The stage is set for the event that the whole series has been leading up to. Harry is on his own, without his mentor’s help, and he knows that he has to do – find Voldemort’s Horcruxes, destroy them, and then kill the man himself, thereby saving the wizarding world and many more lives. This much is obvious, but how exactly the final confrontation will come about and, more importantly, play out, is still open to speculation. I, like anyone else, have my own theories on what may happen.
First off, the Horcruxes must be destroyed. Obvious. The diary and the ring are gone already, and the locket appears to have been destroyed too, so that just leaves Hufflepuff’s cup, Nagini, and the unknown object. However, by now many fans have already noticed that the Order found a locket in one of the cabinets in the Grimmauld Place while they were cleaning, and the general opinion is that R.A.B, the person who supposedly took the Horcrux, is Regulas Black. So it is entirely possible that Regulas didn’t have time to destroy it, but hid it in his parents’ house. However, how long will it take Harry to figure it out? And when he does, how long will it take him to track it down? Everything in the cabinets was supposed to have been thrown out – unless of course Mundungus took it and sold it (he was selling the Black family china, after all), in which case, who the heck owns it now? And, more worryingly, could they trigger off the piece of soul stored inside it, like Ginny did with the diary?
The unknown Horcrux will probably also cause Harry a lot of time and trouble to track down. A lot of fans are theorising that the Horcrux is Harry or Harry’s scar, and that Voldemort did this accidentally. However, this doesn’t quite make sense to me. I don’t think you could be able to create a Horcrux by accident, surely? Then again, we don’t know enough about the process of making a Horcrux to rule it out completely.
However, I think the last Horcrux is in the Room of Requirement. When Harry went in there to hide the Half-Blood Prince’s book, there was a lot of other junk left by students (or who we presume are students), including a certain Vanishing Cabinet that turned out to be important. Also mentioned was, “thousands and thousands of books, no doubt banned or graffitied or stolen. There were winged catapults and Fanged Frisbees, some still with enough life in them to hover half-heartedly over the mountains of other forbidden items; there were chipped bottles of congealed potions, hats, jewels, cloaks; there were what looked like dragon-egg shells, corked bottles whose contents still shimmered evilly, several rusting swords and a heavy, blood-stained axe… He turned right past an enormous stuffed troll… took a left past the vanishing cabinet… finally pausing beside a large cupboard which seemed to have had acid thrown at its blistered surface… it had already been used as a hiding place for something in a cage that had long-since died; its skeleton had five legs… Seizing the chipped bust of an ugly old warlock from on top of a nearby crate, he stood it on the cupboard… perched a dusty old wig and a tarnished tiara on the statue’s head.”
For some reason I’m inclined to think that it’s the tiara. Dumbledore said Voldemort was magpie-like. He took things belonging to his victims as memorabilia. A tiara sounds more like something he would take. Or perhaps the wig, because Hepzibah Smith was wearing one. He then hid it at Hogwarts the day he came to ask Dumbledore for a job.
Once Harry has found and destroyed these Horcruxes, it’s time to face Voldemort. Nagini will probably be in the same place as him. I think at the end of the book there will be a big battle between the Death Eaters and the Order of the Phoenix. The Order is the force fighting against the Dark Side, after all. They can’t end up having nothing to do with its destruction. Perhaps the D.A. will get involved too. I still think they must have some larger part to play and that they really will end up becoming Dumbledore’s Army. This battle, I predict, will take place at Hogwarts, because as I said before the school must have to play some part and now that Dumbledore is gone, it’s got to only be a matter of time before Voldemort tries taking the school (and it seems like the only way in which the D.A could get involved in it). During this battle Harry and Voldemort will face off with each other for the final time.
This battle will probably be where the most deaths will happen, of both good and bad characters. After this battle we should know the final tally of who dies and who survives. Some people who I think might die are:
Wormtail – He still owes Harry a life debt, which it is common opinion he will repay by saving Harry’s life. There was a theory going round that he will also kill Lupin, because of his silver hand (silver killing werewolves), but J.K. denied this in the interview she did with one of the cub reporters after book six was released. However, we now know another werewolf – Fenrir Greyback. The theory that Wormtail might kill him ties in a lot more strongly with his saving Harry than the one about him killing Lupin. Maybe Greyback will attack Harry and Wormtail will save him – and then either die in the process, or be killed afterwards by Voldemort or another Death Eater for betrayal.
Grawp and/or Hagrid – Can’t you just imagine Hagrid bringing his little brother in to help fight the battle, especially since he is now more manageable, and seems to have developed an affection for Hagrid. If Hagrid was in trouble, Grawp might come to the rescue (possibly too late). Grawp would be useful to the fight if Voldemort brought giants with him too. However, Grawp is small for a giant and might get killed in the attempt.
Lupin – I was more convinced of Lupin being killed before book six came out. Since he’s the last Marauder, it seemed likely that eventually there would be none left (that and I had my Wormtail-kills-Lupin theory). However, now he has Tonks, so he has a reason to survive. I’m still not going to rule it out, though.
The most important part of the battle, however, is obviously the confrontation between Harry and Voldemort. Thinking about it, I think it's entirely possible that Harry won't personally kill Voldemort. That's not to say that Voldemort won't die, because I think that much is obvious, or that Harry won't be the cause of it, but Harry can bring about Voldemort's death without actually pointing his wand at him and saying, "Avada Kedavra."
Let's think for a moment here. Right now, I can't think of any children's story or fantasy story I've read or watched where the hero actually murders the villain. Examples: Simba didn't kill Scar, he fought him, won, and then the hyenas killed Scar. Spiderman didn't kill the Green Goblin or the man who killed Uncle Ben, but he did cause their deaths to a certain extent. And Frodo didn't kill Gollum, in the book Gollum tripped and fell by freak accident and in the movie Frodo was struggling with Gollum to get the ring back and they accidentally went over the edge (hence caused his death but didn't actually kill him – in fact the film makers were originally going to have Frodo push Gollum, but it seemed too much like murder). I think this could very well happen again with Harry and Voldemort.
We all know that J.K. doesn’t always stick to codes and conventions, and she can be classed as slightly controversial, but she does stick to many traditional plot elements, for example the orphan protagonist, the horrible relatives, the Dark Lord villain and the mentor with the big white beard dying.
J.K. has been saying all throughout the series that killing people is wrong. Sirius and Remus wanted to kill Pettigrew, but Harry told them to spare him. Slughorn said that killing someone was the worst thing you can do. It tears your soul in two (whether it only does that when you want it to, or whether it always does that, we don’t know). Even Draco couldn't bring himself to kill Dumbledore. Surely it would be a bit much if Harry was capable of doing something evil that Draco cannot. After all, Draco thought Dumbledore deserved to die just as Harry thinks Voldemort does.
Harry clearly wants to kill Voldemort himself right now (and possibly Snape too). But he’s still not an adult yet. Though he has matured greatly in the past year, he still has a way to go yet, and maybe by the time he comes to this confrontation he will go in there to kill Voldemort in order to save the world, not to take revenge against his parents or anyone else. Harry’s defeat of Voldemort should be selfless and heroic, in my opinion, not revenge. Besides, he didn’t think revenge was a good enough reason for Sirius and Remus to kill Pettigrew, so it’s a bit hypocritical for him to think it is a good enough reason for him to kill Voldemort or Snape.
However, it would seem completely pointless if Voldemort's eventual death had nothing to do with Harry. But like I said, that doesn't necessarily point to murder.
The prophecy says, "either must die at the hands of the order." Well, does that necessarily mean literally? And besides, the impression I got from Dumbledore in this last book is that the only reason the prophecy is coming true is because Voldemort is making it come true by choosing not to ignore it. If both Harry and Voldemort had walked away from it, none of this would be happening. Harry can change the prophecy if he wants.
Anyway, the prophecy said either must die at the hand of the other, not by the hand of the other. And J.K. has said that she worded the prophecy very carefully.
The last thing about the final confrontation is that I think there will be some doubt as to whether Harry will survive. I’m not sure right now if I think he will live or not, but if he does survive I still think that there will be a moment in the story where he will be injured or knocked out and we will wonder. J.K. has been giving dark hints that Harry may not survive for ages, and she must be doing this for a reason. If Harry isn’t going to die, then perhaps that reason is simply that she knows there will be a moment where she wants the reader to be nervous, and they’re not going to be if they’re already convinced they know the ending, hence she raises doubt with us.
Whatever happens at the end of book seven, whether we theorise correctly or not, we will all be on the edge of our seats waiting to see what happens. And if I’m right, I’ll probably be laughing my head off!