Skip to main content

harry potter - How did the Unspeakables know to change the records in the Hall of Prophecy?


Related: How do you listen to a prophecy without smashing it in Harry Potter?; How do the spheres with recorded prophecies appear in the Department of Mysteries?


We know that the contents of the prophecy concerning Harry were not common knowledge, and we know that neither Rookwood, who was an Unspeakable working in the Department of Mysteries before Voldemort's downfall, nor Bode, who was an Unspeakable placed under the Imperius Curse by the Death Eaters, could access the prophecy's contents, or else Voldemort would have been saved the trouble.


But at the end of Book 5, Dumbledore tells Harry this:



"The official record was relabeled after Voldemort’s attack on you as a child," said Dumbledore. "It seemed plain to the keeper of the Hall of Prophecy that Voldemort could only have tried to kill you because he knew you to be the one to whom Sibyll was referring."




So how did this "keeper" guy know to relabel the prophecy with Harry's initials, anyway, if he couldn't even get at its contents?


(Speculation is welcome if you have sound logical support.)



Answer



I suspect they simply listened to it


Dumbledore does indeed say that only the subjects of a prophecy can remove it from the shelf.



`And then you saw Rockwood, who worked in the Department of Mysteries before his arrest, telling Voldemort what we had known all along -that the prophecies held in the Ministry of Magic are heavily protected. Only the people to whom they refer can lift them from the shelves without suffering madness....'


Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix




However, there is no reason to interpret this quote as implying that, from the very moment the prophecy is recorded, it is thus protected. The protections placed on prophecy records could easily be placed only after the Keeper has listened to them. Alternately, while the spells placed on the prophecies may automatically appear once the prophecies are recorded, it may be possible to remove them with enough effort. If Voldemort would have to stand in front of the prophecy for days, chanting, it would have been essentially impossible to remove the protections.


If so, why not kidnap the Keeper?


Why not target the Keeper, in either case? As someone who has listened to Harry's prophecy, there's a decent chance that they still remember the details, in which case Voldemort could simply kidnap them. It is possible that there is some additional security involved, such as Memory Charms cast on the Keeper. But I think there are two much simpler possibilities.



  1. Voldemort wished to avoid drawing attention to himself. The disappearance of one who was surely a top Ministry official would do exactly the opposite, particularly if this happened after Bode attempted to steal the prophecy. Voldemort perhaps considered it, but considering the distinct possibility that the Keeper did not remember the details, why not wait a few months and tempt Harry Potter into removing it for him?

  2. The Keeper was dead. Simple as that. The person who had listened to and relabeled Harry's prophecy was no more, and the only remaining record was on a shelf in the Hall of Prophecy. Of course, there would have been another Keeper, but they wouldn't know what the prophecy contained.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

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.

harry potter - How could Expelliarmus beat Avada Kedavra?

I want to be very careful about how I ask this question – I am not asking How did Voldemort die? [CLOSED] Below the text is the relevant passages from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows if anyone wants to review them (I'm sorry for the amount of text). How did Expelliarmus beat Avada Kedavra and kill Voldemort? I feel the reason Harry's Expelliarmus overpowered Voldemort's Avada Kedavra curse has to do with who was master of the Elder Wand and how the Elder Wand works. I've always had trouble understanding fully how the Elder Wand works, though. How much did the fact that Voldemort never truly won or mastered the Elder Wand factor into how Expelliarmus reacted to Avada Kedavra and caused Avada Kedavra to rebound and kill Voldemort? An answer based in book canon would be especially welcome, but any canon source really is fine. Harry heard the high voice shriek as he, too, yelled his best hope to the heavens, pointing Draco’s wand: ‘ Avada Kedavra !’ ‘ Expelliarmus !...

game of thrones - Is Syrio Forel dead?

In the episode 'The Pointy End' (Season 1 Episode 8) when Arya runs from the Lannister guards you hear the sound of a sword being dropped (around 4:56): [embedded content] After that neither Syrio or Ser Meryn Trant is never mentioned or seen in the show again, except when Arya mentions to the Hound that Ser Meryn Trant killed Syrio. Is there any mention in the books that Syrio actually dies?

tolkiens legendarium - Difference between elves and dwarves blacksmithing in the Lord of the Rings

Both the elves and the dwarves were famous for their metal work in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but what is the difference between what they made, and which one had the better skill of making amours and swords? Answer James Christopher's answer sums up the second part of your question well, but as to the difference in what they made, a little more detail is needed. Once the Elves learned to forge with steel, the shape of the sword changed, now being able to take on the form of a great broadsword or a light and agile curved sword. Additionally, they took great pride in decorating their swords. As we see in the Lord of the Rings , some swords like Sting had magical properties such as glowing blue when orcs are near. As far as the use of Mithril, lotr.wikia has two contradictory passages: Thus, Elven blades became renowned as great weapons, capable of performing deeds beyond the skill of their handlers and were even more glorious when the use of Mithril was allowed to the Elves. ...