[EatingPie]

For this post, I the final three elements of Harry as Christ Figure.

- Harry's sacrifice imbues protection upon those he loves.
- The blood is the vehicle of this protection.
- Harry shows mercy to most evil personality in his history.

- Harry's sacrifice imbues protection upon those he loves.

"You won't be killing anyone else tonight," said Harry as they circled, and stared into each other's eyes, green into red. "You won't be able to kill any of them ever again. Don't you get it? I was ready to die to stop you from hurting these people --"
"But you did not!"
"--I meant to, and that's what did it. I've done what my mother did. They're protected from you. Haven't you noticed how none of the spells you put on them are binding? You can't torture them. You can't touch them. You don't learn from your mistakes, Riddle, do you?"

Let me start with word association.

Dumbledore says of Lily's sacrifice -- "to have been loved so deeply, even though the person who loved us is gone, will give us some protection for ever."

Harry says "They're protected from you." Note that this word association comes immediately after Harry associates his actions with his mother's.

But where do we see a "protection"?

In the books, a human wizard must have two things in order to control magic: a wand and a spell (spoken either vocally or silently). The following incidents occur without spell or wand.

Voldemort cannot maintain a spell, even when no magical intervention occurs.

Originally Posted by The Deathly Hallows

"He beat you!" yelled Ron, and the charm broke, and the defenders of Hogwarts were shouting and screaming again until a second, more powerful bang extinguished their voices once more.

When Neville faces Voldemort, he cries "Dumbledore's Army!" And here's what the text says.

"Dumbledore's Army!" he shouted, and there was an answering cheer from the crowd, whom Voldemort's Silencing Charms seemed unable to hold.

How did Neville do that? He has no wand at this point.

We have a situation where no counter-charm is cast by Ron, and a situation where Neville has no wand -- required for controlled magic.

Also note that Neville slips from the flaming body bind curse, and comes away unscathed.... With no wand. He could not have broken the charm himself without a wand.

The only viable explanation is that some external force has acted in these cases. Some protection is upon these people. And it's Harry who actually explains that it's a result of his loving sacrifice.

I've done what my mother did. They're protected from you. Haven't you noticed how none of the spells you put on them are binding? You can't torture them. You can't touch them. You don't learn from your mistakes, Riddle, do you?

Remember what his mother did. She made a loving, substitionary sacrifice that directly resulted in protecting Harry from the killing curse. Harry's tells us his own loving sacrifice has done the same, but for a much larger group of people this time!

- The blood is the vehicle of this protection.

This is not stated anywhere in the text. But it's why I made a big deal about the protection Lily put upon Harry.

If Harry's "done what his mother did," that implies the loving sacrifice is sealed in the blood. In this case, it would be the blood of the people at Hogwarts. And we see Voldemort unable to harm them. So it's implied that the blood is the vehicle of protection.

I want to also state that the blood-association is still there even without the implication. We have Harry's blood carrying protection from Lily. Voldemort actually takes Harry's blood to get that protection. What remains is the blood image strongly linked with protection and even redemption. That is very similar to the blood symbol in Christianity.

- Harry shows mercy to most evil personality in his history.

"Yeah, it did." said Harry. "You're right. But before you try to kill me, I'd advise you think what you've done.... Think, and try for some remorse, Riddle...."
"What is this?"
Of all the things that Harry had said to him, beyond any revelation or taunt, nothing had socked Voldemort like this. Harry saw is pupils contract to thin slits, saw the skin around his eyes whiten.

Harry isn't taunting Voldemort with this statement. It's "beyond" a taunt.

"It's your one last chance," said Harry, "it's all you've got left.... I've seen what you'll be otherwise.... Be a man... try... Try for some remorse...."
"Yes, I dare," said Harry, "because Dumbledore's last plan hasn't backfired on me at all. It's backfired on you, Riddle."

Harry offers mercy three times here. Twice asking for remorse, and the third time telling Riddle the plan's backfired. I don't think Harry expects him to accept, but the offer is still there.

And the offer is what matters in "aligning" him with Christ's action -- not the acceptance. Harry offering mercy, offering Riddle the chance at remorse, doesn't go away when Riddle rejects it. The offer was made and stood. Harry was still merciful in the offer.

Compare this to Christ showing mercy to Hitler, Stalin, et al. Christ died for all mankind. Every single human being. This is mercy and it's an action that applies to all people, all time. Nobody is excluded from mercy, no matter how "evil." But some people -- like Voldemort (and probably Hitler and Stalin) -- are "so far gone" they would never choose repentance, or acceptance of the mercy.

Harry offer of mercy parallels Christ's offer of mercy to us, and it's up to us to choose whether or not to accept Christ's mercy -- lack of acceptance, however, does not erase the offer.

Okay, that's pretty-much it. If you read this far, thanks for listening, and I'm happy to discuss further.

-Pie