ok so i was reading OotP and i am at the part where Harry notices the threshals. Because I have read it before, i know that one can only see the threashals if one has witnessed a death.
but Harry never actually witnessed a death.
when his parents were murdered, he was in his cradle and unable to see it happen.
when Cedric was murdered, Harry's eyes were closed. He opened his eyes to find Cedric lying spread-eagle on the ground.
So how can he see the Threshals??
2007-07-09 06:41:58 · 23 answers · asked by oompa loompa 4 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Books & Authors
you must be talking about Thestrals....
And i don't have the book in front of me, so i'm not sure about whether he had his eyes open when Cedric dies, but the reason Harry could see them 'all the sudden' one year was because it was the start of the year after he "witnessed" the death of Cedric.....
No matter, he's still a witness to the death of Cedric.... if you were standing next to a man, and see somebody pulle a gun out and shoot at you and you close your eyes and open them up and the guy next to you is dead, you witnessed his death
2007-07-09 07:12:13 · answer #1 · answered by n8dog021 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
JK Rowling herself answered this question on her website's FAQ page:
"Why could Harry see the Thestrals 'Order of the Phoenix'? Shouldn't he have been able to see them much earlier, because he saw his parents/Quirrell/Cedric die?"
JKR: I’ve been asked this a lot. Harry didn’t see his parents die. He was in his cot at the time (he was just over a year old) and, as I say in ‘Philosopher’s Stone’, all he saw was a flash of green light. He didn’t see Quirrell’s death, either. Harry had passed out before Quirrell died and was only told about it by Dumbledore in the last chapter.
He did, however, witness the murder of Cedric, and it is this that makes him able to see the Thestrals at last. Why couldn’t he see the Thestrals on his trip back to the train station? Well, I didn’t want to start a new mystery, which would not be resolved for a long time, at the very end of the fourth book. I decided, therefore, that until Harry is over the first shock, and really feels what death means (ie, when he fully appreciates that Cedric is gone forever and that he can never come back, which takes time, whatever age you are) he would not be able to see the Thestrals. After two months away from school during which he has dwelled endlessly on his memories of the murder and had nightmares about it, the Thestrals have taken shape and form and he can see them quite clearly.
http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/en/faq_view.cfm?id=21
2007-07-09 13:54:09 · answer #2 · answered by HP Wombat 7 · 4⤊ 0⤋
JK Rowling has an answer for this. She says it's because Harry didn't understand death at such a young age, but upon seeing Cedric die (the experience as a whole, not just the death itself for which his eyes were closed) the meaning of it sunk in.
2007-07-09 13:58:55 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
It was in the movie that Harry had his eyes closed when Cedric was killed, but in the book his eyes were wide open. If he had seen his parents killed, Harry would have been able to seen the Threstal(sp?) in his first year, however he saw it in his fifth year. If it had been Quirrals(sp?) death that he saw, it would have meant that he would have been able to see the Therstals in his third year. Meaning that it was Cedric's death that made Harry see them.
2007-07-09 14:49:52 · answer #4 · answered by whatisn'twouldn'tbe™ 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
well done for noticing that!!!! well, i think he saw Quirrel die in the first one, but then wouldn't he have seen Thestrals before then? hmmm.... i really couldn't say. I think that even though Harry didn't actually WATCH Cedric die, it still counts, cos he was there, could hear it, and was witness to it.
maybe..... lol
i'm re reading the books now, so if i come across anything, i'll tell you!!
=D
2007-07-09 13:56:31 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I guess JK accepted that cedric was enough, plus I think harry did actually see the moment of death for cedric...
2007-07-09 13:45:10 · answer #6 · answered by A Reading Girl 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
well as for everyone saying he saw his mom die, even if he did which im not sure, he's never seen the thestrals before, so it would have to be accounted for cedric's death, which in the book he does have his eyes closed, but i think its that you can see them if you have "seen death" which is kind of vague, he see Cedric dead though, so maybe its if you see a dead person, i cant say for sure though
2007-07-09 14:03:37 · answer #7 · answered by amber 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Oh yeah! I never noticed that before! It says he could see the green light through his eyelids and he heard Cedric's body fall to the ground. Maybe that's enough to be able to see the Threshals?
2007-07-09 13:47:37 · answer #8 · answered by Rikku 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It was the Cedric because if you think on it he never saw the thesterals before the 5th year!!! So it couldn't have been his parents or Quirrel as some are suggesting.
2007-07-09 16:43:06 · answer #9 · answered by darkflower366 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I personally think your putting way to much thought into this. he witnessed Cedrics death, i don't think he had his eyes closed. and i would probably say that he witnessed his parents death, he saw his mom die.
if he can see threshals, then that means he has witnessed a death. so one of those times he saw someone die.
2007-07-09 13:46:22 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋