The Underground Lake #40: The Deathly Hallows Underground Theory

by Brandon

Let me preface this entry by saying that the reason it has been so long since you all heard from me is that I had to stop writing this entry to do a complete reread of the series. When I was younger, this was an easy feat as I really had nothing better to do. Now, I am 21. I’ve had school. I have my plays, and my writing. I therefore apologize for it being so long since I submitted an entry. But I think when you read this one, you’’ll appreciate the wait.

In murder mysteries, which I love, there comes a moment right before the denouement (that’s the part where they reveal who did it) where the last victim dies but his or her death leaves the one last clue left to figure out the mystery. Upon seeing the dead body, the detective (because there’s always a detective) says, “very well, I know who did it.” And that kicks us right into the resolution where he or she goes over all the clues so that the assembled party (as well as the reader) knows all the events that led us up to this moment before the killer is unmasked.

We have now been through six books of the Harry Potter saga. After having taken some time to do a complete reread of the series, a thought struck me: we are there! It is time to reveal who did it. Book seven is the denouement. Like it or not, I believe we know everything we need to know to figure out how this tale is going to conclude. I, therefore, submit for your entertainment and consideration: UNDERGROUND THEORY.

THE MISSION STATEMENT

Over the past two years, The Underground Lake has had several different missions. When the series debuted in 2004, it was to unravel the mysteries of books one through five. Then as we received clues about the new book (the title, the three chapter titles, the quote, and the cover), the focus became an in-depth mystery-cracking of book six. After the debut of book six, the focus shifted to an analysis of key events and revelations of book six. Now, we are in limbo. We cannot at this juncture glean a new focus as we have received very little information as to what we can look forward to in the final book.

Then one day as I was preparing my roster of new editorials to excite the mind and boggle the senses, it suddenly hit me: WE KNOW EVERYTHING! As I said above, the past six books have been slowly feeding us information, bits and pieces of seemingly unrelated events that fit together to make a puzzle.

I began this entry months ago as I began my reread of the series. Then, a bombshell exploded. Scholastic and Bloomsbury released the book covers for Deathly Hallows. We had even more clues!!!

AND NOW FOR THE BIGGIE

I’’m sure you were all as shocked as I was when I didn’’t weigh in immediately on the release of the title of book seven. Hardcore editorialists will recall that I was the first person to weigh in on the title of book six in an editorial (I didn’’t even have a column yet, but that didn’’t stop me from furiously submitting an editorial!). The reason I have waited so long as I said above was that I wanted to reread books one through six to see if I could glean some information about the title. So I bet you’’re all wondering what I think of the title.

Well sadly, I think of all the pressing HP mysteries, this one is the simplest. Deathly Hallows is and must be the world inside the veil. Only the Horcrux has caused more mystery than the veil in the world of HP. The veil is quite enigmatic. Twice previously, I have weighed in on the veil in my two-part “Mysteries Unveiled” articles (here and here). Here are the fine points that I still agree with:

My theory is that the “jet of green light” hits you and forcibly extracts your “life essence.” [We can now swap ‘soul’ for ‘life essence’.]

—A place needed to be made to house all these unnaturally ejected life essences. Cue the veil. It is my opinion that when a living creature is hit with Avada Kedavra, their life essence is ejected from their body and travels from it into the veil.

—I think that when one dies and enters into the veil, they are in “the beyond.” The “beyond” is what is on the other side of the veil. The rules of time and space no longer apply. I believe these life essences have the ability to transcend the rules of our world and see the future and the past, but they cannot interfere with our world.

—But what if someone possessed the ability to tap into the beyond…a Seer perhaps? Suppose people possessed of the Inner Eye have the ability to channel these life essences. Or suppose these life essences have the ability to forcibly inhabit these Seers.

I believe this realm of “the beyond” is the Deathly Hallows.

Checking the old dictionary, it strikes me as interesting that “hallow” does not mean a place; it means to set apart as holy. The word “hollow,” a very similar word often confused with “hallow” and evoking Godric’s Hollow, means “a void or emptiness.” So we have a holy void of death. See? Simple. If we look at the book cover (U.S. not U.K.), that’s where I think we are. Those figures in the background are the life essences of all the victims of Avada Kedavra.

RAISE THE STAKES

Here’’s the deal. We are at the last book. The stakes have been raised. Now we are truly in life or death mode. I believe in this book the fates of all rest with Harry. But in order for Harry to do anything, he’s got to know what Voldy is up to. See, Harry has a goal: destroy the Horcruxes. But after he finds and destroys them, he’s still got to find Voldy. And the problem is while Harry is going cuckoo bananas (I just discovered Degrassi, hence why this took so long) trying to hunt down and destroy all the Horcruxes, Voldy has his plan baking and simmering. The trouble is, what is the plan?

For months I have been trying to figure out his plan. Every evil genius HAS to have a plan. The goal is the easy thing: take over the world, destroy the world, or whatever. But the plan is the hard part. Voldemort had been gone for most of book five and all of book six and we have no idea what he was up to aside from the occasional mayhem. Ooh, he destroyed a bridge. Ooh, he killed a few people. Lame! He’’s got to be up to something huge for the last book. The stakes have to be raised. Now of course the immediate goal was to get rid of Dumbledore. Check that one off the list. No one is in his way now. So he could just gather all the Death Eaters and invade Poland like a good dictator, or he could try to find a way to take over the entire world in one swift stroke.

Here’’s my whacked out theory. Voldemort wishes to never die. What if the reason the book is called Deathly Hallows is because Voldemort intends to do something to the Deathly Hallows? What if he plans to bridge the two dimensions, making it so there is no separation between the living and the dead? What if he has been gone for so long because he has been devising a way to conquer the Deathly Hallows and rule both the world of the living and the world of the dead? If he could somehow find a way to control both realms, he’d be more than immortal. He’d be a god. The power to give life and take it away.

Let me break it down. First let’s look, from his return in Goblet of Fire, to some rather curious phrasing:

“I was less than a spirit, less than the meanest ghost…but still I was alive. What I was, even I do not know…I, who have gone further than anybody along the path that leads to immortality. You know my goal—to conquer death. And now I was tested, and it appeared that one or more of my experiments had worked…for I had not been killed,though the curse should have done it…I remember forcing myself, sleeplessly, endlessly, second by second, to exist.

This last bit is crucial. Thanks to his Horcruxes, we know that he was able to stay here in this realm through sheer force of will. But what is intriguing is the fact that Horcruxes alone apparently don’t do the trick. One must also possess the will to remain. The other bit that was intriguing was possession. In GoF, he mentions that the only power that remained was the power to possess others. This is also evident when the diary Horcrux in book two possesses Ginny. Suppose, going back to “Mysteries Unveiled” (see above), that the life essence/soul can inhabit more than just Seers. What if they (or more specifically a bad dude like Voldy), if not in the veil, can inhabit anyone? Think of the ramifications. Should Voldemort find some way to merge the two worlds AND control the life essences, he could give life to the lifeless and in turn kill the living and replace them with the dead. He alone would have the key (which is what he has been up to) to control both worlds. Perhaps the key lies in the Spine Power Position of the U.K. edition of Deathly Hallows.

That’’s one theory. I sincerely hope you all don’’t think, “that’’s it!” But, that’’s it. I’’m probably so far off base it’s not funny. But here are the key points. Deathly Hallows is inside the veil. Voldy and Harry will somehow venture inside the veil. Whether that means Harry rage-tackles him into it, or Voldemort somehow merges the two worlds together I don’’t know. All I know is, we’’re going to see Voldemort out in the open for once.

Until next time, the wheels are in motion.