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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

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Template:HPBooks 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 21 July 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.[1] The Deathly Hallows has also been translated into numerous languages, including Ukrainian,[2] Swedish,[3] Polish[4] and Hindi.[5]

Pre-release history

Further information: Harry Potter fandom

Choice of title

Shortly before releasing the title, J. K. Rowling announced that she had considered three titles for the book.[6][7] The final title, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was released to the public on 21 December 2006 via a special Christmas-themed hangman puzzle on Rowling's website, confirmed shortly afterwards by the book's publishers.[8] 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.[6]

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:[9]
  1. Who will live? Who will die?
  2. Is Snape good or evil?
  3. Will Hogwarts reopen?
  4. Who ends up with whom?
  5. Where are the Horcruxes?
  6. Will Voldemort be defeated?
  7. 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.[10] Rowling toured the USA in October 2007, where another event was held at Carnegie Hall in New York with tickets allocated by sweepstake.[11]

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.[12]

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 20 July 2007. The festivities included 20 feet (6 m) high Whomping Willow, face-painting, wand-making, fire-eaters, magicians, jugglers and stilt-walkers.[13]

J. K. Rowling arranged with her publishers for a poster bearing the face of the missing British child Madeleine McCann to be made available to book sellers when Deathly Hallows was launched on 21 July 2007 and said that she hoped that the posters would be displayed prominently in shops all over the world.[14]

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".[15] 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."[16]

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."[17] 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."[18] 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.[19]

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.[20] To this end, Bloomsbury invested GB£10 million in an attempt to keep the book's contents secure until the 21 July release date.[21] 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.[22][23]

Online leaks and early delivery

In the week before its release, a number of texts purporting to be genuine leaks appeared in various forms. On 16 July, 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.[24][25][26][27] The photographs later appeared on websites and peer-to-peer networks, leading Scholastic to seek a subpoena in order to identify one source.[28] This represented the most serious security breach in the Harry Potter series' history.[29] Rowling and her lawyer admitted that there were genuine online leaks.[30] Reviews published in both The Baltimore Sun and The New York Times on 18 July 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.[29]

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.[31] However, the following day Scholastic announced that it would be launching legal action against DeepDiscount.com and its distributor, Levy Home Entertainment.[32] 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."[33] 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.[34]

Price wars and other controversies

ASDA,[35] 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 a copy (about US$10). Other retail chains also offered the book at discounted prices.[36]

In Malaysia, a similar price war brought about controversy regarding sales of the book.[37] 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 GB£16), while the hypermarkets Tesco and Carrefour sold the book at MYR 69.90 (about GB£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 four bookstores involved resuming selling the books in their stores with discount. Penguin Books has also confirmed that Tesco and Carrefour are selling the book at a loss, urging them to practice good business sense and fair trade.[38]

The book's early Saturday morning release in Israel was criticised for violating the Sabbath. Trade and Industry Minister Eli Yishai commented "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."[39] Yishai indicated that he would issue indictments and fines based on the Hours of Work and Rest Law.[40]

Dedication and epigraph

On the page, the unusual layout of the dedication resembles the shape of Harry's scar. It 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".

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.[41] The second quotation is from More Fruits of Solitude (1682) by William Penn, the Quaker author and founder of the American Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.[42]

Plot

Harry Potter is at the Dursleys for the final time, as he is still safe there until his seventeenth birthday. The Order of the Phoenix attempts to move Harry just prior to his birthday, but they are ambushed by Death Eaters. Because the Order of the Phoenix used Polyjuice Potion to create duplicate "Harrys", Harry survives unharmed. During the battle, Harry's wand, seemingly of its own accord, countercurses Voldemort when Harry is attacked.

Minister of Magic Rufus Scrimgeour arrives at The Burrow to give Harry, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger bequests from Albus Dumbledore's will. Ron receives the Deluminator, Hermione gets a children's book, The Tales of Beedle the Bard, and Harry inherits Godric Gryffindor's Sword and a Snitch, bearing the mysterious phrase "I open at the close". The Ministry kept the sword, however.

At Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour's wedding reception, Harry hears a snippet of a Rita Skeeter story alleging a youthful relationship between Dumbledore and the evil wizard Gellert Grindelwald. Later, a Patronus conjured by Kingsley Shacklebolt arrives, announcing that the Ministry of Magic has fallen under Voldemort's control, and that Death Eaters are on their way to The Burrow at that moment. As the wedding dissolves into chaos, Harry, Ron, and Hermione disapparate to Tottenham Court Road, where they hide in an empty cafe to plan their next move. Death Eaters find them there and they narrowly escape. They eventually take refuge in 12 Grimmauld Place.

Harry deduces that Sirius Black's brother Regulus was the "R.A.B" who removed the Locket Horcrux from the sea cave.Template:HP6 Hermione recalls seeing such a locket whilst cleaning the house.Template:HP5 They discover that the house-elf Kreacher had stolen the locket from the items to be thrown out, but that Mundungus Fletcher had stolen it from Kreacher. Mundungus says that the locket is now in Dolores Umbridge's possession. The trio successfully infiltrate the Ministry of Magic and steal the locket from Umbridge. However, they are forced to flee to the countryside with no means to destroy the Horcrux. Overhearing a discussion in the woods, the trio learn from Griphook the goblin that the Sword of Gryffindor at Hogwarts is a fake. Harry and Hermione realize that the real sword can destroy Horcruxes such as the locket, which is why Dumbledore attempted to leave it to Harry, but Ron abandons the other two and heads back to The Burrow.

Harry and Hermione decide to look for the sword in Godric's Hollow, Harry's birthplace as well as Gryffindor and Dumbledore's hometown. They find a grave for Ignotus Peverell with a symbol on it that was used by Grindelwald. Harry and Hermione are wordlessly beckoned by historian Bathilda Bagshot (who is also Grindelwald's aunt) into her nearby home, where she transforms into Nagini. Voldemort himself appears almost immediately. Hermione casts a Blasting Curse that ricochets, facilitating their escape but also damaging Harry's wand. Harry falls unconscious.

When he awakens, he and Hermione are in the Forest of Dean. Hermione had taken a copy of Rita Skeeter's book on Dumbledore from Bagshot's, and Harry reads the story about Dumbledore, Grindelwald, Dumbledore's brother Aberforth, and Dumbledore's damaged sister Ariana, which ended with Ariana's death under mysterious circumstances. At night, 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 strangles him. Ron, who had just returned using a secret power of the Deluminator, rescues him and recovers the sword. Harry directs him to destroy the Horcrux. Ron informs them that Voldemort's name is now Tabooed: speaking it reveals the speaker's location to the Death Eaters.

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

The trio decide to visit Xenophilius Lovegood to learn the meaning of the Peverell symbol, as they had seen Lovegood wear it to Bill and Fleur's wedding. Lovegood tells them that the symbol represents the three legendary Deathly Hallows -- the Elder Wand (the most powerful wand in the world), the Resurrection Stone (which can bring back an image of the dead), and the Invisibility Cloak (a true invisibility cloak that never wears out) -- and is discussed in a story in The Tales of Beedle the Bard. According to the story, three brothers each took respective "gifts" from Death. Lovegood tells them that "believers" in the story think that the three brothers were the three Peverell brothers. When Harry realizes that Luna is absent, Lovegood admits that Death Eaters abducted his daughter to force him to turn over Harry, should Harry contact him. The trio barely escapes.

Shortly thereafter, Harry deduces that the Hallows are real, that his Invisibility Cloak is the third Deathly Hallow, that the Resurrection Stone was the second Horcrux and is probably inside the Snitch,Template:HP6 and that Voldemort is pursuing the Elder Wand, which was Dumbledore's wand and is buried with him at Hogwarts. However, Harry then accidentally uses the name of Voldemort, and the trio are captured and taken to the cellar of Malfoy Manor. Finding Gryffindor's Sword among the trio's possessions, Bellatrix Lestrange fears they have broken into her Gringotts vault and tortures Hermione for information. Harry calls for help using a mirror piece, in which he sees an eye looking like Dumbledore's, and Dobby apparates into the cellar and rescues the other prisoners. Lucius Malfoy sends Wormtail to the cellar to check on the noise. As he enters, Harry and Ron attack him. Harry reminds Wormtail of his life debt.Template:HP3 Wormtail hesitates to attack Harry and is then fatally strangled by his own silver hand.Template:HP4 Harry and Ron rush upstairs to rescue Hermione; Ron disarms Bellatrix and Harry disarms Draco Malfoy and takes his wand. Dobby reappears and disapparates with them to Bill and Fleur's Shell Cottage, but he is struck by Bellatrix's knife during the escape and dies. The other prisoners, Luna, Dean, Mr Ollivander, and Griphook, are safe.

Harry now has to decide whether to chase Horcruxes or Hallows, knowing the location of both a Horcrux (in the Lestrange vault at Gringotts) and a Hallow (in Dumbledore's tomb). He chooses Horcruxes and talks to Griphook about breaking into Gringotts'. In return for his help, Griphook demands the goblin-made Sword of Griffindor. With regard to the Hallows, Ollivander explains that a wand will transfer its allegiance if its owner is defeated or disarmed. Ollivander adds a caveat: although the Elder Wand is unbeatable, its master is not. Aided by Griphook, Harry, Ron and Hermione penetrate Gringotts' defenses and retrieve Hufflepuff's Cup from the Lestrange vault, although they lose the sword to Griphook in the process and are unable to destroy the Horcrux. Meanwhile, Voldemort goes to Hogwarts and takes the Elder Wand from Dumbledore's tomb. He is informed of the theft of the cup and suddenly realises that his Horcruxes are being destroyed; through his mental connection to Harry, he inadvertantly reveals that a Horcrux is hidden at Hogwarts, but he decides to check on the locket first. Thus, the trio head to Hogsmeade to find a way into the school.

In Hogsmeade, Aberforth Dumbledore turns out to be the bartender at the Hog's Head Inn and also the eye in the mirror. He tells them the story of his family, which begins when Ariana was attacked and mentally damaged by a gang of Muggle boys when she was six. Their father went to prison for killing the boys, and Ariana's subsequent inability to control her magic caused her to kill her mother inadvertently, leaving the Dumbledore children as orphans, with Albus as the eldest. Albus and Grindelwald had become best friends and focused on finding the Deathly Hallows. Then, in a fight between the Dumbledore brothers over Ariana's care with Grindelwald present, Ariana was killed (apparently, although not for certain, by Grindelwald), which had caused a lifelong rift between the brothers. Harry tells Aberforth that Albus had never gotten over it and had begged to die in his sister's place during a hallucination just before his death, while chasing the Locket Horcrux.Template:HP6

Aberforth smuggles the trio into Hogwarts with the help of Neville Longbottom, who has assumed the mantle of leader of Dumbledore's Army at Hogwarts. Harry alerts everyone in Hogwarts of Voldemort's imminent arrival. Luna Lovegood suggests that the fifth Horcrux could be Ravenclaw's lost diadem. 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. Various allies of Harry gather in the school, Severus Snape (who had taken over as headmaster under Voldemort's rule) flees, and the Battle of Hogwarts commences between the Order of the Phoenix (and the Hogwarts faculty) and the Death Eaters (and the Ministry of Magic), with both sides joined by allies. Harry, Ron and Hermione enter the Room of Requirement to look for the diadem, but Draco Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle attack them there. Crabbe mishandles the powerful Fiendfyre spell, killing himself and destroying the diadem, but the others escape unharmed. They emerge into the battle, where an explosion rocks the corridor, shattering one wall and killing Fred Weasley instantly.

Dumbledore had figured out that the sixth Horcrux is the snake Nagini.Template:HP6 Harry catches a glimpse of Voldemort's mind again, leading the trio to the Shrieking Shack, where Voldemort is confronting Snape. Since Snape killed Dumbledore,Template:HP6 Voldemort kills Snape using Nagini, believing it will make him the Elder Wand's true master. After Voldemort leaves the Shack, Harry approaches the dying Snape and captures his last memories. He then takes these memories to the Pensieve and learns that Snape loved Harry's mother Lily since he was a boy, which is why his Patronus was the silver doe. The reason that his fifth-year confrontation with Harry's father and Sirius was Snape's worst memory was that Lily had heard Snape call her a "mudblood" and had refused to see him any longer, leading to her marriage to James Potter.Template:HP5 Snape had turned double agent to help Dumbledore in a bid to save Lily's life; Dumbledore commented that Snape's continuing bravery led him to believe that Hogwarts sorted too early. After being cursed by Gaunt's Ring Horcrux, a doomed Dumbledore had ordered Snape to kill him at a strategic time, to spare Draco from having to do so. Snape's memories also include Dumbledore's conclusion that Harry himself is yet another Horcrux. Voldemort's damaged soul had split again when he tried to kill Harry, which is why Harry had the psychic connection to Voldemort and could speak Parseltongue. Thus, Harry must die in order to destroy Voldemort.

Resigned to his death, Harry meets Neville Longbottom, whom he asks to kill Nagini if he gets the chance. Harry then realizes the meaning of the clue on the Snitch, says, "I am about to die", and retrieves the Resurrection Stone from inside it when it opens. He uses it to summons the spirits of his parents, Sirius Black and the recently killed Remus Lupin, who accompany him to Voldemort's camp. Voldemort then casts the Avada Kedavra curse at Harry, and Harry dies.

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 congratulates Harry on choosing to destroy Horcruxes instead of chasing the Hallows (as Dumbledore had done), especially because Harry had also faced his family's death. He explains that Voldemort's Horcrux within Harry has been destroyed, but just as Voldemort cannot die while his soul fragments remain alive, Voldemort cannot kill Harry because he used Harry's blood in his resurrection.Template:HP4 Harry glimpses a representation of Voldemort's true self: a weeping, deformed child whom Dumbledore describes as "beyond any of our help." Harry is then given the choice to die or to return to the battle, being advised that he now could possibly end it. He chooses to return.

Harry revives, but feigns death. No one notices, because Voldemort himself was also knocked unconscious by his killing curse, and the Death Eaters do not understand why. Voldemort orders Narcissa Malfoy to check Harry. Doing so, she realises that Harry is alive, and she asks him very quietly if her son Draco is still alive, to which Harry whispers yes. Narcissa, caring only about her son, lies to Voldemort, telling him that Harry is dead. Harry's body is carried to Hogwarts by the captured Hagrid as a trophy and is displayed to his agonised supporters gathered in the school entrance hall.

When Neville Longbottom defies an invitation from Voldemort to join the Death Eaters (due to his pureblood status), the Sorting Hat appears. As the centaurs then join the fight against the Death Eaters, Neville draws Gryffindor's Sword from the hat and decapitates Nagini with a single stroke, destroying Voldemort's final Horcrux. During the disturbance, Harry quickly hides under his Invisibility Cloak, and his supporters rally to defy Voldemort and the Death Eaters one more time. Reinforcements arrive in the form of the house-elves of Hogwarts, whipped into a fighting frenzy by Kreacher, who attack the Death Eaters with knives. Eventually, the battle deteriorates and Voldemort blasts his opponents off their feet. Harry then takes off the Invisibility Cloak to confront Voldemort for the last time. Harry informs Voldemort that, when Draco disarmed Dumbledore on the Astronomy Tower, he (and not Snape) unknowingly became the Elder Wand's master;Template:HP6 this allegiance was then transferred to Harry when he won Draco's wand at Malfoy Manor. As in their first duel,Template:HP4 Harry then casts Expelliarmus, while Voldemort casts Avada Kedavra. The Elder Wand's allegiance prevents it from harming Harry, and the Killing Curse rebounds off the disarming spell, killing Voldemort.

Harry slips away to the Headmaster's Office and is greeted by thunderous applause from the previous Headmasters' portraits. With the help of Dumbledore's portrait, Harry decides that the Elder Wand will be returned to Dumbledore's tomb, where its power will be extinguished if Harry dies undefeated, that the Stone will be left and forgotten in the Forbidden Forest, and that the Cloak will continue to be a Potter family heirloom, as Harry is the lineal descendant of Ignotus Peverell. Before returning the Elder Wand to the tomb, Harry uses its power to repair his own wand, which was thought to have been irreparably damaged.

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. The book ends with these final words: "The scar had not pained Harry for nineteen years. All was well."

Rowling's commentary and supplement

In an interview,[43] online chat,[6][44] 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. The first bits of information were about the trio and their families, starting with Harry.

She said that Harry became an Auror for the Ministry of Magic, and was later appointed head of the department. He also kept 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. She also said that Ginny Weasley played for the Holyhead Harpies Quidditch team for a time, then left to establish a family with Harry, and later became the lead Quidditch correspondent for the Daily Prophet. Ron Weasley worked at George's store for a time, Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, and then joined Harry as an Auror. Hermione found her parents in Australia, and removed the memory modification charm she had put on them for safety. Initially, she worked for the Ministry of Magic in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, greatly improving life for house elves. She later moved to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and assisted 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. Rowling then went on to explain that Dumbledore's relationship with Gellert Grindelwald extended beyond mere friendship; indeed, Rowling has revealed that "Dumbledore is gay, actually",[45] and harboured romantic feelings for Grindelwald.[46] Next, Rowling revealed the fate of Voldemort. After his death, he was forced to exist in the stunted form Harry witnessed in the King's Cross limbo, as his crimes were too severe for him to become a ghost.

Rowling also explained the fates of several secondary characters, starting with the Weasleys. George Weasley continued his successful joke shop. George married fellow Quidditch player Angelina Johnson and had two children: a son named Fred, in memory of his late twin brother, and a daughter, Roxanne. Next, Rowling proceeded to explain Luna Lovegood's future, saying that she searched the world for odd and unique creatures. She eventually married Rolf, a grandson of the famed naturalist Newt Scamander,[44] 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.

Rowling then gave briefer histories on some more of the minor characters, as follows. Draco Malfoy's wife, Astoria (or Asteria), was the younger sister of his Slytherin classmate Daphne Greengrass. Percy Weasley married a woman named Audrey and had two daughters, named Molly and Lucy. Firenze was welcomed back into his herd, who finally acknowledged the virtue of his pro-human leanings. Dolores Umbridge was arrested, interrogated, and imprisoned for crimes against Muggle-borns. Cho Chang went on to marry a Muggle.[47] Viktor Krum found love in his native Bulgaria.[48] Neville Longbottom became professor of Herbology at Hogwarts and married Hannah Abbott, who became the landlady of the Leaky Cauldron.[49] Bill and Fleur Weasley had a total of three children, a younger son named Louis, and two daughters, named Dominique and Victoire.

Rowling also revealed further transformations in the wider wizarding world as follows. Kingsley Shacklebolt became the permanent Minister of Magic, with Percy Weasley working under him as a high official. Among the reforms introduced by Shacklebolt, Azkaban no longer used Dementors. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were also instrumental in reforming the Ministry.[6] At Hogwarts, Slytherin House became more diluted and no longer held the title as the pure-blood bastion it once was, although its dark reputation lingered.[6] Voldemort's jinx on the Defence Against the Dark Arts position was broken with his death, and there was a permanent Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher stated. Harry also is said to come to the Defence Against the Dark Arts class to lecture several times a year.[43] Lastly, Rowling says that a portrait of Snape, who briefly served as Hogwarts Headmaster, had not appeared in the headmaster's office, as he had abandoned his post. Harry then ensures the addition of Snape's portrait, and publicly revealed Snape's true allegiance.[6]

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?"[50]

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."[51]

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."[52]

Stephen King criticised the reactions of some reviewers to the books, including McCauley, for jumping too quickly to surface conclusions of the work.[53] 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 achieved success and have become established classics, in part by appealing to the adult audience as well as children.

In the 12 August 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."[54]

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."[55]

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."[56][57]

Translations

Main article: Harry Potter in translation

Because of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows' worldwide fame, it has been translated into many languages. The first translation to be released was the Ukrainian translation, on 25 September 2007 (as Гаррі Поттер і смертельні реліквії).[2] The Swedish title of the book was revealed by Rowling as Harry Potter and the Relics of Death (Harry Potter och Dödsrelikerna), following a pre-release question from the Swedish publisher about the difficulty of translating the two words "Deathly Hallows" without having read the book.[3] The first Polish translation was released on 26 January 2008[4] with a new title: Harry Potter i Insygnia Śmierci - Harry Potter and the Insignia of Death.[58] The Hindi translation "Harry Potter aur Maut ke Tohfe" (हैरी पॉटर और मौत के तोहफे) translated as "Harry Potter and the Gifts of Death" was released by Manjul Publication in India on 27 June 2008.[5]

Film adaptations

Main: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (film)

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 19 November 2010, and Part II on 15 July 2011.[59][60] 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.[61] Filming begins in February 2009 and will last for a year.[62] John Williams, who composed the scores to the first three films, has expressed interest in returning to score the films.[63]

References

  1. ^ "Harry Potter finale sales hit 11m". BBC. 23 July 2007. Retrieved 2007-07-27.
  2. ^ a b "Ukrainian Potter comes first". Kyiv Post. 27 July 2007. Retrieved 2007-07-29.
  3. ^ a b "Släppdatum för sjunde Harry Potter-boken klar!". Tiden. Retrieved 2007-07-24.
  4. ^ a b "Translated Edition of Deathly Hallows Hits Stores in Poland". Leaky Cauldron website. 25 January 2008. Retrieved 2008-01-25.
  5. ^ a b "Harry Potter aur Maut Ke Tohfe - Hindi Version of the Deathly Hallows". Indore City Portal. Retrieved 2008-07-04.
  6. ^ a b c d e f "Webchat with J.K. Rowling, 30 July 2007". Bloomsbury Publishing. Retrieved 2007-07-31. Cite error: The named reference "webchat" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  7. ^ "J.K.Rowling Official Site". News Archive. Retrieved 2007-04-23.
  8. ^ "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows". Bloomsbury Publishing. 2006-12-21. Retrieved 2006-12-21.
  9. ^ "Harry Potter: Shrieking Shack Poll". Scholastic. Retrieved 2007-08-18.
  10. ^ "Harry Potter". Scholastic. Retrieved 2007-05-25.
  11. ^ "The Open Book Tour, October 2007". J.K.Rowling Official Site. 14 July 2007. Retrieved 2007-07-14.
  12. ^ "Scholastic announces record breaking 12 million first printing in United States of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows". Scholastic. 14 March 2007. Retrieved 2007-07-09.
  13. ^ "Scholastic to Host 'Harry Potter Place'". Scholastic. 2007-06-26. Retrieved 2007-06-26.
  14. ^ "Rowling in Madeleine poster plea". BBC News. 2007-07-16. Retrieved 2007-07-17. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  15. ^ Cornwell, Tim (2007-02-03). "Finish or bust  — J. K. Rowling's unlikely message in an Edinburgh hotel room". The Scotsman. Retrieved 2007-03-29.
  16. ^ "Rowling reacts to Potter's end". USA Today. Associated Press. 2007-02-06. Retrieved 2007-07-21.
  17. ^ "One-on-one interview with J.K. Rowling" (reprint). ITV. 2005-07-17. Retrieved 2007-06-16.
  18. ^ Rowling, J. K. (2004-03-15). "Progress on Book Six". J. K. Rowling Official Site. Retrieved 2006-12-23.
  19. ^ ""Rowling to kill two in final book"". BBC News. 2006-06-27. Retrieved 2007-07-25.
  20. ^ J K Rowling (14 May 2007). "J.K.Rowling Official Site". Retrieved 2007-05-18.
  21. ^ "10 million pounds to guard 7th Harry Potter book". Rediff News. 16 July 2007. Retrieved 2007-07-16.
  22. ^ "Editor Says 'Deathly Hallows' Is Unleakable". MTV Overdrive (video). 17 July 2007. Retrieved 2007-07-19.
  23. ^ There was speculation that some shops would break the embargo and distribute copies of the book early, as the penalty imposed for previous instalments—that the distributor would not be supplied with any further copies of the series—would no longer be a deterrent."Potter embargo 'could be broken'". BBC News. 12 July 2007. Retrieved 2007-07-17.
  24. ^ "Harry Potter Fans Transcribe Book from Photos". TorrentFreak. 18 July 2007. Retrieved 2007-07-19.
  25. ^ "New Potter book leaked online". Sydney Morning Herald, Fairfax newspapers. 18 July 2007. Retrieved 2007-07-18.
  26. ^ "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows leaked to BitTorrent". TorrentFreak. 17 July 2007. Retrieved 2007-07-19.
  27. ^ "Harry Potter Spoiler Count". Los Angeles Times. 20 July 2007. Retrieved 2007-07-20.
  28. ^ "Did the Times Betray Harry Potter Fans?". New York Times. 30 July 2007. Retrieved 2007-07-30.
  29. ^ a b Ben Fenton (17 July 2007). "Web abuzz over Potter leak claims". Retrieved 2007-07-20.
  30. ^ Jack Malvern (2007-07-19). "Harry Potter and the great web leak". Retrieved 2007-07-19.
  31. ^ "The spell is broken". The Baltimore Sun. 18 July 2007. Retrieved 2007-07-18.
  32. ^ "Press release from Scholastic". PR Newswire (from Scholastic). 18 July 2007. Retrieved 2007-07-18.
  33. ^ "Distributor mails final Potter book early". MSNBC Interactive. 18 July 2007. Retrieved 2007-07-18.
  34. ^ "I Was an eBay Voldemort". National Review Online. 20 July 2007. Retrieved 2007-07-20.
  35. ^ In the UK, supermarket chain Asda claimed that the retail price of the book (GB£17.99, equivalent to about 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."Potter book firm clashes with supermarket over price". Times Newspapers. 2007-07-17. Asda issued an apology and settled the debt, and its supply of the book was restored. http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,,2128891,00.html
  36. ^ At these prices the book is a loss leader, 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. http://www.accesshollywood.com/news/ah6148.shtml Access Hollywood. 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." British retailer sells final Potter book for $10, setting dangerous precedent for U.S. market
  37. ^ "Harry Potter and the ugly price war". The Star Malaysia. 21 July 2007. Retrieved 2007-07-21.
  38. ^ "Bookstores end 'Harry Potter' boycott". The Star Malaysia. 24 July 2007. Retrieved 2007-07-24.
  39. ^ "Plans for Sabbath sales of Harry Potter draw threats of legal action in Israel". International Herald Tribune. 17 July 2007. Retrieved 2007-07-18.
  40. ^ "Yishai warns stores over Harry Potter book launch on Shabbat". Haaretz. 21 July 2007. Retrieved 2007-07-18.
  41. ^ The Libation Bearers is the second in a trilogy of tragedies called The Oresteia. See Oresteia#The Libation Bearers. The quotation's wording depends on the translation used  — Rowling used the Robert Fagles translation published by Penguin Classics.
  42. ^ More Fruits of Solitude is the second part of the work Fruits of Solitude (1682), a collection of aphorisms published by William Penn. The full Penn quote used in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is the last four lines of the aphorism titled Union of Friends.
  43. ^ a b Brown, Jen (2007-07-25). "Finished Potter? Rowling tells what happened next". MSNBC. Retrieved 2007-07-26. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  44. ^ a b "Rowling Answers Fans' Final Questions". MSN Entertainment. 2007-07-30. Retrieved 2007-07-31.
  45. ^ "Rowling says Dumbledore is Gay". Newsweek. 16 October 2007. Retrieved 2007-10-21.
  46. ^ "JK Rowling outs Dumbledore as gay". BBC News. 2007-10-20. Retrieved 2007-10-21.
  47. ^ Larson, Susan (2007-10-18). "New Orleans students give Rowling a rousing welcome". The Times-Picayune. Retrieved 2007-10-18.
  48. ^ J.K. Rowling and the Live Chat, Bloomsbury.com, July 30, 2007 (2.00-3.00pm BST)., retrieved 2007-10-09
  49. ^ Weingarten, Tara, Rowling Says Dumbledore Is Gay, retrieved 2007-10-19
  50. ^ McCauley, Mary Carole (18 July 2007). "An inevitable ending to Harry Potter series". Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 2007-07-21.
  51. ^ Fordham, Alice (21 July 2007). "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows". The Times. Retrieved 2007-07-25.
  52. ^ Sawyer, Jenny (25 July 2007). "Missing from 'Harry Potter"  – a real moral struggle". Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 2007-07-25.
  53. ^ Stephen King. "J K Rowling's Ministry of Magic". entertainment weekly. Retrieved 2007-08-21.
  54. ^ Hitchens, Christopher. "The Boy Who Lived". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-04-01.
  55. ^ Mike Collett-White (21 July 2007). "Deathly Hallows finished in 47min by reviewer". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2007-12-12.
  56. ^ Grossman, Lev; "The 10 Best Fiction Books"; Time magazine; 24 December 2007; Pages 44–45.
  57. ^ Grossman, Lev (24 December 2007). "Top 10 Fiction Books". time.com. Retrieved 2007-12-24.
  58. ^ "Harry Potter i insygnia śmierci". LibraryThing. 24 December 2007. Retrieved 2007-12-24.
  59. ^ "Official: Two Parts for Deathly Hallows Movie". ComingSoon.net. 25 February 2009. Retrieved 2009-03-02.
  60. ^ "Release Date Set for Harry Potter 7: Part I". ComingSoon.net. 25 April 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-25.
  61. ^ "About Those Harry Potter Rumours". Empire. 14 January 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-14. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  62. ^ Olly Richards (2008-03-14). "Potter Producer Talks Deathly Hallows". Empire. Retrieved 2008-03-15. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  63. ^ "Williams Might be Back for Last 'Potter' Film". JWFAN. 2007-08-22. Retrieved 2007-08-25.
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