Harry Potter: Why Harry survived Voldemort's killing curse in Deathly Hallows II

 

Harry Potter is one of the most loved movies and novel series in history with countless fans styling themselves as Potterheads. It has a lot of emotional, energetic, engaging and romantic sequences that the audience is able to relate to, even though the whole series is based on witchcraft and wizardry in a fictional world of magic. It is also one of the most detailed stories ever written, with references, easter eggs and relations spread over a wide network. Every time you watch it, you get to know something new.

But even after being so detailed and relatable as a story, the audience has struggled to understand why some things happened the way they did. One of those things is why Harry Potter didn't die when Voldemort attacked him with a killing curse. Harry didn't deflect that spell (or curse) with his wand, neither did he dodge it, the curse actually hit Harry but for some reasons, he didn't die.

There are actually two answers that explain why Harry didn't die in the Forbidden Forest.

1. The power of love his mother bore him

Lily, Harry's mother, sacrifices herself for Harry

Harry Potter isn't just a kid's movie, it is so much more than that. It teaches life lessons and puts emphasis on what's the most important thing in life: love. The strongest force in Harry Potter series isn't anger, or will, it's the power of love. 

When Harry was a toddler, Voldemort saw him as the chosen one who was prophesized to be Voldemort's death. Voldemort went ahead to kill him in his childhood only, ending the tyranny of the prophecy but Harry wasn't alone- he has his parents, he had their love. The way Harry's mother sacrificed herself for her child put protection on him, a protection bound the love of a mother; so when Voldemort attacks Harry, the spell gets dodged the hits Voldemort himself and he dies [for some time, at least]. But this protection could on only till Harry turns 17, however, he shared his house with his Aunt Petunia, sister to his mother and since she shared her blood with Harry's mother, the protection lived on, until he left her house. The protection didn't go away even after he left her house because Voldemort also had the same blood. In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Voldemort took Harry's blood to come back alive. This ensured that the protection would live on as long as Voldemort lives.

It was this protection that saved Harry from Voldemort's killing curse. Dumbledore also explains this in the Deathly Hallows Part 2 when he meets Harry after he's hit by the killing curse.

2. He was Master of Death at that time

This is another very cool theory to explain why Harry survived yet another killing curse. According to this theory, the answer lies in the story of the deathly hallows, The Tale of the Three Brothers, which Hermoine narrated in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1.

When Harry surrenders, he had all three of the deathly hallows, making him the Master of Death. This theory poses Voldemort as the one who died for power, Snape as the one who died for lost love and Harry as the one who greeted death like an old friend [Dumbledore].

This also explains why he didn't die in the Forbidden Forest.

I find the first theory, about the power of love his mother bore him, to be true because The Tale of the Three Brothers is often called a myth. Let me know which theory you think is the real answer to why Harry didn't die when Voldemort attacked him with a killing curse in the Forbidden Forest in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2.

Warner Bros. is currently working on Harry Potter's prequel series, the Fantastic Beasts which tells the story of Dumbledore and his lover-turned-enemy, Gellert Grindelwald.