Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is a fantasy novel by British author J. K. Rowling. It is the seventh and final novel in the Harry Potter series. It was released on 21 July 2007 in the United Kingdom by Bloomsbury Publishing, in the United States by Scholastic, and in Canada by Raincoast Books. The novel chronicles the events directly following Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2005) and the final confrontation between the two wizards Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort.
Deathly Hallows shattered sales records upon release, surpassing marks set by previous titles of the Harry Potter series. It holds the Guinness World Record for most novels sold within 24 hours of release, with 8.3 million sold in the US and 2.65 million in the UK. Reception to the book was generally positive, and the American Library Association named it a "Best Book for Young Adults". A film adaptation of the novel was released in two parts: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 in November 2010 and Part 2 in July 2011.
Plot
The young wizard Harry Potter is about to turn seventeen. While being escorted to the Burrow by members of the Order of the Phoenix, the group is attacked by Death Eaters, who kill "Mad-Eye" Moody and Hedwig, and injure George Weasley. Lord Voldemort attempts to kill Harry but fails.
After the Death Eaters and Lord Voldemort take over the Ministry of Magic, Harry and his friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger begin searching for Voldemort's four remaining Horcruxes, which they hope to destroy and thus render him mortal. They learn that the locket Horcrux is in the possession of Dolores Umbridge at the Ministry of Magic. Harry and his friends infiltrate the Ministry and steal the locket from Umbridge, but are unable to destroy it. The locket's Dark magic affects Ron, who abandons Harry and Hermione. In Godric's Hollow, Harry and Hermione are attacked by Voldemort's snake Nagini, but manage to escape. One night, a Patronus guides Harry to a pond containing the Sword of Gryffindor. When he tries to recover it, the locket tightens around his neck, nearly drowning him. Ron returns and saves Harry, then destroys the Horcrux with the sword.
The three friends visit Xenophilius Lovegood, who tells them of the mythical objects known as the Deathly Hallows: the Elder Wand, the Resurrection Stone, and the Cloak of Invisibility. Xenophilius then alerts the Ministry of Magic to the presence of the trio in his home, and Harry and his friends flee. Soon after, they are captured by bounty hunters known as Snatchers, and are imprisoned in Malfoy Manor. Harry and Ron are thrown into the cellar with Dean Thomas, Luna Lovegood, Mr Ollivander, and Griphook the goblin, while the Death Eater Bellatrix Lestrange tortures Hermione. The house-elf Dobby helps the prisoners escape, but is killed in the process.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione break into Gringotts Bank and retrieve a Horcrux, Helga Hufflepuff’s cup. Voldemort learns of their mission which leads to Harry having visions of another Horcrux hidden at Hogwarts. After the trio enters the school with the help of Aberforth Dumbledore, Voldemort prepares to assault the castle. As the Death Eaters enter the school and fight the professors and students, Hermione destroys Hufflepuff’s cup. They then accompany Harry to the Room of Requirement, where they discover the next Horcrux, which is the Diadem of Ravenclaw. Draco Malfoy and his friends Crabbe and Goyle ambush them, and Crabbe casts a fire spell which grows out of control, killing him and destroying the Horcrux.
After stealing the Elder Wand from Albus Dumbledore's tomb, Voldemort is unable to make it obey him. Believing that Severus Snape is the master of the wand, Voldemort uses Nagini to mortally wound him. Before dying, Snape passes his memories to Harry, who views them in the Pensieve. The memories reveal that Snape loved Harry's mother, and acted as a double agent against Voldemort in an attempt to protect her. The memories also reveal that Dumbledore planned his own death at the hands of Snape so that Snape could gain Voldemort's trust, and that Harry himself became a Horcrux when Voldemort first tried to kill him. Now, Harry must die to render Voldemort mortal. On his way to surrender himself to Voldemort, Harry instructs Neville Longbottom to destroy Nagini.
Voldemort casts the Killing Curse on Harry, who then awakens in a dreamlike place. He is greeted by Dumbledore, who explains that the curse destroyed the fragment of Voldemort's soul inside Harry, and that Harry can now return to life. Harry subsequently regains consciousness and pretends to be dead. Voldemort orders Hagrid to carry Harry's body back to Hogwarts, and demands that the professors and students surrender; however, Neville pulls the Sword of Gryffindor from the Sorting Hat and kills Nagini. The battle resumes, during which Molly Weasley kills Bellatrix. Harry reveals himself to be alive and duels with Voldemort, who casts another Killing Curse. However, the Elder Wand refuses to kill Harry because he is its true master (the wand passed to Draco when he disarmed Dumbledore before his death, then to Harry when he disarmed Draco at his manor). Voldemort's spell rebounds and kills him.
In the novel's epilogue, set nineteen years later, Harry and his friends see their children off to Hogwarts. Harry and Ginny, now married, have three children: James Sirius, Albus Severus, and Lily Luna. Ron and Hermione have a daughter named Rose and a son named Hugo.
Background
Series
The first novel in the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, was published by Bloomsbury Publishing in 1997. It was followed by Chamber of Secrets (1998), Prisoner of Azkaban (1999), Goblet of Fire (2000), Order of the Phoenix (2003) and Half-Blood Prince (2005).
Title
The title of the novel refers to three mythical objects featured in the story, which are collectively known as the "Deathly Hallows". Rowling announced the title in December 2006 through a Christmas-themed hangman puzzle on her website. Other titles that Rowling considered were Harry Potter and the Elder Wand and Harry Potter and the Peverell Quest.
Writing
J. K. Rowling completed the novel in January 2007 while staying at the Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh. In a statement on her website, she said, "I've never felt such a mixture of extreme emotions in my life, never dreamed I could feel simultaneously heartbroken and euphoric." She compared her mixed feelings to those expressed by Charles Dickens in the preface of the 1850 edition of David Copperfield, "a two-years' imaginative task". "To which," she added, "I can only sigh, try seventeen years, Charles". She ended her message by saying "Deathly Hallows is my favourite, and that is the most wonderful way to finish the series".
When asked before publication about the forthcoming book, Rowling stated that she could not change the ending even if she wanted. "These books have been plotted for such a long time, and for six books now, that they're all leading a certain direction. So, I really can't". She also commented that the final volume related closely to the previous book in the series, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, "almost as though they are two-halves of the same novel". She said the last chapter of Deathly Hallows was written around 1990 as part of her earliest work on the series. She also revealed that the last sentence was originally something akin to "Only those who he loved could see his lightning scar". She changed the sentence to "All was well" because she wanted it to be clear that Harry Potter had triumphed over Lord Voldemort and that he would not have to face him again.
Release
The launch of Deathly Hallows was celebrated by an all-night book signing and reading by Rowling at the Natural History Museum in London. The 1,700 guests in attendance were chosen by ballot. Rowling toured the United States in October 2007, where another event was held at Carnegie Hall in New York City with tickets allocated by sweepstake. Scholastic, the American publisher of the Harry Potter series, launched a multimillion-dollar "There will soon be 7" marketing campaign with a Knight Bus travelling to 40 libraries across the United States, online fan discussions and competitions, collectible bookmarks, tattoos, and the staged release of seven Deathly Hallows questions most debated by fans.
Rowling arranged with her publishers for a poster bearing the face of the missing British child Madeleine McCann to be made available to book sellers when Deathly Hallows was launched on 21 July 2007, and said that she hoped that the posters would be displayed prominently in shops all over the world. After it was announced that the novel would be released on 21 July 2007, Warner Bros. stated that the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix would be released on 13 July. In response, fans proclaimed July 2007 as the month of Harry Potter.
Spoiler embargo
Bloomsbury invested £10 million in an attempt to keep the book's contents secure until 21 July, the release date. Arthur Levine, US editor of the Harry Potter series, denied distributing any copies of Deathly Hallows in advance for press review, but two US papers published early reviews anyway. There was speculation that some shops would break the embargo and distribute copies of the book early, as the penalty imposed for previous instalments—that the distributor would not be supplied with any further copies of the series—would no longer be a deterrent.
Online leaks and early delivery
In the week before its release, a number of texts purporting to be genuine leaks appeared in various forms. On 16 July, a set of photographs representing all 759 pages of the US edition was leaked and was fully transcribed prior to the official release date. The photographs later appeared on websites and peer-to-peer networks, leading Scholastic to seek a subpoena in order to identify one source. This represented the most serious security breach in the Harry Potter series' history. Rowling and her lawyer confirmed that there were genuine online leaks. Reviews published in both The Baltimore Sun and The New York Times on 18 July 2007, corroborated many of the plot elements from this leak, and about one day prior to release, The New York Times confirmed that the main circulating leak was real.
Scholastic announced that approximately one-ten-thousandth (0.0001) of the US supply had been shipped early — interpreted to mean about 1,200 copies. One reader in Maryland received a copy of the book in the mail from DeepDiscount.com four days before it was launched, which evoked incredulous responses from both Scholastic and DeepDiscount. Scholastic initially reported that they were satisfied it had been a "human error" and would not discuss possible penalties; however, the following day Scholastic announced that it would be launching legal action against DeepDiscount.com and its distributor, Levy Home Entertainment. Scholastic filed for damages in Chicago's Circuit Court of Cook County, claiming that DeepDiscount engaged in a "complete and flagrant violation of the agreements that they knew were part of the carefully constructed release of this eagerly awaited book." Some of the early-release books soon appeared on eBay, in one case being sold to Publishers Weekly for US$250 from an initial price of US$18.
Price wars and other controversies
Asda, along with several other UK supermarkets, having already taken pre-orders for the book at a heavily discounted price, sparked a price war two days before the book's launch by announcing they would sell it for just £5 a copy. Other retail chains then also offered the book at discounted prices. At these prices the book became a loss leader. This caused uproar from traditional UK booksellers who argued they had no hope of competing in those conditions. Independent shops protested loudest, but even Waterstone's, the UK's largest dedicated chain bookstore, could not compete with the supermarket price. Some small bookstores hit back by buying their stock from the supermarkets rather than their wholesalers. Asda attempted to counter this by imposing a limit of two copies per customer to prevent bulk purchases. Philip Wicks, a spokesman for the UK Booksellers Association, said, "It is a war we can't even participate in. We think it's a crying shame that the supermarkets have decided to treat it as a loss-leader, like a can of baked beans." Michael Norris, an analyst at Simba Information, said: "You are not only lowering the price of the book. At this point, you are lowering the value of reading."