The End of the Journey

Overall, I thought that the ending of the Harry Potter series was fantastic, and I do not want to appear as though I am dismissing J.K. Rowling's writing abilities because she is, after all, a literary goddess.

 

I do, however, feel like the "double-bind" excuse for why Voldemort was unable to kill Harry Potter seemed like a huge cop-out.

1. "Neither can live while the other survives." - Ooh, that sounds ominous. Go on.

2. "Guys, guys, guys, we should totally, like, spend almost a year walking through Europe with no particular destination in mind and try to find a few random, obscure objects and destroy them because they each contain a bit of Voldy's soul." - AND THEY ACTUALLY GO ALONG WITH IT.

3. A few destroyed Horcruxes later...

4. "Let's endanger all of our friends by returning to Hogwarts in pursuit of the last Horcrux!"
"Yeah, Harry, that sounds like a great plan! Let's do it!"

5. My beloved Alan Rickman Professor Snape dies and I cry hysterically for about an hour.

6. "I DEMAND THAT HARRY POTTER SURRENDER HIMSELF OR I WILL KILL ALL OF YOU." - And Harry complies.

7. Harry dies, but not really. The actually-dead Dumbledore decides that NOW, of all times, is the appropriate time to have a lengthy chat with Harry, during which he explains that Voldemort can't kill Harry because he used Harry's blood to reincarnate himself. What Voldemort actually killed was the last Horcrux that resided within Harry.

8. Harry regains consciousness, is carried back to Hogwarts, and kills Voldemort.

I feel like someone as brilliant and creative is Rowling could have come up with something a little less... paradoxical for the ending. /end rant

In an effort to make this not seem all negative, I would like to allude to my favorite story arch throughout this entire saga with the following image:







Rowling wrote a better love story in one chapter than Stephenie Meyer wrote in 4 (god-awful) novels and E.L. James wrote in 3 (even more god-awful) novels. The depth with which Severus Snape loved Lily throughout his life is simultaneously heartbreaking and inspiring. Granted, I am one of the few who adored Snape from the very first book, and I was continuously annoyed that Dumbledore never (well, not until the sixth novel) gave him the bloody Defense Against the Dark Arts teaching position (HE WOULD HAVE BEEN SO GOOD AT IT, THOUGH! WHYYYYY?)

All of that being said, every time I finish Deathly Hallows, my heart breaks all over again. It certainly doesn't help, either, that Rowling keeps publicly toying with the idea of writing more Harry Potter novels. Uh, the Cruciatus Curse is unforgivable, Joanne.