The golden trio is finally reunited by the silver doe: Join Ev, Sophia, Taavi and our guest Stephanie Bailey as we discuss chapter 19 in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: The Silver Doe.
In this episode:
- Not your average stick!
- Assassin’s Creed crossover
- Harry failing upwards
- Hermione needs a book club badly
- Voldemort is lazy and evil
- Unicorn’s revenge arc
- The Mirror of Erised and spiritual alchemy
- Between bravery and fear
- Ron apologists unite!
- Freudian angle
For more from our guest Stephanie:
- @bystephaniejoyce on Instagram
- Expecto Podronum – A podcast for all things Patronuses!
- @expectopod on Twitter
- @expectopodtronum on Instagram
- Expecto Podronum on Facebook
- expectopodronum on TikTok
- Expecto Podronum: Season 1, Episode 15 – Deer
Resources:
- Christmas in the Forest of Dean (Part 1) by Beatrice Groves
- Christmas in the Forest of Dean (Part 2) by Beatrice Groves
Pub’s Jukebox: The Locket by Split Seven Ways
One of the things I really love about Jo’s writing is when she uses the outward atmosphere of a scene to reflect the inner emotions of the characters. She does this quite often – to name an example, she’ll use the sky of the Great Hall as an allegory to whatever the story’s tone is at that particular moment. We see it a lot here.
The beginning of this chapter is, in my opinion, Harry’s darkest moment in the entire series. He has pretty much no one left at this point – Sirius and Dumbledore are dead, Lupin has been exposed to be a selfish jerk, Ron has abandoned him and Hermione, he’s in a bit of a riff with Hermione, and all of his other friends and father figures are suffering from a distance, where he is unable to help them. And to cap it all off, he has just lost all faith in Dumbledore, evidenced by the last clause in the preceding chapter:
“[Harry] hated himself for wishing that what [Hermione] said was true: that Dumbledore had really cared.” (DH 362)
I think Harry’s solitude is represented by the temperature in this chapter: the intensity of the coldness he experiences is expounded upon many times by the text. Most notably:
“Harry moved an old cushion into the tent mouth and sat down, wearing all the sweaters he owned but even so, still shivery.” (DH 365)
Since this includes all the sweaters Mrs. Weasley knitted for him, this is quite a statement! What it really does is show that Harry’s isolation is inescapable.
Another atmospheric allusion used is the darkness. By stringing together all of its mentions, we get this nice little sequence:
“Finally he got up in the darkness and joined Hermione [ . . . ]” (DH 363)
“[ . . . ] The dark, it plays tricks on your eyes. . . .” (DH 364)
“As darkness drew in again Harry refused Hermione’s offer to keep watch and told her to go to bed.” (DH 364)
“The darkness deepened with the passing hours until it was virtually impenetrable.” (DH 365)
“The night reached such a depth of velvety blackness that he might have been suspended in limbo between Disapparition and Apparition.” (DH 365)
If you’ll indulge me, I’ll look at each of these a little closer. The first quote is just the introduction to the darkness, which is equated with Harry’s hopelessness. The second shows that Harry’s perception of the world is being distorted by his hopelessness. The third requires some context:
“Their escape from Godric’s Hollow had been so narrow that Voldemort seemed somehow closer than before, more threatening. As darkness drew in again Harry refused Hermione’s offer to keep watch and told her to go to bed.” (DH 364)
It’s subtle, but Jo is directly linking the darkness with Voldemort’s tightening grip on Harry and the Wizarding World at large. The fourth quote is next, showing that the darkness is intensifying. Directly after that one we see Harry’s thoughts dwell for a considerable while on Voldemort, and then we get the final quote, in which the darkness reaches its peak. Truly some beautiful writing!
I really loved Sophia’s theory about Harry not realizing that he was wearing the locket. I get really frustrated with this part of the book because Harry and co. do so many stupid things (this chapter is really the pinnacle of that, between wearing the locket, jumping in the lake, following the doe, etc.). But the locket slightly possessing him to the point where he doesn’t notice he’s wearing it makes so much sense – it’s so sinister, and so totally consistent with everything we know of its MO. Theory accepted, and major kudos!
The more I listen to this episode, the more impressed I am – it’s really making me have a newfound appreciation for this chapter, which was always been one that frustrates me more than most.
First off, snaps for the sycamore symbolism – both to Jo for putting it in and to Sophia for uncovering it! That really is a perfect fit.
Second, I adored Ev making the parallel between the Mirror or Erised and the Locketcrux, with the latter serving as a dark mirror image of the former. That is so unbelievably elegant! I always felt there was kind of a missing chiastic link in this chapter, because the whole Harry-and-Ron-saving-each-other-from-drowning parallel between GoF and DH feels like it should have a Book 1 parallel, but it doesn’t! But the Erised/Locketcrux parallel is so good, I’ll cheerfully look past that.