Why Only Lily Potter’s Death Had Magical Properties (But All Other Sacrifices Didn’t) – Armessa Movie News

Lily’s sacrifice played a significant role in Harry’s victory in Harry Potter, but many details surrounding this miraculous event were left out of the movies. Though it was explained early in the film series that Lily’s death had allowed Harry to survive Voldemort’s Killing Curse, there was little explanation for why. Overall, the magical process and reasoning were greatly simplified compared to that of the Harry Potter books, thus diminishing the impact of Lily’s sacrifice across the entirety of Harry’s story.

As the Harry Potter movies left things, there were still a lot of unanswered questions regarding Lily’s sacrifice. The extent of what was said is that Harry’s mother had loved him so much that her death enacted a sort of magical protection that caused Voldemort’s Killing Curse to rebound and later made it so he could not come into contact with Harry’s skin. Still, if this were true, why wouldn’t every mother’s death result in such protection? Or, why wouldn’t James Potter and other character deaths have done the same? Though the Wizarding World films left this unanswered, the Harry Potter books dived far deeper.

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Lily’s Sacrifice Enacted Magical Protection Because Of Multiple Chance Occurrences

Lily Potter did far more in Harry Potter than die. Though it is no doubt tragic, the death of a mother is not enough in the Wizarding World universe to cast the kind of protection that existed within Harry’s blood. What happened with the Boy Who Lived was an extremely rare occurrence, with only one other Harry Potter character having caused a similar phenomenon (more on that later). Several. chance occurrences had to happen leading up to Lily’s death for Harry’s protection to have been possible.

The Sacrificial Protection charm in Harry Potter can only happen if the person who dies gives up their life with no effort to save themselves. They cannot raise their wand or any other kind of weapon in defense, and they must do so entirely out of love for the person they are trying to protect. Additionally, their death must be avoidable—there must be a choice between life and death, and the person sacrificing their life must know this. Otherwise, the magical protection would not be successful.

Lily only met this criteria because one of Voldemort’s followers, Severus Snape, had begged the Dark Lord not to kill her. The Harry Potter books are never entirely clear why Voldemort would humor Snape in this way, but he followed through on his promise and offered Lily her life in exchange for her son’s. She refused, and though she had no wand and no chance of survival, Lily stood in front of her son and died for him. These chance circumstances resulted in a magical protection that not only guarded Harry from Voldemort’s attack but continued to protect him for the rest of his story.

Lily’s Sacrifice Protected Harry In Several Different Ways

The Harry Potter books reveal that Lily’s Sacrificial Protection did far more than keep the Dark Lord from killing Harry that night at Godric’s Hallow. Dumbledore understood immediately that, so long as Harry resided with someone who shared Lily’s blood, Voldemort would continue to be unable to harm him. This is why the headmaster placed Harry with Petunia Dursley. He explained as much in the letter he left on the Dursleys’ doorstep along with the sleeping toddler. Though Petunia’s relationship with her sister and the wizarding world as a whole had been complicated, she agreed to keep her nephew safe (if not particularly well cared for).

So long as Harry called his aunt’s house home, he would be protected from Voldemort. Of course, this couldn’t last forever, so when Harry stood before Voldemort in the Forbidden Forest in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Lily’s protection was no longer working as it had before. Still, through more chance circumstances, Harry was protected even still. Since Voldemort had used Harry’s blood to create a new body in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, he had unknowingly tethered Harry’s soul to life. So long as Lily’s sacrifice lived on in Voldemort’s blood, the Dark Lord couldn’t kill Harry.

The Harry Potter movies left this out entirely. So, when Harry appeared at the King’s Cross Purgatory with Dumbledore in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, there was no explanation for why this had happened. In the books, Dumbledore provided a far more in-depth answer for Harry’s survival and dived into how Voldemort should have known better. The Dark Lord knew that Lily’s sacrifice had been powerful throughout Harry Potter, but thought that using Harry’s blood would put an end to the problem. Ultimately, the Dark Lord only ensured his own defeat.

Why Other Sacrifices In Harry Potter Didn’t Work Like Lily’s

Sacrifice is a significant theme of the Harry Potter series, so several characters gave up their lives to ensure others could live. Still, because their deaths didn’t meet the criteria of the Sacrificial Protection charm, the result wasn’t the same. An example is when James Potter gave his life in Harry Potter, hoping it would provide Lily and Harry time to escape from Voldemort. Even though he didn’t have his wand, he still attempted to fight Voldemort. Additionally, he was never given the option of life like Lily was.

Aside from Lily, there is only one known instance of the Sacrificial Protection charm, and it was the result of Harry Potter’s own sacrifice in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. When Harry entered the Forbidden Forest, he did so believing he would be killed. Though he could have chosen to fight—could have chosen life—he stood before the Dark Lord and did nothing to defend himself. Though he survived the interaction, it still resulted in a charm that protected all his loved ones back at Hogwarts Castle. Harry had followed in Lily’s footsteps and enacted this rare wizarding world phenomenon—just another example of what the Harry Potter movies missed.