Deathly Hallows Week, Day 2: Will Voldemort Die?

One question I’ve never explored here is simply this: Will Voldemort Die? Some have argued that if Harry kills Voldemort, it will go against everything Rowling has written about Love’s victory, the evil of murder, and the importance of self-sacrifice.

I disagree. I think Harry will kill Voldemort, and that it will be the right thing to do. We’ll look at this from canon and then from an ethical standpoint.

Canon Evidence that Harry will Kill Voldemort:

• Dumbledore has clearly encouraged Harry to kill Voldemort on several occasions. In the broomshed at the Weasleys, Harry says that if he dies, he hopes to take as many Death Eaters as he can, and Voldemort, with him. Dumbledore applauds and encourages this sentiment. In discussing the prophecy in HBP, Harry is talking about how he’s “got to” try and kill Voldemort. Dumbledore’s response: “Got to? Of COURSE you’ve got to! But not because of the prophecy!” So not only does Dumbledore encourage an attempt on Voldemort’s life, he believes it’s Harry’s choice to kill Voldemort, and not the prophecy that matters.
• Dumbledore and Harry have already been engaged in the killing of Voldemort. To destroy one of his horcruxes is to kill part of his soul. Both Dumbledore and Harry have already killed part of Voldemort, and the whole set-up for Book 7 is the quest to kill the other 4 parts before taking on the last fragment residing in Lord Thingy himself.

An Ethical Look at Killing Voldemort:

But wouldn’t this go against the themes of love, self-sacrifice, and the evil of murder? I don’t think so. Voldemort presents a difficult ethical situation for the total pacifist: What about the person who is absolutely, without a doubt, unwilling to accept love, and as a result of that refusal is killing mass numbers of people? What do you do about that person? Is it loving to all the people he’s killing to just go on loving him and letting him live?

The question before us is not whether war and killing are evil, since we all agree to that. It is rather, as C.S. Lewis has said, whether or not war and killing are, in every imaginable instance, “the greatest evil” (C.S. Lewis, “Why I Am Not a Pacifist” in The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses. San Francisco: Harper Collins, 1976. p. 78). Lewis elaborates on the difficultly of the strictly pacifist position:

You cannot do simply good to simply Man; you must do this or that good to this or that man. And if you do this good, you can’t at the same time do that; and if you do it to these men, you can’t also do it to those…. And this in fact most often means helping A at the expense of B. And sooner or later, it involves helping A by actually doing some degree of violence to B. But when B is up to mischief against A, you must either do nothing or you must help one against the other. And certainly no one’s conscience tells him to help B. (pp. 75-76)

Such is the dilemma with Tom Riddle, Jr. Whatever “love’s victory” over the Dark Lord means, it certainly doesn’t mean not doing him any harm out of love, because that would be a dreadfully unloving thing to do for the rest of the Wizarding World when you alone possess the power to defeat this terrible evil. Lewis goes on:

I admit the general proposition that the lesser violence done to B is always preferable to the greater, provided that it is equally efficient in restraining him and equally good for everyone concerned, including B…but I do not therefore conclude that killing B is always wrong. In some instances – for instance in a small, isolated community, death may be the only efficient method of restraint. (p. 76)

The Wizarding World is one such small, isolated community, and I don’t see any way out of this aside from the death of Voldemort. That’s a choice Voldemort has made for himself, by putting himself out of love’s influence and beyond redemption’s reach.

How Will Voldemort Die, and “What’s Love Got to Do with It?”

The second question first: Harry’s ability to love will be what makes him a fearless uniter in the final battle against Voldemort. With no fear of death, and love that will draw all and sundry to his side, Harry will be able to marshal the necessary unity that the Sorting Hat has been singing about for the past two years. It is this kind of love that will bring some measure of healing to the Wizarding World. Sure, in the future they will forget it, and another Dark Lord will rise. But those who are loyal to Harry’s way of love will rise once again to defeat that evil.

There is one way to answer the first question, “How Will Voldemort die?” that may directly relate to Harry’s power of love: Harry’s blood running through Voldemort’s veins. There’s magic in that love, and perhaps there is some ancient magic, similar to what Dumbledore invoked in 1981, that will play a role in Voldemort’s downfall (this would explain the gleam of triumph, of course). It seems Dumbledore might’ve thought to tell Harry about it, though…

If it isn’t the blood the kills Voldemort, my money’s on Gryffindor’s sword.  Or a push through the veil.