Vanquish:
Well Chosen Word or Just a Coincidence?

By Nina T.H.

    In the fifth book we get to know The Prophecy. Some say the meaning is pretty obvious: Harry and Voldemort will have a fight where one will end up killing the other. But the word Vanquish has put many question marks in many peoples' heads. Is it just a coincidence that Rowling used that word instead of "kill" or "destroy"? Or is there a very important meaning hidden in that word? That is what I'm looking at today!

    "The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches…"

    Now I wanted to do this the right way, so I've done a little researching on what the word means: conquer, defeat, get the better of, overcome. All of those word have a common meaning: Win over! It does not mean kill, it means win over. This could mean that A. Harry wins over Voldemort by killing him… B. Harry defeats Voldemort by destroying his powers, not his life. Voldemort does not die, but has to face his punishment in a fair way (if there is such a thing). Dumbledore did say: "Merely taking your life would not satisfy me…" Maybe Dumbledore is talking about Harry's "powers". Most people think that the "power" is love, so I'm going to go with that: Dumbledore knows that the "love" Harry has, will destroy Voldemort in a way that's worse than death itself. If it makes Voldemort "leave" Tom Riddle he will be able to feel again, and he will know what he did and that will destroy him. It could also be that Dumbledore is just saying this as an "excuse" not to try to kill him. It does make sense that he would do that since he knows that Harry is the only one who can kill Voldemort. However, one of the following lines, is kind of obvious:

    "and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives…"

    This gives the "vanquish theory" a giant CRASH! It's pretty clear that it says: One must kill the other! Even so, vanquish can still have a say: Harry manages to destroy Voldemort's powers, and in some weird way, Voldemort kills Harry AFTER his powers are gone. This makes much sense to me, since I'm pretty sure Harry will die (no idea why, I just do). But I've never been able to come up with how… Unless of course, Voldemort kills him and rules the world… So the theory above is possible in my opinion, there's just one question left: How? How can Voldemort kill Harry with no magic powers? Maybe he strangles him? No, It's probably a lot deeper than that… Harry might die from the struggle of draining Voldemort's powers. If that happens, you can say that Voldemort kills Harry since Harry dies fighting him. I'm not sure which of these theories to believe, but the last one fills every line in the prophecy: Voldemort was vanquished, One died while one survived, One died by the hand of the other (the strangle thing would fit here too ;) Harry used his power (draining powers?)

    There are still a few holes to be filled, so get your spade out and start digging! This is my first "non-relationship" article, so please let me know what you think!

    Hope you enjoyed and that I will see you next time!