Death, Voldemort, the Yew tree, & Harry's Scar, and some more on the meaning of wands |
 Sep 5 2005, 12:12 PM
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Eeylops Owl Cage Cleaner  Posts: 208 Joined: 10:55pm May 18, 2005 Location: Slipping more dragon dung into Percy's intray.   |
I've done massive back-research on the Harry Potter books... and here's some clues - deaper meanings - I've found that might be important or help, or just bore you to death... if thats the case, sorry!
Voldemort's Main Goal in Life.... and the Yew tree: First I thought.... Voldemort's main goal in life is not to kill Harry, Dumbledore, or mudbloods and muggles. It's to beat death. He tells Harry himself in the GOF in the cemetary. Because death is what Voldemort is most afraid of... it's his only self-percieved weakness. Now... moving on from that... but with that in mind.... Take a look at all the scenes that include death, or have something to do with death in some way shape or form - excluding Sirius's death. Jo likes to leave us patterns in her books of clues to string together and I think I've found a some further information that might help with theories for the final book... The scenes... Cemetary (associated w/ death) in GOF Thestrals (associated w/ death) in the dark forest during Hagrid's class in OOTP (And there is more, but you get the jist.) Both scenes mention YEW trees. Well, in ancient times wands that were made from the yew tree where only used for evil magic and always associated with death! Voldemort's wand is made out of yew... a symbol of death, itself. Now... Harry's scar... a HUGE symbol in itself... not only because of what it does, but also what it means... (IMHO) In the runic alphabet, the zig-zag shape (similar to that of a lightning bolt) of Harry's scar is a rune called "eihwaz" & has specific meaning... and I quote.... Eihwaz: MEANING: yew DIVINATORY MEANINGS: change, initiation, confrontation of fears, turning point, death, transformation MAGICAL USES: to bring about profound change, to ease a life transition -- (how about for easing Voldemort into death.. one piece of his soul at a time?) ASSOCIATED MYTHS & DEITIES: Hel, Yggdrasil ANALYSIS: The yew tree has been associated with runes, magic and death in northern and western Europe since time immemorial. The reasons for this ancient association are numerous, but seem to principally derive from the fact that yews are evergreens which retain their greenery even through the death of winter, and because their red berries are symbolic of the blood of life. The yew is also extremely long-lived, thus effectively 'immortal'. Reverence for the yew dates back to before the times of the Celts, and continues today in Christian tradition. Eihwaz is the thirteenth rune in the fuþark, and marks the middle of the alphabet. (It is interesting to note that the Death card in the Tarot is also the thirteenth card.) This rune is the turning point in the runic journey, and represents the transformation phase of the initiatory process. All rites of passage, particularly those marking the transition into adulthood, contain the symbolism of death, the idea being that one's former 'self' has died and given birth to a new persona. Eihwaz is the passage through which we must enter the realm of Hel in order to gain the knowledge and acceptance of our own mortality, as well as those mysteries which can only be learned from the dark Lady of the dead. The process is a truly frightening one, but it is something we all must go through if we are to confront our deepest fears and emerge with the kind of wisdom that cannot be taught but must be experienced. Eihwaz is the gateway to this wisdom, and lies between life (jera) and rebirth (perþ). And JK herself made a point to make the Eihwaz rune stand out... Order of the Pheonix; page 715 U.S. addition... "How were the runes?" said Ron, yawning and stretching. "I mistranslated 'ehwaz,'" said Hermione furiously. "It means 'partnership,' not 'defence,' I mixed it up with 'eihwaz.'" That's a nice and sly little clue, if I ever saw one, I must admit!  Now on to Harry's wand.... While Voldemort's wand is made of Yew... Harry's wand is made of Holly.... HOLLY* (Ilex aquifolium) A beautiful white wood with an almost invisible grain; looks very much like ivory. Holly is associated with the death and rebirth symbolism of winter in both Pagan and Christian lore. In Arthurian legend, Gawain (representing the Oak King of summer) fought the Green Knight, who was armed with a holly club to represent winter. It is one of the three timbers used in the construction of chariot wheel shafts. It was used in spear shafts also. The qualities of a spear shaft are balance and directness, as the spear must be hefted to be thrown the holly indicates directed balance and vigour to fight if the cause is just. Holly may be used in spells having to do with sleep or rest, and to ease the passage of death. BTW ... everyone seems to think that Harry can't use his wand to kill Voldemort... Says who??? The two wands just can't do battle with eachother at the exact same time. (Forewarning... not for certain about the following, but its something to chew on... ) What was the clue she gave that something small and seemingly insignificant happens in the Chamber of Secrets that may seem like nothing now but later on will play a big roll? Was it Harry ending up in knockturn alley and hiding in the vanishing cabinet? Draco wanting the hand-of-glory? We know now, that all was significant... but was it the only thing? Maybe. But what if there's something else? So, if thats not the 'little insignificant clue', then what is? Let's keep on the subject of the wands, now... because they seem to be extremely important to the story. What if that little thing that happened in the COS was Ron's wand breaking? Voldemort's power of death is in his wand... the yew itself is powerful. Have you noticed that Ron did use that wand the entire year... it worked... but was messed up. BUT the ONLY spells that backfired on the person using the wands where the bad ones.... the curses!? Hmmmm.... If we could just damage Voldemort's wand somehow... impale him on his own sword... send the last horcrux on... yes... yes... that would do it... after all ... he has Harry's mortal blood flowing through his veins now! (Maybe there's something to that too? Maybe, in being blinded by his wanting to 'touch' Harry, he made himself -the last horcrux- a little 'weaker' and easier to kill? )POOF! No more "He-Who-Is-Going-To-Be-Killed-By-Harry-In-The-End-Anyways!" OK I'm getting a bit overly excited and rambling now. So I'll stop. 
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Sep 5 2005, 12:22 PM
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Shopping for a New Firebolt Posts: 800 Joined: 6:51am August 2, 2005 Location: England, Peterborough |
wow that's a lot of info!!
it's really interesting i agree with you about the wands but it might be annoying to have to take turns in cursing. -------------------- Then why," asked Snape "does it have the name "Roonil Wazlib"written inside the front cover?"
Harry's heart missed a beat "That's my nickname," "it is the unknown we fear when we look upon death and darkness, nothing more" proud member of S.O.A.F.A.C. |
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Sep 5 2005, 12:40 PM
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Being Eaten by the Pea Soup Posts: 37 Joined: 9:21pm September 1, 2005 |
That must have taken you a while, and cudos.
 However, when did she say something small in CoS would play a large part in the rest of the story? Because if it was before HBP came out, it might just be the fact that the diary was a horcrux. -------------------- Men everywhere believe they are powerful if they can control others, but the man with the most power holds the ability to control himself.
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Sep 5 2005, 12:53 PM
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Dodgy Cauldrons Dealer Posts: 1,708 Joined: 9:32pm July 20, 2005 Location: back in the shop at 93 Diagon Alley!  |
That is an overwhelmingly impressive bit of research there! And the information is very interesting, I especially like the "clue" Hermione gives. I'd be interested to hear your opinion on these two points:
Voldemort and Harry will most likely not be able to use their own wands to fight each other, due to Priori Incantatem (Is this why master wandmaker Ollivander has disappeared, perhaps?), and Here is a quote from JKRowling.com that supports your idea that Jo deliberately used holly as the wood for Harry's wand: QUOTE WANDS I gave Harry a wand made of holly wood back in 1990, when I first drafted chapter six of ‘Philosopher’s Stone’. It was not an arbitrary decision: holly has certain connotations that were perfect for Harry, particularly when contrasted with the traditional associations of yew, from which Voldemort’s wand is made. European tradition has it that the holly tree (the name comes from ‘holy’) repels evil, while yew, which can achieve astonishing longevity (there are British yew trees over two thousand years old), can symbolise both death and resurrection; the sap is also poisonous. Some time after I had given Harry his holly-and-phoenix wand I came across a description of how the Celts had assigned trees to different parts of the year and discovered that, entirely by coincidence, I had assigned Harry the ‘correct’ wood for his day of birth. I therefore decided to give Ron and Hermione Celtic wand woods, too. Ron, who was born in the February 18 - March 17 period, was given an ash wand (I think I had originally marked him down for beech), and Hermione, who was born between September 2 and September 29, received a vine wood wand (I can’t remember what I originally stipulated for Hermione; possibly I had not specified a wood for her at that stage). I have only used the Celtic assignations for Ron and Hermione. Hagrid, for instance, has an oak wand though by this Celtic system he should have a wand made of elder; in Britain, the oak is ‘King of the Forest’ and symbolises strength, protection and fecundity; what other wood could ‘choose’ Hagrid? In any case, I liked having a hidden connection between Harry, Ron and Hermione’s wands that only I knew about (until now, anyway). Here is the link for that quote. -------------------- *proud member of Dumbledore's Army*
*Secretary of S.P.o.O.F.* Society for the Protection of Ordinary Foxes *member of Fiction Alley and The Sugar Quill* *on staff @ www.snapecast.com* |
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Sep 5 2005, 01:17 PM
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Just Through the Brick Wall Posts: 4 Joined: 5:48pm August 14, 2005 |
Wow! What you said makes a lot of sense and I bet it's right. However, I don't think Voldemort and Harry are going to take turns cursing each other. What I think is going to happen is Harry is going to do something involving Prior Incatenem (Did I spell that right?) to kill Voldemort. I don't know if it has something to do with Voldemort forcing the bead of light into Harry's wand or not. Of course, this is all speculation. I have no evidence.
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Sep 5 2005, 04:56 PM
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Stocking Snitches at Quality Quidditch Supplies Posts: 654 Joined: 3:33pm July 21, 2005 Location: On tour with the Weird Sisters |
oo excellent job! that is well thought out
i really like the part that would make it seem that dd's gleam of triumph was because lv has mortal blood in him
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potterpuffs http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b354/tonksrocks/ico-buck09.gif http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b354/tonksrocks/ico-sherry07.gif evilFlitwick entourage forever! McGonnagal is GOOD! Check out http/....om]http |
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Sep 5 2005, 05:32 PM
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Flesh-Eating-Slug Catcher Posts: 169 Joined: 12:45pm July 23, 2005 |
QUOTE(Strix @ Sep. 05 2005,13:12 ) Eihwaz: MEANING: yew DIVINATORY MEANINGS: change, initiation, confrontation of fears, turning point, death, transformation MAGICAL USES: to bring about profound change, to ease a life transition -- (how about for easing Voldemort into death.. one piece of his soul at a time?) ASSOCIATED MYTHS & DEITIES: Hel, Yggdrasil Let's not forgot the night Harry got the scar. "initiation, turning point, transformation." When the curse rebounded and left the scar, he was marked by VM and consequently initiated - or transformed - into "The Chosen One." As for Ron's wand - it didn't work in some of his classes, either. I think it said something about his work being worse than usual because he wand was so messed up. I'm re-reading OoTP again and noticed the rune translation of Hermione's, too. I thought it was interesting that both runes were noted and the meanings seemed to certainly hint at something larger. JK is a genius!
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Sep 5 2005, 07:49 PM
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Slug and Jiggers' Apothecary Apprentice Posts: 1,423 Joined: 5:35am March 26, 2005 Location: Hogwarts-my idea of Heaven |
This is absolutely brilliant-well done and thankyou. I do remember reading the reasons Jo gave for assigning the wands and :headdesk: because I used to read the runes and I did look up Eihwaz- however the definition on my set is transcendence which means to surpass all others and be supreme.Which describes Voldemort to a T. So I didn't know about the Yew with regards to Eihwaz.
My father in law is a former arborist and told me that the Yew tree is one of the most hardy he has come across-they rarely get diseases, if they do get a disease it is rarely fatal and they are extremely tough to cut through. The wand chose the right wizard it seems. |
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Sep 5 2005, 09:35 PM
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Monster Book Stacker Posts: 353 Joined: 10:15pm August 22, 2005 Location: 14d 25m N 120d 57m E |
Good job on the research! It was all interesting! I especially like the Hermione bits. JKR is just too sneaky and witty. ;)
JKR said in one interview that it's not the shape of the scar that's important, but what ability it confers to Harry. But I think the shape is interesting too, based on the connections with the Runes, etc. ;) --------------------  daydreamcharms Staff Member of Accio Quote! :: Data Entry Team for the HP Lexicon's Canon Portkey |
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Sep 5 2005, 09:51 PM
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Cauldron Bottom Measurer Posts: 140 Joined: 4:08am August 10, 2005 Location: New Zealand |
noone seems to have mentioned this (perhaps i didn't see it! or it's not important..) buut yew's are very poisonous also. do they have white flowers as well? perhaps it's yellow..
anyway, very interesting about the scar/ eihwaz/ yew connection. V clever!
-------------------- ... *Flourish!* ...
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