Harry Potter is also known as the boy who lived.
He’s the only person to survive the Killing Curse.
And he did so twice…
So why did Harry survive this?
And did he even die in the first place?
Read on to learn:
- How Harry Potter came back to life.
- What would’ve happened if Harry didn’t come back.
- How even Dumbledore wasn’t planning on Harry surviving.
- And more…
How did Harry Potter come back to life?
When Harry set foot in the Dark Forest, he knew he’s about to die.
See, he just figured out that he’s one of Voldemort’s Horcruxes.
In other words, a piece of the Dark Lord’s soul was inside him.
And to defeat the Dark Lord, all had to be destroyed.
So he did the only thing he could do.
He made his way to Voldemort, ready to sacrifice himself.
And as the Dark Lord screamed the Killing Curse at him, everything went black.
At least, only for a little while.
The curse was supposed to always kill. But Harry woke up at Kings Cross station. With no other than the late Dumbledore.
The 2 talked about what happened. And the former headmaster told Harry his 2 options.
Either he chooses to move on and die. Or he needed to wake up and live.
Of course, Harry opted life. And that marked the second time that he survived the Killing Curse.
But what actually happened was a lot weirder.
While the Killing Curse hit Harry, he never actually died.
What happened instead was that Voldemort destroyed the Horcrux inside Harry.
And that’s the original plan.
But not for Harry to survive it.
Now, the Killing Curse is extremely powerful. So while he didn’t die, he was unconscious for a little while.
And that’s when the talk with Dumbledore took place.
But it also shielded Harry from dying himself.
And that’s something no one expected.
Not even Harry himself.
So in a sense, Harry never actually came back to life. He just never died to begin with.
You can see the Dark Forest scene play out here:
Another theory about why Harry didn’t die in the Dark Forest
It’s most commonly accepted that the Horcrux inside Harry prevented him from dying.
But there is another credible theory of why he survived.
See, when Voldemort tried to kill Harry, he used the Elder Wand.
This is the most powerful wand in existence.
But at the time, Harry was the true owner of this magical artifact.
He disarmed Draco in the Malfoy manor. And ever since then, the wand belonged to him.
Voldemort never disarmed Harry. So he never became its true master.
And the Elder Wand cannot be used to kill its owner.
This is also explained clearly in the books. But it never really made its way onto the big screen.
In any case, Voldemort tried to kill Harry with his wand.
And that led to the wand ignoring the Dark Lord.
How did Harry survive the first Killing Curse?
The story above explains how Harry came back to life.
However, this wasn’t the first time he survived an attempt on his life.
The Dark Lord tried to kill Harry back when he’s a baby.
And that time, he also survived.
So how did he do that?
Well, this has everything to do with his mother’s love.
It’s a recurring theme in the Harry Potter franchise. And it’s said to be one of the most powerful forces in the world.
Back in 1981, Voldemort learned of a Prophecy.
It was predicted that someone would be born that could one day oppose the Dark Lord.
While looking for people that fit the prophecy’s description, he landed on 2 young boys. Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom.
Ultimately, Voldemort decided to kill Harry, as he most resembled himself.
But it can be expected that he’d kill Neville right after. Just to be sure.
However, before he could do that, Harry miraculously survived.
And he did so because his mother sacrificed herself for him.
See, our beloved Potions Master knew of the Dark Lords’ plan.
But since he loved Lily Potter, he begged Voldemort to spare her.
And he’s willing to.
But when the time came, Lily didn’t want to offer her son. So, she sacrificed herself to save Harry.
This led to him being protected, resulting in the Killing Curse backfiring.
For that reason, the Dark Lord was defeated.
But he wasn’t dead…
When the curse backfired, a tiny part of his soul nested inside the one living thing in the room.
Which was Harry Potter.
Did Dumbledore know Harry would survive?
The reason Harry knew he had to sacrifice himself was because of Dumbledore.
See, the old headmaster had planned it all out.
He met with professor Snape to discuss the plans.
And the Potions Master’s job would be to tell Harry he’s a Horcrux.
But before Snape could do that, Voldemort had him killed to gain control over the Elder Wand.
Luckily, Harry was present when that happened.
So he took one of Snape’s tears and could now see his memories.
He did so with the help of the Pensieve. Which is a magical item you can use to store and review memories.
Harry looked back at the conversation between Dumbledore and the Potions Master.
In it, the former stated that Harry must die, but only when the time is right.
And Snape would be the one to tell him that.
Now, it’s apparent that Dumbledore didn’t anticipate Harry surviving.
After all, he literally said that “the boy must die“.
To which Snape responded: “Now you tell me you have been raising him like a pig for slaughter?“.
So it’s clear that Dumbledore knew that Harry would die.
But he also mentioned that Voldemort himself needed to do this. That was most essential.
And from that part, we can take away that he didn’t entirely dismiss the idea of Harry surviving either.
See, if Voldemort tried to kill Harry, there was a chance of survival.
We discussed earlier that the Elder Wand could not kill its rightful owner. So that would give Harry a chance.
If any of the Death Eaters were to kill Harry, he’d simply drop dead like any other.
But if Voldemort did it, there was a chance he’d make it.
What if Harry chose to die instead?
Right after the Killing Curse hit Harry, he ended up in Kings Cross station.
This place resembled a sort of limbo between life and death.
Harry wasn’t gone. But he had the choice between life and death.
In the series, he chose life.
But what if he didn’t?
As weird as it may sound, there really wouldn’t be that many changes to the story.
See, Harry sacrifices himself to destroy the Horcrux inside him.
With that one gone, the only one left would be Nagini, Voldemort’s snake.
And that would then just leave the Dark Lord himself.
In the books/movies, we see Voldemort took Harry to Hogwarts.
He did so to boast that he’d finally killed him.
Now, most people were understandably sad.
But Neville Longbottom stepped up.
He not only delivered a motivational speech, but he also killed Nagini.
And that just left Voldemort himself.
Who would defeat Voldemort instead?
So, in the original material, it’s Harry that now jumped out to face the Dark Lord.
But it could’ve been anyone.
It wasn’t only Harry that’s able to do this.
There were tons of powerful witches and wizards present. And many of them could’ve succeeded in taking out Voldemort.
However, we do need to remember 2 things.
Harry did have the element of surprise with him.
Everyone thought him to be dead. So when he suddenly jumped out of Hagrid’s arms, no one expected it.
And secondly, Harry’s the rightful owner of the Elder Wand.
Yes, Voldemort used the wand, but it really belonged to Harry.
And as you know, you cannot use the Elder Wand to kill the rightful owner.
So during the battle between the 2, the Dark Lord could never kill Harry.
The wand would refuse to do so.
This is something all those powerful witches and wizards did not have. They all wielded their own, normal wand.
So most likely, Voldemort would still have been defeated. But there would be many more deaths.
It would take several skilled wizards and witches to take down Voldemort. But it would be possible.
Even if Harry wasn’t around anymore.