Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in Twenty Sentences

For those folks that find reading a 759-page novel too intimidating or time consuming, below is a synopsis of the final Harry Potter installment in 20 sentences. As the IMDb Trivia section says, “Here be spoilers!”. If you need a refresher course or a brush-up for the watercooler session, dive in:

  1. The Order of the Phoenix extracts Harry from his uncle’s house using brooms on the eve of his 17th birthday, but Mad Eye Moody and Hedwig the owl are killed in flight and George is wounded in an ambush during the escape.
  2. At the wedding of Fleur and Bill Weasley, Death Eaters attack, forcing the trio to go into hiding at 12 Grimmauld Place, which Harry had inherited from Sirius.
  3. The trio studies the small items they inherited from Dumbledore, and learn of draconian laws at the ministry, Regulus Black’s locket, and Dumbledore’s questionable past.
  4. Using polyjuice potion, the trio enters the ministry, steals Slytherin’s locket (Horcrux) and Mad-Eye’s magical eye from Delores Umbridge, and rescue several wizards, but are forced into hiding when Death Eaters break the charms on 12 Grimmauld Place.
  5. Tiring of camping, Ron departs after an argument, and Hermione and Harry visit Godric’s Hollow and escape from Nagini the snake, where Harry’s wand was damaged in the fight.
  6. Ron returns to the campsite, rescues Harry, who nearly drowned in a frozen pool that mysteriously contained the sword of Gryffindor, and destroys Slytherin’s locket with the sword.
  7. Reunited, the trio visits Xeno Lovegood, learns the legend of the Deathly Hallows, and escapes the Death Eaters Xeno summoned, as they were holding his daughter Luna hostage.
  8. On the trail of horcruxes and hostages, the trio is captured at the Malfoy estate, where Hermione is tortured before Dobby the elf rescues them all from the dungeon, summoned by the blue eye in Harry’s mirror.
  9. At Fleur and Bill’s cottage, Dobby dies from his wounds, Harry buries him, and the trio hatches a plan with a goblin, against Bill’s advice.
  10. Using polyjuice potion, the trio breaks into Bellatrix Lestrange’s vault in Gringotts, steals the Cup of Hufflepuff (Horcrux), and escapes on the back of the freed security dragon.
  11. Apparating in Hogsmeade, Aberforth Dumbledore (the blue eye in the mirror) hides the trio in his saloon, and shows them a secret passage into Hogwarts, where Neville and the rest of the exiled students are hiding in the Room of Requirement.
  12. As alumni and Order members arrive, Harry, Luna and McGonnagal overpower the Carrows in the Ravenclaw tower, but not before the Carrows signal Voldemort and the Death Eaters that Harry is at Hogwarts.
  13. The staff attacks an escaping Snape and prepares the school for battle, while Hermione and Ron destroy the Hufflepuff Cup, and Harry learns the story of the diadem of Ravenclaw (Horcrux).
  14. Looking for the diadem in the alternate Room of Requirement, the trio battle Malfoy and friends and escape fiendfyre, which destroys the room, as well as the diadem.
  15. Percy is reunited with his family as the battle starts, but Fred is killed in an explosion, and the trio escapes the castle to find Voldemort, Nagini and Snape in the Shrieking Shack.
  16. Voldemort kills Snape to attain the Elder Wand, and Harry views Snape’s leaking thoughts in Dumbledore’s penseive to learn that Snape always loved Lily, and Dumbledore had planned his death all along, thus exonerating Snape.
  17. Harry faces Voldemort in the Forbidden Forest, and, having reunited the three Deathly Hallows, he is not killed when attacked, but is transported to an alternate reality to discuss matters with Dumbledore.
  18. While Harry feigns death, Neville kills Nagini (horcrux) with the Gryffindor sword, and Molly Weasley out-duels Bellatrix, who had been dueling Ginny, Hermione, and Luna.
  19. Harry triumphantly returns, throws down some knowledge on Voldemort, who doesn’t believe, and is therefore killed by his own curse that rebounds off Harry.
  20. 19 years later, Harry and Ginny’s kids (James, Albus, and Lily) meet up with Ron and Hermione’s kids (Rose and Hugo) at platform 9-3/4 to board the train to Hogwarts.

Obviously this is quite an oversimplification, having eliminated almost all of the backstory, and several characters and plot devices. The remaining plot points do stand on their own, however, and a similar outline would likely be used in the screen adaptation for the upcoming Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows movie. The cast is currently filming Book 6. I hope you enjoyed this synopsis - thanks to J.K. Rowling for a very solid final installment, satisfying those that wanted Harry to die and those that wanted Harry to live. He did both.

Posted by Andrew Flynn on December 24, 2007 | Leave a Comment 
Tags: , , , , ,