**By Kim I.** As we all scramble to try to figure out the plot of the seventh Harry Potter book, or at least to figure out the body count at the end of the series, other literary works have inspired several editorials. In order to try to make sense of the crazy clues and red herrings we have to sort though, I am going to examine one end of a famous literary work, and one obscure myth that may relate to the end of the HP series. (Note: any plot synopses I was unclear on were verified by
www.wikipedia.org)
First of all, I would like to examine the end of Lord of the Rings. I can already hear people groaning and defending HP against the LotR fanatics, but I bring this ending up mostly to prove that its opposite will be true for HP. In the end of LotR: Return of the King, the LV-esque character, Sauron, is defeated; however, his second-in-command, Saurman, escapes and vandalizes the Shire, the hobbits' home. Frodo, the protagonist, is too wounded; both his body and his spirit are too broken to allow him to go back to his life before his journey. Frodo ends up going to a place similar to heaven, where he finds eternal peace.Applying this to the HP series paints a dismal picture. If HP followed this pattern, LV would be ultimately destroyed (his Horcruxes would be destroyed, similar to the ring in LotR), but his follower(s) would continue to wreak havoc. I see Bellatrix Lestrange or Lucius Malfoy being the Saurman of this story; one or both of them would most likely invade, and attempt to destroy Hogwarts. After Harry defeats LV, he will have too many psychological and physical wounds to be able to coexist with the rest of the wizarding world. He will most likely, following in Frodo’s footsteps, die a hero.
I do not think that the LotR story has set up a precedent for the end of the HP series. The only idea that seems to fit with the rest of the plotline thus far is the destruction of LV and his Horcruxes. I do not see any reason for Bellatrix and/or Lucius to destroy Hogwarts. Although they may prefer the Dark Magic taught at Durmstrang, their families have attended Hogwarts, and there is no real closure to be obtained in the destruction of Hogwarts. I also do not think Harry has to die at the end of this series. Unlike HP, in LotR, Sauron was the ultimate villain of all time, whereas we know that there have been Dark Wizards before LV; for example, DD defeated Grindewald and was able to live in the wizarding world, just as I believe Harry will.
Next, I will examine a more obscure myth; that of Koschei. Koschei is a character in Russian mythology that is also known by the names Koschei the Immortal, or Koschei the Deathless. The story is that Koschei separated his entire soul from his body and hid it in a needle, hidden inside an egg, in a duck, in a hare, in an iron chest, buried under a green oak tree on the Island of Buyan. The myth explains that as long as Koschei's soul is undisturbed, he is safe from all harm. Each step of the protection on Koschei's soul has its own escape route, as well (for example, if the hare is killed, the duck flies away). The egg and needle seem to act like voodoo dolls, though, in that if they are tossed about, Koschei's body is also thrown in the same direction. If the needle is broken, Koschei's soul is vulnerable, and he will die. (I would also like to note that several versions of Koschei and characters based off of him appear in everything from literary works to operas to video games.)Although this is a very strange and obscure myth, I believe it is the best indicator of how the HP series will end. Koschei clearly has many of the same traits that LV does, such as a fear of death, and taking an incredible number of precautions against the destruction of his soul. The main differences are the voodoo quality of the hiding places of Koschei’s soul (but we still do not know if LV's Horcruxes may have a similar effect on him. I am basing this assumption on DD’s explanation that LV is so used to most of his soul residing outside of his body that he cannot tell when a piece of it is destroyed.) The second difference is that Koschei hides his soul as a whole inside multiple protections, whereas LV hides seven parts of his soul in different hosts, which are individually hidden. The main similarities between the stories are that, first of all, they deal with antagonists who are afraid of death, and they are willing to rip their souls from their bodies in order to assure their immortality. Another note of interest is that if you count the number of hiding places for Koschei’s soul, there are seven, just like the number of Horcruxes LV created. I recently read an excellent editorial on www.mugglenet.com that deals with the "lock and key" mentality of the Horcrux protections. It explained that the Horcruxes may be hidden in such a way that you must discover and destroy them in a certain order to find and destroy the next Horcrux (the previous Horcrux acts as a key for the lock on the next Horcrux). I believe that this story helps explain the strength in the Russian Doll technique of hiding the Horcruxes, or soul. This myth does not help illuminate how Harry and friends will destroy the Horcruxes because based on which version of Koschei is examined; there are vastly different outcomes of the battles.
I honestly have no idea how the HP series will end. I, like many other HP nerds out there, enjoy trying to find clues and literary precedents to help point us in the right direction. The story I hear HP compared to most often is Lord of the Rings, so I tried to analyze its ending in comparison with a possible ending for HP. In my searching for other literary works to compare to HP, I came across the myth of Koschei. I believe Koschei’s myth can be helpful in understanding the concept of Horcruxes, but it is difficult to sort through the many characters based off of Koschei to determine the end of Koschei's story. If you all have any ideas of other literary works (ie: The Narnia series) that you would like me to consider, please let me know.
Ok, so I'm sure most of you, if there are any left, read and visit Mugglenet.com on a regular basis. It was stated on there that JKR posted that it is important why Dumbledore was in possession of the invisibility cloak. And while I don't actually have an actual theory persay, I thought I'd at least open the floor up to discussion about this topic. Maybe if I have more time, I'll try to write a theory later, but for now... any ideas?
