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A
Science
Fiction
and Fantasy
Page
Year One
The Philosopher’s
Stone
Year Two
The Chamber of
Secrets
Year Three
The Prisoner of
Azkaban
Year Four
The Goblet of Fire
Year Five
The Order of the
Phoenix
Year Six
The Half-Blood Prince
Year Seven
The Deathly Hallows
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This webpage is about the book.
  
Bloomsbury edition (children) Bloomsbury edition (adult) Scholastic edition
Harry Potter
and the Deathly Hallows is the seventh and final book in the Harry Potter series of
novels by J. K. Rowling. On 21 July 2007, all editions but the
American were released at a minute past midnight (12:01) BST; the American and Canadian editions were
released at a minute past midnight (12:01), 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.
The book
chronicles the events directly following Harry Potter and the Half-Blood
Prince, 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.
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, and American
publisher Scholastic announced an unprecedented initial print run of 12
million copies.
Scholastic
reported that 8.3 million copies were sold in the U.S. on the book's first
day of sales, breaking the record of 6.9 million held by the sixth book.
Borders reported that its 1,200 stores worldwide sold 1.2 million copies on
the book's first day of sales, the highest single-day sales of any title in
Borders history. In comparison, Borders sold 850,000 copies of the sixth book
on its first day.
Plot
Note:
Significant plot details follow.
Leaving the
Dursleys
The book
begins with a Death Eater meeting taking place at the home of Lucius Malfoy. Severus Snape
and a Ministry official inform Lord Voldemort of the date Harry Potter will
permanently leave the Dursleys' house. As Harry's safety at the Dursleys'
house expires when he turns 17, he must be moved to a new location before
that time; Voldemort plans to kill Harry in transit.
After the
Dursleys have been escorted to safety by a pair of wizards (and Dudley has, surprisingly,
expressed respect for Harry), the Order of the Phoenix arrive to sneak Harry
out of his house. Despite an attempted decoy, the real Harry is identified
and attacked by Voldemort and his Death Eaters. Hedwig, Harry's owl, is
killed by a stray Killing Curse. After a narrow escape from Voldemort, Harry
and the rest of his companions arrive at The Burrow, where they discover that
George Weasley has lost an ear to Snape, and Mad-Eye Moody has been killed by
Voldemort.
A few days
later, the Minister for Magic, Rufus Scrimgeour,
arrives at The Burrow 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; Hermione
receives a book of children's stories written in part with Ancient Runes; and
Harry inherits Godric Gryffindor's sword and the
Snitch that Harry caught in his first ever Quidditch match. The Ministry
withholds the sword after investigating all the items, claiming that the
sword was not Dumbledore's in the first place. Harry finds a magical
inscription on the Snitch that the ministry missed: "I open at the
close."
Search for
the Horcruxes
Near the end
of Bill and Fleur's wedding reception, news comes
that Voldemort has taken over the Ministry of Magic. As Death Eaters attack,
Harry, Ron and Hermione flee the wedding, first to a Muggle café, and then to
12 Grimmauld Place. The trio realize that Regulus Arcturus
Black was the "R.A.B." who removed the locket Horcrux
from the lake, dying in the attempt. However, Kreacher informs them that Mundungus Fletcher stole the locket from the house.
Fletcher unwillingly reveals that Dolores Umbridge took it from him. After a
month of spying on the Ministry of Magic, the trio
infiltrate it using Polyjuice Potion. They
eventually find Umbridge as she is interrogating Muggleborns.
They take the Horcrux and knock her out in the
process, freeing a number of Muggle-born wizards and witches. However, the
trio's hiding place at 12 Grimmauld Place is compromised and
they are forced to flee to the countryside.
After several
months on the run, they overhear a conversation revealing that the Ministry
has only a replica of Gryffindor's sword; the
location of the real sword is unknown. Harry questions the portrait of Phineas Nigellus and discovers
that Dumbledore had used the real sword to destroy a Horcrux.
Having been unable thus far to destroy the locket, Harry suggests attempting
to locate the real sword. Ron feels that this is yet another pointless quest,
and leaves the group. Harry and Hermione decide to go to Godric's Hollow on
the chance that Dumbledore left the sword for them there. At the village, the
two visit the graveyard where Harry's and Dumbledore's families are buried.
They encounter Bathilda Bagshot,
an old family friend of Dumbledore and famous historian. Thinking she may
have been entrusted with the sword, they follow her to her house. However, it
is a trap: Bagshot's body is inhabited by
Voldemort's snake Nagini. Harry and Hermione narrowly escape Voldemort and
Nagini, but Hermione accidentally breaks Harry's wand as they flee, leaving
him vulnerable to attack.
Eventually a Patronus in the form of a doe appears on the edge of
their camp and leads Harry to Gryffindor's real
sword, hidden in a frozen forest pool. Harry dives after the sword, but the
locket Horcrux that Harry is carrying tries to strangle
him. Ron returns and saves Harry from drowning. Having retrieved the sword
from the pool, Ron uses it to destroy the Horcrux.
Back at camp, Ron informs Harry and Hermione that the Deluminator
showed him the way back to them. Hermione is less than pleased with Ron, but
has discovered their next step: to speak to Xenophilius
Lovegood, the father of their friend Luna, and ask
him about Grindelwald's mark, a symbol that has
shown up in the book Dumbledore bequeathed to her and at several other times
during their journey, including on clothing Mr. Lovegood
wore at the wedding.
The Deathly
Hallows
The trio
reach Lovegood's house, and are told that the
symbol is that of the Deathly Hallows, a trio of magical artifacts given long
ago to three brothers by Death, as told in a children's tale: the Elder Wand,
Resurrection Stone, and Invisibility Cloak. Unfortunately, before any more
can be told, Xenophilius betrays them to the
Ministry in the hope that Luna, who is being held captive, will be released.
They manage to escape the Death Eaters with the help of Harry's Invisibility
Cloak, which he now believes to be a Deathly Hallow.
Later, when
they are camping, Harry accidentally says the word "Voldemort"—the
term has been jinxed so that anyone saying it can be traced—and a group of
Snatchers suddenly appear around their camp, trapping them. The trio are
taken to Malfoy Manor—the new Death Eater
headquarters. Harry and Ron are imprisoned in the cellar, while Hermione is
taken and tortured by Bellatrix Lestrange.
After seeing the sword of Gryffindor, Bellatrix is
afraid that they have broken into her vault in Gringotts.
Also in the cellar are Luna, Dean Thomas, Griphook
the goblin, and Ollivander the wand maker. Dobby apparates into the cell and frees the prisoners, but the
sound of his Apparating alerts the Death Eaters
above and they send Pettigrew to investigate. Pettigrew hesitates while
killing Harry (he is in debt to Harry for saving his life at the end of the
third book), and is strangled by his own silver hand as Voldemort's revenge
for betrayal. Harry and Ron take Pettigrew's wand and rush upstairs. In the
ensuing chaos, Harry disarms Bellatrix and Draco Malfoy, they free Hermione, and escape with her and Dobby. They
all Apparate to Bill and Fleur's
home, Shell Cottage, but Dobby has been killed by Bellatrix.
Over the next
few weeks, Harry plots with Griphook the goblin to
break into the Lestrange's vault at Gringott's, believing that Bellatrix's
terror was due to there being a horcrux in there. Griphook agrees on the condition that they give him Gryffindor's sword as payment. Griphook,
Harry, Ron, and Hermione break into the Lestrange's
vault, and locate Helga Hufflepuff's Cup, which was indeed a horcrux. Griphook betrays them
and takes the sword. Harry, Ron and Hermione escape on the back of an abused
dragon being used to guard the vaults. Voldemort realizes they are destroying
his Horcruxes and, while running through a list of them in his head,
accidentally reveals through his telepathic link with Harry that a Horcrux is hidden at Hogwarts.
The Battle of Hogwarts
The trio
enters Hogwarts with the help of the Hog's Head bartender, Aberforth Dumbledore, who reveals he sent Dobby to rescue
them. He further reveals to them a new secret passage into the Room of Requirement
at Hogwarts, where renegade students, led by Neville Longbottom,
are hiding from the Death Eaters running their school. Neville alerts
Dumbledore's Army and The Order of the Phoenix and they all arrive
in The Room of Requirement. Harry believes he must hurry to locate the horcrux, as Voldemort is on his way. Harry believes the horcrux is an artifact of Rowena Ravenclaw's,
perhaps her diadem. Luna takes Harry to the Ravenclaw commons room to see a
replica, and they are met there by Alecto Carrow, who reveals that Voldemort warned her Harry might
appear in the Ravenclaw commons room. That slip inadvertently reveals to
Harry that the horcrux must be something of Ravenclaw's. Harry alerts the Heads of House to
Voldemort's impending arrival; the younger students are evacuated; and the
Order of the Phoenix and others arrive to
help defend the school. As the Death Eaters attack, Harry realizes that he
saw Ravenclaw's Diadem the previous year, in the
Room of Requirement. Meanwhile, Ron and Hermione sneak off to the Chamber of
Secrets to retrieve basilisk fangs, which they can use to destroy
Hufflepuff's Cup and the other horcrux. The trio then go to the Room of Requirement where they are
confronted by Draco Malfoy,
Crabbe, and Goyle. Crabbe mishandles a powerful spell and sets fire to the
contents of the Room, killing himself. Harry and his friends manage to
escape, retrieving the Diadem and rescuing Malfoy
and Goyle, and the Diadem is destroyed by the
magical fire.
After having
another vision of Voldemort, Harry leads his friends to the Shrieking Shack,
where they see Voldemort kill Snape. Voldemort has until now been unable to
do anything extraordinary with the Elder Wand, which is believes is due to
Snape having killed Dumbledore. If he kills Snape, then mastery of the wand
will now be his. As he dies, Snape gives up his memories to Harry, who then
uses the Pensieve to watch them. He find out that
Snape was indeed on Dumbledore's side all along, motivated by his lifelong
love for Lily Evans, Harry's mother. Dumbledore, dying anyway, had instructed
Snape to kill him so that Draco would not have to.
Snape has been acting to protect Harry all along, and it was he who sent the
doe Patronus, which is the same form as that of
Lily's, to lead Harry to Gryffindor's sword.
However, Harry also discovers that he himself is a Horcrux,
and that Voldemort cannot be killed while Harry remains alive. Dumbledore
explains to Snape in the pensieve that Harry must
willingly allow Voldemort to kill him, for Voldemort to die.
Remus Lupin, his wife Nymphadora Tonks, Fred Weasley,
and Colin Creevey are killed in battle. Resigned to
his fate, Harry makes his way to the Forbidden Forest, where Voldemort is
waiting for him. As he leaves, he informs Neville Longbottom
that the snake Nagini must be destroyed at all costs. Realizing that his
final meeting with Voldemort is "the close" referred to in the
riddle on the Snitch, Harry says to it "I am about to die". The
Snitch opens up to reveal the Resurrection Stone. Harry uses the Stone to
summon the spirits of James Potter, Lily Evans, Sirius Black, and Remus Lupin, who comfort him
during his final walk to death. When he reaches Voldemort, Harry drops the
Stone, removes his invisibility cloak, and reveals himself. Prepared for
death, he allows Voldemort to hit him with the Avada
Kedavra curse. However, Harry awakens in an
enormous room akin to King's Cross railway station. A wounded and dying
baby-like creature lies on the floor, representing Voldemort's damaged soul.
He meets the deceased Albus Dumbledore, who explains that Harry cannot die
while the blood carrying Lily's protection resides in Voldemort's body. He
further explains that the part of Voldemort's soul within Harry has been
destroyed by the Avada Kedavra.
Harry is given the choice of "going on", or continuing with life
and stopping Voldemort; he chooses the latter.
Back in the
forest, Harry wakes. He asks Narcissa Malfoy to determine whether or not Harry is alive. Narcissa sees he is, and whispers to him the question of
whether her son Draco is alive. On hearing in the
affirmative, Narcissa lies and tells Voldemort that
Harry is dead, because that means the battle can be ended and she can see her
son again. On Voldemort's orders, a captured Hagrid
carries Harry (feigning death) back to Hogwarts as a trophy. He jeers that
Harry was killed while trying to flee, and Neville Longbottom
steps forward and defends Harry's honor. Voldemort tries to get Neville, a
"pureblood," to join him, but Neville refuses; as punishment,
Voldemort puts the Sorting Hat upon his head, and sets it ablaze. At that
moment, reinforcements charge in and the battle resumes. Amidst the
confusion, Harry covers himself with the Invisibility Cloak while Neville
pulls Godric Gryffindor's sword from the Sorting
Hat and beheads Nagini, destroying the final Horcrux.
Molly Weasley kills Bellatrix Lestrange.
Harry confronts Voldemort. Harry realizes that Draco
Malfoy was the true master of the Elder Wand, for
it was Draco who had disarmed Dumbledore and thus
beaten him in battle, while Snape was acting according to a wandless Dumbledore's wishes when he killed him. Harry
subsequently disarmed Draco, and thus, mastery of
the Elder Wand has passed to Harry, not to Voldemort. Voldemort fires Avada Kedavra at Harry, and at
the same time Harry fires Expelliarmus at
Voldemort. The Elder Wand refuses to kill its master and the spell rebounds,
killing Voldemort. Celebrations erupt, and Harry seeks solitude with Ron and
Hermione in Dumbledore's office. Harry uses the immense power of the Elder
Wand to repair his own wand, and elects to return the Elder Wand to
Dumbledore's grave instead of keeping it for himself. If he dies a natural
death and is not disarmed in battle, the ownership of the Elder Wand will die
with him, and it will become an ordinary wand. He also confirms to
Dumbledore's portrait that, despite proving himself the only worthy possessor
of all the Deathly Hallows, he will not seek out the Stone in the forest. He
decides, though, to keep the Invisibility Cloak; in the children's story, the
cloak was the wisest choice.
Epilogue
In the
story's epilogue, set nineteen years later, Ginny Weasley and Harry have
three children named James, Albus Severus, and Lily. Ron and Hermione have
two children named Rose and Hugo. The two families meet at King's Cross
Station when they are taking their children to Platform Nine and Three
Quarters for their departure to Hogwarts. Lily is too young to attend
Hogwarts just yet, Albus is entering his first year at the school, and James
is already an experienced Gryffindor. James finds Harry's godson Teddy, the
son of Lupin and Tonks,
kissing a girl named Victoire, James's cousin and
assumed daughter of Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour. Harry tells Albus
Severus that Severus Snape, whom he is named after, was possibly the bravest
man Harry ever met. Neville is now the Herbology
professor at the school and is close friends with Harry. At the station,
Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione spot Draco across
the platform with his unnamed wife and their son Scorpius;
Draco sees Harry and turns away. The book ends with
the line: "The scar had not pained Harry for nineteen years. All was
well."
Significant
plot details end here.
Book cover artwork
UK editions
UK Childrens Cover:
The UK children's cover depicts Harry, Ron and Hermione apparently
falling into a large treasure of silver and gold; the trio appears frightened
in the picture. A goblins hand grips Harry's right shoulder, and wields a
silver sword with a ruby mounted on the hilt with its other hand. The sword
matches the description of Godric Gryffindor's sword in Harry Potter and
the Chamber of Secrets. The cover spine features a circle inscribed in a
triangle with a vertical line bisecting the pair. The meaning of the symbol
is uncertain. The front flap depicts Harry's Patronus (a stag) while the back
flap shows a snake in a crystal ball.
UK Adult Cover:
The UK adult cover shows Salazar Slytherin's locket as described in Harry
Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: golden with a large engraved serpentine
S in green gems.
Bloosmbury has released the inside flaps and full jacket covers alongside
their respective covers.:
Inside Flap:
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“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.”
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Back Cover:
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“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 fulfill the momentous and seemingly
impossible task that Professor Dumbledore has left him with?”
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U.S. editions
The U.S. book cover
Scholastic has also released the American cover. The cover is a
wraparound, meaning that it depicts a single panoramic image spanning over
the entire front, back and spine of the book. David Saylor, art director at
Scholastic, described the cover:
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“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.”
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Mary GrandPré, the illustrator of the U.S. edition books, has not used a monochromatic
colour scheme, as she did with Order of the Phoenix (blue hues) and Half-Blood
Prince (green hues). Instead, she has reverted to the colour schemes of
the first four books.
The Deluxe U.S. book cover
The U.S. Deluxe Edition features a different cover picture, with Harry
and company flying on the back of a dragon above a small village that is
nestled in a valley surrounded by mountains.
Unresolved plot
elements from previous books
•Harry will return to the home of his Muggle 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. HBP
Ch.4
•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. HBP Ch.30
•Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour plan on getting married in
August. Several of the main characters have been invited. HBP Ch.30
•Bill Weasley has been bitten by a werewolf (Fenrir Greyback);
however, Fenrir was not fully transformed (he was not bitten on the day of a
full moon), and we have yet to see the full effect of the bite. So far it has
been said that Bill has merely developed a taste for steak cooked very rare.
•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. HBP Ch.29 HBP Ch.30
•Wormtail owes Harry a life debt that has not yet been repaid.
•Harry must destroy all of Voldemort's remaining Horcruxes
before Voldemort can be defeated. Dumbledore believed there were a total of
six and that two so far have been destroyed (the Gaunt ring and Riddle's
diary).
•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. HBP Ch.28 Rowling said Regulus Black was "a
fine guess" for R.A.B.'s identity in an interview.
•The true loyalty and motivations of Severus Snape have been
unclear throughout the series. At different points in the series, Snape's
actions have either conflicted with his stated intentions or with his
previous actions. Because of the contradictions in his behavior, Snape
remains a potential wild card. This is in contrast to the other main
characters that have very clearly chosen allegiances.
•It has not been explained why, when Dumbledore heard that
Voldemort had used Harry's blood to resurrect himself, Harry sees “a gleam of
triumph" in Dumbledore's eyes. GF Ch.36 Rowling has said that this is
still "enormously significant".
•It is still unclear if Sirius Black, Harry's Godfather, is
indeed dead or just trapped behind the arch. (He was not hit with the
"Killing Curse" as shown in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix)
•No one was credited with performing the magic involved with the
spectacular flaming raising of the white marble tomb of Dumbledore. Whether
or not this is significant taken along with Scrimgeour's hasty assertion a
few plot moments later that "He's gone... not even Dumbledore can return
from the—" creates a slight opening to hopeful speculation. However,
J.K. Rowling has repeatedly quashed theories that state Dumbledore is alive.
After Deathly
Hallows
Rowling spent
seventeen years writing the seven Harry Potter books. In a 2000 interview through
Scholastic, her American publisher, Rowling stated that there is not a
university after Hogwarts and "I won't say "never," but I have
no plans to write an eighth book."
When asked
about writing other books similar to Quidditch Through the Ages and Fantastic
Beasts and Where to Find Them, she has said that she might consider doing
this with proceeds donated to charity, as was the case with those two books.
Another suggestion is an encyclopedia-style tome containing information that
never made it into the series, also for charity.
In February
2007 Rowling issued a statement on her website about finishing the final
book, in which she compared her mixed feelings of "mourning" and
"incredible sense of achievement" 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 continued
"I've never felt such a mixture of extreme emotions in my life, never
dreamed I could feel simultaneously heartbroken and euphoric." Recognizing
that her readers might experience similar feelings, she consoled them with
the thought that "there will be plenty to continue arguing and
speculating about, even after Deathly Hallows comes out." She ended her
message: "'Deathly Hallows' is my favourite, and that is the most
wonderful way to finish the series.
The release
of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows wiped more than £151m from the stock
value of Bloomsbury, Rowling's publisher, as investors believed
the publisher had lost their most significant product.
Rowling
issued the following statement on her website about finishing the final book:
“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.”
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