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Anonymous
Anonymous asked in Arts & HumanitiesBooks & Authors · 1 decade ago

Harry Potter Fans, DH, Silver Doe..?

In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, chapter 19 "Silver Doe" page 301, UK version Harry Potter jumped straight into the frozen lake in his attempt to retrieve Gryffindor's Sword. In this chapter it states that Harry started stripping off his sweaters and was going to jump into the lake only wearing his underwear, my question is why didn't he make the lake warmer prior jumping in it? Wouldn't that be loads better?

:D

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  • 1 decade ago
    Favorite Answer

    The thing about Harry is that he acts rashly. A major example of this characteristic is his insisting that they go to the Ministry in book 5 to save Sirius. In acting so rashly, he actually ended up being a cause of Sirius's death, when the only thing he needed to do was try and contact him with the mirrors. (This also displays his stubbornness in that he didn't even check to see what Sirius's gift was.)

    Following the deer without letting Hermione know was another example of this tendency. Hermione would have definitely thought of doing something to make the water warmer, and also would have had the ability to. Harry, on the other hand, just doesn't think that way.

    But, of course, that would have been loads better. :)

  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    Hm... Well, yeah, logically that would have been better. But Harry was in Gryffindor,daring, nerve and chivalry set gryffindors apart, not Ravenclaw, the smart ones that would have thought of that, lol. Also, the surface of the lake/pond was frozen, so it would have taken a long time to get melt the ice, and then start warming the water below, and it was winter time, and it was freezing outside, so I don't know if Harry could have done much, he might have melted a bit of the ice, but I think it was so cold outside, that he couldn't have done much. I'm sure there's a more powerful spell to make heat come out of the end of your wand, a bit like the one Hermione used to melt some of the snow, but the thing is, that's more of a Hermione-ish spell, if you get me. Harry might not have taken much time to master it, and Harry is chivalrous so he didn't go ask Hermione to complete this task for him. I guess you are right though he might have been able to do something to make the situation a bit better, but it wouldn't have been very exiting if you read "Harry sat by the pond for an hour warming the water" would it? Anyway, I guess Harry was brave to go plunging into the cold water, and it made for a very exiting story. And even if he had warmed the water first, the locket would have tried to strangle him, but in warm water, it wouldn't have had the same aspect.

    Well done for thinking this one out, but I don't think Harry was the type of guy to wait until the water was warm and comfortable before retrieving the sword, he was daring, brave and chivalrous, a gryffindor, and not a smart ravenclaw who would have thought it out.

    :) Nice question, I'll star it.

  • 1 decade ago

    Well, of course it would. But remember what Dumbledore told Harry?

    Only a true Gryffindor could have pulled THAT out of the hat!

    And what are the qualities of a Gryffindor?

    Chivalry is one of them.

    Gryffindor values courage, daring, nerve and chivalry.

    Though Gryffindor is the house of most of the major protagonists, not all Gryffindors fall into that category. Cormac McLaggen is the negative qualities of Gryffindor personified; he is ill-tempered and pushy. Romilda Vane is underhanded and displays a deceptive and devious nature by trying unsuccessfully to ply Harry with a love potion. On the Hogwarts Express, she is somewhat condescending towards Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood. However, both McLaggen and Vane certainly are bold, and show confidence, two very Gryffindor qualities, and were therefore sorted into the house. Death Eater Peter Pettigrew also went into this house.

    Another thing is that Harry is very . . . well, rash. He didn't need to go to the Ministry in the 5th to save Sirius, he could have used his christmas gift from Sirius, the mirrors. That way, Sirius would still be alive. Harry doesn't exactly THINK every single aspect of something before going through with the plan.

    But chivalry was a really big part of it. At the end of DH, remember Neville pulled the sword out of the hat, when Griphook had taken it from them.

  • 1 decade ago

    Well, remember how you couldn't just summon the locket horcux? I think it was kind of like that, the enchantments Snape placed around the sword weren't able to be penetrated by normal spells. He wanted it only to be retrievable by Harry, and I'm sure he had it in mind that Harry would think of the qualities required of a true Gryffindor, which included bravery and daring, and that Harry would then realize he would have to dive into the lake.

    If that's not it, it was because either JKR didn't think of it, or Harry was too intent on getting the sword that he didn't think of it, just like he forgot to take off the locket before he got into the lake.

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  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    I think the sword was at the bottom of the lake

    because nobody was there to bring the hat

    the sword always comes out of the hat

    Harry stripped so the clothes wouldnt weigh him down

    What do you mean make it warmer like pee in it or something

    He probably didnt know the charm maybe there isnt one.

    Gryffindor's are chilvorus so he had to go through a hard

    time to get the sword it comes to u in need

    u would have a stronger need if u were in a cold lake

    I guess...

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    7 years ago

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  • 1 decade ago

    Most likely there is a spell to make water warm or to heat up water. But i doubt Harry knew the spell. Harry went to Hogwarts for 6 years. He didn't even complete his education there. He was a great hero and he "triumphed" or "got away from" Lord Voldemort 7 times (including the time he killed lord voldemort). But really he wasn't an extremely great student who knew lot's of magic, just a marked man.

    Hermione would have probably thought to warm the water up, if she knew the spell. But I really don't think it would have been in Harry's nature to do something like that.

    Besides, it's a lot more exciting and impressive to put in a book ; "he plunged into the icy depths" than "he warmed the water up and dived in releived by the waters heat". lmao

  • 1 decade ago

    Very simple, the only way to get the sword was to portray qualities of the Griffindor house. If he had made the water warmer, he would not have been showing the bravery expected of a Griffindor.

  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    Gryffindor's Sword is a goblin-made sword adorned with large rubies on the pommel. It was once owned by Godric Gryffindor, one of the medieval founders of Hogwarts. In Chamber of Secrets, Harry draws the Sword out of the Sorting Hat to kill a basilisk. The sword also plays a role in Deathly Hallows, where it is revealed to have been imbued with basilisk venom (as the Sword absorbs anything that would make it stronger), and is used to destroy three of Voldemort's Horcruxes. On several occasions, it is shown that only one who is truly a member of the Gryffindor House - one who shows courage in the face of danger - can use the Sword.-----see that?

    Because the Sword was goblin-forged, it is indestructible and according to Griphook the goblin, the Sword was originally forged by the goblin Ragnuk the First and "stolen" (purchased) by Gryffindor. The Sword was stolen (or retrieved, as goblins would say) by Griphook when the Sword fell from Harry's grasp during the raid on Bellatrix Lestrange's vault in book seven. However, it again returned to human hands later in the book, when Neville pulled it out of the Sorting Hat and used it to decapitate Nagini, Voldemort's snake. This shows that apparently, no matter where the sword happened to be at the time, it would reappear in the hat when a true member of Gryffindor house is in need of it.

    Rowling has confirmed in her webchat that Gryffindor did not steal the sword from Ragnuk and that this belief is merely part of Griphook's goblin mistrust and prejudice against wizards

    As Snape put in the Gryffindor sword down there in the lake, he would have made sure that retrieving the sword would not have been easy. To retrieve that sword I am sure a definte amount of courage and dexterity was required which Harry knew about. It wasn't going to be so easy.

  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    Well if you were about to lose the sword of Gryffindor, would you think of warming the water? Wouldn't you go by your instinct and retrieve it almost immediately?

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