"It is only after we lose everything that we are free to do anything" - Tyler Durden

The landmark end of what I perceived as my childhood

            Once again I make it to the end of this journey.  I loved the ending of this series and I don’t know/don’t want to look into other possible endings.  The end of the Deathly Hallows encapsulates my two favorite scenes of the Harry Potter series.  The first being when Harry is walking into the forbidden forest to meet Voldemort and accept his death for the sake of his friends.  “I am about to die” hit me very hard when I read it for the first time.  The acceptance of death is an overwhelmingly powerful personal stepping-stone.  This scene reminds me of the movie fight club (non-spoiler) where the one of the main characters has a chemical burn and the other character is forcing him to experience the pain of it to the fullest instead of an immediate gratification.  “It is only after we lose everything that we are free to do anything” this is what I think of when I read Harry’s trip to meet his end.  It’s powerful. 

My second favorite scene follows immediately after, Harry’s trip to limbo, or what I perceive as limbo.  Limbo is such a fascinating concept and many literary geniuses have used it as a waypoint between death and life.  The idea of having it be “King’s Cross” as a crossroads is very cool.  Here my expectations of Dumbledore are fulfilled and the overall extreme blandness of limbo it makes it only more fascinating to me.  Dumbledore represents wisdom that cannot be put into words in this series.  He is the eternal clockmaker who seems to set everything in motion and kick back to watch the show.  It was good to finally see him portrayed in an immortal way in kings cross, as I envisioned him throughout the series.  Still the fact that he had flaws makes him more of the grandfather we all wish we had, and that made him my favorite character of the series.

- Will Brundrett