“Close to the Dead” – The Veil AND Stoppered Death

Ever since the discovery of the 2000 Rowling quote about getting “close to the dead,” two primary trajectories of speculation have been on the table: (1) that she was referring to the veil (2) that it’s a reference to Cathy Liesner’s “Stoppered Death” theory.

What if it’s both?

Let’s revisit the quote again:

“That’s a given. Without it [the irreversible nature of death] the plot would fall apart, though in Book Seven you’ll see just how close you can get to the dead. You can be brought back from being petrified and from injuries that in the real world are mortal, depending on the degree of skill that a particular wizard possesses. You can’t go to any wizard and say ‘Will you cure my terminally ill relative?’ It’s a mirror image of the real world in that sense.”

Getting “close to the dead” certainly sounds a lot more like the veil theories – actual proximity to dead people. But the follow-up explanatory statement doesn’t fit that, does it? The immediately subsequent statement is clearly a reference to Dumbledore’s state in HBP (so we know she had that part planned out way back in 2000!).

A couple points to mention:

• Dumbledore is “definitely dead;” He won’t “do a Gandalf.” I still think this is pretty strong evidence of no Dumbledore return for DH.
• Dumbledore was giving Rowling trouble in the writing of Deathly Hallows – which means Book 7 will contain some crucial Dumbledore elements, even though he will not personally show up in the book as a living character.

What if being in a Stoppered Death state allows one some level of access to the dead that other people don’t have? I mean, getting “close to the dead” is no big deal in the Harry Potter world: there are ghosts everywhere. Everyone gets “close to the dead” at some point. But with Rowling’s follow-up statement that most certainly seems to be evidence for a Stoppered Death, there may be a link between being in that state of existence and getting “close to the dead.”

Now: Aside from looking for the Cave, we don’t know for certain where Dumbledore went during his long departures from the school. Dumbledore can become invisible without a cloak, which means he can easily slip in and out of the Ministry undetected. What if being in a Stoppered Death state allowed Dumbledore the ability to pass through the veil and return?

It would fit the thematic elements of the story, as well as the parallels to Greek mythology (the trio’s descent past Fluffy/Cerberus in Book 1, for example). Think Odysseus, of course. What if Dumbledore is the one character in the series who, while not being able to be resurrected from the dead, was temporarily in a state in which he could pass in and out of “the Underworld” without harm?  What if Dumbledore, at some point during the goings-on of HBP, made a mythological journey to the Underworld through the veil?

This could have a lot of implications for what kinds of memories and information Dumbledore has gathered and has left for Harry.

Thoughts?

Note: I addressed this quote in the pubcast, which will be uploaded tonight, but I didn’t have this idea about it being both until after I had finished recording.