neville

[Meg Boyd]

Ok, Rory, you have some awesome points there...points I have been pondering about my self...some points that seem very much like the style of JKR's writing... I mean JKR is famous for her twists...and this would be the mother of all twists...I mean Harry as Neville's protector, it makes sense, doesn't it? I mean Harry and Co. have been sticking up for Neville from day one, telling him he is worth 12 malfoys and saving the remembrall from Malfoy in PS. But I feel it might be a bit anti-climatic...Harry works so hard to keep LV from gaining power and vanquishing him, and Neville ends up with the final blow and glory!

As for the mark, who says it has to be physical! Perhaps the scar is just a symbol...and the REAL mark is inside...harry and LV have so many equal similarities (transfered from the AK curse), maybe this is the mark of equality?

As for the gleam of DD, I feel the power of LOVE will come in to play...I know love (and possibly forgiveness) will be the heart of it all...now that LV has harry's love from his mother in his blood, he is human enough to FEEL love, and this will be important later...just remember that Love conquers all

[highsorcerer]

There is no doubt Neville has love from his parents; even symbolic... chewing gun wrappr? Worthless to most, but a symbold of his parent's love to Nevill.e

Wouldn't Harry love a piece of chewing gum wrapper from his alive parents? All he got was from his dead ones; a vault of gold and an invsibility cloak. It's no wonder why he was given it - James loaned it to the Order to the Phoenix, but it had disanded. So it was time time to return it to it's rightful owner.

[Mint]

I personally think that there is no way that Neville is the chosen one.

Why? Because it would be anticlimatic. You have to realize that the book is written for younger audience, and everyone is into Harry and want him to be the hero. This is the same as thinking that Harry Potter will die in the end. I mean yeah, it would provide a wonderful twist to the story (may be even bigger effect then Neville become the chosen one) but it just won't happen.

I think though that Neville will be important, Like at some point everyone will think that its probably him, and Harry will be in doubt too. Harry was developing his powers from book 1, and they just cant take Neville and make him into a main hero over last 2 books, u know?

Plus, DD may hide some facts from Harry, but he never lied!!! And since he said that Neville is NOT the chosen one - he must be sure of it.

I dont know about u guys - but I would be majorly dissapointed if Harry wouldn't be the one, because I want him to succeed, to have that ultimate victory, that last step.

[Dink Meeker]

I agree that it might be anti-climatic Mint, but that depends on how it's written and JKR hasn't let us down yet. As for the books being written for young children..... I don't know. With such a large time span between the first book's and the fifth book's release JKR's audience is getting older. And I think her writing is reflecting this change.


As for the prophecy.... I don't know. JKR has never given us a straight and complete answer on any questions arising from the books. She has a flair for twists. I just don't think it's wise to assume that the prophecy is a) complete or b) what it appears to be on the surface.

IMHO
Huey

[yasmane]

Hi all,
I just wanted to say it was a nice theory (and funny too) but honestly it's a little far-fetched.
If I must give only one reason about your mistake, it would be that DD is not the kind of man to put a child in danger just to protect another one.
i mean, do you really think DD would put harry in such a danger just like that. If yes, he would be a real miserable man.

But I agree with all of you when you say that Neville will play an important task when time comes to face LV and he could die during this fight, but not of an useless death.

Wait and see.

[rory]

I would just like to make a couple of points on your statements.
you say that DD would not put Harry in danger to protect Neville. But if you read ootp you see that when DD tells Harry that he is the chosen one

'Then - it might not be me?' said Harry.
'I am afraid,' said Dumbledore slowly, looking as though every word cost him great effort, ' that there is no doubt that it is you'

Now why did every word cost him great effort? Because he was lying.
And Twists and turns at the end of books is a good thing.

[Centaur Lord]

Personally, i think it has to be Harry. You're forgetting the third part of the prophecy, just like Harry did. Voldemort had to mark the boy that would be the "chosen one". The mark was when Voldemort went after Harry and his parents, but failed to kill Harry and gave him his scar. Now, i think i saw someone say earlier in this topic that we might not've seen the "mark" yet, but i dont think this is true. I mean...Voldemort can't go attack Neville and lose his powers AGAIN. It would add a whole lot more time to the story (years) and would completely mess up the pacing of the whole series. Nothing i have read so far points to Neville being the boy the prophecy spoke of.

[yasmane]

I agree with Centaur.
Of course it would be funny to discover that harry wasn't finally the chosen one, but it's kind of absurd when you know what happened to LV, Harry's parents, Harry himself and the prophecy.
Sincerely, do not count too much on such a theory.

[Mint]

I agree with Centaur too!!! and yasmane.

rory - DD said it with great efford because he was hiding this for many many years, and he still doesn't think Harry is old enough to hear it.

[choki]

I agree with Mint
DD said it with great effort because by telling Harry the prophecy content, he made Harry aware of his destiny to fight and destroy LV...imagine that amount of pressure on Harry...it's no wonder why DD refused to tell him

[Eol]

Just because DD shows a bit of emotion doesn't make him evil. It pains him to give a child a burden most adults would quail under. Furthermore, for us to go through 6.5 books thinking that Harry is the chosen one only for it to end with Neville being the true hero is just lunacy, in my opinion. How would Harry feel if he found out that Dumbledore had put him through all of that over the past seven years just to protect Harry? And if Harry wasn't the chosen one, how come he could remove the prophecy from the shelf???

[highsorcerer]

Dumbledore expressed it best. He didn't tell Harry the horrible truth (murder or be murdered) because he cared. To spare Harry more pain. But in the end, both knew Harry deserved to know from the start. Harry has dealt with 10X the pain most wizards do.

Even Dumbledore knows his mistakes. He admitted in GoF that Harry fought and showed bravery equal to those that fought and died against Voldemort. He admitted in OotP that Harry, though young, was up to his final burden.

[yasmane]

So obviously we all agree it's a funny theory but that's all.
We'll just have to wait then for the final fight between Harry and LV. It should be an interesting fight.

[muggle number 6]

Sorry Yasmane, just because you and a few others don't like Rory's theory doesn't mean it's wrong. You can't quite dismiss that easily.

First , you believe that it would be a disappointment if Harry wasn't the chosen one? Why would it be a disappointment? He is still the hero of the books, he is still the one who has had all the adventures. It wouldn't mean the books are any the less exciting. I wouldn't be disappointed. I'd say wow, what a fantastic twist. Who'd have thought it was Neville who would kill LV. Don't worry though, I hardly think book 7 will be called "Neville Longbottom conquers LV (and Harry Potter was there!)"

Secondly make no mistake, there are a couple of major major twists lying in store with Harry Potter. JK Rowling has said so herself. So for all those who expect things to merrily trickle along until harry nails LV I suspect you are likely to get a few nasty suprises.

Finally, why add the Neville part (ie that Nev could be the chosen one) into the book (OoTP) if it wasn't for a reason? From a writers point of view it would serve no purpose and you wouldn't put it in. Yet she did put it in!

[yasmane]

Hi,
well just to be clear I never said it would be a disappointment if harry wasn't the chosen one, it's just that i don't believe it. And I agree with you that if it was so, well the books would remain as exciting as they are right now.

Concerning the twist, you're right they many of them but this one wouldn't be that surprising because of the prophecy. Of course we would have to admit we didn't expect that but it wouldn't be a "good" surprise.
If she wants to give us clue about what will happen, it wouldn't be that obvious.

And by the way me and few others think that's theory isn't good, but we do not speak on behalf everybody, just us.