Errors in Harry Potter series...SPOILER?

Question

Just wondering why, if Harry saw his parents die as a baby, he couldn't see the thestrals untill after Cedric was killed. Also, even if he hadn't seen his parents die, he should have been able to see the thestral in the end of the fourth book, not the beginning of the fifth.

Another... (from 7th book)
If Harry's scar was an accidental horcrux, wouldn't he find it hard to perform certain magic, like patronses, and his personality would be irritable, right? Because when he, Ron, or Hermione wore the locket, they all were affected a lot. Given that he WAS a horcrux, wouldn't he ALWAYS be affected?

Thanks for your time and wisdom.
Peace.

I know that Harry wouldn't have been able to see the thestrals in the 1st or 2nd book, since he did not travel to the castle by carriages, but thestrals were ALWAYS used to pull the carriages. We know tthis because Luna Lovegood said she had been able to see them since day one. So since the third book, Harry should have been able to see them, since he saw his parents die. But, if there is a flaw in this theory, and for some reason (such as he couldn't remember seeing his parents die), he at least should have been able to see the thestrals at the end of book 4.

So, thank you for your time, but our theory is flawed.

Peace.

So J.K. Rowling didn't want to introduce them in the end of the fifth book...
Well, she could have come up with a reason why he wasn't paying attention.
Anyone agreee?

Navigator that is the best answer by far. Hope some other people will be as intelligent as you in answering this...

J.K. Rowling could have made him more irritable at times without introducingn the horcrux. And, he did not think his parents died in a car crash in the fourth book he alreaady knew and accepted that they were murdered by that time.

Of course he was more subtle with Harry' horcrux. He didn't =even know it existed!

ONE MORE QUESTION!!!
At the end of book seven, when Voldemort is killed, is Harry still a parselmouth?

Answer 1

Since Jo Rowling said that death played an essential theme in the series, how the characters deal with it and so on, I think that someone had to fully grasp and understand that death occurred. Harry was just over a year old when Voldemort killed his parents. He wasn't in the same room when his father died, Lily put him in the crib first before facing Voldemort. The most Harry could see would be his mother falling after being hit by the Killing Curse. What he only remembered was the flash of green light and he couldn't even comprehend what that was at first, let alone comprehend that his parents were killed.

When Cedric died, the shock of his death, of Voldemort returning and the subsequent turn of events with Barty Crouch, loads of stuff from Dumbledore would have affected him in seeing the thestrals. But Jo Rowling said that she didn't want to introduce the thestrals at the end of Book 4, so I guess those reasons were wrong. Harry would have been able to see them it was just JKR didn't want to mention it. That's lame, yes, but that's her prerogative, she is after all the writer.

It was Harry himself that was a Horcrux, not just his scar I think. As for your point on whether he would not have been able to perform some magic, I would guess that unlike the amount of soul that Voldemort put into each of the 6 Horcruxes, the part in Harry's was smaller in comparison. And I think being accidental, he was not a proper Horcrux, but we could see its effect on it as Voldemort's powers grow back. Also the good vs. evil would have been represented inside Harry himself. Yes, he has the evil soul of Voldemort in him, but his inherent goodness always win that he had no difficulty in doing magic like conjuring Patronuses.

As for the last question, Jo Rowling said that Harry being a Parselmouth ended when Voldemort died.

Answer 2

In order to see thestrals, a person has to be aware of the death AND have some time to accept it. So the murders of Harry's parents didn't make him able to see thestrals because he was too young and not really aware of what happened, and he couldn't see them at the end of Book 4 because he was still too much in shock over Cedric's recent death (not enough time to accept it). [EDIT - added this next sentence] But by the beginning of Book 5, it's been a whole summer and Harry has had time to really "process" and internalize what happened to Cedric, so he's able to see the thestrals pulling the carriages at the beginning of that school year.

As for the Horcrux issue, it's hard to say for sure, because Harry's being an accidental Horcrux makes him a special, if not unique, case. My thought is that since it happened when Harry was a baby, over time it became natural for him to have that portion of Voldemort's soul within him, so it didn't affect his personality or give him any problem producing a Patronus. But when he wore the locket Horcrux, that was taking on an additional burden, so it affected him the same way as it did Ron and Hermione.

That's my two cents' worth. Hope that helps!

EDIT - In response to your "one more question": According to a webchat interview that JKR did on The Leaky Cauldron website, after the Voldemort soul-fragment within him is destroyed, Harry is no longer a Parselmouth and is glad to have lost that ability.

Answer 3

Hi!

Well, the Thestral situation has been cleared by JK Rowling in a few interviews. Harry was a baby when his parents died, and he wasn't really aware of what he had witnessed when it happened (he was just one-year old).
Now, with Cedric, he was there, he kind of really felt this dead, what it implied and he lived-through this moment, which gave him a whole new conscience on the subject. That's why this moment is what allows him to see Thestrals. In the case of Luna, she was 10 years old when her mother died, and she must have been present at the explosion that killed her (her mom liked to experiment, remember?). That's why she can see them too :)

About your second question:
Harry was indeed a Horcrux, but he -unlike the rest of the Horcruxes- was NOT an object. He was a person... A person that had a SOUL of his own (a complete and healthy soul) and that had a protective extra-blood from his mother.
This soul is what prevailed in his body, is what allowed him to fight Voldemort in book 1, at the end of Book 5 and all through the end of the series.
This is what differences him from the other Horcruxes. He was affected, of course, but in a much lesser grade. When he was weak, in doubt (such as he is on Book 5, for example) is when he's affected the most. Also when Voldemort was stronger. (Remember that Voldemort learns Harry is a Horcrux at the middle of Book 5)
So... he WAS a Horcrux, but he also had a SOUL of his own that allowed him to be who he really was and not be totally possessed by tis bit of soul Voldemort put inside him.

You're welcome! Hope to have helped!

Goodluck!

Answer 4

1) a)It never says that Harry took the carriages back to the train. In his condition, he might have travelled there some other way. Even if he did, he might have still been in shock and not noticed them, or as others said, hadn't come to terms with Cedric's death yet.
b) About his parent's death, he couldn't comprehend what had happened and so to him, it wasn't a tragedy.

2) I don't think possessing a horcrux by itself will have those effects. When Ginny had the diary, it didn't really affect her until she started using it and "poured" her sould into it. The locket may have had a charm on it that created the tention and anger in its wearers. The ring had a curse on it that almost killed Dumbledore. Maybe by the time Voldemort made the locket horcrux, he was just more subtle.

Answer 5

I think that the Horcruxes became progressively less powerful in the order they were created. The first, the diary, had half of Voldemort's soul, the second - the locket, only 1/4 (half of half)...
by the time Harry was turned into a Horcrux, he only had a tiny sliver of Voldemort. (Although this idea brings up the question of why Voldemort isn't diminished in power by only retaining a small bit of his soul)

Also, I am not sure that Harry saw more than a green flash as a baby.

Answer 6

He was just a baby and really never remembered seeing them die on his own. When he "sees" it in the 7th book it's b/c he's Voldemort.

He is affected by the horocrux but only that he is a parselmouth and he can read Voldemorts mind. No one had ever used a human as a horocrux so who knows how it would work. It's easier to control an inanimate object. Harry still would be influenced by his parents genes so to speak.

Answer 7

i know there was an interview about the thestrals, she didnt want to introduce a new animal at the end of the fourth book, so she waited until the beginning of the fifth. and he couldnt see them before because he didnt actually experience it, like he couldnt remember it, but he did expericence it when cedric died.

Answer 8

Here's one I've been wondering about. . . . if James died first to give Lily time to get Harry and get out, then Harry dies, why does James come out of Voldemort's wand BEFORE Lily when the prior incantitum takes place when Harry and Voldemort's wand connect. It did all of the spells done from the last one to the first one backwards.

Answer 9

he didnt remember the deaths of his parents and didnt really fully understand it because he was so young ....( he belived the car crash killed them)

after cedric , he didnt fully accept it right away...so he didnt see them in the 4th book ..over the summer he had time to think about it


about the horcrux...im not sure ....he was irritable in the 5th book becasue the connection was stonger .and maybe she didnt want to introduce the horcrux early one ...

Answer 10

i dont kno about the second one but for the first question:
they didnt always get to hogwarts that way. in the first one they used boats..and then the car. it wasnt always thestrals. thestrals only first showed up in the 5th one.
hope i could help