Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Template:Current fiction 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. It was released on July 21, 2007 and chronicles the events directly following Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2005), leading to the long-awaited final struggle between Harry Potter and his allies, and the ever-more-powerful and influential Voldemort and his allies, the Death Eaters.

Deathly Hallows broke sales records becoming the fastest selling book ever, selling more than eleven 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.

Plot

Leaving the Dursleys

As Harry Potter's protection at the Dursleys' home will expire when he turns 17, the Order of the Phoenix decides to separately escort Harry and the Dursleys to safety. Despite using Harry impostors as decoys, the real Harry is identified and attacked by Voldemort and his Death Eaters. Harry and the others narrowly escape to The Burrow, but Hedwig and Mad-Eye Moody are killed.

A few days later, the Minister for Magic, Rufus Scrimgeour, arrives to give Harry, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger bequests from Albus Dumbledore's will: Ron is given Dumbledore's Deluminator, with the power to capture lights and locate a person's whereabouts; Hermione receives a book of children's stories written in Ancient Runes; Harry inherits Godric Gryffindor's sword and the Snitch he caught in his first ever Quidditch match. The Ministry withholds the sword, claiming it was never Dumbledore's.

Search for the Horcruxes

During Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour's wedding reception, Kingsley Shacklebolt's Patronus arrives announcing, "The Ministry has fallen. Scrimgeour is dead. They are coming." Death Eaters soon arrive. Harry, Ron, and Hermione escape and take refuge at the deserted Black family estate. While there, they discover that Sirius Black's brother, Regulus is the "R.A.B." who removed the locket Horcrux from the lake in the cave.Template:HP6 Learning that Dolores Umbridge now possesses it, they infiltrate the Ministry of Magic using Polyjuice Potion. They escape with the locket but are unable to destroy it.

After several months on the run, the trio overhears a conversation revealing that the Ministry secured the confiscated Gryffindor sword in Bellatrix Lestrange's Gringotts' vault. But the Ministry is unaware that this sword is only a replica; the real sword's location is unknown. When Harry learns that Dumbledore eliminated a Horcrux with the real sword, he wants to search for it to destroy the remaining Horcruxes. Ron, fearing for his family's safety and angry that Harry has no real plan for finding either the sword or the Horcruxes, decides to leave. Harry and Hermione go to Godric's Hollow, hoping that Dumbledore hid the sword there. However, they are ambushed by Voldemort and his snake Nagini. During their escape, Hermione accidentally breaks Harry's wand.

One night, an unknown doe Patronus appears near their camp and leads Harry to Gryffindor's real sword. As Harry tries to retrieve the sword from an icy pond, the locket Horcrux tightens around his neck, strangling him. Ron, who suddenly returns, rescues Harry and destroys the Horcrux with the sword. Although Hermione is angry at Ron for leaving, he provides useful information and tells them that Voldemort's name is jinxed; if anyone utters it, Death Eaters are summoned immediately.

The Deathly Hallows

The trio go to Xenophilius Lovegood, Luna's father, and ask him about a symbol they have encountered several times. He tells them it represents the Deathly Hallows, three legendary objects that conquer death: the Elder Wand, Resurrection Stone, and Invisibility Cloak. Harry is convinced that his Invisibility Cloak is one of the hallows. Xenophilius betrays them to the Ministry, hoping to secure the release of Luna (who was captured by the Death Eaters), but they escape.

"Snatchers" capture the trio at their camp after Harry accidentally speaks Voldemort's name. They are imprisoned at Malfoy Manor, the new Death Eater headquarters. Finding the sword among the trio's possessions, Bellatrix Lestrange fears they have broken into her vault at Gringrotts. Dobby arrives to free the prisoners, but they are discovered by Peter Pettigrew. Pettigrew repays his life debt to Harry, but he is murdered by his own silver hand in retribution. In the escape, Harry captures both Bellatrix's and Draco Malfoy's wands, but Bellatrix kills Dobby. The trio break into Gringotts, with help from the goblin, Griphook. They retrieve the Cup Horcrux, but lose the sword. They release a guard dragon and jump on its back, barely escaping. Voldemort now realises that the Horcruxes are being destroyed, and Harry's mental link to the Dark Lord reveals that one is hidden at Hogwarts.

The Battle of Hogwarts

Dumbledore's brother, Aberforth, helps the trio to enter Hogwarts. They alert the staff to Voldemort's impending arrival. Order of the Phoenix members arrive as Voldemort's forces attack Hogwarts; Fred Weasley is an early casualty, and at least 54 die defending Hogwarts, including Remus Lupin, Tonks, and Colin Creevey. Harry learns that Ravenclaw's Diadem is a Horcrux and realises it is in the Room of Requirement. Meanwhile, Ron and Hermione enter the Chamber of Secrets and retrieve basilisk fangs, with which Hermione destroys Hufflepuff's Cup. In the Room of Requirement, the three are assaulted by Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle. Crabbe mishandles the powerful Fiendfyre spell, killing himself and inadvertently destroying the Diadem.

Harry has another vision and goes to the Shrieking Shack. He witnesses Voldemort ordering Nagini to kill Snape. Voldemort believes that Snape became the Elder Wand's master when he killed its former owner, Dumbledore, and that with Snape's death, the wand's allegiance becomes his. Before dying, Snape gives Harry his memories. Using the Pensieve, Harry sees that Snape was always loyal to Dumbledore and protected him, motivated by his lifelong love of Lily Evans, Harry's mother. Dumbledore, doomed to die after being cursed by Gaunt's ring, had instructed Snape to kill him, if necessary, to spare Draco from fulfilling Voldemort's task. Snape sent the doe Patronus to lead Harry to Gryffindor's sword. Harry also discovers that he himself is a Horcrux; Voldemort cannot be killed while Harry lives.

Resigned to his fate, Harry goes alone to the Forbidden Forest where Voldemort awaits. Harry opens the Snitch he received from Dumbledore and finds the Resurrection Stone within. He summons the spirits of James and Lily Potter, Sirius Black, and Remus Lupin, who comfort him. He willingly allows Voldemort to strike him with the Avada Kedavra curse. Harry awakens in a place resembling King's Cross Station. Albus Dumbledore appears and explains that, just as Voldemort cannot die while his soul fragment remains in Harry, Harry cannot be killed while his blood lives in Voldemort's body. Dumbledore also explains that Voldemort's soul fragment within Harry was destroyed by the killing curse. Although Harry is not actually dead, he has the to choice to move on to the next world or return to the living.

Harry revives. While pretending to be dead, he is carried to Hogwarts as a trophy. As reinforcements charge in, Harry covers himself with the Invisibility Cloak while Neville pulls Gryffindor's sword from the Sorting Hat and beheads Nagini, destroying the final Horcrux. Molly Weasley kills Bellatrix Lestrange. Harry confronts Voldemort, realising that when Draco Malfoy disarmed Dumbledore, Draco unknowingly became the Elder Wand's master. When Harry later took Draco's own wand, the Elder Wand's allegiance passed to Harry. Voldemort casts Avada Kedavra, but the Elder Wand protects its master and the spell rebounds, killing Voldemort.

Shortly after the battle, Harry visits Dumbledore's portrait. He tells the professor that he will keep the Invisibility Cloak, but to prevent anyone from reuniting the Deathly Hallows, the Resurrection Stone will be left where it was dropped in the Forbidden Forest and the Elder Wand is to be returned to Dumbledore's tomb. As long as Harry remains undefeated, the Elder Wand's power will die with him.

Epilogue

In the epilogue Harry and Ginny are married, and they have three children: James, Albus Severus and Lily Potter. Ron and Hermione are also married and have two children named Rose and Hugo. The families are at King's Cross, where a nervous Albus Severus and Rose are departing for their first year at Hogwarts. James Potter is the oldest and already familiar with school. A 19-year-old Teddy Lupin is found kissing Victoire (Bill and Fleur's daughter) in a train compartment. The children cry in delight that they hope he will marry their cousin and he will "really be part of the family!" Harry comments his godson visits the Potter home four times a week for dinner. They see Draco Malfoy and his unnamed wife with their son Scorpius at the station; Malfoy acknowledges Harry by giving him a curt nod, then turns away. Harry tells Albus Severus, who does not want to be sorted into Slytherin, that Severus Snape, one of the two Hogwarts Headmasters he was named for, was "probably the bravest man I ever met." Neville is now the Hogwarts Herbology professor and is close friends with Harry. Harry's scar has not hurt "in nineteen years. All was well."

Further Epilogue-Related Information

Some further Epilogue-related information not given in the book, but later clarified by the author:

• Harry and Ron now work as Aurors for the newly revolutionized Ministry of Magic; Harry is the Department Head.
• Hermione works and "is very high up" in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.
• Luna Lovegood now travels the world as the magical equivalent of a naturalist, tracking down and discovering new magical creatures.
• There is a "completely new" headmaster at Hogwarts after the nineteen-year period, as well as a new DADA professor, who's job is now "as safe as the other teaching posts at Hogwarts."
• Although she said "no" at first, JKR said she started feeling a "bit of a pull" toward a Neville/Luna relationship. However, this was left unanswered intentionally because it felt "too neat."
• JKR did not say whether or not the trio returned to complete their seventh and final year at Hogwarts, but she says she can see harry turning up every now and then to give the "odd talk" for Defense Against the Dark Arts.

Unique elements

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is the only book of the series to have an epigraph and an epilogue. It is also the only Harry Potter book with quotations from the Bible. These are:

• "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Matthew 6:21. Attributed to Jesus.
• "The last enemy to be destroyed shall be death." I Corinthians 15:26. Attributed to the Apostle Paul.

Pre-release history

Rowling on finishing the book

Rowling is quoted as saying that she had written the last chapter of the book "in something like 1990". As of 1999, she revealed that the last word was to be "scar". But she noted that she constantly rewrote; in the event "scar" appeared in the last line of text, but was not last word. Rowling finished the book in February 2007, and 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."

Spoiler embargo

Rowling made a public request that anyone with advance 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 £10m 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. There was speculation that some shops would break the embargo and distribute copies of the book early, as the penalty imposed for previous installments — that the distributor would not be supplied with any further copies of the series — would no longer be a deterrent.

Online leaks

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 to the Internet 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. Scholastic described the content of the texts as "convincing" but refused to comment on their authenticity, noting only that several texts had conflicting content. This represented the most serious security breach in the Harry Potter series' history. Rowling and her lawyer admitted that there were genuine online leaks, but they did not specify which ones they were or if the whole book was available. She requested on her site that fans ignore the online leaks and that readers do not spoil the plot for those waiting for the release on Friday night. 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.

Early delivery

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 approximately 1 ten-thousandth (0.01%) of the U.S. supply had been shipped early--interpreted to mean about 1200 copies,--and 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 $250 from an initial price of $18.

Price wars

In the UK, supermarket chain Asda claimed that the retail price of the book (UK£17.99: equivalent to US$37 at the time of release) was "holding children to ransom". The publisher responded by threatening to withdraw Asda's supply of the book, claiming a previously unpaid debt. Asda issued an apology and settled the debt, and its supply of the book was restored.

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 UK£5.00 a copy (equivalent to US$10.28 at the time of release). Tesco also lowered its price to UK£5.00, but only if customers spent another UK£50.00 in store (Asda did not impose this restriction). Morrisons lowered its price to UK£4.99; the cheapest retail price in the UK, although cash & carry chain Costco offered the book for UK£4.98.

At these prices the book is a loss leader, with the supermarkets taking a loss of just over UK£3.00 on every copy sold, but attracting large numbers of customers to their stores. This caused uproar from traditional UK booksellers who argued they had no hope of competing in those conditions . Independent shops protested loudest, but even Waterstone’s, the UK's largest dedicated chain bookstore, could not compete with the supermarket price. Some small bookstores hit back by buying their stock from the supermarkets rather than their wholesalers. Asda tried to counter this by imposing a limit of two copies per customer to prevent bulk-buying. Philip Wicks, a spokesman for the UK Booksellers Association, said: 'It is a war we can't even participate in. We think it's a crying shame that the supermarkets have decided to treat it as a loss-leader, like a can of baked beans." Michael Norris, an analyst at Simba Information, said: "You are not only lowering the price of the book. At this point, you are lowering the value of reading."

In Malaysia, a similar price war brought about controversy regarding sales of the book. Four of the biggest bookstore chains in Malaysia, MPH Bookstores, Popular Bookstores, Times and Harris, decided to pull Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows off their shelves as a protest against Tesco and Carrefour hypermarkets. The retail price of the book in Malaysia is MYR 109.90 (about GBP 16.05), while the hypermarkets Tesco and Carrefour sell the book at MYR 69.90 (about GBP 10). The move by the bookstores was seen as an attempt to pressure the distributor Penguin Books to remove the books from the hypermarkets.. However,as of 24 July 2007, the price war has ended, with the 4 bookstores involved resume selling the books in their stores.

Madeleine McCann appeal

There was a plan to include with each copy of Deathly Hallows a bookmark bearing the face of Madeleine McCann, a British toddler who went missing in Portugal in May 2007 and whose case has been highly publicised in the months since. The plan was shelved because the publishers decided it would be irresponsible to expose younger readers to the story of Madeleine's disappearance.

However, J. K. Rowling arranged with her publishers for a poster bearing Madeleine's face to be made available to book sellers at the launch of Deathly Hallows and said that she hoped that the posters would be displayed prominently in shops all over the world.

Sabbath controversy in Israel

The book's early Saturday morning release in Israel was criticized for violating the Sabbath. Trade and Industry Minister Eli Yishai commented that "It is forbidden, according to Jewish values and Jewish culture, that a thing like this should take place at 2 a.m. on Saturday. Let them do it on another day." Yishai indicated that he would issue indictments and fines based on the Hours of Work and Rest Law.

Sales

On 21 July 2007, all English language editions, except for the American and Canadian editions, were released at one minute past midnight (00:01) BST; the American and Canadian editions were released at one minute past midnight (00:01), local time. It was released globally in 93 countries. The book reached the top spot on both the Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble best-seller lists just a few hours after the date of publication was announced on 1 February 2007. In July 2007 the U.K. newspaper the Daily Telegraph reported that it had been bought by more than 10% of the British population in the 5 days since its release.

Retailers such as Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, and Borders reported that more orders had been placed for this book than for any other in history, with Amazon.com stating that advance orders of the book reached 2.2 million worldwide, breaking the record set by the sixth book of 1.5 million. Scholastic announced an unprecedented initial print run of 12 million copies.

On the book's first day of sales, it sold 11 million copies in the UK and U.S., breaking the record of 9 million held by the sixth book. In the U.S., 8.3 million hardcovers were sold during the first 24 hours, breaking the record of 6.9 million set by the sixth book. In addition 400,000 copies were sold in Germany in the first 24 hours, all 250,000 copies made available in Holland and Belgium, and 100,000 in India, while in Canada over 800,000 copies wers sold in the first two days. Barnes & Noble reported all-time record sales of 1.8 million copies in the first two days, including 560,000 in the first hour - a rate of more than 150 copies per second. The audiobook broke records as well, with 225,000 copies sold in the first two days, according to Random House Audio's Listening Library. On 23 July 2007, the Associated Press reported that worldwide sales were at 72.1 million copies, though this is still unconfirmed.

During the run-up to the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Bloomsbury's stock lost more than £151m in value. Investors were reacting to the end of the publisher's key product. In the last financial year in which no Harry Potter book was released, Bloomsbury's profits dropped by 75%.

Critical reception

Reception of the book has been generally positive. On July 18, The Baltimore Sun published online the first review of the book. Mary Carole McCauley's review praised the entire Harry Potter 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, "[h]ow could it be otherwise?" An editor's note appended to the review said that the paper acquired a hardcopy of the book from "a relative of a Sun reporter", and that, "The Sun did not pay for the book."

Several hours later on July 18, The New York Times also posted a positive review of the book. Critic Michiko Kakutani, who purchased the book from a retail outlet in New York City, wrote "The world of Harry Potter is a place where the mundane and the marvelous, the ordinary and the surreal coexist...and people's lives are defined by love and loss and hope — the same way they are in our own mortal world."

On July 21, 2007, Los Angeles Times reviewer Mary McNamara wrote that the series ends with a "grand and glorious bang." McNamara notes that, in contrast to the religious-themed novels of C.S. Lewis, Rowling is sharing a "populist message: The real quest in life is ... personal transformation." McNamara sets out high praise for Rowling: "what Rowling has achieved ... [is] astonishing" and "the language and tone of the books have grown in sophistication and lyricism." The review concludes that Deathly Hallows is "an articulate, emotionally wrenching conclusion - that is a truly epic quest."

Reviewer Alice Fordham from the Times of London 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."

Chicago Tribune reviewer Julia Keller reflects that "The 10-year arc of the Potter series encompasses a momentous time in world history," and suggests that the book addresses "entertaining profound questions: Why is the world unjust? Why do our friends disappoint us? Why must the good die and the evil sometimes prosper?" She goes on to describe a central conversation towards the end of the book as "so majestic in the sweep of its wisdom, so achingly sad but acutely true, that it nearly levitates from prose into poetry."

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 realized 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 [the ending] feels, not just inevitable, but hollow."

Translations

Main article: Harry Potter in translation

Following a pre-release question from the Swedish publisher about the difficulty of translating 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.

Translation of the book is underway in a range of languages, such as Vietnamese (tentatively titled Harry Potter và tử thần tích expected to be released in mid-October, 2007), French (as Harry Potter et les reliques de la mort with an expected release date of October 26, 2007) and German (Harry Potter und die Heiligtümer des Todes, October 27, 2007).

Editions

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

• ISBN 0747591059 Hardcover
• ISBN 0747591075 Hardcover (special edition)

Raincoast (Canada, etc. - Same as Bloomsbury editions)

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

Scholastic (United States, etc.)

• ISBN 0545010225 Hardcover
• ISBN 0545029376 Deluxe Hardcover

See also

• Horcrux
• Unforgivable Curses
• List of deaths in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

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