Harry Potter VII's title has been announced! The release date, unfortunately, has not. However, it's still exciting to hear the title. It is...
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
CNN's Article
What's it mean? Hallows brings to mind All Hallows Eve, and that brings to mind death - which isn't surprising as the title's adjective (adverb masquerading as an adjective?) is deathly. Hallowed really means "revered" or "set apart as holy" according to dictionary.com, which sounds about right, though that's a verb and this is apparently a noun. I'm assuming a hallow is a place that is hallowed. Maybe I'm wrong, though. Of course, that might make deathly an adverb after all, and hallows a verb. That's kind of awkward, since you're using an article beforehand. It can be done, though. I could, say, write a story called Bob Cratchet and the Christmas Merryings, and that would make sense, no?
How can deathly alter it in a meaningful way? Might it be speaking of the location of Harry's parents' deaths? That's a location he intended to visit at the end of the last book. Will his final encounter with Voldemort occur there? Will it refer to how people treat Harry after (if) he dies? Does it refer to how people worship Voldemort now? Perhaps it's something to do with Horcruxes - are horcruxes a deathly hallow? Do they hallow Voldemort?
Deathly sounds negative to me - the connotation is dark and morbid. Voldemort seems to be the sort of person who is hallowed in a deathly way. Of course, that's become Voldemort causes death, not because he is death (though he's that, too, in a way - though he flees it interminably he hovers at the edge of it through his evil). His chosen telos is to never die, though.
Another possibility might be that death should be revered and accepeted. Voldemort shuns it, but we know that it's not the greatest possible evil that can befall someone (see Dumbledore in Pheonix).
Oh man, this is so exciting. I'm geeking out over here! It's almost like reading a page from the book.
2 comments:
This is exciting!
You know, adverbs can also modify adjectives or other adverbs. Not that "hallows" is an adjective...or an adverb; I just wanted to add to your understanding of The Adverb. I would say that in the title hallows is a noun and deathly an adjective.
One wonders whether there's going to be a trip to the land of the dead a la The Odyssey. Are "hallows" people or a place?
Lots of interesting questions to think about. Maybe if the Hallows are a place, it's where the last horcrux(es) is. Don't know, but I can't wait to find out.
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