Blog Post 3: Fred's Death and How it Advances Themes of the Series

The last book of the series was my favorite, not become of the happy ending, but because of the truly poignant moments that it contained and how they advance the themes of the series while drawing readers into the horrific reality of the moment. In particular, the scene in which Fred dies. This scene shows the battle of Hogwarts in gritty detail and advances a theme of the series: how evil affects even the most innocent. This theme is shown throughout the series with how Harry is affected by Voldemort’s influence on his life, but it is explored further in this book with the death of Fred Weasley and Colin Creevy. Below is an excerpt from the scene of Fred’s death, page 637 of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

“And then he heard a terrible cry that pulled at his insides, that expressed agony of a kind neither flame nor curse could cause, and he stood up, swaying, more frightened than he had been that day, more frightened, perhaps, than he had been in his life…. And Percy was shaking his brother, and Ron was kneeling beside them, and Fred’s eyes stared without seeing, the ghost of his last laugh still etched upon his face."

Rowling describes this horrible event in striking detail, from Harry’s perspective, in a way that slows time, as I imagine it would in battle. In one moment, Fred is filled with glee at Percy’s new attitude—it seemed that he finally had his brother back—and in the next he is gone and a Weasley is lost forever. The sudden death of such a beloved, carefree character in a moment of happiness helps show how evil permeates and mars even the most innocent of people, which seems to be a reoccurring theme for stories of good vs. evil. Take the Lord of the Ring’s trilogy as an example. The hobbits expect to come back from their journey to their beloved Shire, but when they return it is occupied by the evil wizard Saruman and cronies. The Shire represented home and happiness and goodness, but even that was touched by the war: much like the Weasley family and their inability to escape evil’s lasting effects on their family.