Skip to main content

Was the protection afforded to Harry via Lily's sacrifice universal or just anti-Voldemort?




It was posited in answers/comments to " If a living Horcrux was killed "normally", would they stop being one? " that somehow, Harry is being protected from harm in general (post-GoF) by the fact that - as per HP7 - Voldemort took Harry's blood and thus with his blood took inside him the protection that Lily's sacrifice bestowed on Harry.


However, I think that this protection (both Lily's original protection in Harry's blood, and the part of it that got transferred to Voldemort) is VERY VERY specific and is only against harm done directly by Voldemort. This means that Harry is still subject to non-Voldemort harm, for example he could have been easily killed by Basilisk fang's bite in HP2 or by FiendFyre started by Crabbe in HP7 in Room of Hidden Things.


Is there good in-Universe or JKR information to support or reject my theory that the protection is only against harm directly done by Voldemort?



Answer



Okay, yeah, you're totally right, and I will go back and edit my posts accordingly :) Here's what Harry tells Dumbledore at the end of Goblet of Fire:



‘He said my blood would make him stronger than if he’d used someone else’s,’ Harry told Dumbledore. ‘He said the protection my – my mother left in me – he’d have it, too. And he was right – he could touch me without hurting himself, he touched my face.’

Goblet of Fire - Page 604 - British Edition



And then I recalled something from Order of the Phoenix. Voldemort possessed Harry and taunted Dumbledore to kill Harry right then and there if Dumbledore wanted to kill Voldemort too. If Harry had universal protection, Dumbledore would not have been able to kill Harry and I don't think Voldemort would have offered that as an option.




Kill me now, Dumbledore ...’

Blinded and dying, every part of him screaming for release, Harry felt the creature use him again ...

If death is nothing, Dumbledore, kill the boy ...’

Let the pain stop, thought Harry ... let him kill us ... end it, Dumbledore ... death is nothing compared to this ...

Order of the Phoenix - Page 720 - British Edition



So, yes sir, I completely concede on this one. I was wrong. :)


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

harry potter - Did Dolores Umbridge Have Any Association with Voldemort (or Death Eaters) before His Return?

I noticed that Dolores Umbridge was born during the first Wizarding War, so it's very likely she wasn't a Death Eater then (but she is pretty evil -- who knows?). After that Voldemort was not around in a way that could affect many people, and most wouldn't know he was planning to rise again. During that time, and up through Voldemort's return (in Goblet of Fire ), did Umbridge have any connection with the Death Eaters or with Voldemort? Was she doing what she did on her own, or was it because of an association with Voldemort or his allies? Answer Dolores Umbridge was definitely not a good person. However, as Sirius points out, "the world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters". Remember that he also says that he doesn't believe Umbridge to be a Death Eater, but that she's evil enough (or something like that). I think there are two strong reasons to believe that: Umbridge was proud to do everything according to the law, except when she trie...

futurama - How much time is lost in 'Time Keeps on Slippin''

In time Keeps on Slippin' , Farnsworth creates a basketball team which he matures by abusing Chronitons. This leads to time skipping forward by random, but ever increasing amounts. How much time was skipped in this way? Answer Unfortunately, I don't think a good estimate can be made for this, for two reasons: Many of the time skips move forward by an indeterminate amount of time. At one point, the Professor mentions localized regions of space skipping forward much more than others. We then see two young boys on the street below complaining about having to pay social security, only to suddenly become senior citizens and start complaining about wanting their money. Thus, each individual could have experienced a different amount of time skippage.

aliens - Interstellar Zoo story

I vaguely remember this story from my childhood: it was about an interstellar zoo that came to Earth with lots of bizarre and unusual species, and humans would file through and gape at all the crazy looking creatures from other planets. The twist came at the end when the perspective shifted to the other side of the bars and we discovered that the "creatures" were traveling through space on a kind of safari. They thought they were the visitors and we were the animals. Neither side knew that the other side thought they were the zoo creatures. Answer Got it. Zoo, by Edward D. Hoch. Published in 1958. Link to Publication History Link to PDF

harry potter - What is the difference between Diffindo and Sectumsempra?

In the Harry Potter books, Diffindo is called the 'Severing Charm' and it’s most commonly used to cut ropes and the like. However, in the last book Hermione uses it on Ron but misses, creating a 'slash in his jeans' and his knee gets cut, causing him to 'roar in pain'. We've only seen Sectumsempra used once on screen when Harry directly uses it on Malfoy in the sixth book, but there it's mentioned that he is 'waving his wand wildly'. Wouldn't Diffindo, if used in such a fashion also cause a similar effect? Similarly, if it was able to cut Ron, it would also be able to, say, chop off an ear (George's)? In that case, how are these two spells different, except for Sectumsempra seemingly used exclusively to hurt humans? Answer While Diffindo and Sectumsempra both can be countered by other spells, Diffindo is far more easily countered. Reparo, a relatively common spell, can completely reverse its effect when used once. “He pulled the old cop...