What does "(harry potter and the) Deathly Hallows" mean?

Question

Could anyone give me a definition of "hallows"?

Answer 1

I looked up Hallow in the online Webster dictionary. It means to make holy devoted or venerate. It's opposite is to desecrate.

When I ran the Microsoft Thesaurus is gave me consecrate or make holy.

Sounds like maybe it is referring to deatheaters or dementors. Possibly Jo is referring to the death eaters as a deadly cult.

It could also be referring to the Horcruxes. I think it makes sense that anything that hold a part of a soul (even ol' Voldy's) could be considered sacred. The fact that the Horcruxes could only be made by killing someone could be the reason for the "Deathly." We also know from HBP that destroying a Horcrux can be dangerous (remember Dumbledore's hand).

Also, James and Lily made their home in Godric’s Hollow, which is quite close to hallow. It would be poetic justice if Voldy died where he killed Harry’s parents.

for book 7 theories and info on the books and movies visit my personal HP site
http://rpccstudent.tripod.com/

Answer 2

Most dictionaries will list "hallow[s]" only as a verb, which, within the title, makes no sense. However, if you consider the word in a historical context (and I can't find "acceptable" listed as a meaning anywhere) it makes much more sense. In the Middle Ages, "hallows" meant relics of saints, a remnant of the saint in concrete form. Christians believed the saints themselves were physically present within the hallows, in a manner similar to Rowlings horcruxes. Additionally, in medieval tales about the search for the Holy Grail, the word hallows referenced a set of four sacred or magical objects (as in, perhaps, a locket, a cup, something of Ravenclaw's or Gryffindor's...) When I first heard the title, I was disappointed - it really didn't seem to make sense. But, after a little research, my faith in Rowling is restored. I should have known, given how much thought went into the etymology and mythology she's incorporated into the series, she wouldn't title her book something random, without meaning. Hope this helped!

Answer 3

Deathly Hallows means: the acceptable death
Deathly = death
Hallows = acceptable
What j.k.rowling is trying to say is that harry may sacrifice his life for the safety of others

Answer 4

Sorry: it's part of the series not to know what the title means until the book is released. It's fun to ponder in the meantime. JK Rowling has left much unresolved ground for the final novel. But we're just going to have to wait...

Answer 5

well...heres a thought.. isnt Harry's parents home located in Godrick hallows? Maybe it has something to do with him going back and searching there.

Answer 6

well the hollow would be like the place harrys parents lived when they were killed and if youd pay'd attention to the last part of the book then you'd remember that harry said that he was dropping out of hogwarts and he might go to the graves of his parents

Answer 7

It is the name of the new (and i think last) book in the series

It boils down to this...totally this

She's trying to get us to wonder what it means..

Which Hallows?..where?...is he going to live?..is he going to die?

Is Ron..and Hermine going to stay to gether?

will...Ginnie tell him to get over himself and fight beside her love?

Oh...so much to know...

so much

Answer 8

I have no clue but I can't wait to find out! She's doing this to make us crazy, I swear!

Answer 9

its not in the oford english dictionary.

Answer 10

The word 'hallow' by itself means 'to become sacred' or just 'scared', but when put together with the word 'deathly' it doesn't make much sense indeed.

To understand what the title means and what the 7th book will be about, look on this site: http://www.harrypotterforseekers.com/

Here's a fragment from the research posted by that site:

Harry's relationship with Severus Snape is a complex, tumultuous, and violent one, and to me, is the most fascinating and the most enigmatic in the entire series. As we've seen before, the tone for all of their subsequent interactions was set up at their very first meeting. Snape has secret knowledge, and he made it clear from the first Potions class in Harry's first year at Hogwarts that it was available only to a select few. And he makes it painfully clear that he doesn't think Harry will be one of them. This is a prophecy that finally gets fulfilled in OotP, when Harry repeatedly fails at his lessons in Occlumency with Snape. This also solves the mystery of why so much time and page space was spent on these lessons-they represented Harry's failure of knowledge vis a vis Snape. In OotP, Harry also learns about his father's moral failings from Snape, and blames Snape for goading Sirius to his death. In HBP, Harry learns that Snape was his parents' betrayer, and he sees Snape kill Dumbledore. In other words, Harry now blames Snape for the loss of all three of his father figures (and his mother as well.)

Of course, there may be a lot more going on with Snape. As most of you probably know, there is a theory that Dumbledore got Snape to agree to kill him during the school year. Dumbledore knew that he was going to die anyway, and his primary focus was to keep Draco from becoming a murderer. And that's the real reason why Snape killed Dumbledore. Because Harry had already failed to master Occlumency, he could not be told about this plan.

But how does all of this come together in order to predict what might happen in Book 7? I believe that it does, but I will warn you: here's where it gets really speculative. It all begins with this quote from an interview that J.K. Rowling gave in 2000, and it goes on to encompass all the points that were examined in this presentation.

Yes, I am [a Christian] . . . Which seems to offend the religious right far worse than if I said I thought there was no God. Every time I've been asked if I believe in God, I've said yes, because I do, but no one ever really has gone any more deeply into it than that, and I have to say that does suit me, because if I talk too freely about that I think the intelligent reader, whether 10 or 60, will be able to guess what's coming in the books. (Interview with Geordie Greig)

This quote is fascinating, and it is generally overlooked-but this is a mistake, since I believe that it contains the secret of the inevitable ending of the Harry Potter series. At first, I looked for the answer only on the most obvious level. Both Snape and Voldemort are Harry's enemies; Snape, in fact, might be said to fill this role even more completely than Voldemort does, since Harry unarguably hates him more than he does any normal human being on the planet. So the love that Harry will have to find within himself in Book 7-and the love that will be so very difficult to find-will be the central tenet of Christianity, the ultimate agape: love for his enemy. He'll have to forgive and love Snape. Every other task Harry has accomplished will seem easy, next to that. It will be his biggest challenge, but it will also be the only way for him to find victory.

Some, such as Lynne Milum, have believed that "Harry's potential to redeem Voldemort would be the greatest victory of all." So in this paradigm, Harry's forgiveness would have to be directed towards Voldemort rather than towards Snape, and that would be his redeeming power of love. Perhaps Harry really does have to accept the idea that Voldemort is his shadow self and I think this was hinted at in OotP. However, I feel that actual forgiveness is far more likely to happen between Harry and Snape. In keeping with the traditions of a hero's journey narrative like Tam Lin, I think that all of Harry's friends and mentors must be stripped away near the end, at least temporarily. His relationship with his greatest human enemy, Snape, is then the only key to salvation. I still believe that this does have to happen in Book 7.

However, I also believe that it's not the entire story and that there is and must be more. If J.K. Rowling is only talking about the central idea of Orthodox Christianity in that quote, then there seems little point for her to define herself in opposition to the "religious right." Somewhere, somehow, she is referring to religious ideas that are not quite orthodox. Of course, we really don't know exactly what kind of belief or variant on Christianity J.K. Rowling was talking about. We do know, though, that the idea of special knowledge available to only a limited number of initiated people is absolutely central to the Harry Potter series, and we do see this exact idea somewhere else.

Gnostic Christianity is a term applied to modern revivals of various mystical initiatory religions that were very active in the first few centuries A.D. These belief systems tend to piggyback on Christian tenets, and they "typically recommend the pursuit of special knowledge, or gnosis, as the central goal of life. They also commonly depict creation as a. struggle between competing forces of light and dark, and posit a marked division between the material realm. and the higher spiritual realm." (Naj Hammadi Library xvii). This summation of Gnosticism is itself a good summary of the entire Harry Potter series, but what is even more important to keep in mind is that "to be Gnostic should be understood as being reliant not on knowledge in a direct sense, but as being specially receptive to mystical or esoteric experiences of direct participation. it is a knowledge of divine mysteries for the elite" (ibid).

In addition, Simon Magus, the historical founder of Gnosticism, is the archetypal magician, and Dumbledore's character is clearly heavily influenced by him. Gnosticism as a whole, in fact, has always been strongly related to magic, alchemy, and magical systems; in some ways, it is the very definition of magic. It defines itself in separation from the mundane, unenlightened world, just as the world of witches and wizards is sharply separated from the world of Muggles. And it finally provides a reason for the strange juxtaposition of the hero's journey genre with the mystery genre, because this is the very heart of Gnosticism-a quest for knowledge that is shrouded in mystery.

The final clue may lie in a very strange detail in HBP. In the first Potions class with Horace Slughorn, Draco mentions his grandfather, who was named Abraxas Malfoy. Historically, Abraxas was the extremely widespread general Gnostic name of a god who incorporated both good and evil. He was associated with Lucifer (and, of course, Draco's father is named Lucius). In addition, Abraxas was always pictured wrapped in a snake or dragon, which could clearly refer to both Draco and Slytherin. So all three male Malfoys-grandfather, father, and son-have been given names that clearly refer to Gnosticism, although in the case of Abraxas, the clue seems unmistakable. (J.K. Rowling has had more than enough education to know all of these rather arcane facts, by the way; after graduating from public school with top honors in English, French, and German, she went on to study French at the University of Exeter.)

So although we can't know for sure if J.K. Rowling was talking about her Gnostic beliefs in that interview (unless she chooses to clarify the point further) it does make sense that she was referring to some popularized ideas from Gnosticism that have filtered down to the present day. The next question, of course, is what precisely this might mean. One idea that has saturated public consciousness recently is the Cathars' concept that Jesus Christ was married to Mary Magdalen, as seen in The Da Vinci Code. I actually considered this one (Harry/Ginny/Luna/Giant Squid, anybody?). But we run up against the same old problem: eros, or romantic love, does not save anyone in Harry Potter's world.

Another possibility is that Dumbledore gave Snape a specific piece of secret knowledge before he died, and that it holds the key to something we cannot yet even guess. Maybe it contains the exact details of the secret to how to defeat Voldemort. Maybe it involves some way in which Harry can survive after defeating Voldemort. Maybe it reveals a way for him to come to terms with the sacrifice he must make when he does defeat Voldemort. At this point, we really don't know, but I do think that it likely exists, and that Harry can only get this knowledge from Snape. However, I think that there is still a central secret, one that brings together Harry's powers of love, hate, and forgiveness, his need to destroy Voldemort through these powers, and his ultimate quest for knowledge. I've already established that I don't think the key is in romantic love, and that even the idea that Harry must show agape to Snape is not quite the entire story. So what is it? I began to consider another Gnostic idea that has recently become quite well known due to the very recent work of National Geographic: The Gospel of Judas.

This is one of the so-called "Gnostic gospels" written at some point in the second century A.D., similar to the gospels found at Naj Hammadi that have already been translated. All of the vital points of this particular gospel have been known since it was written, so J.K. Rowling would have had every chance to learn about it; the only thing that is new is the specific National Geographic translation. (In fact, Nikos Kazantzakis's The Last Temptation of Christ was published in 1951 and translated into English in 1960. A major part of its plot was taken from The Gospel of Judas.)

Its basic storyline follows the canonical gospels, but with one vital difference: in his betrayal of Jesus Christ, Judas was a hero, not a villain. He performed this task in accordance with Jesus's instructions, and helped to release the spirit of Christ from its physical constraints. The other disciples were completely ignorant of this plan because they were not enlightened enough to understand it.

If we recast these roles as Dumbledore, Snape, and Harry, everything makes sense. Snape did not only kill Dumbledore in order to keep Draco from the task; he also released Dumbledore from his human form (which traditional Gnostics believed to be a prison). Dumbledore knew that when he was no longer confined to his physical body, his power would be greater. (This is a very familiar theme for the mentor in hero's journeys, as we see with Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars.) Harry can only receive this knowledge after forgiving Snape, and offering him sacrificial love, or agape. Only in this way can he complete his hero's journey, and understand the true meaning of his power of love.

And so it all comes together. We already knew that the Harry Potter series was much more than a group of simple children's books, but we see now that it is far more multi-layered than we ever dreamed. It draws from the vast well of our unconscious mythology, combining a thousand ancient ideas in new and exciting ways. And it differs from historical Gnosticism in one vital way: we, too, may become initiates into its secret knowledge. It invites us, the readers, to take a vastly complex hero's journey with Harry-one that may bring us all to a place of wisdom.