Limbo Game Chapter 24
Consuela Ellett
Every chapter has its own puzzles, ranging from 1 to 39 chapters (40th chapter is a final scene, but no traps, obstacles and enemies). Respectively, it progresses from easiest to hardest. Chapters can be called checkpoints; they are automatically saved when a player finishes each to proceed across the continuous side-scrolling path.
Of course, the most beautiful chapter of the whole Harry Potter series was the chapter King's Cross... when Voldemort puts the killing curse, avada kedavra, it could kill only one person or one soul....but at that time Harry standing there had two souls in his body..one of his own, whole and perfect and the other being the weak, severely destroyed soul of Voldemort. When the choice of whose soul would get destroyed by the killing curse occurred, it had to be Voldemort's. that child lying in the king's cross station was Voldemort's soul which couldn't be helped!!! now the beauty of the scene... Harry who has been struck by a killing curse goes into a trans stage also called as coma in the muggles world!!!! in coma or near death experience people often talk of tunnels and meetings with dead people!!! that is what happens here.. Harry goes to a tunnel or rather a station from where he can either come back or move on....and he meets Dumbledore who can explain everything to him.. when he finally decides to come back to fight... he awakens from the coma stage...and gains back his consiousness..he finds himself in the forest... the whole chapter being wat he sees in the near death experience so it is definitely going on in his mind.... hope that explains all..
I agree that this chapter is breathtakingly beautiful. I disagree that the killing curse could kill only one person or one soul in this instance. After Harry wakes up in the forest, it is clear that Voldemort was knocked down by the blast of the rebounding curse and is getting up at the same time as Harry is 'coming to'. Two souls were in Kings Cross station, Harry's and the raw baby that represents Voldemort's. Clearly either or both would have had the choice to take a train onward, but neither wanted to. We don't know if Voldemort was free to return if Harry had decided not to, because Harry did decide to return himself. It is known that Voldemort still had one Horcrux outstanding (Nagini) so if he decided to move onward, it would only have been under condition of remorse, which would have been extremely painful to him. It should be noted that the name Kings Cross is an obvious reference to Jesus the Messiah (Chosen One, King) and his death on a Cross. We are meant to see that Harry has chosen to sacrifice himself the same as Jesus, surviving death in much the same way, and with the same salvific efficacy. His voluntary act of self-sacrifice will make all of Voldemort's subsequent curses nonbinding, as we will see in the chapters that follow. DavidWallis 07:26, October 17, 2009 (UTC)
Before I get bogged down in my comment, I just want to add that I am writing this one almost three weeks after my last in this forum. DavidWallis, that is a very interesting theory regarding Rowling's choice of 'Kings Cross' Station referencing Jesus Christ's sacrifice. It would make sense that she would add some small, subtle hint of religion into her books considering that she tried to leave complete religious beliefs out of her storyline altogether; apparently to avoid an obvious plot-ending. Can I just disagree with you on one thing, though? When Voldemort tried to use Avada Kedavra on Harry in chapter 35 of 'the Deathly Hallows', Voldemort didn't collapse as a result of the curse rebounding onto him, but because of the deep-rooted connection between the two adversaries. Harry's soul entered that purgatory like place with Voldemort (however little of him) in tow. The reason being because of the destruction of the fragment of soul in Harry's body combined with the bond of Lily Potter's 'Love' sacrifice being in both of their blood. What the Death Eaters around the fire would have seen when Harry entered their clearing (Aragog's old lair) would have been the following: Voldemort hitting Harry with the Killing Curse (which did not rebound or else the soul fragment wouldn't have been destroyed), and Harry and Voldemort collapsing simultaneously, the latter with no visible means.--Yin&Yang 08:29, October 17, 2009 (UTC)
So, in Chapter 35 "King's Cross" Harry has been killed - or more to the point, the part of Voldemort's Soul that was attached to Harry when he tried to kill Harry as a baby, is killed. It's not entirely explained whether the place he is in is a sort of purgatory or whether it is all in his mind. I'm inclined to believe the latter.
Dumbledore then tells him that he can 'go on' or 'go back'. This simply means that he could choose to die or stay alive. Hope this helps. Lysander Scamander 20:05, 7 July 2009 (UTC) P.S. I'm back everyone =)
I could not agree more Still Learning. That was a very detailed analysis of that chapter. Might I add a small piece of information that you just left out? The fact that Dumbledore had no recognition of the place he and Harry were in implies that "to each his own". In other words, any other human being who may have entered this Purgatory-like dimension would have experienced a different view of the surroundings depending on their personality and interests. Dumbledore says himself, "This is, as they say, your party". For Harry, King's Cross epitomized the beginning of a journey that he took (almost) every year to the only place he ever truly felt at home: Hogwarts. This is the reason why, of all places, King's Cross Station was chosen (perhaps sub-consciously) as a medium for explaining the concept of moving "on" or the returning to the world of the living. By boarding the Hogwarts Express in this limbo world, Harry would have officially died. What is slightly strange about this chapter, though, is that Dumbledore and Harry are both implied to agree on the possibility that Voldemort might win and succeed in murdering Harry Potter. This, however, could not be true considering the fact that Harry remained immortal so long as Voldemort lived. Presumably, with Voldemort's death, Harry would have once again become mortal.
Funnily enough, as of the the chapter 'Flesh, Blood and Bone' in the Goblet of Fire, Harry was never in any real danger of dying. He was immortal and therefore wasted his time by ducking and weaving his way past Killing Curses during the last four books. This was probably the main reason why Dumbledore never planned to help Harry in any other way besides teaching him of Voldemort's past - he had utter faith in the fact that without the Horcruxes, Harry's most powerful attribute, love, would spare his life from any attack. Hence, had Voldemort repeatedly struck Harry with Avada Kedavra, Harry would have just kept on returning to life before finally hitting Voldemort with a Killing Curse of his own. This is all hypothetical of course. I think what I just described would detract from Harry's innocense a little. On the whole, Lord Voldemort/Tom Riddle/the Dark Lord/He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named/You-Know-Who, NEVER really had a chance against Harry Potter - the Boy Who Lived/the Chosen One - after the events of the Goblet of Fire. J.K Rowling, I tip my hat to you. What a genious.--Yin&Yang 13:53, 27 August 2009 (UTC)
Those answers were amazing! I would like to point out that if Harry did end up "going in a coma" as we muggles put it =) before Dumbledore's death would he still see Dumbledore? It is the connection of the souls that brought them to this place together, but would it matter if the physical body that hold's the soul was alive or dead? GinnyPi 02:19, September 30, 2009 (UTC)
That is a very interesting question. Now unless J.K. Rowling contradicts me completely, I would say that it matters hugely if Dumbledore was alive or dead before Harry's "death scene". Dumbledore was a great wizard but even he could not communicate with the dead or 'semi-dead' (if that's a better term in Harry's case). Otherwise, he would never have needed the resurrection stone to greet his dead mother and sister. So, Harry's meeting with Dumbledore in limbo could only be possible if Dumbledore himself was dead. If Dumbledore had not been tempted to put the cursed Horcrux/Resurrection Stone on his finger and therefore never died, we can assume that someone else from the world of the dead would have contacted Harry. As we all know, Harry unfortunately had a lot of loved ones to possibly have met with at that stage; his parents, Sirius, Lupin and Dobby to name a few. However, Dumbledore (being dead), as you so rightly put it GinnyPi, had a special connection with Harry and so was the one to meet him half-way between life and death. I hope that answers your question and please don't hesitate to ask more!--Yin&Yang 12:01, October 1, 2009 (UTC)
Lol, yes this one is a little too long and I have a lot to do with that. I think I tend to write so much because of just how complex Harry Potter is. I really feel the need to do it justice.--Yin&Yang 08:49, October 18, 2009 (UTC)
haha....i prefer short responses...not writing essays ....... lets just hope sumone reads this ....otherwise we will just keep writing these things and no one will read it..--Beautiful altar 05:45, October 19, 2009 (UTC)
"That Harry survived because his mother's protection in Voldemort was keeping him alive, and because the Elder Wand would not kill its own master. However, the killing curse was/is so powerful that it gave Harry an iron-clad bruise, and it did destroy the part of Voldemort that was inside Harry. Harry went into a limbo state (like a coma). Limbo is a place between life and death." She also said that the mutilated baby was the piece of Voldemort's soul that was in Voldemort. The killing curse was also so powerful that it gave Harry a choice to go to the land of the dead."
Because Harry was in between life or death, he could speak to Dumbledore (Dumbledore may have not managed to come back to life, but could he go to limbo?). As it says above, people in real life say there are meetings with dead people in a coma (and limbo was exactly like a coma. I think JK Rowling was conferring limbo with peoples beliefs of what happens in comas!). Dumbledore also said in book 6 in the Horcruxes chapter that "Perhaps at the point of death, Voldemort might be aware of his loss. Remember, nearly all of Voldemort's Horcruxes were destroyed, he was on the point of death. Killing the part of himself inside Harry must have put him in a limbo state too! Who knows what happens when nearly all your soul's destroyed? And when Voldemort died, he could not "move on" or come back as a ghost, meaning he could not travel to the land of the dead. He had no place left to go but a place between life and death", otherwise known as limbo.
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