Thursday, December 1, 2011

Harry Potter and the Final Battle

So, when we last left off, I was filling you up on the seventh book, leaving off where Voldemort crashed the wedding, and Harry, Ron, and Hermione took off. Their adventure begins, hunting down the Horcruxes and trying to avoid Voldemort's goons. A good chunk of the book can be viewed as a long camp out. Amongst this, they are able to locate and destroy a Horcrux, and identify a few other ones. A bunch of crazy stuff happens, and they end up back at Hogwarts, where the final war begins. Harry discovers that, in order to stop the war, he needs to sacrifice himself, because, as it turns out, he's a Horcrux. It wasn't supposed to be that way, but when Voldemort tried to kill Harry, and it backfired, he inadvertently made Harry a Horcrux. So he goes right into Voldemort's camp and offers himself up. Something crazy happens, though, when he gets hit with the Killing Curse. Rather than dying, he enters into an in-between state, the he envisions to be King's Cross Station, where he meets up with Dumbledore, and gets some of his answers. Harry is able to return, and plays dead for a little while, and is brought back to the school, where the sides face off, once again. All that remains, now, is for someone to kill Nagini, Voldemort's pet snake and the final Horcrux, and Voldemort can be killed. Neville Longbottom, in a great and uncharacteristic act of heroism, is able to cut off Nagini's head, and the war recommences. Right when it seems like it's all going to fall into the hands of Voldemort, Harry reemerges (having covered himself in his invisibility cloak at the beginning of the battle), runs through everything and how Voldemort did it all, and in a final conflict is able to kill Voldemort. It's a bittersweet end, as the greatest evil is finally destroyed, but many dear friends have been killed. But, now Harry can finally have a normal life, and be free of the fear of Voldemort.
For those who have read the books, you'll notice some MAJOR points missing from the summary, including the main factors and the name sake of the seventh book. Oh well...
So, the Final Battle is a pretty exciting part of the book... frankly, the whole series. It's the culminating event. This is where everything is going to be decided, once and for all. All the questions are answered, all the pieces are in place, and now, either good or evil will win, and that will be the end. And, just when it seems like the bad guys are about to overpower and come out victorious, the hero pops up, out of no where, and saves the day. Things are a lot more like fiction than we realize (and often than what we're comfortable with). We're in a war today. It's us vs. Satan. He's trying his hardest to make us all miserable like him, and will do anything to take us down. But, there's going to be a HUGE war that comes up at the very end, where "Michael and his angels [will fight] against the dragon..." (Revelation 12:7). This will be the final battle to decide who wins, good or bad. We, of course, know what the outcome will be: Good will triumph. Finally, Satan will be overthrown and cast out, and we can all have peace and serenity. It will be similar to the Final Battle at Hogwarts. It may seem like the evil is going to win, but at the last second, the hero will come and save the day. We can prepare ourselves for this war. We know it's coming, and we know what we have to do. As we start readying ourselves and start today, we will be better able to overcome the struggles that will face us. We have no reason to fear the end, as long as we know where we stand. When we're on the Lord's side, we're protected, for "if God be for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31). The war and the end is nothing to fear as long as we know whose side we're on.

No comments:

Post a Comment