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”The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.”
"Harry is the best hope we have. Trust him."
Remus Lupin (quoting Dumbledore)

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is the seventh and final instalment of the Harry Potter series, published on July 21, 2007.

Harry's not going to school this year, but don't worry—it's for a good cause. Harry, Ron, and Hermione's only hope to defeat Voldemort is to destroy all his Horcruxes before he seizes total power. Harry, eager to get started on his hunt for Horcruxes, gets slammed by Voldemort's quick overthrow of the Ministry, forcing the trio into hiding, where they must contend with themselves, who they are, what they are doing, feelings of helplessness, and if they ever really knew Dumbledore.

Also, remember how the previous few books just had one person die at the end? This time, no one is safe at any point in the story. Rowling had warned in interviews that book 7 would be a bloodbath and wasn't kidding.

The story of Harry is continued in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, a play that debuted in the summer of 2016 at London's West End, with a book version of the script being released the day after.

The film adaptation was split into two films, released in 2010 and 2011 respectively.


Tropes exclusive to this book or at least especially prominent:

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    Tropes A-F 
  • Achilles in His Tent: Ron gets fed up with their extended camping trip and storms off. He tries to come back almost immediately, but circumstance prevents him from doing so.
  • After-Action Healing Drama: After a dramatic escape from a heist at the Ministry, Ron Splinches himself and loses a piece of his arm, continuing the tension as Hermione scrambles to heal him.
  • Afterlife Express: Harry dies and meets Dumbledore in an Afterlife Antechamber that resembles King's Cross Station where he's given the option of boarding a train and moving on to the afterlife.
  • Agony of the Feet: Ron gets a copy of the Monster Book of Monsters dropped on his foot early on while the trio discusses searching for the Horcruxes.
  • Allegiance Affirmation: Severus Snape pulls one of these, finally confirming where it is that his loyalties ultimately lie—namely, to the late Lily Evans Potter.
    Dumbledore: After all this time?
    Severus Snape: Always.
  • Alliterative Family: Ariana, Albus, and Aberforth Dumbledore.
  • All Just a Dream: Harry questions Dumbledore during his trip to King's Cross whether the experience he is having is real or if it's just something he's imagining. Dumbledore insists that they're not mutually exclusive.
  • All Myths Are True: Hermione dismisses the Deathly Hallows as just part of a wizard fairytale. You can probably guess by the book's title whether she's right or wrong. Downplayed in that Dumbledore says it's more likely that the Peverell brothers were merely very gifted wizards who created the Hallows themselves rather than literally receiving them from Death.
  • Almost Dead Guy: Played with in the case of Severus Snape, who has a lot of information to impart to Harry, but rather than linger on death's doorstep for a long Final Speech, uses a previously-established magical technique to zap the information straight into Harry's head.
  • Alternate Aesop Interpretation: In-Universe. In the tale of the three brothers, the Elder Wand that makes its wielder impossible to defeat in battle brings death to the oldest Peverell brother when someone kills him in his sleep to steal it. The moral is supposed to be that you can't hold death at bay through brute force. Ron points out, not unreasonably, that the moral might as well be that if you have a wand that makes you impossible to defeat in battle, you shouldn't strut around and brag about it like an idiot. Considering that Dumbledore wielded said wand in plain sight for fifty years by not drawing any attention to it, Ron kinda has a point.
  • Ambiguous Situation:
    • It's unclear what exactly happened to poor Bathilda and how long she'd been dead when Harry and Hermione meet "her".
    • Was Harry's conversation with the deceased Dumbledore him having a dream and using Dumbledore's image as a sounding board to talk things out with himself, or is he actually speaking to Dumbledore's spirit while in a sort of purgatory? Harry outright asks which one is happening and the other party only responds with a Mathematician's Answer.
  • Analogy Backfire: Hermione and Ron try separately to console Harry that the events that tarnished his image of Dumbledore happened when he was "young" and that he was frustrated that he had to sacrifice his future to take over providing for his brother and sister. Harry tells them both that he was about their own age, they're fighting tyrant-run regime, and he sought to impose one at that time. He also tells them he would have loved to have been able to have siblings and wouldn’t see them as a burden.
  • And I Must Scream: Voldemort's final fate according to Word of God, as previewed in "King's Cross". He is in limbo, the boundary of life and death, never dying, but never living at the same time... forever.invoked
  • Anger Born of Worry: When Harry, Hermione and Ron go off looking for horcruxes, Ron gets discouraged about how tough the search is, so he runs off. Hermione is worried sick, and while Harry forgives Ron after his Big Damn Heroes moment, Hermione isn't so forgiving (at first); Harry has to cast a spell to keep them apart:
  • Another Dimension: The titular white void of the "King's Cross" chapter, which seems to be the closest thing to another dimension in the Harry Potter universe. Much like the veil in the Death Chamber of the Department of Mysteries, it separates the worlds of the living and the dead, acting as a sort of limbo for souls. It was here that Harry Potter was given the choice to return to life unharmed or move on to the next life, and Albus Dumbledore was able to temporarily cross over into this dimension to speak to Harry.
  • Anti-Climax: The final confrontation between Harry and Lord Voldemort ends rather suddenly. Voldemort casts the Killing Curse at Harry with the Elder Wand, but since Harry is its true master, the curse backfires and kills Voldemort. From a storytelling point of view, the true climax of the novel was slightly earlier, when Voldemort "kills" Harry in the Forest (and sealed his own fate); everything after that was the denouement, but Voldemort (and first-time readers) did not know that.
  • Anti-Villain: The Malfoys. At this point, the only thing they want is for the family to survive together. In fact, the moment Narcissa learns that Draco is still alive, she changes sides and lies to Voldemort about Harry's fate.
  • Anyone Can Die: After three books of major characters dying at the end, this book wastes no time in racking up a body count of characters, both minor and major, with one such death happening in the first chapter of the book. The casualties include Charity Burbage, Hedwig, Mad-Eye Moody, Rufus Scrimgeour, Mykew Gregorovitch, Bathilda Bagshot, Ted Tonks, Dirk Cresswell, Gornuk, Peter Pettigrew, Gellert Grindelwald, Dobby, Vincent Crabbe, Fred Weasley, Severus Snape, Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks, Colin Creevey, Lavender Brownnote , Nagini, Bellatrix Lestrange, Lord Voldemort, and even Harry Potter himself (albeit only briefly), along with several unidentified characters who died during the climactic Battle of Hogwarts.
  • Armour-Piercing Question:
    • When Vernon suspects Harry of trying to get them out of their house so Harry can use some kind of magic to take ownership, Harry, after reminding him that he already has money as well as a house left to him by his godfather, asks Vernon if he thinks Harry would want their house for "all the precious memories" he has of the place?
    • After listening to Snape stammer out an apology for calling her a "Mudblood," Lily cuttingly points out that he calls everyone of her birth a "Mudblood," so why should she be any different?
  • Artistic Licence – History: The Bloody Baron, who is a contemporary of Rowena Ravenclaw, should not be a Baron as they didn't exist until after the Norman Conquest in 1066, when Hogwarts was said by Professor Binns in 1992 to have been founded "over a thousand years ago", i.e. prior to the year 992. Rowena must have had her children very late in life (if we assume the Founders were in their twenties and thirties when Hogwarts was founded) for her to have a teenage Helena after 1066.
  • Artistic Licence - Space: When Voldemort visits Hogsmeade (in Scotland) early one morning, it was still dark, although where Harry was (in Cornwall), it was light already. This would be valid in the dead of winter, but this scene is in March, when there would be little difference.
  • Ascended Extra: The bartender in the Hog's Head, having warranted a handful of sentences in previous books, is revealed to be Dumbledore's brother (officially, that is, since many fans had caught on to the clues before that) and becomes a much more prominent character.
  • Ascended Meme: The final book in the series where the protagonist dies and goes to an afterlife that looks like a train station before coming back to life. The Barry Trotter and The Dead Horse parody novel did this three years before.
  • As Long as There Is One Man: In the climax of the book, Voldemort has apparently killed Harry (who's faking it, but that's not what's important here), and drags his body out for all the people in Hogwarts still fighting the Death Eaters to see. The fighters seem pretty cowed until one person steps forward... Neville Longbottom, who's spent the entire series getting mocked, cursed, beaten, battered, and having his parents' misfortune thrown in his face. Voldemort offers to let Neville join his army, and Neville responds, "I'll join you when hell freezes over," followed by a battle cry.
  • Asshole Victim:
    • The Carrows. It's probably not a good thing what Harry does to them, but it's hard to feel bad about it.
    • Crabbe, killed by the Fiendfyre he conjures.
  • Assimilation Academy: Once Voldemort takes over the Ministry, Hogwarts becomes one of these under Snape and the Carrows. Muggle-borns are barred from attending and every pure- and half-blood youth is forced to attend (previously, they could attend a school abroad or be homeschooled if that's what their parents wanted). Additionally, Defence Against the Dark Arts becomes just the Dark Arts where students are actually taught them and Muggle Studies becomes a compulsory subject where everyone is taught anti-Muggle propaganda. Any student who tries to speak out or disobey the rules is subject to imprisonment in the dungeons and torture by the Carrows. The Slytherin sympathizers, like Crabbe and Goyle, enjoy the changes, while Neville, Ginny, and Luna re-form Dumbledore's Army to rebel against them.
  • As the Good Book Says...: Both the Dumbledore family tomb and James and Lily Potter's graves have Biblical quotations on them:
    • The Dumbledores' tomb has "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Jesus, quoted in both Matthew 6:21 and Luke 12:34).
    • The Potters' graves have "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death" (Saint Paul, 1 Corinthians 15:26). Interestingly, Harry initially misinterprets this as a Death Eater idea (as, out of its proper context, it does sound exactly like the sort of thing that Voldemort would say). Hermione straightens him out.
  • The Atoner:
  • The Malfoy family, and Draco in particular, plays with this trope. Draco legitimately regrets joining up with the Death Eaters and his role in Dumbledore's death, but he never actively tries to redeem himself partly because he's in too deep and partly just because of a lack of character. In the end, he settles for what might be called passive resistance.
  • Dudley Dursley finally reconciles with his cousin. Along with being very grateful towards Harry for saving his life from the attacking Dementors in Book 5, the event — according to Word of God — also forced Dudley to see himself as the cruel bully and fat spoiled slob he was.invoked
  • Percy Weasley, after ditching his family for success at the Ministry, comes back for the Final Battle and reconciles with the other Weasleys.
  • Babies Ever After: Most of the characters who survive the Final Battle, it seems.
  • Back for the Finale: Sirius appears when Harry uses the Resurrection Stone. Oliver Wood, Angelina Johnson, and Alicia Spinnet arrive to assist in the Battle of Hogwarts. Ollivander and Griphook appear in Voldemort's captivity and escape thanks to the Trio. The list goes on and on...
  • Back-to-Back Badasses: Late in the Battle of the Seven Potters, Harry and Hagrid wind up back-to-back on the motorbike when Hagrid's botched Reparo spell causes the bike and sidecar to split apart, forcing Harry to abandon the sidecar.
  • Bag of Holding: Hermione's handbag, which is magically enchanted to hold all her books and a lot of other stuff. Hagrid also gives Harry a Mokeskin pouch, in which Harry stores a fair few Plot Coupons and Chekovian Guns.
  • Ballroom Blitz: Bill and Fleur's wedding, which was interrupted by Kingsley's Patronus, then outright crashed by Death Eaters.
  • Batman Gambit: Dumbledore's plans from the previous books are still in motion.
    • For instance, his plan to save Harry from the Killing Curse involved: Voldemort's Horcrux absorbing some of the impact, Harry's blood being used in Voldemort's resurrection, having Voldemort himself cast the curse, making sure Voldemort did not have full control over the Elder Wand, and finally by having Harry willingly sacrifice himself rather than continue to fight.
    • The part about the wand being under Draco Malfoy's control was specifically not in Dumbledore's plan, but in the end, it actually works to Harry's benefit. In Dumbledore's plan, Snape would have killed him without Malfoy getting involved at all. This would have prevented Voldemort (or anyone else) from obtaining the Elder Wand's full power, as it would not have been won in a duel. Things do work out even better than he could have imagined, though.
  • Battle Trophy: After Voldemort kills Mad-Eye in the Death Eaters' chase, his magical eye is seen in the Death Eater-controlled Ministry, used unashamedly by Umbridge.
  • Bavarian Fire Drill: Harry, under the guise of Ministry of Magic employee Runcorn (apparently a very feared and intimidating fellow), manages to walk himself, also-disguised Hermione and Ron, and a ton of Muggle-born and Half-blood wizards under investigation straight out of the Ministry, currently going on lockdown because they know there are intruders, just on sheer bluster. The Golden Trio's escape is a close call, but on the whole, it worked far, far better than it had a right to.
  • Be Careful What You Wish For:
    • The Deathly Hallows, at least according to legend. Three brothers cheated Death, and Death sought to even the scales through clever curses — he offered each brother a "gift" for their "cleverness". All three were clever enough to realize that it was a trick — but only the last realized that Death knew that they'd figure out that it was a trick.
      • The first brother asked to become powerful enough to defeat anyone who might try to kill him; Death gave this brother the Elder Wand, which made its holder undefeatable in combat. He was killed in his sleep for it, starting a chain of killings that continued every time the Wand resurfaced.
      • The second brother asked to nullify Death's power. Death gave this brother the Resurrection Stone, which could resurrect the dead. It worked as promised, but it turns out that the dead really don't like being brought back to life. He tried to use it to resurrect his lover but killed himself upon realizing this.
      • The third brother realized how much trouble they were in, so he asked for a way to hide from Death. Death was annoyed at being outwitted but gave him the Cloak of Invisibility, which could hide anyone from anything forever. This worked out perfectly; the third brother went on to live a long and happy life, and when he was an old man, passed the cloak on to his son and greeted Death with dignity.
    • Voldemort created his Horcruxes with the intention of defeating death and never dying. He certainly got what he wanted — immortality of a sort — but as a ruined, shrivelled shadow of his former self, trapped forever in the limbo between life and death.
    • The Malfoys spent years working for Voldemort's return. When he does, it results in a long Humiliation Conga for them and almost leads to the death of their only son.
  • Belated Love Epiphany: Harry despises Snape for most of the series, but it's not until the end of this book, after learning that Snape had secretly been working to protect him and bring down Voldemort, that Harry comes to respect and admire him. However, by then, Voldemort had already killed Snape.
  • Berserk Button:
  • Best Friends-in-Law: By the epilogue, Harry has married Ginny and Ron has married Hermione, resulting in Harry and Ron being in-laws, Ginny and Hermione being in-laws, and Harry and Hermione being in-laws.
  • Big Bad: Lord Voldemort, the arc villain of the franchise. Naturally the book ends with Harry and Voldemort having their final showdown.
  • Big Damn Heroes: Frequently. Almost every good character gets such a moment.
  • The Big Damn Kiss: Ron and Hermione, the one their shippers were about to have heart attacks in anticipation of.
  • Bigger on the Inside:
    • The tent the trio used, which was one of the tents in which they'd camped on World Cup weekend in Goblet of Fire. Bill loans them a second later on after they lose the first one when they get captured.
    • The Room of Requirement was two rooms in this book, expanding as more students came in and then turning into the Room of Hidden Things.
  • Big "NO!":
    • Hagrid does one during the Battle of the Seven Potters when a Death Eater tries to curse Harry, tackling the Death Eater and falling hundreds of feet to the ground.
    • Several occur in the final chapter, when Lord Voldemort forces Hagrid to present Harry's apparently dead body to the remaining wizard fighters at Hogwarts to signify his victory. Professor McGonagall, Ron and Hermione all say this.
  • Billions of Buttons: Lampshaded: cars and other Muggle technologies have too many buttons for a clever wizard.
    Dedalus: You know how to drive, I take it?
    Vernon Dursley: Of course I ruddy well know how to drive!
    Dedalus: Very clever of you, sir, I personally would be utterly bamboozled by all those buttons and knobs.
  • Bittersweet Ending:
    • Voldemort is gone once and for all, everyone who fought in the battle alongside Harry is hailed as a hero, Dudley, Kreacher, Percy, and (perhaps) even Malfoy finally make peace with Harry, and for once, a competent Minister of Magic is instated. The bad news? Many, many people are dead. And, annoyingly, a few people who probably deserve death or imprisonment seem to evade it in the end (or, at least, don't have their fates mentioned in the book). It's not a perfect world.
    • The Epilogue, however, turns this into more of a Happy Ending. The Wizarding World has been rebuilt for the better, Dementors have been removed from Azkaban, and our heroes managed to get married and have children. Ginny and Harry married and had three kids, while Ron and Hermione married and had two kids, making the main trio in-laws. The ending shows the next generation of wizards heading to Hogwarts in a peaceful era, where the terror of Voldemort is nothing more than a painful memory. And Harry's scar hasn't hurt since Voldemort's defeat, signifying nothing but peaceful days to come.
  • Blank White Void: A space which starts out as this, then becomes "King's Cross". Only much cleaner.
  • Blatant Lies:
    • After the Death Eaters take over the Ministry, they quickly adopt a strictly anti-Muggle policy, even setting up Inquisition-style hearings for Muggle-borns. And during one such trial, Dolores Umbridge flat out states that a Muggle-born she is interrogating is not a witch. Harry can't take any more after this. Fortunately, Word of God states that Umbridge ended up in Azkaban for the rest of her life.invoked
    • Voldemort tells those still resisting him at the Battle of Hogwarts that Harry was killed trying to flee the battle. None of them believe him.
  • Blood Magic: Because Voldemort used Harry's blood to rejuvenate himself back in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, he's kept Lily's protective charm on Harry alive with his new body. As long as that enchantment survives, Harry is protected from Voldemort. He anchors Harry to life while he lives. As a result, he can't kill Harry. This causes a Negate Your Own Sacrifice for Harry after he willingly lets Voldemort try to kill him because he is a Horcrux for Voldemort.
  • Blunt "Yes": A minor conversation between Harry and Molly at The Burrow involves this.
    Molly: [casually] Ron and Hermione seem to think that the three of you are dropping out of Hogwarts.
    Harry: [initially caught off guard] Oh. Well, yeah. We are.
  • Bookends:
    • After Harry defeats Voldemort for the first time (when he is but a fifteen-month-old baby) Hagrid brings him to Privet Drive using Sirius's flying motorcycle. Sixteen years later, when the Order gets Harry away from Privet Drive before the blood wards fall, Hagrid is the one that takes Harry away... on Sirius's flying motorcycle. And in the climax, Hagrid once again carries Harry in his arms.
    • The Deluminator, left by Dumbledore to Ron in this book, is the same device that Dumbledore used to put out the lights on Privet Drive in the first chapter of the first book.
    • Shortly before the start of the series, Lily sacrifices herself to protect her son from Voldemort, giving him the protection of Love from him and his spells. By the end of the book, Harry sacrifices himself to protect his friends and family at Hogwarts from dying in the fight against Voldemort, giving all of them the protection of Love from Voldemort, which causes all the spells he casts on them to break and not hold.
    • Voldemort's first defeat is at the hands of his own Killing Curse rebounding off of Harry due to the protection of his Mother's Love. Voldemort's final defeat is again because of his own Killing Curse rebounding off Harry, this time because the Elder Wand refused to kill Harry, its true owner.
    • Voldemort's first fatal mistake is underestimating the love of a mother for her child (in this case, not realizing the magical power Lily's sacrifice would imbue in her son). Voldemort's last fatal mistake is underestimating the love of a mother for her child (in this case, not realizing Narcissa would double-cross him in exchange for information pertinent to her son's safety).
    • The first time Harry sees Ginny, she's a small redheaded girl complaining to her parents that she wants to go to Hogwarts with her older brothers now, not next year. In Ginny's last appearance, her small redheaded daughter is raising the same complaint to her and Harry.
    • One from the American edition of the books, and a more literal case of the trope: both the first and last novel illustrations have the main picture framed by curtains. While the first shows Harry framed by colourful, mismatched and patterned curtains, the last book has curtains that are tattered and dull, reflecting the more child-friendly beginnings and the more bleak-looking end.
  • Bowdlerise: A very unfortunate one for the Spanish translation. Molly Weasley's awesome as hellinvoked Precision F-Strike got treated this way, from "NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!" to "Not my daughter, you bad witch!"note  Fortunately, the film upgrades it to "harpy".
  • Bully Turned Buddy: Played with in the Epilogue when Harry and Draco briefly interact at King's Cross Station. While the Trio and Draco have buried the hatchet and are at least cordial, they're also not really friends; too much damage was done during their years at Hogwarts. They won't be genuine friends until Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.
  • Break-Up/Make-Up Scenario: Between Ron and Harry, and also with Hermione.
  • Brick Joke: In [Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince the previous book]], Ginny says she told Romilda Vane that Harry has a dragon tattooed on his chest. After Ron takes Polyjuice Potion to look like Harry, he looks down at his bare chest and comments that he knew Ginny was lying about the tattoo.
  • Broken Pedestal: Played with vis-à-vis Dumbledore, when Harry realizes that not only did he make many disastrous mistakes in his past and that he was not the perfect wizard he idolized, but that he was sacrificing Harry to kill Voldemort without even discussing it with him. And inverted with Snape, whom he originally regarded as a horrible, despicable person, but after realising the lengths he went to in order to protect him — to the point of infiltrating Voldemort's inner circle and dying for him — thinks radically differently.
  • Brought Down to Normal: Voldemort gets hit with this in a way, after his Horcruxes are all destroyed. Before this, he was more or less immortal and felt like an unbeatable threat. After the destruction of the Horcruxes, Voldemort is just as mortal as any other man. Harry even invokes this trope by calling him by his Muggle name Tom Riddle, infuriating him on its own terms and signifying he is just a human being.
  • Burying a Substitute: Mad-Eye Moody is killed by Voldemort, but his body isn't found. Harry finds his magical eye on Umbridge's office door while breaking into the Ministry, and suspects she found and stole it. He thus steals it back and buries it in the forest.
  • The Bus Came Back: Aragog's Giant Spider offspring, last seen in the second book of the series, reappear during the Battle of Hogwarts, having been driven out of the Forbidden Forest by Voldemort's followers.
  • Call-Back:
    • Doubles as Book Ends. In Philosopher's Stone, Hagrid takes Harry to 4 Privet Drive for the first time... in Sirius Black's flying motorbike. Guess how Harry leaves forever at the beginning of this book.
    • There are many references throughout Deathly Hallows calling back scenes from many of the other books. Some examples are Harry reminiscing with Hagrid about how Hagrid told him he was a wizard way back in Philosopher's Stone. Another is Ron taking Hermione to the Chamber of Secrets in search of Basilisk fangs to destroy the Hufflepuff cup Horcrux.
    • As Moody explains the escape plan from 4 Privet Drive, he addresses Fred, who proclaims to be George like he did way back in the first book to his mother. Moody doesn't tolerate the joke nearly as well as Molly did.
      "I'm George," said the twin at whom Moody was pointing. "Can't you even tell us apart when we're Harry?"
      "Sorry, George—"
      "I'm only yanking your wand, I'm Fred really—"
      "Enough messing around!" snarled Moody.
    • When captured by the Snatchers, Harry tells them he was from Slytherin House. They call Harry out on this, noting that many school-aged kids they capture say this, but Harry describes where the entrance is and how it looks. This was only possible because he and Ron had been there in the second book disguised as Crabbe and Goyle.
    • Much like at the beginning of Philosopher's Stone, Hagrid is the one that carries Harry in his arms after he is hit (but not killed) by the Avada Kedavra curse.
    • The last two spells Harry and Voldemort use against each other are the same spells they used three years before. Naturally, the result is markedly different.
    • In the epilogue, James has come back, telling how he saw Teddy and Victoire kissing and asking them what they are doing. Ginny chides him for interrupting them, then commenting, "You are so like Ron." That comment was in reference to the birthday kiss Ginny gave Harry early in the book where Ron intruded into the room interrupting them.
      • Back in the first book, Ginny complained about not being able to go to Hogwarts that year. In the epilogue, Ginny has that conversation with her daughter, but from the other side.
    • The trio arrives at the Whomping Willow, with Ron noting they won't be able to get through as Crookshanks isn't there to deactivate it (which happened in the third book) by hitting a certain knot. Hermione then gives him a six-year Ironic Echo: "Are you a wizard, or what?" Ron then uses a Levitating Charm to ram a twig into the knot.
    • In Goblet of Fire, the trio have discussion about Percy and the house elves, saying "Percy wouldn't want to work for anybody with a sense of humour" and "wouldn't recognize a joke if it danced in front of him wearing Dobby's tea cosy." The one time Percy does joke, in this book, is when he turns Pius Thicknesse into a sea urchin and says he's resigning.
      • Also referring back to Goblet of Fire, the tent that the trio use when Grimmauld Place is no longer safe is the exact same one that they had during the Quidditch World Cup, even acknowledging that it was lent to the Weasleys by a friend of Arthur's from work; apparently he decided he didn't want it back because he's not in good enough shape to go camping anymore. More darkly, they also allude to what eventually became of Barty Crouch, Sr., when the Order is unable to recover Moody's body—Ron suggests that the Death Eaters might have transfigured his body into something easier to hide, and Hermione shuts down his idea as too dreadful to think of.
    • Near the end of the fifth book, Harry discusses with Nearly Headless Nick regarding where the soul of a wizard/witch goes after their own physical body dies, with Nick informing Harry that wizards who are Not Afraid to Die will have "gone on" instead of lingering in the physical world as ghosts as he has done and being unable to answer Harry when he asks "What do you mean, "gone on"?" The issue is touched on again in this book, albeit with a different dead wizard in the centre of the discussion, this time with Ron asking Harry the same question Harry asked Nick with and receiving the same response Harry got from Nick.
    • Also from the fifth book, Bellatrix had criticised Harry's use of the Cruciatus Curse against her, saying that it wasn't effective because he didn't really want to cause his victim pain. After suitable provocation, he uses it again in this book, this time doing it correctly, and remarks that Bellatrix was right.
    • The Battle of Hogwarts in particular is full of references to earlier events of the series: many characters make cameo appearances—such as the painting of Sir Cadogan and the ghosts of the Headless Hunt—lessons that the characters have had over their academic careers are alluded to such as Neville and Professor Sprout using mandrakes against the Death Eaters, and Ron and Hermione sneak off to get basilisk fangs from the Chamber of Secrets to destroy the last remaining Horcruxes.
  • The Caper: There are two of them to recover two of Voldemort's horcruxes: the infiltration of the Ministry of Magic to claim the locket of Salazar Slytherin from Dolores Umbridge, and the infiltration of Gringotts to claim the cup of Helga Hufflepuff from the Lestranges' vault. In both cases, it Starts Stealthily, Ends Loudly as the trio comes across complications at the penultimate hour of their heists.
  • The Cavalry: Brought by Slughorn, of all people. Just when Harry appears dead and Voldemort has declared his victory, a massive army of reinforcements led by Slughorn and Charlie Weasley begin closing in. They are then joined by Grawp, the entire centaur herd from the Forbidden Forest, Hogwarts's entire herd of thestrals led by Buckbeak, and then the entirety of Hogwarts's house-elf staff led by Kreacher. The Death Eaters, surely already tired from the night of fighting, are drowned in mere minutes by the reinforcements of Hogwarts. By the time Harry gets personally involved, Voldemort is the only member of his army left.
  • Changed My Mind, Kid: Ron walks out on Harry and Hermione. He immediately regrets it, but due to circumstances he is unable to get back to them. His return, just in time to save Harry, is a Moment of Awesome.invoked
  • Characters Dropping Like Flies: This book has a higher body count than the other six books combined.
  • Check and Mate: The final confrontation between Harry and Voldemort (in the book at least).
  • Chekhov's Gun: The series has its own page.
  • Children Forced to Kill: Averted. From the start of this series to the end of this book, no Hogwarts student from Harry's generation has killed any other person, even in self-defence (not counting Crabbe's stupidity). This is despite these children being trained in powerful, often dangerous magic and being "of age" in this book — and involved in a battle where their own lives were on the line. This is probably to keep the kids from crossing the Moral Event Horizon. It's probably why it is Molly who kills Bellatrix, and not Neville — for Neville to do so may not have sat well with some parents and young readers.invoked
  • Chores Without Powers: When Dobby is killed by Bellatrix in the process of saving the lives of Harry and his friends, Harry refuses to use magic to dig his grave, and digs a hole in the ground with a spade for him, as a way of dealing with his grief. The narration comments that "he dug with a kind of fury, relishing the manual work, glorying in the non-magic of it, for every drop of his sweat and every blister felt like a gift to the elf who had saved their lives." When Ron and Dean come out and see him digging the grave, they don't ask why he's not doing it with magic, and help him dig until the hole's deep enough.
  • Circling Monologue: Between Harry and Voldemort during their final showdown.
  • Collateral Damage: During the Battle of the Seven Potters, Snape cuts off George Weasley's ear with the curse Sectumsempra. We eventually find out that it was an accident and Snape was actually aiming for a Death Eater's hand.
  • Comically Missing the Point: When Hermione and Xenophilius get into an argument about the Deathly Hallows and Xeno challenges Hermione to prove that the Resurrection Stone doesn't exist, Hermione scoffs that you could believe in anything if the only basis for your beliefs is that they can't be disproved. Xeno agrees but sees it as a sign that Hermione is coming round to his way of thinking rather than a criticism.
  • Compliment Backfire: The Dursleys have to drive to their safe house to avoid Ministry (and, by extension, Death Eater) detection, because their Order of the Phoenix guards don't know how. Dedalus Diggle praises Vernon on his driving (which would confuse him no end), but Vernon is dismayed to hear that Dedalus can't drive.
  • Connected All Along:
    • It's revealed that Lily and Snape were friends as Hogwarts students, and Snape was in love with Lily.
    • The owner of the Hog's Head, whom the Power Trio met two years prior, turned out to be Aberforth Dumbledore, Albus's younger brother.
  • Conspiracy Theorist: In-universe; the Muggle-born Registration Commission exploits the fact that, basically, nobody is sure where Muggle-borns get their magical abilities from in the first place to have them tried for "stealing" magic. Had they known, they probably wouldn't have cared. Ron pokes a hole in their conspiracy the minute he hears about it, pointing out that if Muggles could steal magic, there'd be no such thing as Squibs.
  • Continuity Cavalcade: Name just about any character from the previous books who isn't dead or in St. Mungo's insanity ward — ten to one that they will appear somewhere in this book.
  • Continuity Nod: The better part of the book.
  • Contrived Coincidence: At one point the Power Trio picks a spot to camp that is right next to where Dean, Ted and the goblins are camping; this allows them to learn some important information. The goblin in Malfoy Manor just happens to be the same Gringotts goblin Harry met in the first book, and also the perfect person to plan a bank robbery.
  • Conveniently Cellmates: Harry and Ron are shoved into the same cellar room as Luna.
  • Conveniently Interrupted Document: Near the beginning, Harry finds a letter from one of his parents which mentions Dumbledore, and hints at a surprising revelation about his past. However, the second page of the letter is missing. He finds out much later that the revelation would have been of some use to him at the time, and that it was removed for reasons completely unrelated to any desire to keep it from him.
  • Cool and Unusual Punishment: As revealed in "The Prince's Tale", Snape threatened to sleep outside the Gryffindor common room to get Lily to talk to him after he called her "Mudblood" earlier in a moment of severe humiliation. While she did oblige to his request, the conversation ended up with her telling him "it's over" — not what he hoped for at all.
  • Cool Old Guy: With Dumbledore gone, we get his brother, Aberforth, who is almost as cool.
  • Cool Old Lady: Neville's grandmother. Also overlaps with Never Mess with Granny, as when Death Eaters came to her house to try and capture her, she not only fought them off, putting one of them in the hospital, but went on the run as well. Now we know where Neville gets his guts from.
  • Corporal Punishment: We can only imagine what the hell is going on at Hogwarts while the heroes are running around the countryside. Neville certainly looks like he had a pretty rough time of it when he shows up after a year's worth of it. Apparently things would have been even worse if the Carrows had had the complete run of things. Even happens in lessons: "They had us practicing the Cruciatus Curse on first-years. ... That's where I got this [scar]. I refused to do it." Heaven knows what this must have been like for Snape, who gave his word to Dumbledore before the latter's death that he would do everything in his power to protect the students no matter what happened. For almost a whole year, he has to constantly strike a balance between reining the Carrows' worst behaviour (which includes torturing eleven-year-olds) in, yet not so much that it gives his status as a double-agent away.
  • Cosmic Deadline: After many pages detailing a camping trip and other hairsbreadth escapes, suddenly the trio arrives at Hogwarts and truckloads of important, nay, essential information is revealed, and the plot relevant (or irrelevant) deaths start cropping up all over the place.
  • Covers Always Lie:
    • The cover to the American edition made it seem like Harry and Voldemort were in an outdoor coliseum during their final confrontation when it turns out to be the Great Hall at Hogwarts.
    • The Danish cover is much worse. At what point does this image happen in the book? Granted, it's possible that that is a representation of the centaurs and/or Hogwarts statues joining for the battle, but the actual "order allies to battle" by Harry never occurs.
  • Cowardice Callout:
    • Harry learns that Lupin regrets marrying Tonks and fathering a child with her, and his offering support to the Power Trio is just a pretext for him trying to shirk his responsibilities to his family. Harry then proceeds to give Lupin a "The Reason You Suck" Speech that ends with him stating that he never would've thought Lupin, the man who taught Harry how to protect himself from Dementors, would be capable of such cowardice. Lupin at first lashes out and leaves — later in the book, it's indicated that he took Harry's point by getting back together with Tonks.
    • Professor McGonagall screams "Coward!" at Severus Snape after he spends a duel against her going on the defensive before moving to flee as soon as he's outnumbered by Professor Flitwick coming to McGonagall's aid — it's far from the only despicable thing Snape has done in recent memory that would make his colleagues loathe his guts. Subverted when Snape is revealed to have been a triple-agent who was secretly loyal to the heroes' cause all along, re-contextualizing his earlier interactions with his colleagues.
  • Creator Provincialism: It's subtle because Rowling is careful not to pepper the narrative with the names of real-life places. However, from the time that they escape the Ministry to when they reach Shell Cottage, the Trio never really leave the English West Country, where Rowling was born and raised.
  • Crazy-Prepared:
    • Albus Dumbledore proves to be this even after his death, if his last will and testament is any indication. He left Ron the Deluminator knowing that Ron would quit the Horcrux hunt and, more importantly, would want to return, providing him with a way to get back. He also left Hermione his copy of Tales of Beedle the Bard in order to clue the trio into the existence of the Deathly Hallows, and gave Harry the Resurrection Stone hidden inside the first Golden Snitch he ever caught in order to give Harry emotional support.
    • Turns out Voldemort enchanted Wormtail's artifical hand with a contingency. He correctly anticipates that Wormtail cannot be trusted and the hand was magically 'programmed' to kill Wormtail if his loyalty ever wavered again.
  • Crime of Passion: It's revealed that the Bloody Baron, the Slytherin House ghost, was infatuated with Helena Ravenclaw, the Ravenclaw House ghost. In life, he was sent by Rowena Ravenclaw to find her daughter when she ran away with her diadem. Upon being rejected, the Bloody Baron killed Helena in a fit of rage, then took his own life upon realizing what he's done.
  • Crippling Overspecialisation: Voldemort, though the revelation builds on hints from previous books. Essentially, all he ever cared about was the Killing Curse (or, more generally, the Unforgivable Curses) and using Horcruxes to live forever, and from his narrow knowledge wasn't even aware that he had possessed the Resurrection Stone (he was never interested in the Hallows, though). To the point that he still uses Avada Kedavra on Harry at the end despite it having backfired (in different ways) three times before. However, this is only with Harry; with everyone else, he brings out his most powerful curses, and even when Harry's sacrifice protects everyone, Voldemort still blasts Kingsley, McGonagall, and Slughorn out of the way when duelling all three at the same time. With the final Killing Curse that essentially kills Voldemort, he was kind of left with no other choice. He could not curse any of the defenders because they were protected by Harry's love, and even if he killed Harry, every good character present would have attacked him — and with his Horcruxes gone and Hogwarts' anti-Apparition charms blocking his best escape option, he would have inevitably fallen to the Zerg Rush. He had no real choice.
  • Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Who would have thought that Sybil Trelawney, of all people, would take out Fenrir Greyback?
  • Crown of Power: The diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw is charmed to give increased intelligence to anyone who wears it; however, it is never used for this purpose in the books.
  • Crying Wolf: A subplot in this novel involves Rita Skeeter, a shady tabloid journalist who first appeared in The Goblet of Fire, and her new biography of Dumbledore. Based on his firsthand knowledge of her (lack of) ethics and his experience with Dumbledore, Harry is initially certain the book's claims are false. They are far truer than Rita's usual output.
  • The Cuckoolander Was Right: Luna and her father are right about the Hallows and that the Diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw is important.
  • Cue the Sun: After the climax.
  • Daddy Had a Good Reason for Abandoning You: Lupin tries to use this as an excuse to abandon Tonks and her unborn child and join Harry, Ron, and Hermione on their search for Horcruxes, but Harry calls him out on it.
  • Damned by Faint Praise: This is how Hestia Jones, the witch who took the Dursleys to their safe house, reacted when Dudley told Harry that he wasn't "a waste of space." However, Harry had to tell her that this was the best thing he'd ever said to Harry and was his way of saying anything appreciative to Harry.
  • Darkest Hour: The halfway point of the book is by far the darkest and most hopeless moment in the entire series. Ron walks out on the group, leaving Harry and Hermione to fend for themselves, the two are stuck with the locket Horcrux with no way to destroy it and have no leads on any of the others, they have no idea what's going on with Voldemort or any of their allies that are currently fighting or on the run, and the two are nearly killed by Nagini and Voldemort himself when they go to visit Godric's Hallow. The only remotely happy thing that occurs during this stretch of the book is Harry seeing all of the encouraging messages left for him on his old house, letting him know that he is not alone in his fight against Voldemort.
  • Darker and Edgier: Given how each book in the Harry Potter franchise has invariably been darker than the last, it would make sense that Deathly Hallows is the darkest of them all. The book has several moments that wouldn't seem out of place in a straight-up horror novel, such as Harry watching helplessly as Wormtail is strangled to death by his own magical hand, and Nagini occupying the body of Bathilda Bagshot.
  • The Dark Side Will Make You Forget: Severus Snape. He started life as a troubled, neglected boy who just wanted Lily to like him. Then he got into Slytherin and things slowly turned rather dark at the influence of his friends. Then he joined the Death Eaters and completely forgot that he once thought nothing of bloodlines, and things got worse to the point where he tried to bargain with Voldemort to exchange Lily's own son's and husband's lives to save hers. Then he came back under Dumbledore's influence and ended up putting his life on the line to save other people, including Harry. So he wavered across the "Evil" line for a fair while there, obviously.
  • Dawn of an Era: The moment Harry kills Voldemort is the beginning of a new era for the Wizarding World. Fittingly, most of the final fight has been taking place during the night and dawn breaks right after the climax.
  • The Day of Reckoning: Harry's return to Hogwarts marks the beginning of this for Voldemort.
  • Day of the Jackboot: Voldemort and the Death Eaters complete their Nazi-style takeover of the Ministry of Magic.
  • Dead Guy Junior: Harry's children are named James Sirius, Albus Severus, and Lily Luna, and Remus and Tonks name their son Ted after her father, who had recently been killed. Word of God says George names his son Fred.invoked
  • The Dead Have Names: Part of the purpose of Lee Jordan's Potterwatch broadcasts is to publicise the names of those killed by Death Eaters, like Ted Tonks and Dirk Cresswell.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Phineas Nigellus Black has many sarcastic lines, when Hermione talks to him in a portrait, including:
    • "Please always helps."
    • (After Hermione has blindfolded him in his portrait) "Remove this foul addition at once! You are ruining a great work of art!"
    • "I grow weary of contradiction."
    • "Professor Snape has more important things on his mind than the many eccentricities of Albus Dumbledore."
  • Deal with the Devil: Or rather, with a goblin.
  • Death of a Child: This book contains the only on-page death of children in the entire franchise when Voldemort kills two unnamed German kids in his search for the Elder Wand.
  • Death Is Dramatic: Played relatively straight with Dobby and Snape. Averted with everybody else (an instant-death curse doesn't leave much time for a Final Speech, after all).
  • Death Is the Only Option: Harry realizes that he is a Horcrux and must die to defeat Voldemort.
  • Death Seeker: Implied with Grindelwald. He snarks at Voldemort some and then lets him kill him without any sort of fight. He even says, "I welcome death." Given that he's about 115, had been locked in a prison for over half a century with nothing to do other than wallow over his own misdeeds, and the only person he ever really cared about is dead, it's not shocking that death was the only sort of comfort he had left.
  • Deconstruction: To some extent, the Deathly Hallows Fetch Quest introduced in the middle of the book is a kind of parody of the series' Quest plot. Harry thinks the journey of the quest is significant, that it could give him the power he wants and that bringing the Hallows together means he has something over Voldemort's Horcruxes. The Hallows in the end, do nothing of the sort, indeed it is a Fetch Quest deliberately placed by Dumbledore all to prepare Harry to eventually sacrifice his life.
  • Decoy Convoy: Six members of the Order of the Phoenix disguise themselves as Harry using the Polyjuice Potion (making them exact duplicates of Harry) and fly to different safehouses along with another member of the Order (using brooms, flying horses called Thestrals, and a flying motorbike for Harry himself). Each safehouse contained a Portkey to transport themselves to the Burrow.
  • Defiant to the End:
    • Rufus Scrimgeour and Harry had no trouble showing their dislike for each other. But when the Death Eaters took over the Ministry, he withstood torture from Voldemort himself in his final moments and refused to divulge any information about Harry's whereabouts.
    • Gellert Grindelwald, who was considered to be the most powerful and dangerous Dark Wizard in the world before Voldemort came along. When confronted by Voldemort himself, imprisoned, wandless, and helpless, instead of going along with Voldy's demands, Grindelwald openly defies him and even laughs in his face.
  • Dénouement: Surprisingly lacking. Very little takes place between Voldemort falling and the Distant Finale. Fans continue to debate if this was good or bad.
  • Despite the Plan: Twice. The trio spends almost a month each planning their break-ins of the Ministry and Gringotts. Both times, the plan goes wrong almost as soon as they get in, and they end up having to improvise.
  • Determinator: Hagrid will get Harry to safety, even if it means leaving his friends to deal with the Death Eaters. Even Harry wanted him to turn back to help.
  • Determined Defeatist: Aberforth Dumbledore is convinced that Voldemort is going to win and advises the heroes to give up and flee the country. Naturally, he still shows up to fight when push comes to shove.
  • Deuteragonist: Dumbledore, much like Charles Foster Kane, is the real focus of the final book despite being dead. In the end, he proves to be one for the series overall, since most of his choices and decisions in the past and present determine the outcome of the story. Harry even Lampshades this at one point, telling Ron that it's easier to know how Voldemort thinks than figuring out Dumbledore.
  • Didn't See That Coming: Voldemort, in the backstory, used Kreacher to test the Drink of Despair trap guarding his Horcrux. He expected the elf to die, but Regulus's orders were to do whatever Voldemort asked, and then go home. So he did, using house-elf magic to bypass the Anti-Apparition field, and ended up leaking the whole setup to Regulus, who realized that Voldemort was going too far for his tastes, and stole the Horcrux and ordered Kreacher to destroy it.
  • Dies Wide Open: Dobby, Fred, and Snape.
  • Dirty Coward:
    • Mundungus Disapparates as soon as Voldemort confronts him during the chase, leaving Moody to die.
    • Pansy Parkinson, who immediately points out Harry and demands somebody grab him and hand him over to Voldemort in exchange for her own safety.
  • Disney Death: Harry Potter himself, although the reader knows he isn't really dead. However, those who believed J.K. Rowling's hints that he'd die at the end of the seventh book would certainly be surprised.
  • Disproportionate Reward: Harry gives Kreacher the locket his beloved Regulus once owned. Ron even Lampshades it: "Overkill, mate." Still, it pays off for Harry in multiple ways later on.
  • Distant Finale: The epilogue, "Nineteen years later."
  • Does This Remind You of Anything?:
    • The Deathly Hallows symbol. Viktor Krum is enraged to see Xenophilius Lovegood wearing it as a pendant, because it was used by Grindelwald, but it turns out the mark was originally benign and unluckily appropriated by evildoers. Given that Grindelwald is fantasy version of the European fascists of the early 20th century , it's a good parallel to the swastika, once a benign religious symbol that pre-dates the Nazis by millennia, being found in Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism.
    • The scene with students and teachers mourning the Battle of Hogwarts casualties in the Great Hall comes across like the aftermath of a school shooting. Especially in the movie.
  • The Dog Bites Back: Narcissa Malfoy defies Voldemort, which leads directly to his death at Harry's hands.
  • Don't Fear the Reaper:
    • The youngest Peverell brother, having lived to age after a full life, meets up with death like an old friend. The movie actually shows the two embracing. It's surprisingly heartwarming in the context.
    • Dumbledore gives a similar message to Harry at King's Cross.
    • Ultimately what it truly means to be the "Master of Death." It's not escaping death, but rather accepting that death is inevitable, and that there are far worse fates than dying. Harry became the Master of Death because he came to this realization while unwittingly acquiring all three of the Deathly Hallows, and willingly went to what he fully believed would be his death to make Voldemort killable.
  • Doorstopper: While this book does count, an in-universe example is Rita Skeeter's The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore, which goes on for about 900 pages — and which she wrote in about four weeks!
  • Double Entendre: Throughout her interview with the Daily Prophet, Rita Skeeter makes several thinly veiled insinuations about Dumbledore and Grindelwald's relationship being more than platonic but jumps to outright sexual innuendo when she says that people would think, "Grindelwald simply conjured a white hankerchief from the end of his wand and came quietly".
  • Double-Meaning Title: Played With. Deathly Hallows is translated as "The Relics of Death" in many languages, which turns the title into this trope. A reader would initially think said relics are Voldemort's Horcruxes (which allow him to cheat death) especially since some of them are very culturally-valued relics in the wizarding world — such as those that belonged to Hogwarts' Founders. It doesn't help that the most common interpretation of the adverb "deathly" is that of "lethal", something that the Horcruxes are in spades because of the traps that surround them and/or their possession and The Corrupter potential. However, it's later revealed this installment is a case of a MacGuffin Title, because the Deathly Hallows do exist and have very little to do with Horcruxes.
  • Double Standard: Abuse, Female on Male: After Ron rejoins Harry and Hermione after running away, Hermione's response is to beat him up, then refuses to speak to him for a long time afterward. The response? Ron apologizes and has to try to win Hermione back over. Just try to imagine this situation if the genders were reversed.
  • Dragon Hoard: When breaking into the Lestrange vault to steal the golden Cup of Helga Hufflepuff, Harry, Ron and Hermione have to pass one of Gringotts' trained guard dragons. The dragon itself is non-sapient and presumably doesn't care about gold itself.
  • Driven to Suicide:
    • The Bloody Baron does this after killing his beloved in a fit of rage. Both of them return as ghosts afterward.
    • The second Peverell brother, Cadmus, does this as well after bringing his dead lover back to life, kind of, but realizing he can never really be with her in this form.
    • As Hermione points out, this trope is also the potential side effect of feeling remorse on the Horcrux-maker's part in the process of getting his/her soul fragments back together into one whole piece.
    • Gellert Grindelwald commits Suicide by Cop by letting Voldemort kill him. Even going so far as to say, “I welcome death.” At this point he’s about 115, been locked in a prison for over half a century with nothing to do but wallow over his misdeeds, and the only person he’d ever loved had died the previous year.
  • Driving Question: The book contains several of these: Where are the Horcuxes? What are the Deathly Hallows? Who has the Elder Wand? What happened to Ariana?
  • Due to the Dead:
    • Harry sees Moody's magical eye on Umbridge's office door and is so enraged that he steals it back, which ends up helping blow their cover. He later insists on digging Dobby's grave by hand, rather than using magic.
    • Even Voldemort respects this; when he calls a one-hour lull in the fighting, he tells the defenders of Hogwarts to dispose of their dead with dignity.
  • The Dutiful Son: Aberforth Dumbledore. He's still disappointed that Albus was not.
  • Dying for Symbolism:
    • Hedwig's death is supposed to represent the death of what remains of Harry's childhood.
    • The only known counter to the killing curse involves laying down your life for another, which is itself is a symbol of Jesus' death and resurrection, if the series is compared to Christianity, which J.K. Rowling is part of, though actually dying is not necessary for the counter to work.
  • Ear Ache: Snape inadvertently curses off George's ear.
  • Early-Bird Cameo: Retroactively. Harry's younger son, Albus Severus, first appears in the book's final chapter, and is a Deuteragonist in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.
  • Earn Your Happy Ending: Many people do die, but in the end the Big Bad Voldemort is defeated once and for all, and the world is finally a better place.
  • Easily Forgiven:
    • Percy Weasley after having been estranged from his family since the hiatus between Books 4 and 5. Most surprisingly, the first person to welcome him back is Fred, who was among his most vocal detractors following Percy's defection. It helps, though, that Percy doesn't need prompting to admit publicly and loudly that his behaviour in the previous books was foolish and wrong, and that he fully agrees with Fred's highly insulting assessment of said behaviour.
    • The Malfoy family manage to escape punishment for their crimes due to their last-minute Heel–Face Turn.
    • Ron, when he returns after leaving Harry and Hermione. As Harry points out, Ron not only saved his life on returning, but was Brainwashed and Crazy when he left in the first place. Further, Ron's arrival was just in time to save Harry's life, and then Harry lets Ron destroy the locket — an experience that turns out to be harder on Ron than Harry expected. To Harry, all this makes up for Ron's prior behaviour. Toyed with on Hermione's part, as she obviously forgives him instantly, but tortures him (metaphorically speaking) on a regular basis until she feels enough time has passed to show it.
  • Elevator Floor Announcement: The Ministry infiltration mission reaches the one destination not visited in previous books: "Level one, Minister of Magic and support staff."
  • Elites Are More Glamorous: In-Universe.
    • Just when Harry has convinced his Muggle family to accept protection from the Order of the Phoenix, Uncle Vernon complains (again) that they deserve to be guarded by Kingsley Shacklebolt, who (Harry repeats in exasperation) has been assigned to the Muggle Prime Minister. As much as his Uncle Vernon hates and distrusts wizards, this cannot fail to impress him.
    • Harry's Aunt Petunia has heaped scorn on the wizarding world her entire life; but her most shameful secret is that after her sister Lily was admitted to Hogwarts, Petunia wrote Dumbledore, begging to be accepted, as she wanted to be a witch too.
  • Enemies with Death: In The Tales of Beedle the Bard. Subverted, in the end, by the third and final brother. With several philosophical ties to the over-arching themes of the story.
  • Entertainingly Wrong: In Half-Blood Prince, Harry and Dumbledore theorized that Voldemort used his attempt to get a job at Hogwarts as a means to try and get hold of the Sword of Gryffindor to use as a Horcrux. Harry realizes they had it backwards, and Voldemort used the job interview to hide a Horcrux, with possibly gaining access to the sword being a potential bonus.
  • Escort Mission: An entire entourage of wizards comes to the Dursley home in order to escort Harry safely to the Burrow.
  • "Eureka!" Moment: Harry has several of these throughout the book.
    • Multiple moments come up at once when he realizes after visiting Xenophilius that, Dumbledore left the Resurrection Stone hidden in the Golden Snitch for him to use, and the Elder Wand is real. This then spirals into a horrifying realization when Harry realizes that Voldemort is searching for the Elder Wand so he can finally kill Harry.
    • Harry realizes while staying at Bill and Fleur's cottage that Dumbledore had the Elder Wand the entire time he knew him and that it now resides in his tomb.
    • Harry figuring out where the last Horcrux is hidden.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: We never find out for sure how Regulus felt about being a Death Eater (in short exactly how evil he was) — we only hear stories secondhand from people who weren't involved in his death. However, it seems that he considered Voldemort's having made a Horcrux and used Kreacher as a disposable tool to have crossed the line.
  • Everyone Has Standards:
    • While Snape has spent the entire series hating Harry for reminding him of James and Lily, he is utterly appalled when he discovers that Dumbledore's ultimate plan hinges on Harry willingly allowing Voldemort to kill him to destroy the Horcrux within himself, permanently guaranteeing that Voldemort can never come back to life or hurt anyone else ever again.
    • As revevealed in flashback during the previous book, even Dumbledore — who'd tolerated Snape's enmity with Harry over the last half a decade — was finally starting to get fed up with Snape's vindictiveness (in this case pettily putting Harry through repeat detentions).
    • While Harry has absolutely despised Snape the entire series (especially after the events of the last book), even he is horrified by the absolutely brutal and petty way Voldemort murders him, to the point of running over to him to ensure he does not die alone.
    • Harry and Malfoy have hated each other's guts the entire series, yet Harry still chooses to save him and Goyle in the burning Room of Requirement, and he's horrified when he first thinks they're dead, with the narration specifically noting "he [Harry] had never wanted this. What a terrible way to die." This ends up paying off later, when Narcissa lies to Voldemort about Harry being dead after the latter informs her that her son is still alive, setting the stones for Voldemort's ultimate downfall.
  • Evil Cannot Comprehend Good:
  • Evil Living Flames: This is essentially the point of the Fiendfyre spell, which takes the forms of several monsters while wrecking the Room of Requirement. These evil flames are extremely dangerous and difficult to control for the caster, as Crabbe learns the hard way.
  • Exactly What It Says on the Tin: Instead of having a blurb about the plot on the inside flap, it simply said that there followed the final book in the Harry Potter series.
  • Exact Words:
    • The title. Deathly Hallows means "of Death", not "capable of inflicting death". This makes more sense after their history is revealed.
    • When the trio are talking to Griphook about breaking into Gringotts, they promise to give him the sword that he is asking as payment afterwards, leaving out that after means after they have used it to destroy the rest of the Horcruxes. Griphook also invokes this trope by agreeing to help them break into Gringotts, but not saying anything about helping them get out. Griphook wins this battle of exact words.
  • Extremely Short Timespan: Not for the whole book, as it takes place over a year. But the last third of Deathly Hallows minus the epilogue (the Gringotts raid, Hogsmeade, the Battle of Hogwarts), eleven chapters, takes place over about twenty-four hours, from the morning of 1 May 1998 to that of the following day.
  • Eye Scream: Played for Laughs here, of all places: Harry, on his seventeenth birthday, casts some spells in celebration to his adulthood status. One of the spells he casts is the Summoning Charm, which he uses to fetch his glasses, only for said glasses to accidentally poke him in his eye when flying towards him. Oops.
  • Face Death with Dignity:
    • Grindelwald, who lied to Voldemort about the Elder Wand, and laughed in his face (though annoyingly, this is completely reversed in the film).
    • The Third Brother from the Tale of the Three Brothers has this in spades, welcoming death as an “old friend”.
    • Harry, when he faces Voldemort in the Forbidden Forest.
  • Fake Identity Baggage:
    • Ron poses as Reginald "Reg" Cattermole, a member of the Magical Maintenance Department, to infiltrate the Ministry of Magic. While in disguise, Ron bumps into Yaxley, the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, who threatens Cattermole's wife who is accused of being Muggle-born unless he fixes his enchanted windows.
    • Meanwhile, Harry is impersonating Albert Runcorn, who, as Arthur Weasley told him, ratted out Cattermole to begin with.
  • Fake-Out Opening: The first line of the second chapter of the book — and the first appearance of Harry in the book — begins "Harry was bleeding," catching readers off guard and making them wonder what terrible thing has befallen Harry before the book even began. It turns out he merely cut his finger while cleaning out his school trunk.
  • Faking Another Person's Illness: Ron's father and brothers enchant a ghoul to look like him, and tell the ministry that he's deathly ill with Spattergroit, to cover up the fact that he dropped out of school to go Horcrux-hunting with Harry and Hermione.
    • Ariana, Dumbledore's sister, became half-insane because she refused to use magic after a traumatic experience where she was attacked by three Muggle boys who found out she was a witch. Her family put it about that she just had poor physical health to avoid attracting attention, leading many people to theorize that she was a Squib, when in reality she would have magic exploding out of her when she couldn't keep it in anymore.
  • Fantastic Racism: Exaggerated with the Muggle-born show trials. And then surpassing even that and This Is Wrong on So Many Levels! with the sculpture of a giant throne made of dead/dying Muggles that is horrifically reminiscent of the gas chambers of The Holocaust.
  • Fighter, Mage, Thief: The Elder Wand (Fighter), the Resurrection Stone (Mage), and the Invisibility Cloak (Thief).
  • Fighting Fingerprint: When Harry uses the Disarming Charm against Stan Shunpike, the Death Eaters, who have come to see it as his Signature Move since he used it against Voldemort in Goblet of Fire, recognise it and change course to attack him.
  • Figure It Out Yourself: While the Power Trio is on the road trying to figure out what they have to do, Hermione suggested this trope as a rationale for why they had to do something while Lampshade Hanging how little sense it makes. Later on, when Harry turned the same rationale on her for a different goal, she admitted that she didn't really believe it and was just trying to get her way in the first place. Of course, Harry turns out right anyway.
  • Final Battle: The Battle of Hogwarts; Hogwarts and its allies duke it out with Voldemort and his followers, all while a colony of pissed-off giant spiders run around eating people.
  • Flirting Under Fire: How Ron and Hermione get together. Harry questions the appropriateness of this.
    Harry: Oi! There's a war going on here!
  • Follow the White Rabbit: The doe Patronus. It's Snape's, and has the same form as Lily's.
  • Foregone Conclusion: It's inevitable that Voldemort's eventually going to realize his Horcruxes have been compromised (and that more of them have been destroyed in the interim since the Diary in Chamber of Secrets). The Trio knows this, which is why they're trying to keep their tactical advantage a secret as long as possible. The jig's finally up after the Gringotts heist.
  • Foreshadowing:
    • The issues that lead to Ron temporarily storming out on Harry and Hermione — namely, worry over his family and insecurity about where he stands with Hermione — are actually alluded to repeatedly before their big fight, and seem to have been only exacerbated by the locket affecting Ron's emotions. There are at least two prior occasions in the book where Ron snaps at Harry out of worry for his family, and at least two occasions where Ron is subtly jealous of both Harry's and Krum's interactions with Hermione.
    • A very subtle case takes hold later. Around the time that Griphook becomes crucial to the plot, a major point of discussion involves the concept of ownership of Magical items. As we learn, much of the conflict between Wizards and Goblins comes from the fact that they have differing ideas about property rights (Wizards believe in familial inheritance, Goblins believe that only an item's creator can reclaim it when the previous owner dies). This idea — that questions of ownership are often more complicated than they appear — proves to be crucial in the final act of the book. Harry becomes the true master of the Elder Wand because Voldemort didn't understand the rules behind possessing it as well as he thought he did.
    • George Weasley suffering a severe injury while separated from his twin during the Battle of Seven Potters, and Fred's subsequent panic, is possible foreshadowing of Fred's eventual death while separated from George during the Battle of Hogwarts.
  • Forgiveness Requires Death:
    • Harry can only realize that Snape was a troubled yet decent man after Voldemort kills him. He later refers to Snape as the bravest man he ever knew, making it clear that he forgave him even though Snape genuinely disliked him.
    • Aberforth only forgives his brother for Ariana's death after Harry tells him what happened just before his own death.
  • Forgot I Could Fly: Hermione snaps Ron out of this trope by asking him: "Are you a wizard, or what?" It's also an Ironic Echo and a Call-Back to a similar remark Ron made to Hermione in their first year.
  • For Halloween, I Am Going as Myself: In Voldemort's flashback to the night of his downfall (31 October 1981), a Muggle boy compliments him on his costume, but then runs away in terror after seeing him up close and realizing that it is not a costume.
  • For Want Of A Nail: Harry has some thoughts about this in the lead-up to his and Hermione's trip to Godric's Hollow.
    The life he had lost had hardly ever seemed so real to him as at this moment when he knew he was about to see the place where it had been taken from him.
  • Four Is Death: Leading up the final battle, Voldemort has used the Killing Curse on Harry three times: First in Godric's Hollow as a baby, later in the cemetery after being resurrected, and again in the Forbidden Forest. He tries it one last time, and pays the ultimate price for it.
  • Freudian Slip: Snape calling Lily a "Mudblood" turned out to be this. He claimed that he never meant to say it, but she doesn't believe him and ends her friendship with him, realizing what kind of person he had become.
  • Full-Name Ultimatum: When Ron comes back to Harry and Hermoine, she attacks him shouting "You-complete-arse-Ronald-Weasley!" When Harry tries to calm her down, she responds with "Don't you tell me what to do, Harry Potter!"

    Tropes G-L 
  • Generation Xerox: In the epilogue, Ginny's daughter Lily cries at the train station the same way she did at that age. Harry's oldest son James is a bit mischievous like his namesake. Harry's second son Albus is said to be the spitting image of him, including the eyes, and has similar fears of being placed in Slytherin. Meanwhile, Draco's son Scorpius is his own image.
  • Giant Spider: The Acromantula living in the Forbidden Forest make a return when the Death Eaters drive them out of the forest into the school during the final battle.
  • Gondor Calls for Aid: The Order showing up after Harry's arrival at Hogwarts.
  • Good Is Not Nice:
    • Harry had used the occasional Unforgivable Curse in moments of extreme stress in previous books, but it really gets turned up to eleven in this one. Many fans complained about this and about Dumbledore's interest in the Dark Arts; J.K. Rowling stated that she never depicted Harry or Dumbledore as white knights.
    • Severus Snape. Full-stop. He did a great thing in becoming Dumbledore's spy and potentially saved hundreds, if not thousands, of lives. However, that doesn't change the fact that he's a humongous arse for the entire series. J.K. Rowling herself said that if anyone else had been the Chosen One and Voldemort attacked them and their parents, Snape would never have turned his back on Voldemort. Good? Ultimately, yes. Nice? Absolutely not.invoked
  • Gotta Catch Them All: The entire plot rests on this. Harry, Ron, and Hermione have to search for all of Voldy's Horcruxes; but after learning about the Deathly Hallows themselves, Harry debates for a while and then decides not to race Voldemort to the last one. Perhaps a double subversion, since Harry does get it in the end?
  • Godzilla Threshold: When Filch shows up demanding to know why the entire frakking school is up after hours, McGonagall tells him they're supposed to be and to find Peeves the Poltergeist. As a disciplinarian and an Anthropomorphic Personification of chaos, they have been mortal enemies throughout the series.
  • Gotta Kill Them All: The Horcruxes. Only by destroying all four remaining can Voldemort be killed.
  • Grand Finale: The culmination of seven books.
  • Grave Robbing: Voldemort breaking into Dumbledore's tomb to steal his wand.
  • Gray Rain of Depression: It starts raining right after a very nasty argument between Harry and Ron breaks out. It's pouring rain at the moment Ron Disapparates. The chapter ends with Harry listening to Hermione's crying and the sound of rain hitting the tent.
  • Grim Reaper:
    • The main antagonist of the in-universe fictional story "The Tale of the Three Brothers", and the supposed creator of the Deathly Hallows. While the Hallows definitely exist, it's ambiguous whether Death truly created them or if they were created by the Peverell brothers themselves.
    • It's possible that when Harry Potter speaks to Albus Dumbledore in King's Cross, he's really speaking to Death himself using a form that Harry would trust. If this is the case, it would seem that Death is a truly benevolent being in the long run, as he is very kind to Harry and offers him a choice to live again or move on to the next life.
  • Groin Attack: Defied with Ron telling Harry he should zip his fly by hand.
  • Growing Up Sucks: Invoked in this novel, as the previous instalments have had Harry, Ron, and Hermione at Hogwarts, where despite the horrible things that happen to them, they still had a large circle of friends, three large meals a day, adults watching over them, and schoolwork to keep them distracted. In this book, they lose all of that, and have to deal with it — symbolizing a cold shove into adulthood.
  • The Guards Must Be Crazy: The Snatchers fail to confiscate Ron's Deluminator, Harry's piece of mirror, and Hermione's handbag, despite the fact that one is a magical device, one a potential weapon, and one a Bag of Holding.
  • Hammerspace: Hermione's bag.
  • Hanging Up on the Grim Reaper: Played with. The legend of the Deathly Hallows relates that the third brother didn't trust Death not to be a Jackass Genie, and so asked for a cloak of invisibility, which he used to hide from Death into his old age. Until one day he went and met Death voluntarily.
  • Hearing Voices: Ron and the Put-Outer.
  • The Hecate Sisters: When Harry enters the Room of Requirement while the Battle of Hogwarts is going on, he finds the room empty except for three women who had not yet joined the fight. The first to exit is Augusta Longbottom, who goes to assist her grandson. The second is Tonks, who left her baby with family out of concern for her husband. The third is Ginny, who eagerly joins the fight, being responsible for no one but herself.
  • Heel–Face Turn:
    • Kreacher, Dudley, the Malfoys, and Grindelwald to an extent.
    • Percy Weasley also shows up to make a Jerkass–Face Turn. "Hello, Minister! Did I tell you I'm resigning?" Unfortunately, this distracts Fred, who promptly dies. Boo.
    • Snape, back when he first joined the Death Eaters and found out about Trelawney's prophecy concerning Harry.
  • Heist Episode: Harry, Ron, and Hermione attempt to sneak into Gringotts to steal the Hufflepuff cup, which had been turned into an Horcrux.
  • Hellfire: Fiendfyre. Of course, isn't explicitly demonic, "just" powerfully magical, near-sentient, and capable of burning through a cathedral-sized storehouse in minutes. Oh, and it's far harder to stop than to start.
  • Heroic Sacrifice:
    • Hagrid tackles a Death Eater off his broom when he tries to shoot Harry during the Battle of the Seven Potters, plummeting hundreds of feet to the ground. Subverted in that he survives the fall.
    • Regulus Black died stealing one of Voldemort's horcruxes, so Kreacher could take it home and attempt to destroy it.
    • Alas, poor Dobby, who takes a knife to the chest from Bellatrix Lestrange to save Harry during the escape from Malfoy Manor.
    • By Harry at the end when he has to face Voldemort so he could kill him.
    • Snape gave his entire life to Dumbledore in return for helping to keep Lily safe, and then later to protect Harry, even infiltrating Voldemort's inner circle to do so, which eventually resulted in his death.
    • Many of the students at the Battle of Hogwarts fought and died to allow Harry the time to find and destroy the diadem Horcrux.
  • Hereditary Wedding Dress: When Fleur Delacour marries into the Weasley family, she wears an heirloom tiara, goblin-made, which complements her own stunning beauty. Nor did Molly Weasley, her mother-in-law, offer the tiara lightly; it comes up in an emotional moment during Half-Blood Prince.
  • Heroic Suicide: Harry himself. He got better.
  • Heroism Incentive: Harry secures the goblin's help by promising him the Sword of Gryffindor. The fact that Harry and Ron were thinking of double-dealing the goblin plays with the trope a bit.
  • Hero of Another Story: Neville Longbottom, leading the anti-Voldemort resistance inside Hogwarts while the Power Trio is roaming around the country looking for Horcruxes.
  • Hoist by His Own Petard:
    • Voldemort's own reflected Killing Curse kills him. This time, it sticks.
    • Remember how Voldemort got so evil that he created an accidental Horcrux in Harry's scar? Hell, remember the Schrodinger's Prophecy he could have chosen to ignore, but didn't, and in doing so, created his own worst enemy? You-Know-Who is practically the king of this trope.
    • Crabbe, with his own Fiendfyre spell.
    • Could also be said for Mad-Eye Moody. According to Tonks, Mundungus Fletcher had never wanted to be part of the Escort Mission in the first place, but Moody had forced him to come.
    • When it seems like he's won at last, Voldemort magically summons the Sorting Hat to him and forces it on Neville's head as part of a demonstration of what he's planning to do with Hogwarts, setting it on fire. In just seconds, the Sword of Gryffindor falls out of the Hat and onto Neville's head and he uses it to destroy Voldemort's last Horcrux with one swift slash. No more pseudo-immortality for you, Voldy.
  • Home by Christmas: Inverted and lampshaded. Harry responds to complaints Ron lodges while under the Horcrux locket's influence with jibes including "Did you think you'd be back to Mummy by Christmas?" Indeed, it's after Christmas that our protagonists start making meaningful progress in their quest.
  • Homoerotic Subtext: The relationship between Albus Dumbledore and Gellert Grindelwald that makes up the bulk of the b-plot is filled with subtext but is never quite confirmed as being romantic, especially since Harry himself, being a dense teenager, doesn’t seem to pick up on it. Elphias Dodge makes a joke about it that goes over Harry's head. Auntie Muriel says there were "strange rumors" about it. Rita Skeeter actually gets the closest to anyone to outright confirming it. She makes a thinly veiled sex joke when she says people will think, "Grindelwald simply conjured a white hankerchief from the end of his wand and came quietly". She also makes the All Gays Are Pedophiles insinuation when she says that Dumbledore took an "unnatural" interest in Harry. Bathilda notes that Grindelwald was very upset when he had to leave in a hurry when Ariana died so he didn't get in trouble in way that implies that relationship was more than platonic as well. Grindelwald's last moments telling Voldemort that there are things he doesn't understand is literally about the Elder Wand and magic more broadly but the subtext is also there that he's talking about Voldemort not understanding love. Dumbledore also uses the word "inflamed" which does not exactly carry a platonic connotation and cries when he hears Grindelwald died to protect his tomb. Aberforth also makes some thinly veiled jibes about them being more than friends.
  • Horrible Camping Trip: By page count, ¼ of the book, though it feels much longer.
  • Hot-Blooded: In limbo, Dumbledore cites this as why he made he made the Hallows Quest so difficult for Harry. Dumbledore was counting on Hermione to slow Harry up, worrying that an impulsive Harry would seek out and attempt to possess the Hallows before he could understand and respect their power. Dumbledore meant well, fearing Harry would make the same mistakes he had made years ago when he and Grindelwald sought them out.
  • I Can't Believe I'm Saying This: During the Potterwatch broadcast that the trio listens to, one of the twins (presumed to be Fred) urges everyone to stay cautious and not to get lulled into a false sense of security with the rumors of Voldemort being abroad. He ends it by saying "I never thought I'd hear myself say this, but: safety first!"
  • Identical Twin ID Tag: George loses an ear in the Escort Mission, making the difference between himself and Fred much easier to identify. And then Fred is killed in the final battle, negating the need to tell the difference between them altogether.
  • Idiot Ball:
    • Harry stealing Moody's eye from Umbridge's door without making a copy, as Hermione did with Slytherin's locket, clues the Ministry into the fact that there are intruders.
    • The trio deciding to wear the the evil locket of doom for months on end, even though they quickly recognize that it makes them feel like crap. Although the stated reason is that they are so worried about what happens if they lose it that they want to keep it in view at all times, all three seem to forget that pockets exist, that they have a Bag of Holding, and at no point does it occur to Harry to utilise the Mokeskin Pouch of Safekeeping that Hagrid gave him, despite the fact that he's wearing the pouch around his neck and would've therefore looked at or at least touched it every time he put on or removed the locket. Made even worse by the fact that Harry and Hermione continue to wear the thing after it has seriously backfired on them.
    • Harry says Voldemort's name despite Ron warning him not to, attracting the Snatchers.
    • The Dumbledore in the Afterlife Antechamber admits he picked it up when he attempted to use the Resurrection Stone in the Ring Horcrux to speak to his dead loved ones. The curse on the Ring resulted in Dumbledore receiving fatal injuries from the encounter.
    • James Potter going to confront Voldemort without a wand. Voldemort gives an Evil Laugh when he notices James is carrying this ball before killing him.
    • Lily also doesn't appear to have (or of she does, doesn't use) her wand when Voldemort comes for her, instead using her hands to create an ineffective barricade against him and not even trying to escape as her son would sixteen years later.
    • Harry and Ron, too being completely unprepared to flee at a moment's notice while at the Burrow even though they know Voldemort and the Death Eaters are after them.
  • I Have You Now, My Pretty: Greyback to Hermione.
  • I Knew It!: In-Universe. When trying to figure out where Voldemort hid his Horcruxes, Harry is certain that he must have hidden one in Hogwarts, while Ron and Hermione doubt he did on the grounds that Dumbledore would probably have found it. After Voldemort discovers what the trio is up to, he thinks of all the places where he hid them, one of which is the castle. Harry, having read his thoughts, repeatedly says this phrase after he tells Ron and Hermione what he saw.
  • Imminent Danger Clue: In the extremely creepy scene where a silent Bathilda Bagshot leads Harry and Hermione into her filthy house, Harry observes that Bathilda smells bad and later specifically catches the scent of "meat gone bad". This is followed very soon after by the horrifying moment where Nagini bursts out of a Bathilda Bagshot meat suit.
  • Immortality Inducer: As indicated in The Tales of Beedle the Bard, it is a common misconception that those who claim ownership of all three of the Deathly Hallows will become immortal — i.e., the "Master of Death". A young, foolish Dumbledore subscribed to this belief, and only snapped out of it when his younger sister died. In reality, the Master of Death is one who accepts that, even with magic, true immortality is impossible, and that death isn't the worst thing in the world.
  • Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: Applied to the Seven Potters chase. There were fourteen Order of the Phoenix members against at least thirty Death Eaters. While it was justified for poor aim as they were all flying on brooms, Thestrals, or an enchanted motorcycle, and constantly moving, the good guys had three casualties — Voldy killed Mad-Eye, George lost an ear due to an errant spell aimed at someone else, and Harry undertook a self-inflicted near-suicide action — not counting Harry's injuries caused by his crash, our heroes landed a lot more hits and probable kills.
  • Improbable Infant Survival: We get a segment where we see Voldemort’s attack on the Potters through his perspective. Voldemort openly walks on the street on Halloween, with numerous innocent children around him. One child compliments his costume, but runs off back to his mother when he is intimidated. As if the thought of a mass-murdering fascist casually walking near children isn't scary enough, Voldemort himself notes that with one small flick of his wand, the child would never reach his mother (he doesn't go through with it, though).
  • Indy Ploy: The Trio's "Infiltrate Hogsmeade and from there Hogwarts and somehow find the Last Horcrux" plan, which gets lampshaded by Hermione. Justified, as Harry correctly argues they don't have time to come up with a plan of attack. The jig's up and Voldemort knows now about the Horcrux Hunt. If they don't move now and get inside the castle, Voldemort will get to it first and hide the Horcrux in a location they'll never be able to find.
  • Internal Reveal: Going into the final book, Ron and Hermione are only aware of the broad strokes of what happened during Harry and Dumbledore's trip to the Cave in Half-Blood Prince. The attack on Hogwarts and the murder of Dumbledore understandably overshadowed everything else that happened that night. With their subsequent preperations for their own Hocrux Hunt, Harry never had a chance to fill them in on the more specific details about that night. So, Ron and Hermione don't learn about what actually happened on the island or about Dumbledore's potion-induced hallucination until Harry tells Aberforth when they arrive in Hogsmeade.
  • Ironic Echo:
    • In Book 1, Ron yells "Are you mad? Are you a witch or not?" to Hermione. In this one, she yells at him, "Are you mad? Are you a wizard or what?"
    • James' first words to Snape ("Who wants to be in Slytherin? I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?") are almost identical to a line from Malfoy's first conversation with Harry ("Imagine being in Hufflepuff, I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?").
    • Grindelwald telling Voldemort, "Kill me, then. Voldemort, I welcome death! But my death will not bring you what you seek... There is so much you do not understand..." is meant to be an echo to Dumbledore's line all the way back in the first book, "If there is one thing Voldemort cannot understand, it is love."
  • Irony:
    • Neville, the other Child of the Original Prophecy that was said to be capable of standing against and fighting Voldemort, is offered by the Big Bad himself to join his side. Neville promptly refuses and is then insulted by Voldemort, and shortly after, he ends up killing Nagini, Voldemort's last Horcrux, rendering him mortal and helping to seal his fate once and for all. Good job helping Neville live up to his part of the Prophecy, Voldy!
    • Draco Malfoy, the hateful, racist, elitist, snobbish, and smug bully that has done everything in his power to make life as difficult for Harry and his friends as possible throughout the entire series, was directly responsible for letting the Death Eaters into the school and getting Dumbledore killed, and whose parents are both Death Eaters fully loyal to Voldemort, ends up being the entire reason Harry manages to triumph over Voldemort, due to Harry saving his life in the Room of Requirement (giving Narcissa Malfoy incentive to lie to Voldemort about Harry's "death"), and Harry disarming him at Malfoy Manor giving the latter the true loyalty of the Elder Wand, causing Voldemort's Killing Curse to rebound and end him once and for all.
    • The Basilisk that Voldemort had plotted to use to purge Hogwarts of Muggle-borns and Harry was used against him by having her venom destroy most of his Horcruxes, which led to his Final Downfall and Death. More irony is the fact that the sword of Godric Gryffindor was used to destroy a few horcuxes, which was only possible because it was made from Goblin silver which absorbed the basilisk venom, the goblins wizards looked down upon ended up helping save the wizard world, doubled by the fact that it took two of the founders, Salazar's Basilisk and Godric's sword, two of the most sworn rivalries in Hogwarts carried out by their houses for centuries, together were able to defeat Voldemort once and for all. Even more ironic, Voldemort's horcurxes that were not destroyed by the basilisk venom were destroyed by Vincent Crabbe and Voldemort himself
  • It Is Not Your Time: Harry's Near-Death Experience at the end of the book. He meets Dumbledore, and during this time, they discuss his going back to the living. It turns out that Harry can choose, either to move on or to return to life. He chooses to live.
  • It May Help You on Your Quest: The items from Dumbledore's will: The Deluminator, the Snitch, and The Tales of Beedle the Bard. The Deluminator comes in very handy when the heroes are locked in the basement of Malfoy Manor. The Snitch actually conceals the Resurrection Stone, one of the Deathly Hallows. And The Tales of Beedle the Bard helps alert Hermione to the Hallows in the first place.
  • It Was with You All Along: While the Deathly Hallows were never mentioned until the final book, they are finally revealed to be, via the series' use of Chekhov's Gun, been objects that had Harry had possessed all along or was otherwise highly familiar with, and so he doesn't have to quest for them the way he does with the Horcruxes. The Resurrection Stone was the stone on the ring of Marvolo Gaunt that Harry had seen in the Pensieve. The Stone was then contained in the Snitch that Dumbledore gave to Harry in the will. The Elder Wand was Dumbledore's wand, which he had seen up close for several years, whose possession Harry took from Draco Malfoy without either of them knowing it. Finally, the Cloak of Invisibility is Harry's own Invisibility Cloak that he had kept with him since first year, but whose significance was lost to him. It recalls the quotation from the Potter family grave, "Where your treasure is, there will be your heart also."
  • Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Kreacher, after capturing Mundungus, pretty much use this trope to force him to reveal to whom he sold Slytherin's locket, and then (although by accident rather than deliberately, due to the shock of the revelation of who he sold it to) scald him.
  • Jerkass Has a Point: While Griphook stealing the Sword of Gryffindor and selling out the trio was uncalled for, he was correct in pointing out that wizards have discriminated against and looked down on goblins for centuries, and proved those ideals are very much still in place when Ron unintentionally offends him while discussing ownership of the sword. Griphook also correctly predicts the trio were planning to go back on their word and keep the sword, thus proving they are no better than any other witch or wizard that has been actively screwing over goblins for centuries.
  • Kangaroo Court: Following Voldemort's putsch of the Ministry of Magic, he set up the Muggle-Born Registration Commission as a way to racially subjugate and purge Muggle-borns from the wizarding world, and to enforce his pure-blood supremacy. The Commission is essentially a sham court led by Dolores Umbridge, where Muggle-born wizards are forced to "register" with the Ministry and explain how they "obtained" their magical power from "real" wizards.
  • Kansas City Shuffle: The point of the Seven Potters operation just in case the Death Eaters attack them en-route to the Burrow. Initially, it works as planned; despite having advance intel, the Death Eaters didn't know about the decoys and it upends their entire pursuit. More, one of the Decoys was specifically placed with Mad-Eye to draw Voldemort's attention just in case (as Voldemort would expect "Harry" would be traveling with the toughest and most dangerous Auror). This costs him valuable time as he chases the wrong target (even if it gets Mad-Eye killed eventually). The plan finally fals because Harry accidentally uses one of his signature spells in defense — thereby outing himself as the real Harry.
  • Karma Houdini:
    • The Malfoys. Narcissa is the only one who evinces redeeming actions, while Draco and Lucius fight for Voldemort until the end, and Draco specifically stands with Voldemort in the final battle trying to capture Harry in the Room of Requirement. They seemingly get off scot-free, though, to be fair, they seem confused by it.
      • Pottermore reveals that they weren't punished because of Narcissa lying to Voldemort and Lucius helping the Ministry round up the remaining Death Eaters after the war.
    • Also, the Dementors apply for this trope. Yes, the Dementors. After sucking out the souls of who knows how many innocent Muggle-borns and condemning them to the hellish existence of absolutely nothing, we never see what happens to them in the book, but Word of God is that they're a kind of fungus born from depression that can be banished once the environment becomes happier; meanwhile, their victims are still condemned to an eternal torment worse than the deepest depths of hell, and nobody seems to notice or care...invoked
  • Karma Houdini Warranty: After getting to keep her job after sadistically torturing and abusing the entire population of Hogwarts' students and staff sans Filch in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Dolores Umbridge herself returns to the series, now overseeing the Muggle-Born Registration Commission where Muggle-Born witches and wizards are forced to disclose whom they "stole" their magic from. Even worse, the Dementors that guard her are kept at bay effortlessly by her Patronus, which is a physical manifestation of positivity and happiness Needless to say, once she lies to a disguised Hermione about her Half-blooded nature during the Ministry heist, Harry wastes no time in Stunning her and Yaxley and swiping the Locket of Slytherin. Word of God confirms that the post-Voldemort Ministry of Magic gave her a life sentence in Azkaban for her crimes against Muggle-Borns, not all of whom survived her persecution, to the surprise of exactly nobody.
    • After going from serving Lord Voldemort as a Death Eater to getting a steady job as the Ministry of Magic's executioner, Walden Macnair returns for the Battle of Hogwarts and himself thrown into a wall and knocked out by Hagrid, who had loved and tried to save Buckback the Hippogriff from being executed by him in book three. Downplayed, as he presumably survives to be put in Azkaban with Umbridge, unlike many Death Eaters who were arguably less despicable, who were killed during the battle.
  • Karmic Death:
    • Voldemort. Try to act surprised. First, Neville destroyed his final Horcrux, after Voldemort made fun of him in front of everybody. The movie was more spectacular: he was not only killed by the Avada Kedavra backfiring on him from the Elder Wand, he ended up disintegrated as well, not even leaving his body behind. Opinion varies on whether his more mundane death in the book was more fitting — after all, Riddle/Voldemort's entire character arc grew out of his distaste for anything he considered 'ordinary' and being a first-rate narcissist.
    • Peter Pettigrew, literally betrayed and choked by the hand he was given after he sacrificed his original one to let Voldemort return.
    • Crabbe with his own Fiendfyre.
    • Bellatrix Lestrange, at the hands of Molly Weasley, after the former attempted to murder Ginny.
  • Kid Hero All Grown-Up: The main characters in the Distant Finale. It's a cute ending, what with everyone being Happily Married and seeing their kids off to school.
  • Killed Off for Real: This book is a bloodbath, no two ways about it; more named characters die in this one than the other six books combined.
    • Charity Burbage (Hogwarts Muggle Studies professor): killed by Voldemort
    • Hedwig: killed when Harry leaves Privet Drive
    • Mad-Eye Moody: killed by Voldemort when Harry leaves Privet Drive
    • Rufus Scrimgeour: killed by Voldemort when the Ministry is overthrown
    • Bathilda Bagshot: killed by Nagini sometime before Harry & Hermione get to Godric's Hollow
    • Ted Tonks: killed by Snatchers
    • Dirk Cresswell: killed by Snatchers
    • Gornuk: killed by Snatchers
    • Peter Pettigrew: killed by his own magical hand
    • Gellert Grindelwald: killed by Voldemort
    • Dobby: killed by Bellatrix Lestrange
    • Vincent Crabbe: killed by his own Fiendfyre spell
    • Fred Weasley: killed in the Battle of Hogwarts
    • Remus Lupin: killed by Antonin Dolohov in the Battle of Hogwarts
    • Nymphadora Tonks: killed by Bellatrix Lestrange in the Battle of Hogwarts
    • Severus Snape: killed by Nagini and Voldemort during the Battle of Hogwarts
    • Colin Creevey: killed in the Battle of Hogwarts
    • Nagini: killed by Neville Longbottom in the Battle of Hogwarts
    • Bellatrix Lestrange: killed by Molly Weasley in the Battle of Hogwarts
    • Tom Marvolo Riddle/Voldemort: killed by Harry Potter in the Battle of Hogwarts
  • Killed Offscreen:
    • Moody is killed by Voldemort during the ambush over Privet Drive. Bill and Fleur, who both witnessed it, have to tell the rest of the present Order members what happened.
    • Minister of Magic Rufus Scrimgeour gives Harry, Ron, and Hermione the contents of Dumbledore's will (well, sans the Sword of Godric Gryffindor) and presumably returns to the Ministry. It is Kingsley Shacklebolt's lynx Patronus that informs everyone at Bill and Fleur's wedding that Rufus was killed during Voldemort's coup.
    • Among others Lupin and Tonks die in the Battle of Hogwarts, when Harry isn't present; he only sees their dead bodies later on.
    • Whatever the hell happened to poor Bathilda is never explained. She’d been dead for months by Christmas.
  • Kill It with Fire: One of the few ways to destroy a Horcrux is with the dark magic spell Fiendfyre, a.k.a. cursed fire, but the spell is so dangerous and hard to control that even Hermione says she wouldn't dare try it.
  • Kill the Cutie: Ariana in the B-plot, though she’s been dead for about a century in the present.
  • Kirk Summation: Harry has quite an epic one at the end of the book before his final duel with Voldemort. It includes Harry telling Voldemort his Horcruxes are gone, reffering to him as "Riddle" several times, revealing that Snape had been Dumbledore's man all along, pointing out that his Heroic Sacrifice had protected the defenders of Hogwarts from him and culminates in the revelation that, he was, in fact, the true master of the Elder Wand.
  • Knight Templar: The young Dumbledore at the time when he was tempted to join Grindelwald's quest to take over the world — he wanted to liberate wizards from having to live in hiding (especially poor Ariana). He stressed to Grindelwald that they should use the minimum amount of force required and that with their power Comes Great Responsibility. Subverted with Grindelwald, who may have come across as one (even using the slogan "for the greater good"), but likely only wanted power.
  • Laborious Laces: Played with when Harry comes of age, and is allowed to do magic outside of school. He tries to tie his shoelaces by magic, and the resulting knot takes several minutes to undo by hand.
  • Lame Pun Reaction: Never mind the fact that his brother just had his ear cut off; Fred is disgusted beyond belief that, with the world of ear-related humour before him, George went with holey. This may be a Stealth Pun on Saint George, patron saint of England.
  • La Résistance: The surviving, and new, members of the Order of the Phoenix serves to oppose Voldemort just as it did in the last war and Ginny, Neville, and Luna reinstate Dumbledore's Army as a true resistance force against the Death Eaters at Hogwarts. The groups combined make up most of those who fight Voldemort and his Death Eaters in the final battle.
  • Laser-Guided Amnesia: Hermione cast a Memory Charm on her parents so that they won't worry about her while she's gone, in order to protect them.
  • Laser-Guided Karma: A positive example: because Harry chose to save Draco in the burning Room of Requirement, when Narcissa finds out he survived being hit with the Killing Curse, she has incentive to lie to Voldemort that he's dead in order to get back to the castle and find her son.
  • Last Stand: The Battle of Hogwarts is one for both factions. With Voldemort on the verge of being mortal once more, he lays siege to the school with everything he has to prevent this from happening. Meanwhile, the Order of the Phoenix, Dumbledore's Army, and their allies have all rallied at Hogwarts to hold the line for as long as possible for Harry, Ron, and Hermione to find and destroy the last Horcrux.
  • Last Villain Stand: This is Voldemort's situation in the climax. His Horcruxes have all been destroyed, his best mooks are either dead or on the run, and the boy he thought he'd just killed is still alive and telling him that no matter what he does next, he's already lost. Naturally, he makes one last attempt to kill Harry — which backfires, leaving him Killed Off for Real.
  • Later-Installment Weirdness: The final book is the only one that doesn't mainly take place at Hogwarts, instead having the protagonists travel around Britain for most of the plot. This is a big departure in setting and formula compared to the previous books. It's also the only novel in the series that doesn't feature Harry attending any school lessons, or participating in a school sporting contest (Quidditch or the Triwizard Tournament).
  • Leaning on the Fourth Wall:
    • Rowling has stated that the phrase on the Snitch ("I open at the close") is one in regards to the books themselves. Specifically, Deathly Hallows takes place in the 1997–1998 academic year. In Britain, 1997 was the year that Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was published. In America, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone wasn't released until 1998. The book series opens in the real world during the years that the book series closes in the Wizarding World.
    • During the Battle of Hogwarts, Voldemort suggests to Lucius that Draco has perhaps decided to befriend Harry Potter, to which Lucius says "never". This is a nod to fans' Draco in Leather Pantsinvoked attitudes throughout the series, as well as the common trope where a bully or adversary turns good towards the end of the story and joins the hero. Draco does redeem himself towards the very end, but he and Harry never truly become "friends", as they've been through too much. Their sons, on the other hand...
    • "The Tale of the Three Brothers" proves crucial to the finding of the Deathly Hallows and an understanding of how to defeat Voldemort. But of course he's never read it because it's in a book of children's stories. This is Rowling's not-so-subtle Take That! to all the publishers who rejected her draft of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, and all the critics who dismiss her work as "for children only".
    • Dumbledore's Mathematician's Answer to Harry's question: "Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry. But why on earth should that mean that it is not real?" Rowling was a destitute single mother who'd lost her husband, her job, and had no training or skills that anyone valued. But she had always loved stories, and decided to write one, and the rest is history. An Aesop on The Power of Imagination.
  • Lethal Harmless Powers: Harry uses this to justify only disarming Stan Shunpike instead of stunning him; if he stunned the brainwashed Stan, he'd be as dead as Harry using Avada Kedavra on him.
  • Let's Get Dangerous!: Molly Weasley is getting into a fight with Death Eaters — holy crap did she just kill somebody?! Word of Godinvoked is that Molly is just a better fighter than her would-be nemesis.
  • Like Brother and Sister: Harry reassures Ron that this is how he loves Hermione after Ron is given "The Reason You Suck" Speech by the spiritual hallucinations of Harry and Hermione defending the locket Horcrux.
    I love her like a sister and I reckon she feels the same way about me. It's always been like that. I thought you knew.
  • Living Emotional Crutch: Lily Evans was this to Snape. While he was no saint to begin with, being heavily involved in the Dark Arts, Lily finally declaring enough is enough when he calls her a 'Mudblood' in a rage is when he really has his Start of Darkness. Her death is also what eventually inspires his Heel–Face Turn.
  • The Lost Lenore: Lily Potter is this to Snape, who loved her until the day she died. As it turns out, Snape's entire motivation after her death was to ensure that her sacrifice was not in vain by protecting her son, even if he genuinely disliked him.
  • Locked Out of the Loop:
    • After the disastrous Seven Potters operation, the Order of the Phoenix initially thinks Mundungus Fletcher is a mole (between the Death Eaters knowing their plan in advance and Mundungus abandoning Mad-Eye to his death). However, this trope is ironically what clears Mundungus of suspicion (not that the Order forgives him for deserting). As Bill points out, the Death Eaters knew all their operational details...except for the decoy Potters; that visibly confused them until Harry accidentally outed himself. More, it was Mundungus himself who suggested that bit of skullduggery. If Fletcher really was passing on intel, why would he have withheld that crucial component of the plan? While everybody grudgingly agrees Fletcher likely just panicked in the heat of battle, it still doesn't answer why the Death Eaters got locked out of the loop by their own mole. Ironically, it's later revealed Mundungus himself was locked out of the loop, as it was Snape who used him as a reverse-mole and then wiped his memory.
    • Continuing on from the last book, Ron and Hermione are the only other characters besides Harry who know about the Horcrux Hunt (though Lupin and others in the Order of the Phoenix have correctly guessed Dumbledore left secret orders for Harry to fullfil). Justified, as the Trio, like Dumbledore, recognize the necessity of operational security given the stakes. Their one secret tactical advantage is that Voldemort doesn't yet know his Horcuxes have been compromised (or that Dumbledore destroyed Morfin Gaunt's Ring). It's inevitable he'll figure it out eventually — but if word leaks prematurely and Voldemort relocates the remaining Horcuxes before the Trio can find and destroy the Soul Jars, they're screwed. The rest of the Order doesn't find out what the Trio's been doing until the climax.
    • While Dumbledore briefed Snape on the fragment of Voldemort's soul inside Harry, he intentionally withheld intel on Voldemort's Horcruxes (and how Lily's blood charm within Voldemort's resurrected body could theoretically keep Harry alive even when the Horcrux was destroyed). As with the Order's example above, it's justified by operational security. Again, Dumbledore was both trying to protect their secret advantage and ensure Harry would be killed by Voldemort specficially (as it was the only way to activate the Loophole Abuse and give Harry a chance at survival).
  • Love Hurts: Snape with regards to Lily. He not only fails to save her, but then spends the remainder of his life trying to protect the son she had with the man he hated, despite the fact that he tried to keep him in detention for most of his school life. It probably didn't make things any easier that Harry looked exactly like James but with Lily's eyes. Ouch.
  • Love Redeems: Dumbledore tells Harry in the first book, "If there is one thing Voldemort cannot understand, it is love". When Grindelwald lets Voldemort kill him, he says “Kill me, then. Voldemort, I welcome death! But my death will not bring you what you seek. . . . There is so much you do not understand. . . . ”. While he is talking about the Elder Wand and magic more broadly, he's also talking about love. His death is meant to represent his love for Dumbledore which ultimately makes him a more sympathetic villain than Voldemort who could never understand loving someone so much that he'd be willing to die for him, even after his own death. It could also be interpreted as Grindelwald trying to make amends in the only way he could for everything that happened between the two of them.

    Tropes M-R 
  • Magic Fire: Fiendfyre is a living flame that seeks targets and grows rapidly as it consumes. It is very difficult to control. As it hunts, it takes the shape of various magical creatures.
  • Mama Bear:
    • Mrs. Weasley's mama bear really comes out. The prose notes that she and Bellatrix are using such powerful magic that the floor where they're standing starts to crack and melt.
    • Narcissa Malfoy ultimately decides that her son's life is more important than serving Voldemort.
    • McGonagall really gets a chance to shine in this role, especially in the film.
  • Married in the Future: In the epilogue, Harry and Ginny are married, as are Ron and Hermione.
  • Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane:
    • Okay, so everything is basically magic, but the true story of the Deathly Hallows is never fully explained. Are they powerful magical items made by skilled wizards, or did they really meet Death and he gave them the items? There are elements of them which can't be explained within the continuity of the story, unless you accept the story about Death.note 
    • Also, everything that happens in "King's Cross". As Harry says, "Is this all in my head or is it real?" and gets a Mathematician's Answer in response. Since Harry doesn't learn anything that he couldn't have worked out on his own, there's really no way to be sure.
      Dumbledore: Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?
  • Meaningful Name: Cadmus is similar to cadmium, a toxic element that progressively accumulates in the body and leads to a painful death. It reflects well the decay of the Peverell brother because of the Resurrection Stone.
  • Merciful Minion: Draco refuses to admit that the prisoner was Harry. Later, Narcissa crosses this trope with Death Faked for You and lies to Voldemort that Harry is dead.
  • Me's a Crowd: Several of Harry's friends use Polyjuice Potion to make themselves look like Harry in order to fool the Death Eaters pursuing them away from 4 Privet Drive.
  • Mistaken Death Confirmation: After the Killing Curse malfunctions yet again when used on Harry, Voldemort sends Narcissa Malfoy to check that Harry is actually dead this time. Unfortunately for Voldemort, Narcissa cares more about rescuing her son Draco than about finishing Harry off, and when Harry discreetly confirms that Draco is alive, she stands and proclaims Harry dead so that she can march triumphantly into the castle and fetch him.
  • Mistaken for Romance: Ron sees Harry and Hermione's affection, mistakes it for romantic, and gets jealous. Later Harry reasures him. See Like Brother and Sister above.
  • Mistakenly Attacked Mole: In the climax, Professor McGonagall and the rest of the teachers are done putting up with Snape and join forces to drive him out of the castle. However, with the reveal that Snape was Dumbledore's inside man all along, even regarding his "murder", it becomes a case of Nice Job Breaking It, Hero, as it means Snape was actually shielding the castle from the Death Eaters, and by driving him out, there was nothing to prevent Voldemort from declaring full-scale war on Hogwarts.
  • The Mole:
    • Snape turns out to have been on Dumbledore's side all along.
    • After the near-disaster of the Seven Potters operation, the Order fears they have another Snape in their midst and somebody else has turned traitor. Indeed, the prologue confirms in advance that Snape's intel on the Order's mission came from an inside source. Initially, the Order thinks it was Mundungus Fletcher, but grudgingly clear him due to major holes in the evidence (see Locked Out of the Loop).This sets up a minor mystery of not only who leaked the intel, but why they didn't inform the Death Eaters about the decoy Potters. It's eventually revealed there actually isn't a mole inside the Order — or rather, it's a reverse-mole. It was actually Snape who fed operational details — specifically the idea to use the decoy Potters — to a bewitched Mundungus. Snape then used his "inside source" to "discover" the plan and report it to Voldemort both to give Harry a fighting chance and to ensure his own deep cover was preserved.
  • Moment Killer:
    • Twice: once by Ron and the other time by Harry. Harry did have a good reason for it, though.
      Harry: OI! There's a war going on here!
    • Happened during the epilogue and acted as a Call-Back when James Sirius interrupted Teddy and Victoire snogging at Platform 9¾.
  • Monument of Humiliation and Defeat: After Voldemort takes over the Ministry of Magic through his puppet leader, he destroys the old fountain in the atrium (which depicted a witch, a wizard, a centaur, an elf, and a gnome as a symbol of magical cooperation) and replaces it with a wizard and a witch sitting on a (black in the books, white in the movies) throne being carried by hundreds of suffering Muggles. The words "MAGIC IS MIGHT" are inscribed on it to make its claim clear that wizards are superior to non-magical creatures.
  • Morality Pet: Lily for Severus. The fact that she was dead for seventeen years didn't seem to change this fact.
  • Mortality Ensues: The Horcrux-destruction plot is all about causing this for Voldemort.
  • Mr. Exposition: As Cleolinda Jones pointed out, "Only Dumbledore could still have The Power of Exposition a year dead."
  • MST3K Mantra: In-universe, when reading the Tale of the Three Brothers, Harry questions the sudden appearance of Death. Hermione reminds him that it is a fairy tale.
  • Mugged for Disguise:
    • The trio had to infiltrate the Ministry and got hairs and other identifying items from three workers at the Ministry. One they stunned. Two they made sick. At the end of the infiltration, one of their victims came back.
    • Discussed as a possibility when Harry refuses to give his hair for others to pretend to be him.
      Harry: You can't do it if I don't cooperate, you need me to give you some hair.
      George: Well, that's that plan scuppered. Obviously there's no chance at all of us getting a bit of your hair unless you cooperate.
      Fred: Yeah, thirteen of us against one bloke who's not allowed to use magic; we've got no chance.
      Harry: Funny, really amusing.
      Moody: If it has to come to force, then it will.
  • Mugging the Monster: The Death Eaters send Dawlish to capture Augusta Longbottom, intending to use her as a hostage for her grandson's good behaviour, thinking one Auror would be enough to overpower a frail old witch. According to Neville, Dawlish was still in St Mungo's weeks later.
  • Muggles Do It Better: Visiting the Lovegood home, Harry sees that Luna has decorated her bedroom ceiling with portraits of himself, Hermione, Ron, Neville, and Ginny. The portraits are inanimate, indicating that Luna used non-magical paint, but Harry finds them incredibly lifelike and all the more moving because of the effort Luna obviously put into them.
  • Mundane Made Awesome: The very last spell that Harry casts at the end of the book is "Reparo", a rather mundane spell for repairing broken objects. Doesn't sound like a fitting conclusion to the series? Well, it helps that he casts it with the Elder Wand — the most powerful wand in history — and he uses to to repair his broken holly-and-phoenix wand, which we were earlier told was irreparable. Still doesn't sound that awesome? Well...there's also the fact that it's the only spell that he casts with the Elder Wand, and he does it to make it clear that he has no intention of claiming the wand's power for himself. This makes him probably the only Wizard in history ever to reject the Elder Wand, the most coveted magical object on Earth.
  • Murder Is the Best Solution: After he killed James Potter in Godric's Hollow, Voldemort considered sparing Lily if she would hand over Harry. But then he decided it would be more prudent just to kill them all.
  • Murphy's Bullet: The Battle of the Seven Potters is riddled with stray spells because everyone is up in the air and therefore is hard to aim. The two spells that land have the most devastating outcomes. First, Hedwig (Harry's beloved owl companion) gets hit by a killing curse. Shortly after, Hagrid gets hit by a stunning spell. Unconscious, Hagrid can't drive the motorbike, so he and Harry start plummeting toward the ground.
  • My New Gift Is Lame: Pointed out by Ron when Hermione gets a book of fairy tales, Ron gets an item which can manipulate light, and Harry gets... an old Golden Snitch. Harry, however, knows that with it coming from Dumbledore, there must be a secret involved — and there is. Also, the Snitch was the very one that Harry caught in his first ever Quidditch match, which if anything gave it some sentimental value, thereby making it useful to conceal even more of its true purpose from the Ministry.
  • Naked People Are Funny: Mad-Eye's plan to sneak Harry out of his house involves several others (Fleur, Mundungus, Hermione, Fred, George, and Ron) taking Polyjuice to look like him and flying off in all directions. When they change clothes, Harry is annoyed that none of them is particularly bashful about getting naked while disguised as him.
  • A Nazi by Any Other Name: The Power Trio are on the run in one of the most blatant parallels of Nazi-occupied Europe ever seen. The Ministry of Magic has become so corrupted from the inside by Les Collaborateurs, that they essentially pass the Nuremberg Laws against Muggle-born wizards, and under the guidance of Umbridge are shown creating pamphlets touting purity of blood whose content and saccharine covers call to mind the publications of Julius Streicher. The various Death Eater minions inside the Ministry are dressed in khaki clothes, with red, white, and black armbands bearing the Dark Mark. The sign of the Deathly Hallows has a history very similar to that of the swastika, as well — originally an innocent symbol, then used by wizard-supremacist Grindelwald, etched on walls by stupid pricks to get attention...
  • Near-Death Experience: Harry is temporarily killed by Voldemort near the end of the book, and speaks to Dumbledore in a place like King's Cross Station (it's apparently a way-station to the afterlife). Because Voldemort used Harry's blood to resurrect, though, Harry is given the option to live again rather than go on to the afterlife. He revives and then defeats Voldermort.
  • Near Misses: Since it's an aerial fight, the Battle of the Seven Potters is riddled with spells flying over or under the character's heads. Harry spends a good deal of it using the sidecar as a cover from all the spellfire. George loses an ear to a misaimed cutting curse.
  • Needle in a Stack of Needles: A couple of times: the opening, with the many Harrys, then again with the multiplying Horcruxes.
  • Negate Your Own Sacrifice: Harry has to die, since he himself is a Horcrux for Voldemort. He willingly goes to Voldemort to let him kill him and fully expected it to be a Heroic Sacrifice. However, according to Dumbledore in Limbo, Harry's decision to let Voldemort kill him rather than keep fighting was what "made all the difference".
    • It was a threefer: Firstly, Voldemort's striking Harry with the Killing Curse destroyed the shard of his soul within Harry. But, Lily's willing sacrifice for Harry meant that Voldemort could not harm him as long as her blood was present. Voldemort using Harry's blood in his resurrection had the side-effect of anchoring Harry to life as long as Voldemort lives. Also, because Harry willingly leaves Hogwarts and goes into the Forest to confront Voldemort, he essentially does the same thing his mother did, he protects everyone at Hogwarts from Voldemort with the same protective charm.
  • Never Mess with Granny: Aurors in their prime try to take down Augusta Longbottom. One of them is still in the hospital at the time of the final battle.
  • New Powers as the Plot Demands:
    • Subverted. It can seem as though the Deluminator is only there to enable Ron's Big Damn Heroes moment. This is rationalized through both The Power of Love and The Power of Friendship.
    • Also, for some reason, Voldemort can fly... with nothing more than a spell that he presumably invented himself. There was some Foreshadowing, though: his chosen name means "Flight of Death" in French.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
    • The Trio's Gringotts heist. Yes, they get their fourth Horcrux, but they lose the sword of Gryffindor (the only tool they had counted on being able to use to destroy Horcruxes) in the process. Worse, it also finally tips off Voldemort that they've gone Horcrux hunting — a development they were understandably hoping to avoid as long as possible. Later Downplayed, as Voldemort learning about the Gringotts heist causes him to murder everyone else in the room, which lowers his mental defenses long enough for Harry to overhear him thinking about the final Horcrux's hiding place: Hogwarts itself.
    • Harry ripping Moody's magical eye from the door of Umbridge's office tips her off that there are intruders in the Ministry.
  • Nice Job Fixing It, Villain:
    • Thanks to a combination of his Pride, incomprehension of certain aspects of base human nature, and incomplete knowledge of the prophecy which causes it to become self-fulfilling, Voldemort in many ways directly contributes to his own downfall. For instance, the man destroys one of his own Soul Jars. Admittedly, it was part of a huge Batman Gambit set up by Dumbledore, but, still.
    • Speaking of Voldemort, his reaction to learning that Harry and company are destroying his Horcruxes. In his fury and fear, he unknowingly drops his Occlumency shields and Harry again gets unauthorized access to his thoughts. This glimpse confirms Harry's suspicions that Horcrux number six has been at Hogwarts all along — thus setting the stage for the final battle of the Second Wizarding War.
      • And he sends someone to wait for Harry in Ravenclaw Tower, confirming Harry's suspicion about what the Horcrux was.
      • And, to top it off, the entire situation at Hogwarts was due to the actions of his own people in torturing the students. If the situation hadn't deteriorated into open rebellion, the Trio wouldn't have even been able to get in, at least not before Voldemort got there.
    • Crabbe's attempt to kill the Trio did nothing but destroy the Horcrux they needed to destroy and kill Crabbe himself.
    • And then there's Bellatrix when the Trio are brought to Malfoy Manor. When she realizes they have the Sword of Gryffindor, she goes berserk. Bellatrix starts torturing Hermione to determine if they've been in her Gringotts Vault (where the Sword was moved to after Luna, Neville, and Ginny tried to nick it back at Hogwarts). Bellatrix's terror, combined with his understanding of Voldemort's psychology, tips Harry off that one of the Horcruxes may be in the Vault.
    • Going for the hat trick with Voldemort, there's his tactical blunder in declaring a ceasefire in the middle of the Battle of Hogwarts. He does this to issue an ultimatum to Harry to surrender within one hour and to allow his forces to regroup in the Forbidden Forest. However, the total time lost due to the ceasefire, Harry and Voldemort both being knocked into unconsciousness via the Killing Curse, and the march back to the school grounds ends up backfiring. It gives Horace Slughorn and Charlie Weasley enough time to gather overwhelming reinforcements from Hogsmeade and throughout wizarding Britain, including Hagrid shaming the centaurs into ending their neutrality. Not even Voldemort and his forces could have hoped to win when the balance was several hundred versus thirty or so.
  • Noble Shoplifter: Hermione keeps doing this while the Trio are on the run.
  • No Man Should Have This Power: Harry regards the Hallows as this. At least the Wand and Stone (from dialogue in the book, and later as made evident in the belated sequel Cursed Child, one can assume he kept the Cloak). He lost the Stone in the forest, and deliberately refuses to look for it again. Also, in regards to the wand, in the book, he put it back in Dumbledore's grave with the hope that he, Harry, would die naturally so the cycle of violence over the wand would end.
  • Noodle Incident:
    • When the gang is sneaking around the Ministry of Magic, Harry sets off a Decoy Detonator, resulting in this remark from an employee that isn't elaborated upon any further:
      Harry hurried off up the corridor as the young witch said, "I bet it sneaked up here from Experimental Charms, they’re so careless, remember that poisonous duck?"
    • And this line from Lily in one of Snape's memories:
      "...I'm sorry, but I detest Avery and Mulciber! Mulciber! What do you see in him, Sev, he's creepy! D'you know what he tried to do to Mary MacDonald the other day?"
    • It's not entirely clear what the Muggle boys did to Arianna that left her traumatised for the rest of her life, though thanks to the symptoms she displays and her father's reaction, there are theories.
  • Nostalgia Heaven: A certain spoileriffic scene taking place in what appears to be King's Cross Station.
  • Not Afraid to Die: The ultimate difference between Harry and Voldemort, and also the true way to become the Master of Death.
  • Nothing Is the Same Anymore: Deathly Hallows is notable in that it breaks from the standard story structure. The Power Trio does not go back to Hogwarts until the Final Battle. Instead, they are on the run because the Death Eaters pulled a coup d'état on the Ministry of Magic and started Putting on the Reich.
  • "Not So Different" Remark: While walking to what he is sure is his death, Harry muses that he, Voldemort, and Snape are all alike. All three of them are, at their cores, abandoned boys who found a home at Hogwarts.
  • Now or Never Kiss: Two, both before the final battle. Ron even Lampshades this.
    "I know, mate," said Ron, who looked as though he had recently been hit on the back of the head with a Bludger, "so it's now or never, isn't it?"
  • N-Word Privileges: Hermione refers to herself as a Mudblood and when Ron objects, she explains that she's proud that she can refer to herself that way instead of the Death Eaters doing it.
  • Oblivious to Love:
    • Lily seems completely oblivious to the fact that Snape has been in love with her since they were children.
    • Despite himself being in love with Hermione, Ron's pretty good at not she's in love with him.
  • Obstructive Bureaucrat:
    • Yaxley, a Death Eater turned Ministry official, inadvertently sidetracks a disguised Ron in the Ministry by making him clean up his office.
    • The Gringotts goblin who greets Hermione while she is disguised as Bellatrix demands identification from her, knowing the real Bellatrix had been disarmed.
  • Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Ron and Hermione recovering the Basilisk fangs from the Chamber of Secrets. This could have been used to show another spiritual illusion to try and stop them, like with the locket, but it was left out due to the book's Cosmic Deadline (see above). Happily, it's included in the movie.
  • Oh, Crap!:
    • Voldemort goes utterly ballistic when he learns that Harry and his friends broke into Bellatrix Lestrange's vault at Gringotts and stole the cup of Helga Hufflepuff, as it means that Harry knows about the Horcruxes and is actively hunting them, with intent to destroy them and make Voldy mortal again.
    • Snape has one when he realizes Voldemort is about to kill him.
    • Snape has an even bigger one when he realizes Voldemort is planning to kill Lily after the former informed him of the prophecy he overheard.
  • Once More, with Clarity: Snape's memories, especially in regards to his worst memory. Back in Book 5, Harry initially believed it was his worst memory because of the immense amount of humiliation he suffered at the hands of the Marauders. With the new context of Snape's earlier memories, Harry (and thus, the reader) realizes the real reason why it's Snape's worst memory: it's the memory of the day that he gravely insulted Lily, the love of his life, which caused her to end their friendship and set off a chain of events that led to Snape joining the Death Eaters and eventually causing Lily's death.
  • Only Mostly Dead:
    • Harry's hit by the Killing Curse and could be considered dead — but it only really kills the Soul Fragment left by Voldemort.
    • It turns out Dumbledore can still give instructions and advice via his portrait.
  • Only Smart People May Pass: To enter the Ravenclaw common room, students must answer a riddle. If they answer incorrectly, they have to wait for someone else to come along and get it right.
  • O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
    • Harry is shocked to hear Arthur shout at Kingsley instead of proving who he is (even more when you remember his strict adherence to the password system in the previous book). Justified in that he's in a hurry to see George.
    • During their previous year, Hermione tended to disapprove of the use of the "Muffliato" spell because she disliked its source (she considered its inventor "shady" and, therefore, imparted the same sentiment to the spell itself). This year, however, she starts using it more liberally, especially once the trio have to go on the run, to help hide their tracks better. It was discussed when she used it inside the Weasley household for the first time:
      Hermione: [pointing her wand at the attic door] Muffliato.
      Ron: I thought you didn't approve of the spell?
      Hermione: Times change.
    • Speaking of Hermione, during the Battle of Hogwarts, she asks Harry to utilize his Psychic Link with Voldemort and look inside him and learn of his thoughts, something that she always wanted Harry to avoid whenever possible right up to that point, to find out his location and get Ron to stick with the mission objective of destroying Horcruxes after Fred's death.
  • Out-of-Clothes Experience: In limbo, Harry is initially naked and without his glasses. His first act upon realizing someone else is there is to wish for clothes, which he finds.
  • Parent-Child Team: Mr. Weasley is paired with his son Fred (disguised as Harry) during the mission escorting Harry to the Burrow. To a lesser extent, three of his other sons are also part of the mission: Ron and George also disguise themselves as Harry while Bill escorts Fleur.
  • Pictorial Letter Substitution: There's reference to a letter Albus Dumbledore had written a long time previously, where the first letter of his first name was replaced with what we later find out to be the symbol of the Deathly Hallows.
  • Pinball Protagonist: It's general across the series, but the plot of Deathly Hallows involves Harry largely wandering from one moment to the next stumbling around to find clues and the next Horcrux location. It begins with the attack on Bill and Fleur's wedding, forcing the Trio into hiding and then going to 12 Grimmauld Place, where Harry finds out who R.A.B. is, and then spending the major first half of the book solely on locating, capturing and destroying that Horcrux while the final section has him locate the remaining in very short order and again by pure accident.
  • Police State: After the death of Scrimgeour Voldemort takes control of Wizarding world of England and starts sending Muggle-borns, suspected Muggle-borns and any dissenters to Azkaban, imperiusing people into inflate his ranks, installs Death Eaters at Hogwarts, and makes Hogwarts attendance mandatory, among other horrible things.
  • Poor Communication Kills: Played with. Throughout the series Dumbledore knew everything that was going on but did not tell Harry, for reasons which many speculate — and Dumbledore admitted — may have been unnecessary. In this book, Harry, Ron, and Hermione are the only ones who know what is really going on but don't tell anyone else, either. Harry even wonders just how much of his own silence is really necessary at some points.
  • Portal Picture: Aberforth has a portrait of his sister Ariana that functions as a portal between the Hog's Head and the Room of Requirement, which he uses to help supply Neville, Luna, and Ginny's reinstated version of Dumbledore's Army, allow the trio to get into the castle, and evacuate students.
  • The Power of Friendship:
    • After six books where Harry is always telling his friends to stay safe and that he will do things on his own, this book shows how he finally accepts his friends' help.
    • What pushes Ron to come back to his friends right after leaving them. He is helped by the Deluminator in this task. Harry even says it.
      "[Dumbledore]—well," Ron's ears turned bright red and he became engrossed in a tuft of grass at his feet, which he prodded with his toe, "he must've known I'd run out on you."
      "No," Harry corrected him. "He must've known you'd always want to come back."
  • Pre-Asskicking One-Liner:
    • Mrs. Weasley's Precision F-Strike.
    • Percy, to Thicknesse: "Did I mention I'm resigning?"
    • Neville, to Voldemort: "I'll join you when hell freezes over! Dumbledore's Army!"
    • Harry, to Amycus: "You shouldn't have done that."
  • Precision F-Strike:
    • Molly, to Bellatrix: "NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!!!"
    • Hermione, to Ron: "You — (whack) complete — (whack) arse — (whack) Ronald — (whack) Weasley! (whack)"
    • Ron, to Draco: "And that's the second time we've saved your life tonight, you two-faced bastard!"
  • Privacy by Distraction: After Harry defeats Voldemort, he wants time to talk to Ron and Hermione in private, and Luna points out one of her made-up creatures, making people look away from Harry so he can escape.
  • Prized Possession Giveaway: Harry presents Kreacher the house-elf with the locket which was substituted for the Horcrux. Although this object is worthless to Harry (and he was probably glad to be rid of it), being presented with a family heirloom means a lot to a humble house-elf, causing Ron to comment "overkill, mate".
  • The Problem with Fighting Death: The Tale of the Three Brothers conveys this Aesop in-universe.
  • Prodigal Hero: Harry must flee and hide all over Britain to stay a step ahead of Voldemort but when he learns the last Horcrux is hidden in Hogwarts, he rushes to Hogwarts to find it, which sparks the Final Battle.
  • The Profiler:
    • With Dumbledore gone, Harry is having to use the profile of Voldemort they developed together in the last book for the Horcrux Hunt. This is, for instance, part of how Harry deduces Voldemort hid a Horcrux in the Lestrange family vault).
    • As Dumbledore is also revealed to have been dying during the previous book, he was training Harry to ensure he'd have the tools and knowledge necessary to move forward.
  • Properly Paranoid:
    • Several times during the Trio's camping trip, Ron stops Hermione and Harry from saying Voldemort's name, because "it feels like a — a jinx, or something." It is exactly that: When the Death Eaters took over the Ministry, they put a Taboo Curse on Voldemort's name, which creates a magical disturbance around any person who utters it and disables whatever protective enchantments might be protecting them. Only serious members of the Order of the Phoenix dare(d) say the name, so the Death Eaters find them that way. Our protagonists get firsthand confirmation of this when Harry says "Voldemort" one March day and a few Snatchers promptly accost them.
    • In Godric's Hollow, Hermione is wary of Bathilda for an excellent reason. She is not Bathilda, but Nagini in a magical disguise. Harry recognizes her first word to them as "Come!" in English, but Hermione hears it for what it is — Parseltongue.
    • Bellatrix's stubborn insistence throughout the last two books that Snape was untrustworthy despite the Dark Lord clearing Severus? She was right.
  • Prophecies Are Always Right: A prediction by the Sorting Hat that the four Houses would need to unite to defeat evil, made in book five. While Harry and Ron initially balk at uniting with the Slytherins, some of them end up playing key roles in Voldemort's defeat:
    • Draco Malfoy unknowingly takes possession of the Elder Wand from Dumbledore, setting the stage for Harry to take it unknowingly from him.
    • His mother, Narcissa, lies to Voldemort and tells him Harry is dead.
    • An entire book in itself could be dedicated to Severus Snape and his efforts to bring down Lord Voldemort.
    • House Head Horace Slughorn, after leading his students to safety, helps round up reinforcements for the second half of the final battle. He also helps triple-team Voldemort with Minerva McGonagall and Kingsley Shacklebolt until Harry steps in.
    • According to Word of God, several Slytherin students were among Slughorn's reinforcements.invoked
  • Protagonist-Centred Morality: Subverted. Harry uses the Cruciatus Curse, but the intention was to make the audience recognize his flaws, not change their minds about the appropriateness of Dark Magic. He also casts the Imperius Curse on both a goblin and a nosy Death Eater during the raid on Gringotts in search of a Horcrux.
  • Punctuated Pounding:
    • Both Hermione and Molly get one of these. Hermione's is to Ron upon returning:
    • Molly's is delivered to Bellatrix during a duel:
    • Xenophilius Lovegood is dealt with this by the Death Eaters when they arrive after Xeno nearly destroys his house accidentally. They are firing spells at Xeno while lecturing him for bringing them back for nothing.
      Selwyn: Crumple—[bang]—Headed—[bang]—Snorkacks!
  • Puppet King: Pius Thicknesse, who is under Voldemort's direct control, takes over as Minister for Magic after The Coup. Remus points out to Ron that it suits Voldemort to be The Man Behind the Man so he can take over other institutions and the wizarding culture at large rather than "sit behind a desk at the Ministry."
  • The Purge: The Ministry's show trials of Muggle-borns.
  • Put Down Your Gun and Step Away: Bellatrix, holding Hermione hostage, demands Harry's and Ron's wands.
  • Putting on the Reich:
    • The Ministry of Magic under Voldemort. The Death Eaters' skull is even similar to the SS totenkopf.
    • Nurmengard, Grindelwald's castle turned prison where he himself has been imprisoned for half a century, is an analogue of Nuremberg. His fate ofbecoming the sole prisoner of Nurmengard is probably a reference to Rudolf Hess, who for twenty-one years was the sole occupant of Spandau Prison until his death in 1987.
  • The Quisling: After Voldemort takes over the Ministry, Umbridge works for him indirectly by persecuting and wrongfully imprisoning Muggle-borns.
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
    • Ron receives one of these from some spiritual hallucinations of Harry and Hermione (It Makes Sense in Context).
    • And Voldemort, of course, gets one from Harry during their final showdown.
  • Recruit the Muggles: While the trope-naming muggles never get involved in the final battle against Voldemort, the staff and many of the older Hogwarts students are rallied to help fight Voldemort even though many of them were previously uninvolved in the war. Later, the local shopkeepers and families of the students also show up to help.
  • Redemption Equals Death:
    • R.A.B (Regulus Arcturus Black): when he discovered what a monster Voldemort was, he stole the Horcrux and died in the process.
    • Downplayed with Rufus Scrimgeour, but despite his and Harry's angry clashes, he refused to give away any information about Harry's whereabouts under Voldemort's torture which gets him killed. The trio share shocked and grateful looks when Lupin tells them what happened.
    • Possibly for Gellert Grindelwald. When Dumbledore hears that Grindelwald, the world's most powerful and dangerous Dark wizard pre-Voldemort, was killed for refusing to tell Voldemort where the Elder Wand was, he mentions there being rumours that Grindelwald may have shown some remorse in the later years of his life sentence and speculates Grindelwald's open defiance to his successor might have been his way to make amends. Harry also theorizes it could also have been to prevent Voldemort from breaking into Dumbledore's tomb, which moves Dumbledore to tears. This could be interpreted as Grindewald trying to make amends for his old lover for everything that happened between them in the only way he could.
  • Refusing Paradise: Dumbledore offers Harry the chance to pass on to the next world, but Harry chooses to continue the fight against Voldemort. Though as Dumbledore notes, Harry has much less to fear from returning there than Voldemort does.
  • Rejected Apology: As shown in a Pensieve Flashback during the chapter "The Prince's Tale", Snape tries to apologize to Lily, his Only Friend at that point, for calling the latter "Mudblood" in a moment of anger and humiliation. Unfortunately for the former, the conversation between them ends with the latter cutting ties with the former.
  • Replaced with Replica: The Sword of Gryffindor, one of the few weapons to destroy a Horcrux, was hidden by Dumbledore and replaced by a replica in the Headmaster's office at Hogwarts so that it doesn't fall in the hands of the Ministry of Magic.
  • Restricted Rescue Operation: When the trio infiltrate the Ministry, they manage to break out the Muggle-borns who happen to be there for "questioning" that day only. After that, the Muggle-born Registration Commission can continue giving every Muggle-born they can find to the Dementors.
  • Retired Badass:invoked Averted with Harry and Ron when they grow up, but played straight with almost every other major character. Particularly Neville, who settled into a nice, quiet teaching position at Hogwarts. Word of God says Ron helps run Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes with George and also after the Battle of Hogwarts that he does become an Auror with Harry and Neville. Whether he's still an Auror or working with George at the time of the epilogue is unknown.
  • Retired Monster: Grindelwald, who's been locked in his own castle for over half a century.
  • Revealing Skill: While being ambushed en route to The Burrow in the beginning, Harry unwittingly reveals himself when he uses the Disarming Charm — his signature move — against Stan Shunpike (who Harry believes is being forced to participate in the ambush against Harry via the Imperius Curse).
  • Reverse Relationship Reveal: When Snape killed Dumbledore at the end of Half-Blood Prince it seemed that he was really a double agent for Voldemort the entire time. But towards the end of this volume, it turns out that he was genuinely on the side of the heroes, having killed Dumbledore (at his own request) to maintain his cover and as a Mercy Kill.
  • Right for the Wrong Reasons: Ron starts demanding that they avoid using Voldemort's name out of "respect", which annoys Harry, but they ultimately do it anyway. It turns out that this was for the best since Voldemort had put a spell on his name allowing the Death Eaters to find anyone who speaks it, which is useful since only his enemies would dare say his name. The trio doesn't actually learn this until months after they had already stopped saying his name.
  • Robbing the Dead: Voldemort steals the Elder Wand from Dumbledore's tomb.
  • Room Full of Crazy: One might count Luna's bedroom. Granted, the girl hasn't a malicious bone in her body and none of it is sinister, but, well ... portraits of people you like all linked by gold chains made of the word "friends" does go a little beyond Cloudcuckoolander. Opinions differ on whether this is heartwarming or stalkerish. All of the Lovegoods' house counts, really.
  • Rule of Three:
  • Rule of Symbolism: Wormtail's silver hand which chokes him as he betrays his master brings to mind another traitor paid in silver: Judas Iscariot.
  • Rules Lawyer: Harry rules-lawyers Voldemort to death.
  • Rummage Fail: A few times when the handbag is used, this trope comes into play. Eventually, the characters defy the trope by using Summoning Charms (Accio) on the items within.

    Tropes S-Z 
  • Sacrificial Lion:
    • Mad-Eye Moody is killed early on to show just how far the situation has deteriorated and to make it clear that no one is safe.
    • Remus, and Tonks are killed off-page during the Battle of Hogwarts, and Fred is killed onpage before that, making it clear that at this point, Anyone Can Die. It only gets worse from there.
  • Sadist Teacher: The Carrows, a pair of ruthless Death Eater siblings, take over disciplinary matters and Defence Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts this year. You know they're bad when Neville says they make even Umbridge look good by comparison. No one on the staff wants to turn students over to them for punishment. Not even Snape; when he catches several students trying to retrieve Gryffindor's sword, he levies the punishment himself — a night helping Hagrid — rather than turn them over to the Carrows. Given later revelations, he certainly did so on purpose.
  • Sarcasm-Blind: Elphias Doge, horrified by Aunt Muriel's insinuations toward the Dumbledore family (that Kendra Dumbledore had imprisoned her daughter, that she may well have been willing to murder her, etc.), attempts to rally by snarkily suggesting the terrible idea that Ariana was responsible for Kendra's death. Muriel takes it at face value and seamlessly transitions to musing over the possibility, to Doge's indignation.
  • Save the Villain:
  • Say My Name: The Deluminator worked only after Hermione said Ron's name. Only then could Ron hear them talking and send him close to where Harry and Hermione set up camp.
  • Sealed Evil in a Can: It's implied that Voldemort's final fate is to remain in a sort of limbo (specifically, the netherworld where Harry met Dumbledore after he died) forever, incapable of harming anyone ever again.
  • Seamless Spontaneous Lie: Discussed and averted on several occasions.
    • When Harry is Polyjuiced for Bill and Fleur's wedding, the group comes up with the vague identity of "Barny Weasley" in advance, trusting the mass number of Weasleys to keep him from being suspicious.
    • When Ron is attacked by Snatchers after having walked out on Harry and Hermione, he gives the name "Stan Shunpike", admitting that it was easier to claim to be someone he knew about rather than make someone up out of whole cloth and that he was relatively lucky to have been caught by a group of dim bulbs.
    • Ron later cites this after Xenophilius Lovegood sells them out to the Death Eaters; Hermione wonders if Xeno's extended discussion about the Deathly Hallows and seekers thereof was just BS to keep them in one place, but Ron points out how difficult it is to come up with sufficiently detailed BS under pressure and insists that Xeno truly believes what he shared.
    • When Snatchers nab the group afterwards, Harry manages to play this straight with a stroke of pure luck, giving the name "Vernon Dudley" (after the Dursley males), claiming to be a Slytherin (knowing where the common room is because of his second year), and claiming that his father works at Magical Maintenance in the Ministry of Magic ("You know, I think there is a Dudley there..."), despite knowing it'll fall apart at the slightest investigation. Meanwhile, Ron tries the "Stan Shunpike" route again and gets a bloody nose for his trouble before borrowing "Barny Weasley", and Hermione gives the name "Penelope Clearwater", with neither of them going into any more detail than that.
  • Secret Test of Character:
    • The Sword of Gryffindor was placed under the frozen lake ostensibly to serve as some kind of test of bravery and determination. Harry realizes that immediately, but still points out that it seemed less of a test of character and more making things unpleasant for its own sake.
      "Where 'chivalry' entered into this, he thought ruefully, he was not entirely sure, unless it counted as chivalrous that he was not calling for Hermione to do it in his stead."invoked
    • Inverted when it's Ron who gets the sword, not Harry. Saving Harry from the Horcrux strangling/drowning/freezing him to death allows Ron to pass the test and get the sword. In other words, Harry didn't have to pass the test — he was the test.
    • The water is further clouded by the fact that, although the retrieval of said item would certainly fit with its MO and at least one character insisted it be facilitated in such a way, Word of God notes that at heart, it was almost certainly more an act of petty spite by Snape than a desire to test anyone's character.invoked
  • Seeing Through Another's Eyes: Harry can sometimes see from Voldemort's perspective, usually when Voldemort is experiencing strong emotions. This proves extremely useful since Harry can find out what Voldemort is doing.
  • Self-Disposing Villain:
    • Crabbe unleashes an extremely dangerous, nigh-uncontrollable form of magic fire in a huge room full of kindling. Not only does he get himself killed, he's the only one present who actually dies as a result.
    • At the very end, Voldemort is killed by his own rebounding Killing Curse.
  • Self-Healing Phlebotinum: According to the Lovegoods, Snorkack horns reform a few months after exploding, unlike Erumpent horns. Only the latter are known to exist, the former widely regarded as a myth.
  • Self-Induced Allergic Reaction: Hermione's quick thinking allows her to prevent Harry from being recognized by the Snatchers when they're surrounded in the woods. However, the disguise isn't foolproof, and the trio has to rely on Draco to look the other way and pretend he can't tell whether it's Harry or not. Luckily, he does.
  • Self-Made Orphan: It's revealed that Ariana Dumbledore accidentally killed her mother Kendra.
  • Series Finale: The last of a seven-book series.
  • Shapeshifter Guilt Trip: The locket gives Ron a double dosage of this trope — the two people closest and dearest to the victim manifest and give thorough, counterpoint arguments for why he sucks.
  • Ship Tease: The locket Horcrux taunts Ron Weasley with the sight of Harry and Hermione kissing.
  • Shoo Out the Clowns:
    • Trelawney does help in the final battle throwing crystal balls ... and is pretty much never seen again.
    • Fred and George are barely seen throughout the book. Their moments of levity are shot down with a "Dude, Not Funny!" rebuke from Moody, and the kicker is when Fred is killed in the final battle.
  • Shoot the Messenger: And everyone else in the room, when Voldemort realizes Harry is going after his Horcruxes.
  • Shout-Out:
    • Word of God in an interview with Daniel Radcliffe asserted that the King's Cross chapter was inspired by Michael Powell's A Matter of Life and Death.invoked
    • The overall structure of the Story Breadcrumbs of multiple Unreliable Narrator that tells us about Dumbledore often with a totally different perspective is reminiscent of Citizen Kane, the book even starts with Harry reading a profile of Dumbledore's career and achievements, much like the newsreel that starts that film. Since this is a magical story, Dumbledore does confirm everything beyond the grave.
    • The last scene before the epilogue where Dumbledore's painting congratulates the hero evokes the ending of Return of the Jedi, with the Force ghosts of Obi-Wan, Yoda, and Anakin Skywalker watching Luke.
    • In 2017, Rowling admitted that the Masonic symbol, which she first saw in John Huston's The Man Who Would be King, influenced the Deathly Hallows symbol.
  • Showdown at High Noon: or rather, Showdown At Sunrise. The final battle between Harry and Voldemort takes place with everyone else as spectators while they have one last conversation about why Voldemort is about to lose but the Dark Lord doesn't buy it. The crack of dawn hits, they cast their spells at the exact same time, and Voldemort is no more. While not otherwise resembling the Western cliche, it feels very much like it.
  • Show Within a Show: The Tale of the Three Brothers, and other wizard fables by Beedle the Bard.
  • Sleep Cute: In Grimmauld Place, Ron and Hermione are asleep next to each other, with their hands lying so they appear to be reaching out for each other. Seeing them, Harry wonders if they fell asleep holding hands.
  • So Proud of You: James Potter expresses this to Harry when his shade appears. As does Lily, and later, Dumbledore.
  • Soul Jar: Horcruxes, although each one only contains a fraction of his soul.
  • Spanner in the Works: The Malfoys, more specifically Draco (unknowingly) and Narcissa (deliberately).
  • Spider Swarm: The Acromantula in the Forbidden Forest are forced out of their hideaways by Death Eaters and swarm into Hogwarts during the final battle.
  • Sparing Them the Dirty Work: It's revealed that Snape's killing of Dumbledore the previous year was carried out at Dumbledore's own request, partially because he was already dying, and partially because he knew that Draco Malfoy had been ordered to kill him, and wanted to spare the boy the burden. Snape, though a little miffed at the implication that he was already beyond saving, dutifully carried out his headmaster's instructions.
  • Spoiler Cover: Covers for the Harry Potter series always show something from the book, but it's usually something vague like Harry flying on his broomstick. However, the American cover of this book shows the actual death of Voldemort — specifically, with Voldemort flying backward, succumbing to his rebounding Killing Curse, while Harry reaches upward triumphantly to catch the Elder Wand (though the wand isn't shown) as the sun rises in the background. This at least heavily suggests that Harry survives and defeats Voldemort personally, where the former event in particular was very uncertain. The absence of the Elder Wand and Voldemort not looking particularly defeated, per se, at least keeps things ambiguous enough to where one won't be able to realize what's happening until they read the actual scene in the book.
  • Spotting the Thread: Luna Lovegood sees through Harry's disguise at Bill and Fleur's wedding simply from the expression on Harry's face.
  • Start of Darkness:
    • A variation. This time, instead of seeing Voldemort's transition from cute, troubled kid to full-on genocidal maniac, we get to see Snape's transition from cute, troubled kid to troubled heartbroken adult, and Dumbledore's transition from cute, troubled kid to wise manipulative Chessmaster — both of them dabbling considerably in the Dark Arts for a while. Apparently coming from a broken home is a prerequisite for this kind of thing. Interestingly, all three of them were Insufferable Geniuses as teenagers.
    • As Dumbledore noted in the previous book, Harry is the greatest aversion, he had a background and upbringing similar to theirs but somehow became compassionate and mature, avoiding the Pride that led them to commit terrible mistakes. (Being brought up in the same way as a Muggle-born, albeit with more abuse than normal, as well as having been tempered by his parents' sacrifice and having positive influences in supporting friends and family during his school years, might have helped.)
  • Stepford Smiler: Dolores Umbridge, with her girlish laugh and her sadistic, cheerful attitude, takes this trope up to eleven during her trials of Muggle-borns. Her Blatant Lies that a Muggle-born "is not a witch" trigger Harry's Berserk Button quite quickly.
  • Strictly Formula: These youth are used to the formula of three large meals a day and adults looking over them — which gets yanked out from under their feet.
  • Students' Secret Society: Dumbledore's Army has been upgraded - under the guidance of Neville Longbottom - into an actual La Résistance against the Death-Eater dominated school direction.
  • Suddenly Speaking: Crabbe and Goyle get on-page dialogue for the first time in the series (not counting when Harry and Ron impersonated them in book two). The gargoyle that guards Dumbledore's office also speaks in this book when it never did before. Nagini too gets her only on-page line in the series when fighting Harry at Godric's Hollow.
  • Sue Donym: The Potterwatch radio crew refer to themselves by ridiculously transparent pseudonyms based on their actual names: Lee Jordan is River, Kingsley Shacklebolt is Royal, Fred Weasley (weasel) starts as Rodent (quickly changed to Rapier, presumably for "rapier wit"), and Remus Lupin exhausts the last untapped blatant reference in his name by going as Romulus.
  • Suicide by Cop: Grindelwald's death at Voldemort's hand is essentially the former letting the latter commit suicide for him since he doesn't have a wand. He's been locked in a prison for over fifty years with nothing to do but wallow over his own misdeeds. Dumbledore being alive was likely the only reason he had emotionally to live for and with him gone, he lost the will to live and took the opportunity to die when it presented itself.
  • Supernatural Aid: Dumbledore's will.
  • Supporting Leader: With the protagonists on a secret mission to destroy Voldemort's Horcruxes, multiple characters become this in different ways:
    • Professor McGonagall leads the defence in the Battle of Hogwarts to give the Power Trio the time to find the final Horcrux, even though she has to trust Harry by his word alone.
    • Neville basically leads the student resistance in Harry's absence, with help from Ginny and Luna.
    • Reading between the lines, Kingsley Shacklebolt becomes the Big Good after Dumbledore's and Moody's deaths and later becomes the first competent Minister for Magic in years. But from Harry's point of view, he remains a peripheral character.
  • Survival Through Self-Sacrifice: Harry discovers that he is the seventh Horcrux and it is his fate to be killed so that Voldemort can die. Rather than running from death as he had previously done, Harry walks straight to the Death Eaters' camp and allows Voldemort to kill him. In doing so, Harry goes into his mind where he finds the fragment of Voldemort's soul that had latched onto him, along with a manifestation of Dumbledore. Finally here, Dumbledore explains that by allowing himself to be killed, Harry's soul was freed from Voldemort's and his soul finally belonged to himself. Dumbledore also adds that the "Master of Death" did not find a way to escape death but to accept it, which is ultimately what Harry had done.
  • Suspiciously Prescient Planning: Harry, Ron, and Hermione go visit Xenophilius Lovegood during Christmas break, hoping to also see Luna while they're there. When they ask where their friend is, Xenophilius claims that she's out fishing for plimpies and will be back in a short while. Though the three initially believe him, they eventually realize that Xenophilius doesn't actually expect Luna to be home any time soon when they see he only set a tray for four people (that and Luna's bed doesn't look like it's been slept in recently, strongly indicating she hasn't been home at all).
  • Sword of Plot Advancement: The Horcrux-destroying plot only really takes off after Harry, Ron and Hermione find where Gryffindor's sword was hidden.
  • Take Off Your Clothes: Hermione makes Harry and Ron take off their wizards' robes so they can pass as Muggles.
  • Tastes Like Disdain: Bathilda Bagshot reveals under pressure from Rita Skeeter that she was neighbors with the Dumbledore family in Godric's Hollow. When they first moved there, Bathilda tried to be neighborly and brought them a batch of homemade Cauldron Cakes, but Albus's mother Kendra slammed the door in her face.
  • Teleportation Rescue: Albus Dumbledore's brother, Aberforth, had most of Sirius's mirror (Harry had a shard of it and got the occasional glimpse of someone he couldn't quite identify and who looked like the then-deceased Albus Dumbledore). When Harry, Ron, and Hermione were caught by the snatchers and taken to Malfoy Manor, Dobby Apparated into the manor and rescued them, as well as Luna Lovegood and the wand expert Ollivander.
  • That Liar Lies: Harry shouts "LIES!" to no one in particular when first reading some of the media references to Dumbledore's Feet of Clay. The melodrama of this is Lampshaded in that a Muggle neighbor is shown to overhear and glance around nervously.
  • Thermal Dissonance: Slytherin's locket is inhabited by a presence that dictates its own temperature independent of the environment, often to make unwanted handlers uncomfortable.
  • The Tooth Hurts: Harry chips one of his teeth while ducking to avoid a spell during the Battle of the Seven Potters. Andromeda fixes it for him.
  • This Is Not My Life to Take: Harry gives Gryffindor's magical sword to his best friend Ron to destroy a plot-important locket, which has part of the soul of the Big Bad inside of it.
  • Throwing the Distraction: Harry distracts some Ministry workers with a rambunctious Weasley toy in order to sneak into Umbridge's office. Justified, both because that's what the toy was built for and because, apparently, the Ministry sees that sort of thing fairly often.
  • Tomato in the Mirror: "Harry is a Horcrux."
  • Too Dumb to Live:
    • Sure, Voldemort. Continue to cast the Killing Curse on "The Boy Who Lived", even though it is clear that the spell backfired on you. Brilliant.
    • Yeah, Bellatrix. Mock Molly Weasley's grief to her face as you threaten the rest of her family. What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
    • According to Ron, only a total prat would run around boasting about wielding the most powerful wand ever and challenging others to duel for it.
  • Took a Level in Badass: Virtually everyone, but particular standouts include Mrs. Weasley, Prof. Slughorn, and above all Neville Longbottom, who in some ways really is the biggest hero in the story. Special notice for Sybil Trelawney, who took out several Death Eaters (including Fenrir Greyback) by using magic to throw crystal balls at them.
  • Took a Level in Kindness: Kreacher gets a lot nicer when Harry starts treating him better, and especially when he gives Kreacher Regulus' locket.
  • Torture Is Ineffective: When Bellatrix tortures Hermione about the sword of Gryffindor, Ron and Harry are less worried that she'll crack than they are Bellatrix will kill her. Hermione just tells her a mix of the truth (that they haven't been anywhere near Bellatrix's vault) and what she knows Bellatrix wants to hear (that their sword is a fake, not the one currently in said vault).
  • Tracking Spell: The Death Eaters put a tracking enchantment on Lord Voldemort's name, knowing that Team Harry are the only ones to refer to Voldemort by name, instead of He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named like most other wizards and witches.
  • Tragic Dropout: The Trio. It's not like any of them would have dropped out of Hogwarts if Voldemort hadn't truly taken over. Before the release of Deathly Hallows, fans debated endlessly if the trio had been serious about dropping out of Hogwarts or not — or if they would be forced to attend.invoked However, Word of God says after the war, Hermione went back and finished up her N.E.W.T. studies while Harry and Ron did not.
  • Tragic Intangibility:
    • When Harry uses the Resurrection Stone to bring back his deceased loved ones, he rushes forward to take his mother's hand but his hand goes straight through her. He realizes that the Resurrection Stone can't truly bring back the dead, only a shade of the deceased; however, he's still comforted by the fact they're with him in some sense as he prepares to die. It's not mentioned in the book if this is the case, although Harry states that the shades look more solid than ghosts yet not quite like living people.
    • Taking Harry's experience into account, it's implied this played a part in the tragic origin story of the Resurrection Stone; a wizard used it to bring back his deceased love but because she wasn't truly alive, he eventually killed himself so they could properly be together.
  • Translation Convention: Played for Drama. As noted under Properly Paranoid, Harry always hears Parseltongue as English, so neither he nor the reader catches on that Bathilda Bagshot (Nagini in disguise) is speaking Parseltongue until she reveals herself.
  • Trauma Conga Line: Harry suffers one emotional blow after another for the entire book. Hedwig and Mad-Eye are killed in the escape from Privet Drive, and more and more of the people he cares about are imprisoned, tortured, driven into hiding, or killed. He and his friends are declared outlaws and must struggle to survive in the wilderness. Long stretches of hopelessness are interrupted by deadly danger. By the time he discovers that Dumbledore's plan requires him to go willingly to his death at Voldemort's hands, he's willing to pay that price.
  • Troubled, but Cute: Snape as a little kid.
  • Trust Password: After realizing the Order's plans to move Harry had been compromised, some members demanded each other prove they are who they said they were by asking questions that only the true person would know. This was suddenly dramatic as in the previous book, it was played for laughs.
  • T-Word Euphemism: Effing.
    • Mundungus Fletcher uses the line "That wouldn't have been effing difficult..."
    • A few chapters later, Ron angrily notes that the heroes are "nowhere effing near" destroying the locket Horcrux.
  • Tyrant Takes the Helm: Voldemort. Also, the former Trope Namer, Dolores Umbridge. And Headmaster Snape.invoked
  • Unintentional Backup Plan:
    • A rare villainous example. Voldemort is unaware that Harry is his final (de facto) Horcrux. As a result, he gave himself a way to win even after the other Horcruxes were destroyed. He ruins it, though, by using the Killing Curse on Harry again.
    • The heroes had one in place as well. Dumbledore originally planned to depower the Elder Wand by having Snape kill him by consent. This was ruined when Draco Malfoy Disarmed him during their encounter, and Dumbledore never got a chance to reclaim it. Later, Harry Disarmed Draco of his usual hawthorn wand, taking it for his own — and by doing this, Harry (by pure luck) became the master of the Elder Wand, essentially preventing Voldemort from ever becoming its master. This is eventually what allows Harry to win against Voldemort.
  • Unishment: Punishment to Neville, Luna, and Ginny for trying to steal Gryffindor's sword from Snape's office is... to go to the Forbidden Forest and help Hagrid. See Corporal Punishment above for why that's not so bad.
  • Unstoppable Rage: Voldemort goes utterly batshit when he learns that Harry and his friends broke into Bellatrix's vault and Helga Hufflepuff's cup, as it most certainly means that they know about his Soul Jar ploy. He also fears that if Harry knew about that one, he might've known about (and even destroyed) the others.
  • Unwilling Suspension:
    • Muggle Studies teacher Charity Burbage at Malfoy Manor in the opening. Draco can't conceal his Bile Fascination.invoked
    • McGonagall does this to the Carrows just before the Final Battle.
  • Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Nearly, but ultimately averted with the Muggle boys who attacked Ariana. This resulted in the Dumbledores' father getting placed in jail and mother getting killed. Because of those, Dumbledore had to cancel his worldwide trip and met Grindelwald, and together they were planning to take over the world by subjugating the Muggles. Ultimately, however, Ariana's death put a stop to those plans.
  • Urban Fantasy: The entire series takes place in the United Kingdom in The '90s, a fact which is clearest in this book: After spending six years at Hogwarts, away from the wider world, Harry, Ron, and Hermione go across Britain (and away from the magical world for long stretches) in order to finish their quest to defeat Voldemort.
  • Villain by Default: In the final battle, the acting Headmistress orders all Slytherins to leave with those too young to fight. Why? Because one of them, Pansy Parkinson, wanted to turn Harry in to the Death Eaters. There are no consequences.
    • Aberforth outright disagrees with evicting the Slytherins, instead saying they ought to be held hostage against their families, who are mostly Death Eaters. Seeing as Voldemort says that the Slytherins largely joined his army in besieging Hogwarts, it might have been a better plan. Harry rejects it outright, as Albus Dumbledore would never have allowed it if he had been alive.
    • By Word of Godinvoked, several of the Slytherins who left at that point came back with the reinforcements in the second phase of the battle — not just Slughorn. Phineus Nigellus Black mentioned in Book Five that it's the sort of thing he would do, and it befits the pragmatic Slytherin stereotype.
  • Villain Opening Scene: The book opens with Voldemort and his Death Eaters in Malfoy Manor.
  • Villainous Breakdown: Voldemort during the final showdown with Harry, for once showing himself afraid as Harry talks down to him. Also in a Kill the Messenger/He Knows Too Much moment when he hears about the Horcrux being stolen from Gringotts.
  • Villainous BSoD: Averted. Wizards who created Horcruxes can repair their souls by feeling remorse — which, given what their creation entails, often means that they'll feel so much pain that they'll die — but Voldemort has to be killed the normal way. Having to do it the old-fashioned way is meant to illustrate that Voldy is irredeemable.invoked
  • Warning Mistaken for Threat: After Voldemort seizes control of the Ministry of Magic, Harry and his friends infiltrate the Ministry, with Harry using Polyjuice Potion to adopt the appearance of a wizard called Albert Runcorn. While inside, he gets into an argument with Arthur Weasley, who accuses Runcorn of selling out one of his colleagues to the Death Eaters. Harry tries to give Arthur a warning that he's under surveillance for being an undesirable, which Arthur takes as Runcorn threatening him.
  • War Comes Home: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry has been the primary setting of the series, and Harry regards it as home. In the climax of the final book, Voldemort and his Death Eater army attack the school to get Harry; the Order of the Phoenix, Hogwarts's staff and many of the students fight back to give Harry and his friends time to find and destroy the last of Voldemort's Horcruxes. This ends up being the final battle of the Second Wizarding War ending with Harry defeating Voldemort in a one-on-one duel in the Great Hall.
  • Wartime Wedding: Bill and Fleur. It's rudely interrupted.
  • Water Is Dry: To enter the Ministry of Magic, the heroes have to stand in a public toilet, and flush themselves in. When Harry steps into the toilet, he knows he has done the right thing, because his feet are perfectly dry.
  • We All Die Someday: The Central Theme of the "Tale of the Three Brothers", and ultimately the series as a whole. The only true way to "master" death is to accept it as an inescapable fate. Voldemort's inability to understand this is what eventually leads to his downfall.
  • We Can Rule Together: Voldemort and Neville, but Badass Neville isn't interested.
  • Wedding/Death Juxtaposition: The wedding of Bill and Fleur is stopped abruptly when news of the death of the Minister for Magic arrives.
  • Wedding Smashers: At Bill's and Fleur's wedding reception, naturally.
  • Weeding Out Imperfections:
    • While working for the Voldemort-controlled Ministry, Dolores Umbridge produces and distributes a propaganda pamphlet called Mudbloods and the Dangers They Pose to a Peaceful Pure-Blood Society, the cover of which features an illustration of a scowling weed strangling a beautiful rose.
    • In the first chapter, Bellatrix Lestrange is the subject of some mockery from her fellow Death Eaters over the fact that her niece, Nymphadora Tonks, has married the werewolf Remus Lupin. Voldemort non-too-subtly instructs Bellatrix to murder Tonks, telling her that even the mightiest trees sometimes get diseased branches that need to be pruned.
  • Wham Episode:
    • Practically every chapter where a major character is killed off. Hell, every chapter from "Malfoy Manor" (the twenty-third out of thirty-six, not counting the epilogue) on.
    • "The Prince's Tale" in particular is the biggest wham episode in the entire series. To summarize:
      • Snape knew Lily and Petunia when they were all children, Lily and Petunia had a falling out on Lily's first day of school (thus cementing Petunia's hatred of her sister and future nephew), Petunia had contacted Dumbledore previously and had knowledge about Hogwarts, Snape was in love with Lily and had pulled a Heel–Face Turn after her death, meaning he's been working with Dumbledore since the beginning of the series, Dumbledore had planned his own death in the last book and specifically asked Snape to kill him, Dumbledore reveals Harry is an unintended horcrux and must die to make Voldemort mortal, and the chapter ends with the reveal that Snape was the one who sent the silver doe and planted the Sword of Gryffindor earlier in the book. Oh yeah, and there's also the reveal that Lupin and Tonks were killed offscreen. Phew.
  • Wham Line:
    • Kingsley's Patronus interrupts Bill and Fleur's wedding reception with one:
      "The Ministry has fallen. Scrimgeour is dead. They are coming."
    • During the Final Battle between Harry and Voldemort.
      Harry: The true master of the Elder Wand was Draco Malfoy.
    • Earlier in the book, when Hermione is arguing with Xenophilius about whether the Deathly Hallows exist, Hermione points out that the only one with any real evidence for it is hardly special and has been replicated repeatedly. Then Xenophilius replies, totally unaware of the bombshell he is dropping on them: "Ah, but the Third Hallow is a true Cloak of Invisibility, Miss Granger! I mean to say, it is not a travelling cloak imbued with a Disillusionment Charm, or carrying a Bedazzling Hex, or else woven from Demiguise hair, which will hide one initially but fade with the years until it turns opaque. We are talking about a cloak that really and truly renders the wearer completely invisible, and endures eternally, giving constant and impenetrable concealment, no matter what spells are cast at it. How many cloaks have you ever seen like that, Miss Granger?"
  • What Happened to the Mouse?:
    • Dolores Umbridge is not seen again after Harry and company break into the Ministry and steal her locket/Horcrux. Word of God says she was sent to Azkaban.invoked
    • The Dursleys are not heard from after the Order spirits them away to a safe house. Word of God says that Harry and Dudley kept in contact, but nothing is said about Vernon and Petunia.invoked
    • After escaping from the Ministry, the trio speculate about what happened to the Cattermoles. Hermonie states the smartest move for the married couple would be to go home, collect their children, and escape the country as quickly as possible, Ron worriedly noting that after posing as and seeing how others talked to him, Reg Cattermole really didn't come across as quick-witted.
  • What If the Baby Is Like Me: Remus frets a lot over this, worried that his son will inherit his lycanthropy. It turns out young Teddy is more like his mother, Tonks.
  • What the Hell, Hero?:
    • Snape delivers one of these speeches to Dumbledore, after he reveals that Harry (whom Snape has been protecting) must die in order to defeat Voldemort. It's the one time that Snape gets properly angry at Dumbledore.
    • Harry delivers one to Lupin when he offers to abandon his family to help the trio on their quest, largely out of self-loathing.
    • Harry himself gets one from Ron and Hermione for his overreaction to Lupin.
    • Voldemort delivers one to Harry, accusing him of using his friends and classmates as meatshields during the final battle.
    • Hagrid tearfully yells at the centaurs for not pulling their weight in the battle, implying that their neutrality was the reason Harry was "killed". It's this chewing out that causes the herd to join the fight.
  • "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: One that doesn't actually tell us what the protagonists are doing, only their kids.
  • Worf Had the Flu:
    • Word of Rowling clarifies this as the reason Remus and Tonks died against Dolohov and Bellatrix. Months spent hiding due to the latter's pregnancy dulled their duelling skills, allowing their powerful enemies to triumph fatally.
    • Implied during the final battle with McGonagall, Kingsley, and Slughorn against Voldemort. Voldemort has just entered the battle, meaning he's at fresh condition, while McGonagall and Kingsley have been fighting for hours and are visibly battered and Slughorn is implied to have been pushing himself finding allies and also fighting as well, so while they fare incredibly well against the Dark Lord, they weren't able to finish him off. It's actually quite likely their combined efforts otherwise would have been able to back Voldemort into a corner, especially given the fact that Voldemort was also being hindered by Harry's loving sacrifice, though we never see just how they would fare against Voldemort when both sides were fighting at full potency.
    • Hermione, Luna, and Ginny vs Bellatrix. Hermione was using Bellatrix's wand against her, meaning she was naturally at a disadvantage, subsequently allowing Bellatrix to match them all. Had it not been for said handicap, it can be safely assumed they would have won, though not without serious difficulty.
  • Would Hit a Girl:
    • Crabbe proves that he's not only willing to do this but is also willing to set one on fire.
    • A non-lethal version involves Harry merely knocking Umbridge unconscious with a spell.
  • You Have Failed Me: Wormtail's silver hand was enchanted to kill him if he ever betrayed Voldemort. He does so accidentally.
    • Inverted when Voldemort kills Snape. Voldemort even acknowledges that, even though he has always served him faithfully and effectively as far as he knows, he has to die anyway.
  • You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Snape is the presumed master of the Elder Wand. Voldemort wants the Elder Wand. To master the Elder Wand, you must kill the current master or overpower them in some other way. Guess where this is going.
  • You Just Told Me: Bellatrix's hysterical reaction when she thinks someone has broken into her vault at Gringotts tips Harry off that one of Voldemort's Horcruxes might be there.
  • Youngest Child Wins: The third Peverell brother is the only one who doesn't die as a consequence of his Hallow, which he uses to hide from an early death. He has a son, and so he decides to pass away peacefully after bequeathing his Invisibility Cloak to him.
  • Your Costume Needs Work: In a flashback showing Voldemort killing Harry's parents, a Muggle child compliments his realistic Halloween costume, then has an Oh, Crap! moment when he realizes it isn't a costume.
  • You're Insane!: Ron asks Harry if he's gone mental after saving him from drowning, as he'd kept the Horcrux around his neck.

Alternative Title(s): The Deathly Hallows

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