< Harry Potter

Harry Potter/Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows


Harry is the best hope we have. Trust him.
—Albus Dumbledore (told by Lupin)

The seventh and final installment of the Harry Potter series. Published in 2007. Harry's not going to school this year, but don't worry, it's for a good cause. Harry, Ron and Hermione's only hope to defeat Voldemort is destroying all his Horcruxes as he infiltrates the Ministry.

Also, remember how the previous few books just had one person die at the end? This time no one is safe at any point in the story.

PS: The full title is spelled Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows; not Harry Potter and the Deadly Hallows, although the word 'deadly' does have a catchy ring to it...

Tropes exclusive to this book or at least especially prominent

  • Aborted Arc: Played with. Neville becomes a freedom fighter and a damn good one. He even destroys Voldemort's final Horcrux. (Or at least the last one he was aware of since he had no clue Harry was also a Horcrux made unintentionally.) However, fans who were expecting to see a showdown between himself and Bellatrix due to the buildup from book four onward were left disappointed, as Molly Weasley ends up being the one to fight her. See Berserk button, below. No explanation is given by J.K. Rowling for why she didn't give readers the payoff they expected for this particular Character Arc.
    • A What Could Have Been. Florean Fortescue's disappearance/kidnapping In Half Blood Prince. Rowling has said that this was to involve a subplot of Fortescue and the Elder Wand. Rowling cut it after realizing it went nowhere. She made this revelation in response to a question about Fortescue's disappearance In which she said he was indeed dead unfortunatly and explained the dropped subplot.
  • Achilles in His Tent: Ron. He tried to come back almost immediately.
  • Afterlife Antechamber: Harry in King's Cross.
  • Anticlimax: Many fans agree that the final confrontation between Harry and Lord Voldemort was a bit of a let-down. Voldemort casts the Killing Curse at Harry with the Elder Wand, but since Harry is its true master, the curse backfires and kills Voldemort. From a storytelling point of view, the true climax of the novel was when Voldemort "killed" Harry in the forest (and sealed his own fate), everything after that was denouement, but Voldemort did not know that.
    • Averted in the film, however, where Harry and Voldemort have an epic duel for five minutes, with Voldemort flying around all over Hogwarts and Harry holding on for dear life. Then their wands induce Priori Incantatem from each other, and they duel for almost a minute before Neville cuts Nagini in two, which causes Voldemort to disintegrate due to all the Horcruxes being destroyed.
    • Not really. It's clear that Voldemort's killing curse is pushed back at him resulting in his death similar to the book.
  • Anti-Villain: The Malfoys. At this point, the only thing they want is for the family to survive together. In fact, the moment they learned that Draco is still alive, they take the opportunity to lie to Voldemort about Harry's fate.
  • And I Must Scream: Voldemort's final fate according to Word of God, as previewed in "King's Cross". He is in the boundary of life and death, never dying, but never living at the same time.
  • Anyone Can Die: If you were really attached to certain characters, you're gonna need some tissues for this one. Especially since the film will go beyond the book on this one.
    • In the book, Lavender is attacked by Fenrir in the Battle of Hogwarts, but is saved in the nick of time by Hermione. In the film, Hermione sees Fenrir over Lavender and he runs off, but then we see it's too late; Lavender ls lying dead on the floor, eyes unfocused and dull. Word of God and a later published book to go with the series confirm her death.
    • Pius Thicknesse got cursed in the face and fell off a battlement in the book, but survived the battle and was forgiven because of the Imperius Curse he was under (courtesy of Yaxley). In the film, Pius was killed by Voldemort in a bout of rage when Ravenclaw's diadem was destroyed.
  • Artifact of Death: The Elder Wand.
  • As Long as There Is One Man: Neville, of all people. And man did he Take a Level In Badass.
  • Asshole Victim: The Carrows. It's probably not a good thing what Harry does to them, but it's hard to feel bad about it.
  • The Atoner: Snape, Dumbledore, and Grindelwald. Regulus Black was also The Atoner, although he is dead before the book begins.
    • The Malfoy family, and Draco in particular, play with this trope. Draco legitimately regrets joining up with the Death Eaters and his role in Dumbledore's death, but he never actively tries to redeem himself, partly because he's in too deep and partly just because of a lack of character. In the end he settles for what might be called passive resistance.
  • Babies Ever After: Just about everyone, it seems.
  • Badass: Neville Longbottom. Yes, Neville.
  • Bag of Holding: Hermione's handbag.
  • Ballroom Blitz: Bill and Fleur's wedding, which was interrupted by Kingsley's Patronus, then outright crashed by Death Eaters.
  • Battle Trophy: After Mad-Eye is killed by the Death Eaters, his magical eye is seen in the Death Eater-controlled Ministry, used unashamedly by Umbridge.
  • Batman Gambit/Thanatos Gambit: Dumbledore's plans from the previous books are still in motion.
    • For instance, his plan to save Harry from the killing curse involved: Voldemort's horcrux absorbing some of the impact, Harry's blood being used in Voldemort's resurrection, having Voldemort himself cast the curse, making sure the elder wand was not fully under Voldemort's control and finally by having Harry willingly sacrifice himself rather than continue to fight.
      • The part about the wand being under Draco Malfoy's control was specifically not in Dumbledore's plan, but in the end actually works to Harry's benefit.
        • In Dumbledore's plan Snape would have killed him without Malfoy getting involved at all. This would have prevented Voldemort (or anyone else) from obtaining the Elder Wand's full power as it would not been won in a duel. Though things do end up working out even better than he could have imagined.
  • Berserk Button:
    • Mrs. Weasley always seemed so kind and matronly. But then someone made the mistake of threatening her daughter after her son had died. Yeah... not a good idea. She shouts "NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!" and kicks Bellatrix's butt.
    • Harry goes berserk when Amycus Carrow spits on Professor McGonagall, even using the forbidden Cruciatus Curse on him.
    • The locket Horcrux taunts Ron with the idea that Harry and Hermione might be sneaking around behind his back. He doesn't take this very well.
    • In the film, Ron gets very angry when Hermione is attacked by Goyle.
    • In case you didn't notice in any of the previous 6 books, Harry growing up with no parents is a bit of a sore point with him. Lupin and Ron both set him off for nearly abandoning his unborn son and saying that Harry doesn't have to worry about his parents in danger, respectively.
  • Best Friends-in-Law:Harry and Ron in the epilogue.
  • Big Damn Heroes: Frequently. Almost every good character gets such a moment.
  • The Big Damn Kiss: Ron and Hermione, the one their shippers were about to have heart attacks in anticipation of.
  • Bittersweet Ending: Voldemort is gone once and for all, everyone who fought in the battle is hailed as a hero. Percy, Dudley, Kreacher, and (perhaps) even Malfoy finally make peace with Harry, and for once, a competent Minister of Magic is instated. The bad news? Lots of people are dead. Lots. And, annoyingly, a few people who probably deserve death or imprisonment seem to evade it in the end (or, at least, don't have their fates mentioned in the book). It's not a perfect world.
  • Blatant Lies: After the ministry is taken over by Voldemort, they quickly adopt a strictly anti-Muggle policy, even setting up Inquisition style hearings for Muggle borns. And during one such trial, Dolores Umbridge flat out states that a Muggle-born she is interrogating is not a witch. Harry can't take any more after this. Fortunately, Word of God states that Umbridge ended up in Azkaban for the rest of her life.
  • Blood Magic: Because Voldemort used Harry's blood to bring himself back to life in Goblet of Fire, he's kept Lily's protective enchantment on Harry alive within his rebuilt body.
  • Book Ends: after Harry defeats Voldemort for the first time (when he is but a one-year-old baby) Hagrid brings him to Privet Drive using Sirius' flying motorcycle. Sixteen years later, when the Order gets Harry away from Privet Drive before the blood wards fall, Hagrid is the one that takes Harry away... on Sirius' flying motorcycle.
  • Bowdlerise: A very unfortunate one for the Spanish translation. The incredibly awesome as hell Molly Weasley's Precision F-Strike got treated this way, from "NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!" to "Not my daughter, you bad witch!".[1]
  • Broken Pedestal: Played with with Dumbledore, when Harry realises that not only did he make a huge number of mistakes in his past and that he was not the perfect wizard he idolised, but that he was sacrificing Harry to kill Voldemort without even discussing it with him. And inverted with Snape, who he originally thought of as this horrible person he hated, but after realising the lengths he went to in order to protect him - to the point of infiltrating Voldemort's inner circle and dying for him - thinks radically differently.
  • Changed My Mind, Kid: Ron walks out on Harry and Hermione. His return, just in time to save Harry, is a Crowning Moment of Awesome.
  • Call Back: Doubles as Book Ends. In Philosopher's Stone, Hagrid takes Harry to #4 Privet Drive for the first time... in Sirius Black's flying motorbike. Guess how Harry leaves forever at the beginning of this book.
    • In the last film, there's a callback to Prisoner of Azkaban, where Sirius tells Harry "The ones that love us never really leave us. And you can always find them in here." *points at Harry's heart*

Harry: "He won't be able to see you?"
Sirius: "No. We're here, you see." *points at Harry's heart*

  • Call Forward: James' remark about Slytherin is exactly the same as Draco's remark about Hufflepuff in Book 1. Similarly, Sirius says the same thing about Slytherin that Ron had said about Gryffindor.
  • The Cavalry: Brought by Slughorn, of all people. And another with Kreacher.
  • Circling Monologue: Between Harry and Voldemort during their final showdown.
  • Chekhov's Gun: The series has its own page.
  • Conspiracy Theorist/You Fail Biology Forever: In-universe; the Muggle-born Registration Commission exploits the fact that, basically, no-one is sure where Muggle-borns get their magical abilities from in the first place to have them trialled for "stealing" magic. Had they known, they probably wouldn't have cared.
  • Contemptible Cover: Your Mileage May Vary, but for many the British/Canadian children's cover (pictured in the article) was one of these.
  • Continuity Cavalcade: Name just about any character from the previous books who isn't dead or in St. Mungo's insanity ward—ten to one that he/she will appear somewhere in this book.
  • Continuity Nod: The better part of the book.
  • Conveniently Cellmates: Harry and Ron end up shoved into the same cellar room as Luna.
  • Conveniently Interrupted Document: Near the beginning, Harry finds a letter from one of his parents which mentions Dumbledore, and hints at a surprising revelation about his past. However, the second page of the letter is missing. He finds out much later that the revelation would have been of some use to him at the time, and that it was removed for reasons completely unrelated to any desire to keep it from him.
  • Cool Old Guy: With Dumbledore gone, we get his brother, Aberforth, who is almost as cool.
  • Cool Old Lady:
    • Neville's grandmother. Also overlaps with Badass Grandma, as when Death Eaters came to her house to try and capture her, she not only fought them off, putting one of them in the hospital, but went on the run as well. Now we know where Neville gets his guts from.
    • Professor McGonagall also counts, especially considering the final battle.
  • Corporal Punishment: We can only imagine what the hell is going on at Hogwarts while the heroes are running around the countryside. Neville certainly looks like he had a pretty rough time of it when he shows up after a year's worth of it. Apparently things would have been even worse if the Carrows had had the complete run of things. Even happens in lessons: "They had us practicing the Cruciatus Curse on first years. ...That's where I got this [scar]. I refused to do it."
  • Cosmic Deadline: After many pages detailing a camping trip and other hairsbreadth escapes, suddenly the trio arrives at Hogwarts and truckloads of important, nay, essential information is revealed, and the plot relevant (or irrelevant) deaths start cropping up all over the place.
  • Covers Always Lie:
    • The cover to the American edition made it seem like Harry and Voldemort were in an outdoor coliseum during their final confrontation when it turns out to be the Great Hall at Hogwarts. Might be less of a lie than typical, though: It is a perfectly accurate rendition of the moment just after Voldemort is killed, including Harry reaching up to catch the Elder Wand. Harry and Voldemort even dueled at sunrise, and the Great Hall ceiling does reflect the sky outside, making it possibly an interpretation of the Great Hall and its ceiling.
    • The Danish cover is much worse. At what point does this happen in the book? Granted, it's possible that that is a representation of the centaurs and/or Hogwarts statues joining for the battle, but the actual "order allies to battle" by Harry never occurs.
  • Crippling Overspecialisation: Voldemort, though the revelation builds on hints from previous books. Essentially all he ever cared about was the Killing Curse (or, more generally, the Unforgiveable Curses) and using Horcruxes to live forever, and from his narrow knowledge wasn't even aware that he had possessed the Resurrection Stone (he was never interested in the Hallows, however). To the point that he still uses Avada Kedavra on Harry at the end despite it having backfired (in different ways) three times before. However, this is only with Harry, with everyone else, he brings out his most powerful curses, and even when Harry's sacrifice protects everyone, Voldemort still blasts Kingsley, McGonagall, and Slughorn out of the way when duelling all three at the same time. With the final Avada Kedavra that essentially kills Voldemort, he was kind of left with no other choice. He could not curse any of the defenders because they were protected by Harry's love, and even if he killed Harry, he would be attacked by everyone else. He really didn't have a choice.
  • The Cuckoolander Was Right: Luna and her father about Hallows being the truth and that the Diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw is important.
  • Cue the Sun: After the climax.
  • Daddy Had a Good Reason For Abandoning You: Lupin tries to use this as an excuse to abandon Tonks and her unborn child and join Harry, Ron, and Hermione on their search for Horcruxes, but Harry calls him out on it.
  • Dangerously Genre Savvy: Subverted. Voldemort's trap for Harry hinges on exploiting the latter's Chronic Hero Syndrome, but Voldemort seems to have forgotten the last time a person made a Heroic Sacrifice to protect others from him....
  • The Dark Side Will Make You Forget: Severus Snape. When he started out he was a troubled neglected boy who just wanted Lily to like him. Then he got into Slytherin and things slowly turned rather dark at the influence of his friends. Then he got into the Death Eaters and completely forgot that blood-lines didn't used to matter to him, and things got worse to the point where he was trying to bargain with Voldemort to exchange Lily's own son's and husband's lives in order to save hers. Then he came back under Dumbledore's influence and ended up putting his life on the line to save other people, including Harry. So he wavered across the "Evil" line for a fair while there, obviously.
  • The Day of Reckoning: Harry's return to Hogwarts marks the beginning of this for Voldemort.
  • Dead Guy, Junior: Harry's children are named James Sirius, Albus Severus and Lily Luna, and Remus names his son Ted after his father-in-law who was killed. Word of God says George names his son Fred.
  • Dead Little Sister: Ariana Dumbledore.
  • Deal with the Devil: Or rather, with a goblin.
  • Death by Adaptation:
    • Scabior, Griphook, Gregory Goyle and Pius Thicknesse. Possibly Fenrir Greyback; it's really unclear.
    • Lavender's death, confirmed by Word of God.
  • Determined Defeatist: Aberforth Dumbledore is convinced that Voldemort is going to win and advises the heroes to give up and flee the country. Naturally, he still shows up to fight when push comes to shove.
  • Did You Just Scam Cthulhu?: Narcissa Malfoy is apparently a Occlumens to match the world's greatest Legilimens-perhaps even learning to do this on the fly.
    • It is possible that Narcissa blocked Voldemort out with her love for Draco, akin to what Harry did in the fifth book.
  • Died in Your Arms Tonight: Dobby.
  • Disney Death: Harry Potter himself, although the reader knows he isn't really dead. However, those who believed J.K. Rowling's hints that he'd die at the end of the seventh book would certainly be surprised.
  • Disproportionate Reward: Kreacher.
  • Distant Finale: "Nineteen years later."
  • The Dog Bites Back: Narcissa Malfoy.
  • Don't Fear the Reaper: The youngest Peverell brother, having lived to age after a full life, meets up with death like an old friend. The movie actually shows the two embracing. It's surprisingly heartwarming in the context.
    • Dumbledore gives a similar message to Harry at King's Cross.
  • Driven to Suicide:
    • The Bloody Baron does this after killing his lover in a fit of rage. Both of them return as ghosts afterward.
    • The second Peverell brother, Cadmus, does this as well after bringing his dead lover back to life, kind of, but realizing he can never really be with her in this form.
    • As Hermione points out, this trope is also the potential side effect of feeling remorse on the Horcrux-maker's part in the process of getting his/her soul fragments back together into one whole piece.
  • Due to the Dead: Harry sees Moody's magical eye on Umbridge's office door and is so enraged that he steals it back, which ends up helping blow their cover. He later insists on digging Dobby's grave by hand, rather than using magic.
  • The Dutiful Son: Aberforth Dumbledore.
  • Dying Moment of Awesome: Dobby in the book and movie, after he was stabbed by Bellatrix. "Such a beautiful place, to be with friends..." *sobsob*
  • Earn Your Happy Ending: Many people do die, but in the end the Big Bad Voldemort is defeated once and for all, and the world is finally a better place.
  • Enemies with Death: In The Tales of Beedle the Bard. Subverted, in the end, by the third and final brother. With several philosophical ties to the over arching themes of the story.
  • Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Both Lestrange and Riddle discount The Power of Love to their cost.
  • Face Death with Dignity: Grindelwald, who lied to Voldemort about the Elder Wand, and laughed in his face (though annoyingly this is completely reversed in the film). The Third Brother from the “Tale Of The Three Brothers” has this in spades, welcoming death as an “old friend”. Harry, when he faces Voldemort in the Forbidden Forest.
  • Fantastic Racism: Taken Up to Eleven with the Muggle-born show trials. And then surpassing even that and This Is Wrong on So Many Levels with the sculpture of a giant throne made of dead/dying Muggles that is horrifically reminiscent of the gas chambers of the Holocaust.
  • Feed the Mole
  • Fighter, Mage, Thief: The Elder Wand (Fighter), the Resurrection Stone (Mage), and the Invisibility Cloak (Thief).
  • Final Battle: And how!
  • Final Exam Finale
  • Flirting Under Fire: How Ron and Hermione get together.
  • Foe Yay/Ho Yay: Dumbledore and Grindlewald in the backstory. And canon too, at least on Dumbledore's part.
  • Follow the White Rabbit: The doe Patronus. It's Snape's, and has the same form as Lily's.
  • Forgot I Could Fly: Hermione snaps Ron out of this trope by asking him: "Are you a wizard, or what?" It's also an Ironic Echo and a Call Back to a similar remark Ron made to Hermione in their first year.
  • Full Name Ultimatum: "You-complete-arse-Ronald-Weasley!" and "Don't you tell me what to do, Harry Potter!"
  • Generation Xerox: In the epilogue, Ginny's daughter Lily cries at the train station the same way she did at that age. Harry's oldest son James is a bit mischevious like his namesake. Harry's second son Albus is said to be the spitting image of him, including the eyes, and has similar fears of being placed in Slytherin. Meanwhile, Draco's son Scorpius is his own image.
  • Getting Crap Past the Radar: Ginny's "farewell present" to Harry, cut short by Ron's interruption.
    • Even though the book's Precision F-Strike technically never gets beyond "bitch", Mundungus Fletcher uses the line "That wouldn't have been effing difficult..." "Effing" of course being a self-censored Precision F-Strike. Ron also uses this a few chapters later, and Vernon Dursley had used it in the fifth book.
    • Hermione also mentions that "I bet [Harry] tastes a lot better than Crabbe and Goyle," when referring to the Polyjuice potion in the beginning, eliciting a raised eyebrow from Ron (even though she immediately says afterward that she "didn't mean it like that").
    • Harry's daydreams/memories when the Weasley's Auntie Muriel remarks that Ginny's dress is "far too low-cut." Ginny follows this with a wink at Harry and Harry's thoughts drift "far away, back to stolen hours spent in secluded spaces of the Hogwarts grounds..."
    • When Ron complains to Hermione that the jeans she'd chosen to pack in her beaded bag were a couple of years old and so tight that he could barely fit his wand in his pocket, she retorts with "Oh, I'm so sorry-" and Harry overhears her making a suggestion as to where he could put his wand instead.
      • Also, one has to wonder if Hermione had an ulterior motive for wanting Ron in tight jeans.
    • Another wand-themed double entendre occurs when Ron gives Harry a guide on how to charm witches. "It's not just wandwork," he says.
    • Another moment came when Ron was being told to pick up his room for his brother's wedding, and he irritably responds "Are they getting married in my room? No! So why in the name of Merlin's saggy left-", before he gets cut off by his father.
    • Travers and Hermione (transformed into Bellatrix) refer to a wandless wizard just stunned by a disguised Ron as "it". Given the whole subtext about wands in general, it's (not) very subtle.
    • And the subtext in this dialogue, it goes past very quickly so it's easily missed over all the action. Harry asks Ginny where Hermione and Ron are just before the battle. Ginny replies that they left mentioning something about finding a bathroom, prompting a Flat What and "You're sure?.." from Harry. They were going to the Chamber of Secrets, but at this point no one knows what they have in mind, do they?
  • Go Look At the Distraction: After Harry defeats Voldemort, he wants time to talk to Ron and Hermione in private, and Luna points out one of her made-up creatures, making people look away from Harry so he can escape.
  • Gondor Calls for Aid
  • Good Is Not Nice: Harry had used the occasional Unforgivable Curse in moments of extreme stress in previous books, but it really gets turned Up to Eleven in this one. Many fans complained about this and about Dumbledore's interest in the dark arts; J. K. Rowling stated that she never depicted Harry nor Dumbledore to be white knights.
  • Go Out with a Smile: Fred Weasley, who had been laughing over the fact that Percy had finally made a joke for the first time in years.
  • Gotta Catch Them All / Gotta Kill Them All: The Horcruxes, and then the Hallows.
  • Grand Finale
  • Grave Robbing: Voldemort breaking into Dumbledore's tomb.
  • The Guards Must Be Crazy: The snatchers fail to confiscate Ron's Deluminator and Harry's piece of mirror, despite the fact that one is a magical device and the other a potential weapon. Perhaps justified in that the wizarding world tends to focus on spells and wands, rather than the vast number of different weapons that Muggles use.
  • Hammerspace: Hermione's bag.
  • Hearing Voices: Ron and the Put-Outer.
  • Heel Face Turn: Kreacher, Dudley, the Malfoys and Grindelwald to an extent.
    • Percy Weasley also shows up to make a Jerkass Face Turn.

"Hello, Minister! Did I tell you I'm resigning?" Unfortunately, this distracts Fred, who promptly dies. Boo.

    • Snape, back when he first joined the Death Eaters and found out about Trelawney's prophecy concerning Harry.
  • Heroism Incentive: Harry secures the goblin's help by promising him the Sword of Gryffindor. The fact that Harry and Ron meant to sort of double deal the goblin plays with the trope a bit.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: two in this book. One, obviously, by Harry at the end when he has to face Voldemort so he could kill him. Second, Snape, really deserves a mention in that he gave his entire life to Dumbledore in return for helping to keep Lily safe, and then later to protect Harry, even infiltrating Voldemort's inner circle to do so, which eventually resulted in his death.
  • Heroic Suicide: Harry. He got better.
  • High Heel Face Turn: Narcissa Malfoy
  • Hoist by His Own Petard:
    • Voldemort is killed by his own reflected killing curse. Again.
    • Remember how Voldemort got so evil that he created an accidental Horcrux in Harry's scar? Hell, remember the Schrodinger's Prophecy he could've chosen to ignore, but didn't, and in doing so, created his own worst enemy? You-Know-Who is practically the king of this trope.
    • Crabbe (Goyle in the movie) with his own Fiendfyre spell.
  • I Always Wanted to Say That: In the movie. When mounting a defense of Hogwarts, Professor McGonagall animates some figures that were positioned about the exterior walls of the school, and says breathlessly after they jump down, slamming solidly into the courtyard, "I've always wanted to use that spell."
  • I Have You Now, My Pretty: Greyback to Hermione. Scabior takes this role in the films.
  • Identical Twin ID Tags: When George lost an ear.
  • Incredibly Lame Pun: Never mind the fact that his brother just had his ear cut off; Fred is disgusted beyond belief that, with the world of ear-related humor before him, George went with holey.
  • Inferred Holocaust: The fate of many Muggle-borns at the hands of the Death Eater-controlled Ministry of Magic.
  • Infinity+1 Sword:
    • The Elder Wand.
    • The Sword of Gryffindor, appropriately enough. Shame no one uses it for legitimate sword fights to demonstrate its true potential.
  • Ironic Echo: In Book One, Ron yells "Are you mad? Are you a witch or not?" to Hermione. In this one, she yells at him, "Are you mad? Are you a wizard or what?"
  • It Is Not Your Time: Harry's Near-Death Experience at the end of the book. He meets Dumbledore and during this time they discuss his going back to the living.
  • Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: Harry, Hermione, Ron, Lupin, Dobby, and Kreacher, after capturing Mundungus, pretty much used this trope to force him to reveal who he sold Slytherin's Locket to, and then (although by accident rather than deliberately, due to the shock of the revelation of who he sold it to) scalded him.
  • Karmic Death:
    • Voldemort. Try to act surprised. The movie one-upped it though, where he was not only killed by the Avada Kedavra backfiring on him from the Elder Wand, but he also ended up disintegrated as well, not even leaving his body behind.
    • Peter Pettigrew, literally betrayed and choked by the hand he sacrificed to let Voldemort return. Well, at least in the books.
    • Crabbe with his own Fiendfyre. In the movies, it's Goyle, with his other half simply written out.
    • Bellatrix Lestrange at the hands of Molly Weasley after the former attempted to murder Ginny. The movie one-upped by having Molly hit her with another spell, causing her to shatter and exonerating Molly from actually killing her.
  • Kill It With Fiendfyre
  • La Résistance:
    • The Order of the Phoenix in the world at large.
    • Dumbledore's Army at Hogwarts.
  • Last-Minute Hookup:
    • Hermione and Ron. After seven books of teasing, they make out in the hall while Voldemort and the Death Eaters are attacking the school and people are dying. (Although the books were dropping "anvil-sized hints" at them having feelings for each other at least as far back as Chamber of Secrets.)
    • There's also Harry and Ginny, (mainly in The Movie where Ginny gets close to no screen time at all.) They became a couple close to the end of Half Blood Prince and still break up before the end. To make matters worse, they spend even less screen time together in the last book. By the epilogue, they're Happily Married.
  • Let's Get Dangerous: Molly Weasley is getting into a fight with Death Eaters -- holy crap did she just kill somebody?! Word of God is that Molly is just a better fighter than her would-be nemesis.
  • Like Brother and Sister: Harry reassures Ron that this is how he loves Hermione after Ron is given "The Reason You Suck" Speech by the spiritual hallucinations of Harry and Hermione defending the locket Horcrux.
  • Living Emotional Crutch: Lily to Snape.
  • Loan Shark: The goblins.
  • Longing Look
  • Love Redeems and Love Hurts: Snape gets hit with both with regards to Lily. He not only fails to save her, but then spends the remainder of his life trying to protect the son she had with the man he hated, despite the fact that he tried to keep him in detention for most of his school life. It probably didn't make things any easier that Harry looked exactly like James but with Lily's eyes. Ouch.
  • Mama Bear: Mrs. Weasley's mama bear really comes out. Surprisingly enough, so does Narcissa's.
    • McGonagall really gets a chance to shine in this role, especially in the film.
  • Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Okay, so everything is basically magic, but the true story of the Deathly Hallows is never fully explained. Are they powerful magical items made by skilled wizards, or did they really meet death and he gave them the items? There are elements of them which can't be explained within the continuity of the story, unless you accept the story about Death.
    • Also, everything that happens in "King's Cross". As Harry says, "Is this all in my head or is it real?" and gets a Mathematician's Answer in response. Since Harry doesn't learn anything he couldn't have worked out on his own, there's really no way to be sure.
  • Merciful Minion: Draco refuses to admit the prisoner was Harry. Later, Narcissa crosses this trope with Death Faked for You and tells Voldemort that Harry is dead.
  • Moment Killer: Twice: once by Ron and the other time by Harry. Harry did have a good reason for it, though.

Harry: "OI! There's a war going on here!"

  • Monster Fun Facts: Many books have a passage like this when Harry is learning about monsters in school; in this one Harry doesn't go to school but runs down a list of things at Voldemort's command to the Dursleys (who don't know much about magical stuff), including:

Harry: ...and Inferi - that is, dead bodies animated by a dark wizard...

  • Morality Pet: Lily for Severus. The fact that she was dead for seventeen years didn't seem to change this fact.
  • Mortality Ensues: The Horcrux-destruction plot is all about causing this for Voldemort.
  • Mr. Exposition: As Cleolinda Jones pointed out, "Only Dumbledore could still have The Power of Exposition a year dead.".
  • My New Gift Is Lame: Pointed out by Ron when Hermione gets a book of fairy tales, Ron gets an item which can manipulate light, and Harry gets... an old snitch. Harry, however, knows that with it coming from Dumbledore there must be a secret involved, though - and there is. Also the Snitch was the very one that Harry caught in his first ever Quidditch match, which if anything gave it some sentimental value, which in fact was useful to conceal even more its true purpose from the Ministry.
  • Naked People Are Funny: Mad-Eye's plan to sneak Harry out of his house involves everyone transforming to look like him and flying off in all directions. When they change clothes, Harry is annoyed that no one is particularly bashful about getting naked while disguised as him.
  • Needle in a Stack of Needles: A couple of times: the opening, with the many Harrys, then again with the multiplying Horcruxes.
  • Negate Your Own Sacrifice: Harry has to die, since he's a Soul Jar for Voldemort. Fortunately Voldemort's new body was made with Harry's blood, which anchors him to the living world. Harry didn't actually know this would happen and fully expected it to be a Heroic Sacrifice.
    • The blood wasn't enough in itself; according to Dumbledore, Harry's decision to let Voldemort kill him rather than keep fighting was what "made all the difference".
  • New Powers as the Plot Demands: Subverted. It can seem as though the Deluminator is only there to enable Ron's Big Damn Heroes moment. This is rationalized through both The Power of Love and The Power of Friendship.
    • Also, for some reason, Voldemort can fly. There was some Foreshadowing though: his name means "Flight of Death" in French.
  • Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Thanks to a combination of his Pride, incomprehension of certain aspects of base human nature, and incomplete knowledge of the prophecy which causes it to become self-fulfilling, Voldemort in many ways directly contributes to his own downfall.
    • (For instance, the man destroys one of his own Soul Jars. It was part of a huge Batman Gambit set up by Dumbledore, but, still.)
  • No Body Left Behind: How Bellatrix Lestrange and Lord Voldemort's Karmic Deaths are portrayed in the film version. The latter is also a good Call Back to his first defeat in the film adaptation of Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone, as he disintegrates into ashes and fabric before even those fade away.
  • Noble Shoplifter: Hermione keeps doing this while the Trio are on the run.
  • No Man Should Have This Power: Harry destroys the Hallows for this reason.
    • At least the Wand. He lost the stone in the forest, and one can assume he kept the cloak.
      • Also, in regards to the wand, in the book, he put it back in Dumbledore's grave with the hope that he, Harry, would die naturally so the cycle of violence over the wand would end. In the movie, he is much more pragmatic and simply snaps the wand in two.
  • Noodle Incident: When the gang is sneaking around the Ministry of Magic, Harry sets off a Decoy Detonator, resulting in this remark from an employee that isn't elaborated upon any further:

Employee: "I bet it sneaked up here from Experimental Charms, they're so careless, remember that poisonous duck?"

    • And this line from Lily in one of Snape's memories:

Lily: I'm sorry, but I detest Avery and Mulciber! Mulciber! What do you see in him, Sev, he's creepy! D'you know what he tried to do to Mary MacDonald the other day?

"I know mate, so it's now or never, right?"

  • N-Word Privileges: Hermione refers to herself as a Mudblood and when Ron objects, she explains that she's proud that she can refer to herself that way instead of the Death Eaters doing it.
  • Oblivious to Love: Lily seems completely oblivious to the fact that Snape has been in love with her since they were children.
    • Also, Ron's pretty good at not noticing that Hermione's in love with him, despite him being in love with her.
  • Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Ron and Hermione recovering the basilisk fangs from the Chamber of Secrets. This could have been used to show another spiritual illusion to try and stop them, like with the locket, but it was left out due to the book's Cosmic Deadline (see above). Happily, it's included in the movie.
    • In the book, before the Dursleys leave Privet Drive, Dudley shows concern about Harry’s safety, tells Harry that he doesn’t consider him to be "a waste of space," is thankful to him for saving his life, and even shakes his hand. For Dudley, this is positive Character Development and a Crowning Moment of Awesome rolled into one, because it presents Dudley as finally accepting and appreciating Harry. Disappointingly, this is left out in the film, though it's included in the Blu Ray deleted scenes.
    • Also in the book, Dean Thomas is seen in the final battle casting spells with a new wand, having obtained it during the battle, as we see him enter the final battle without one. It's true he's a minor character, but this is an unarmed teenager who took ownership of a wand by forcefully taking it from a trained killer in the middle of a kill or be killed melee between good and evil.
  • Only Mostly Dead: Harry's hit by the Killing Curse and could be considered dead - but it only really kills the Soul Fragment left by Voldemort.
  • Posthumous Character: Grindelwald and Regulus Black. And Dumbledore.
  • The Power of Friendship: after six books where Harry is always telling his friends to stay safe and that he will do things on his own, this book shows how he finally accepts his friends' help.
    • What pushes Ron to come back to his friends right after leaving them. He is helped by the Deluminator (see Fridge Brilliance) in this task. Harry even says it.

Ron: [Dumbledore] must've known I'd run out on you.
Harry: No. He must've known you'd always want to come back.

  • Precision F-Strike: "NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!!!"
    • "You-- * whack* complete-- * whack* arse-- * whack* Ronald-- * whack* Weasley! * whack* "
    • "And that's the second time we've saved your life tonight, you two-faced bastard!"
  • Pre-Ass-Kicking One-Liner: Mrs. Weasley's Precision F-Strike.
    • "Did I mention I'm resigning?"
    • "I'll join you when hell freezes over! Dumbledore's Army!"
    • "You shouldn't have done that."
    • "You're lying, Dolores. You mustn't tell lies."
  • The Problem with Fighting Death: In the Three Brothers' tale.
  • Prodigal Hero: Harry had to flee an hide all over England to stay a step ahead of Voldemort, but when the last Horcrux was hidden in Hogwarts and he found that out, he rushed to Hogwarts to find it, which sparked the Final Battle.
  • Protagonist-Centered Morality: Subverted. Harry uses the Cruciatus curse, but this was so that the audience would recognize his flaws, not change their mind about the appropriateness of Dark Magic.
  • Psychological Torment Zone
  • The Purge: The Ministry's show trials of Muggle-borns
  • Put Down Your Wand And Step Away: Bellatrix holding Hermione hostage asks for Harry's and his friends' wands.
  • Putting on the Reich: The Ministry of Magic under Voldemort. The Death Eaters' skull is even similar to the totenkopf of the SS.
    • Nurmengard, Grindelwald's prison for his enemies, is a thinly-veiled Auschwitz, right down to the slogan written over the gates. Considering Grindelwald himself was later imprisoned there, it might double as a reference to Nuremberg.
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Ron receives one of these from some spiritual hallucinations of Harry and Hermione (It Makes Sense in Context).
  • Redemption Equals Death: R.A.B: when he discovered what a monster Voldemort was, stole the Horcrux and died in the process.
    • Also Severus Snape.
  • Redemption Rejection: In the film, Draco is called by his parents to join the Death Eaters, and he gets several long seconds of worry before siding with them. "Them" being his parents, not the Death Eaters. During the final battle, he and his parents flee Hogwarts instead of staying and fighting for Voldemort.
  • Red Herring: Neville. Many readers thought this book would have Trelawney's prophecy turn out to be that he was the one who would bring down Voldemort. He has a bigger part in it than most though.
  • Refusing Paradise: Dumbledore offers Harry the chance to pass on to the next world, but Harry chooses to continue the fight against Voldemort.
  • Retired Badass: Averted with Harry and Ron when they grow up, but played straight with almost every other major character. Particularly Neville, who settled into a nice, quiet teaching position at Hogwarts.
    • Word of God Says Ron helps run Weasley Wizards Wheezes with George and also after the battle of Hogwarts that he does become an Auror with Harry and Neville. Whether he's still an Auror or working with George at the time of the epilogue is unknown.
  • Retired Monster: Grindelwald.
  • Revealing Skill: Harry is revealed when he uses the Disarming Charm — his signature move — against a Death Eater.
  • Reverse Mole: Snape.
  • Room Full of Crazy: One might count Luna's bedroom. Granted, the girl hasn't a malicious bone in her body and none of it is sinister, but, well... portraits of people you like all linked by gold chains made of the word "friends" does go a little beyond Cloudcuckoolander. Opinions differ on whether this is heartwarming or stalkerish.
    • All of the Lovegood's house counts, really.
  • Rousing Speech: Neville gets one in the movie version, in place of his "I'll join you when hell freezes over! Dumbledore's Army!" line.
  • Rule of Three: Three Hallows, the third Peverell brother doesn't meet an untimely death. This book also features the third time that Voldemort tries the killing curse on Harry.
  • Rules Lawyer: Harry rules-lawyers Voldemort to death.
  • Sadist Teacher: The Carrows, a pair of ruthless Death Eater siblings, take over disciplinary matters and Defense Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts this year. You know they're bad when Neville says they make even Umbridge look good by comparison.
  • Save the Villain: Harry saves Draco. Twice. It turns out to help him in the end, though.
  • Self-Induced Allergic Reaction: Hermione's quick thinking allows her to prevent Harry from being recognized by the Snatchers when they're surrounded in the woods. However, the disguise isn't foolproof, and the trio have to rely on Malfoy to look the other way and pretend he can't tell whether it's Harry or not.
  • Self-Made Orphan: Though not a straight example, worth mentioning is Hermione, who cast a memory spell on her parents so that they won't worry about her while she's gone.
  • Shapeshifter Guilt Trip: The locket gives Ron a double dosage of this trope - the two people closest and dearest to the victim manifest and give thorough, counterpoint arguments for why he sucks.
  • Ship Tease: The Horcrux taunts Ron Weasley with the sight of Harry and Hermione kissing.
  • Shoot the Messenger: And everyone else in the room.
  • Sleep Cute: In the book and the film Ron and Hermione are asleep next to each other, with their hands lying so they appear to be reaching out for each other. Given a horrifying echo in Part II when Together in Death Remus and Tonks' bodies are laid out in the exact same way.
  • So Proud of You: Lily, and later Dumbledore, to Harry.
  • Soul Jar: Horcruxes, although each one only contains a fraction of his soul.
  • Spanner in the Works: The Malfoys, more specifically Draco (unknowingly) and Narcissa (deliberately).
  • Spared by the Adaptation: Peter Pettigrew, annoyingly enough.
  • Spotting the Thread: Luna Lovegood sees through Harry's disguise at Bill and Fleur's wedding simply from the expression on Harry's face.
  • Start of Darkness: a variation. This time, instead of seeing Voldemort's transition from cute, troubled kid to full-on genocidal maniac we get to see Snape's transition from cute, troubled kid to troubled heartbroken adult, and Dumbledore's transition from cute, troubled kid to wise manipulative Chessmaster - both of them dabbling considerably in the Dark Arts for a while. Apparently coming from a broken home is a pre-requisite for this kind of thing. Interestingly, all three of them were Insufferable Geniuses as teenagers.
  • Stepford Smiler: Dolores Umbridge, with her girlish laugh and her sadistic, cheerful attitude, takes this trope Up to Eleven during her trials of Muggle-borns which emphasises her status of Complete Monster. Her Blatant Lies that a Muggle-born 'is not a witch' trigger Harry's Berserk Button quite quickly.
  • Sue Donym: The Potterwatch radio crew refer to themselves by ridiculously transparent pseudonyms based on their actual names: Lee Jordan is River, Kingsley Shacklebolt is Royal, Fred Weasley (weasel) starts as Rodent (quickly changed to Rapier, presumably for "rapier wit"), and Remus Lupin exhausts the last untapped blatant reference in his name by going as Romulus. To their credit, Kingsley is the wizard James Earl Jones as far as vocal recognition goes and they would have been killed on sight anyhow for belonging to the Order of the Phoenix, so protecting their identities wasn’t worth much.
  • Supernatural Aid: Dumbledore's will.
  • Supporting Leader: Professor McGonagall leads the defense in the Battle for Hogwarts to give the Power Trio the time to find the final Horcrux, even though she has to trust Harry by his word alone.
    • Also, former Butt Monkey Neville Longbottom lead the student resistance in Harry's absence.
  • Sword of Plot Advancement: The Horcrux-destroying plot only takes off after Harry, Ron and Hermione find where Gryffindor's sword was hidden.
  • Take Off Your Clothes: Hermione makes Harry and Ron take off their wizards' robes so they can pass as Muggles.
  • That Liar Lies: Harry shouts "LIES!" to no one in particular when first reading some of the media references to Dumbledore's Feet of Clay. The melodrama of this is lampshaded in that a Muggle neighbor is shown to overhear and glance around nervously.
  • Thermal Dissonance
  • They Do: Ron and Hermione.
  • This Is for Emphasis, Bitch: "NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!".
  • Tomato in the Mirror: "Harry is a Horcrux."
  • Took a Level in Badass: Virtually everyone, but particular standouts include Mrs. Weasely, Prof. Slughorn, and above all Neville Longbottom, who in some ways really is the biggest hero in the story.
  • Tracking Device - A running quirk in the first book, revealed by Ron in the last: there's a reason why wizards won't dare speak Lord's Voldemort's name.
    • The spell that made that possible wasn't in use until the last book. So it was safe to actually say Voldemort's name until that spell was cast.
  • Troubled but Cute: Snape as a little kid.
  • Tyrant Takes the Helm: Voldemort.
  • Unintentional Backup Plan: A rare villainous example. Voldemort is unaware that Harry is his final Horcrux. As a result, he gave himself a way to win even after the other sources of his power were destroyed. Subverted because Harry still kicks his ass.
  • Unlucky Childhood Friend: Snape to Lily.
  • Unrequited Love Lasts Forever: Snape. Ouch.
  • Untwist: Wormtail's life debt to Harry isn't repaid out of gratitude or a Heel Face Turn, but instead he's simply magically prevented from harming Harry at a critical moment. His "mercy" is completely accidental, and then triggers a You Have Failed Me... failsafe...
  • Unwilling Suspension: The Muggle Studies teacher. McGonagall does this to the Carrows just before the Final Battle.
  • Villainous Breakdown: Voldemort during the final showdown with Harry, for once showing himself afraid as Harry talks down to him. Also in a Kill the Messenger / You Know Too Much moment when he hears about the Horcrux being stolen from Gingotts.
  • Villainous BSOD: Averted. The master of a Horcrux can repair his soul by feeling regret - which, given what their creation entails, often means that they'll feel so much pain that they'll die - but Voldemort is such a Complete Monster that he has to be killed the normal way. Oh well.
    • Having to do it the old-fashioned way is meant to illustrate that Voldy is totally an completely irredeemable
    • Played straight in the films as a plot point: You-Know-Who having one whenever a Horcrux is destroyed will often prompt him to have Flashbacks to the others, allowing Harry to figure out where they are.
      • The flashbacks were also implied in the original book as well.
  • Wartime Wedding: Bill and Fleur.
  • We Can Rule Together: Voldemort and Neville, but Badass Neville isn't interested.
  • Wham! Episode: Quite a few major characters were killed off.
  • Wham! Line: A book full of them, but this one takes the cake.

Severus Snape: Always.

  • What Could Have Been: Working titles were Harry Potter and the Elder Wand and Harry Potter and the Peverell Quest. The latter was rejected for being way too cheesy, but the former would have made a lot more sense.
  • What If the Baby Is Like Me?: Remus frets a lot over this.
  • What the Hell, Hero?:
    • Snape delivers one of these speeches to Dumbledore, after he reveals that Harry (whom Snape has been protecting) must die in order to defeat Voldemort. May or may not be a Crowning Moment of Awesome. It's the one time that Snape gets properly angry at Dumbledore.
    • Harry delivers one to Lupin, when he offers to abandon his family to help the trio on their quest, largely out of self-loathing.
  • Where Are They Now? Epilogue
  • White Void Room: "King's Cross". Only much cleaner.
  • Would Hit a Girl:
    • Crabbe proves that he's not only willing to do this, but is also willing to set one on fire.
    • A non-lethal version involves Harry merely knocking Umbridge unconscious with a spell.
  • You Have Failed Me...: Wormtail's silver hand was enchanted to kill him if he ever betrayed Voldemort. He does so accidentally.
  • Youngest Child Wins: The third Peverell brother is the only one who doesn't die as a consequence of his Hallow.
"The scar had not pained Harry for nineteen years. All was well."
—The last line in the book
  1. ↑ Rises from the use of "witch" as an insult, which makes no sense in a world where every female magic user is called a witch.
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