Professor Trelawney

[Lizzy Bennet]

Well, one of the biggest things we learned about Trelawney in the newest installment is her 'prophecy' and what implications that has for Harry and for Voldemort.

I still find it laughable that, in her 16 years as the Diviniation teacher at Hogwarts, she's, to our knowledge, only made two real predictions--the one at the end of book 3 and the prophecy she made before Harry was born. More incredible still is that J.K. Rowling created a character in Dolores Umbridge that actually made me sympathetic to Trelawney!

Well, maybe this prophecy is why Trelawney has been predicting Harry's death for years now. What do you think Harry's interaction, now that he knows about the prophecy, will be with Trelawney in the future? If Trelawney wasn't quite such a fraud, perhaps she could have helped Harry, in some way, with understanding why he was having the visions that he was having. Seems Harry has Snape for Occumalacy (grrrr, I give up--I can't be bothered seeing how to spell that! ) to conquer future visions of Voldemort and Voldemort getting inside his mind. Still, I figure Trelawney will come back in a more important role . . .

I just thought, if Trelawney made the prophecy, and Voldemort (as proven with Harry) has the power to get inside people's minds and find out their thoughts and memories, isn't it possible he could get inside Trelawney's mind to find out what the prophecy said? Does Voldemort know Trelawney made the prophecy or that Dumbledore knows about it?

[Malachim]

I'll bet that when you are prophecising that you don't remember it. Meaning you remember doing it but not what you said etc... I'll bet that Trelawney doesn't think the prophecy. It was just there.

The interesting point is wether or not it would be in her memory. If so then I guess you're right that Voldy could go and look though her mind.

I guess that's another part I have to read again. Doesn't Dumbledor metion something about how professor Trelawny was when she was speaking the prophecy......

Hmmm... I am thinking as I write this and it does kindof make sense that Dumbledor would want professor Trelawney to stay at Hogwarts if she could be a liability so that may be why he made her stay even after she was sacked. What you mentinoed may be why he did keep her!

[Lizzy Bennet]

Hmmm... I am thinking as I write this and it does kindof make sense that Dumbledor would want professor Trelawney to stay at Hogwarts if she could be a liability so that may be why he made her stay even after she was sacked. What you mentinoed may be why he did keep her!

It sure wasn't because of her teaching skills or abilities! Man, I am so mean...but honestly, the lady is a fraud...a fraud that did not deserve to be abused by Umbridge...but a fraud nonetheless.

[Malachim]

I couldn't agree more! She is a fraud! The more I think on it the more I feel that she must be there for her and Harry's protection.

[Meg Boyd]

Trelawney probably is staying at Hogwarts not only for harry's safety but for the orders' and the worlds...how awful would it be if Trelawney was captured by DE's and they got all of her potential/future predictions...i dunno just a thought...

[molli]

herm, well, trelawney obviously isn't a fraud if she made two real predictions... she might not be that skilled in anything else about her job, and she sure does make up a lot of stuff... but if she can make real predictions, then i wouldn't call her a fraud.

and yeah, i think she's being kept at hogwarts for her protection. i also thought it was interesting how in the other books mcgonagall pretty much hates trelawney, but in the fifth book she stood up for her! it was wonderful!

i pretty much disliked trelawney in the previous books but this last book has made me see her in a different light. i thought it was adorable when she "predicted" that "harry was not going to suffer an early death after all, but would live to a ripe old age, become Minster of Magic, and have twelve children."

[hoopsmaster88]

one of the reasons that trelawney is probably kept at hogwarts is in case she makes another real prediction. dumbledore would obviously want to be the first to know about a true prophecy about harry and voldemort. do you think that trelawney will make any more prophecies in the next two books?

[June]

I wonder if Trelawney has some kind of link to Harry or Voldemort? Both of her true predictions are on them... perhaps there'll be more? Maybe it has something to do with her great-great-great grandmother, the famous seer? (Sorry if it's not her great-great-great grandmother... I don't have the book with me now, and can't really remember...) How long is three generations anyway? If it's about 50 years... perhaps she had predicted the rise of Voldemort too.. or maybe they're related...

I seem to be grasping at straws... -.-;;

[HuffleDuck]

Well, remember in the 4th book. she was telling Harry that the thing he dreaded most will be gone and she was right. He's dreading about Ron. I don't think she's a fraud at all. maybe she didn't know how to use her power.

[highsorcerer]

I rather doubt Trewlawny is an outright fraud, as she appears to really believe in what she is doing. So while what she's teaching is an absolute waste of time, she is sincere in her beliefs.

However, she's also a true seer. She has made two real predictions that we know of, one in front of Dumbledore (and party unknown), and a second in front of Harry. She has no memory of making the second, and it's unlikely she remembers making the first. However, those are not necessarily the only real predictions she's made. Other people might have been around and dismissed her as a lunatic or drunk, or she might have made them in the privacy of her own quarters (which she rarely leaves).

In any case, the reason Dumbledore wished her to remain at Hogwarts was crystal clear if you were paying attention. Voldemort's entire year was spent trying to obtain the prophecy in it's entirely. That gave him the following options:

Obtain the copy from the Department of Mysteries. Several attempts were made, twice by putting Aurors under the Imperius curse, once with a snake, and once by using Harry Potter. However, this is NOT the only source of the full prophecy. Dumbledore was a source, as he heard it, but Voldemort probably gave up that idea before he started. The scribe in the DoM that recorded the prophecy and put it on the shelf was another source, though probably extremely difficult to find out and locate. The final source is the seer who made the prophecy in the first place, Sybil Trewlany. If she left the protection of Hogwarts, she'd have been captured by Death Eaters, and tortured / Imperius cursed to reveal the contents of it. Even if she didn't know it (mind blank, like the one she made to Harry), she'd have ended up dead (like Bertha Jorkins), or kept as a prisoner of Voldemort (in case she started spouting new, real, prophecies).

Sybil's termination was known in advance by Dumbledore, which is why he took extraordinary measures to find a replacement. It's highly doubtful he'd have asked Firenz (knowing the consequences he'd suffer) unless he felt it was a real necessity to keep Sybil in her quarters at Hogwarts.

[Meg Boyd]

Hmmm...perhaps Trelawny isn't a fraud at all, and JKR painted us all a picture of this weirdo fortune teller to make us dismiss all of her "predictions" but really was using the character as a tricky forshadowing tool...

[Holly Golightly]

I dont' understand why Trewlaney is a liability, she does't know about the prophecy jsut beause she gave it... Remember in PoA, when she gavethe second prophecy? harry qned her about it, and she remembered nothing, thought that she had just napped off...

I think that DD wanted her to reamin because a) she might give more prophecies, butmre improtantly b) he vaules his teachers, and doesnt' want to see them hurt etc. He must have known how distraut Sybill woud be when being let go (as she was) so offered her lodging at Hogwarts> Also, he was showing Umbridge just how much influence she didnt' have, and how much authority he did still have, dispite the Minestry's efforts!

I also thinkthat it was awesome how McGonagall stood up for Sybill! It just showed how, unlike the students seem to think, that in times of dire straights, the Hogwarts staff can stick together, justlike ths Sorting Hat said they should!

Anyways, windy as that was, I'm finished now! HOpe you enjoyed my point of view!!!

Holly

[Gwared]

Maybe she doesn't directly remember the prophecy but I'm sure LV has enough power to access it from her mind.

[Vivian Borgin]

I wonder...were her two true prophecies necessarily her own Seeing? Sight? (not sure how you'd refer to the Seer's gift when it's in use; but, anyway...) Could it be at all possible that the prophecies were actually some kind of possession taking place? Books 3 and 5, neither of which I have on me, mention that she loses consciousness; and a harsh, rasping voice, totally unlike her normal dreamy, airy, $20 psychic act, takes over when the prophecies are each made. That doesn't sound like a vision made by a prophet to me; it sounds like possession. Obviously, it couldn't be possession by Voldypie, because both involve him and Harry as subjects, and because he's so curious to hear the original one all during Book 5. But who, or what, else could be possessing Trelawney and maybe communicating through her? Some ghost who knew of Voldie's plans while s/he was living? The ghost of Grandma Cassandra T.? Something we haven't met yet? Maybe I should have posted this in Theories. Maybe I should lay off the Stephen King for a while!

[Holly Golightly]

Excellent idea Vivian! That might explain why she has no recollection, etc etc! I like the idea of her Grandmother coming back and doing the posession!!

Maybe you could start it up in the Theories (of Book 5) section too! See what other slants people might be able to put on it!