Role Of Fate In Harry Potter

The Role of Fate in Harry Potter In J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter book series, fate plays a large part in the life of Harry Potter. As soon as Voldemort chose Harry to be the “Chosen One”, his fate as the defender of wizardkind was sealed. Harry must be the one to defeat Voldemort, or vice versa. However, although Harry’s fate was seemingly sealed from the time he was one year old, he still had free will throughout the series.

Throughout the Harry Potter series, much of what happens in Harry’s life seems to be predetermined by Trelawney’s prophecy, which reads:

The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies... and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal,

Neville Longbottom was also born at the end of July to parents who were aurors and had directly defied Voldemort three times. The only difference between Harry and Neville at the time Voldemort chose Harry as the one to be his equal was their blood status. Like Tom Riddle, Harry Potter was a half-blood wizard. On the night Harry lost his parents, his fate was seemingly sealed for the rest of his life. Voldemort chose Harry to be the child in the prophecy, marking him-- physically and otherwise-- for the rest of his life. Harry must be the one to defeat Voldemort. Another life-shaping event that happened on that night was a piece of Voldemort’s soul taking shelter in Harry’s Body, giving another layer of depth to the “Chosen One” title. This night was the one that made Harry Potter into the person he grows up to be in the Deathly

Albus Dumbledore, for instance, knew that Harry Potter was prophesied to die at the hand of Lord Voldemort because of the piece of Voldemort’s soul living inside Harry’s body. This piece of Voldemort’s soul is the reason Harry can speak parseltongue, the reason Voldemort’s thoughts can be seen by Harry, and the reason Harry has a connection with Voldemort’s horcruxes. Dumbledore’s decision to withhold his knowledge of this piece of Harry’s fate kept him from utilizing his full potential earlier on in the series. However, had Dumbledore disclosed this information earlier, would Harry have made the same choices and ultimately, would he have been able to conquer Voldemort once and for all?

Although much of Harry’s life’s purpose was out of his control, he still had quite a bit of free will. He defeats Voldemort several times before the Battle of Hogwarts, and in many different capacities. In their first year at school, Harry, Ron, and Hermione defeated Professor Quirrell, whose body was inhabited by Voldemort. Harry chose to do this in order to defend his newfound home at school. He had no idea that the prophecy even existed at this point, and even if he had known, there is little doubt that he would have acted