw (since Voldemort was still attached to Hogwarts), a locket of Slytherin (which Harry thought he found), a gold cup of Hufflepuff, and also Nagini, Lord Voldemort's snake.
• Ginny and Harry were together until Harry did not want anyone else dear to him dead. There has been strong fan belief that in this book something will happen between Ginny and Harry.

After Deathly Hallows

As of 2007, Rowling has been working on the Harry Potter stories for 17 years.

• In a 2000 interview through Scholastic, Rowling stated that there isn't a university after Hogwarts and that she did not plan on further Harry Potter books:

Q: Do you think that you will write about Harry after he graduates from Hogwarts? Isn't there a University of Wizardry?

A: No, there's no University for Wizards. At the moment I'm only planning to write seven Harry Potter books. I won't say "never," but I have no plans to write an eighth book.

• When asked about other books similar to Quidditch Through the Ages and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, she has said that she would consider writing them at some point and that they would also be written for charity. She also mentions writing an encyclopedia-style tome containing information that never made it to the books, also for charitable purposes.".

• Shortly before the release of book 5, in an interview for the BBC, she was asked about Harry's future by Jeremy Paxman:

Jeremy Paxman: So you know what is going to become of all the major characters over the span of the series?

J.K. Rowling: Yeah..yeah.

Jeremy Paxman: Why stop when they grow up? Might be interesting to know what becomes of Harry as an adult.

J.K. Rowling: How do you know he'll still be alive?

Jeremy Paxman: Oh. At the end of book seven?

J.K. Rowling: It would be one way to kill off the merchandising though I'll tell you one of the Gryffindor students dies not counting any of the big 3.

• Rowling issued the following statement about finishing the final book on her website:

I always knew that Harry's story would end with the seventh book, but saying goodbye has been just as hard as I always knew it would be. Even while I'm mourning, though, I feel an incredible sense of achievement. I can hardly believe that I've finally written the ending I've been planning for so many years. I've never felt such a mixture of extreme emotions in my life, never dreamed I could feel simultaneously heartbroken and euphoric.
Some of you have expressed a (much more muted!) mixture of happiness and sadness at the prospect of the last book being published, and that has meant more than I can tell you. If it comes as any consolation, I think that there will be plenty to continue arguing and speculating about, even after Deathly Hallows comes out.

Editions

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

• ISBN 0747591059 Hardcover
• ISBN 1551929767 Hardcover (adult edition)
• ISBN 0747591075 Hardcover (Special Edition)

Raincoast (Canada, etc.)

• ISBN 1551929767 Hardcover
• ISBN 1551929783 Hardcover (adult edition)

Scholastic (United States, etc.)

• ISBN 0545010225 Hardcover
• ISBN 0545029376 Deluxe Hardcover

External links

• Official sites:
  • J.K. Rowling's Official Website
• News sites:
  • CBBC Newsround reports on Harry Potter
• Fan sites:
  • Accio Quote!, collected statements by Rowling on the book
  • Continuing storylines from previous books from Harry Potter Lexicon
  • Issues unresolved at this point in the story from the Harry Potter Lexicon
  • Beyond Hogwarts, articles on aspects of Deathly Hallows (formerly known as DumbledoreIsNotDead.com)
  • Plot analysis for book 7 from Mugglenet
  • Information about Deathly Hallows from The Leaky Cauldron
  • Information about Deathly Hallows from Veritaserum
  • Speculations on possible plot lines in Deathly Hallows from book7.co.uk
  • News and rumours on Deathly Hallows from HPANA