The thing that mystifies me about Snape is the same question Harry seems to have about him: why does Dumbledore trust him? If that one is answered, it'll be a considerable load off my mind.
I think that it's pretty obvious that a lot of characters are going to "not survive" th book, and it's equally clear from the Dumbledore example that Ms. Rowling isn't afraid to kill off fairly major characters -- with the "two major characters" thing being bogus, we could end up with just Ron and Trevor (Neville Longbottom's toad) being the only surviving characters. I think all bets are off on that one.
Personally, I hope she doesn't kill off Harry, and I'm kind of leaning (at this moment) toward thinking he'll survive, but who knows?
I think that a lot of folks may be thinking he'll die as a side-effect of her willingness to axe Dumbledore, but I don't think that necessarily follows.
I think the answer to that probably lies in the prophecy:
Quote:
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The one with the power to vanquish the dark lord approaches… born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies… and the dark lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the dark lord knows not… and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives… the one with the power to vanquish the dark lord will be born as the seventh month dies…
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Specifically the line "either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives" is on point and nicely cryptic.
Note that it's not "
one must die at the hand of the other" it's "
either." I take that to mean that Harry
can kill Voldemort, but Voldemort
can also kill Harry, and one of the two will happen.
"... for neither can live while the other survives...." I think that's actually
less opaque, if anything, due to the fact that Harry and Voldemort are now both fully alive. It's pretty clear that Harry can't get on with his life while Voldemort is still alive, mostly because Voldemort
won't get on with his own life so long as the "one with the power to vanquish" him is still around, he's arguably spent all his time since he heard the prophecy trying to find and kill this "one." So, that makes the live/survive business fairly clear.
What it
doesn't say is that
either of them
will live, and living/surviving doesn't seem to be necessarily tied to this vanquishing power.
I take from it a few things. the object of the prophecy is Harry, since Voldemort has "marked him as his equal" (it could also have been Neville, remember, but since Voldemort chose Harry, it's clear that it can't be Neville anymore). There's something that only Harry can do that will vanquish Voldemort. And that at least one of them has to die, and fairly soon.
Notice that I've been avoiding saying that Harry can
kill Voldemort. The prophecy only says he has the power to
vanquish, and vanquish does
not mean kill, not according to
Mirriam-Webster, anyway. Given the insane amount of research into arcane matters that JKR is supposed to have done for these books, I think it's a reasonable assumption that she looked up the word 'vanquish' when writing her "prophecy," and chose it specifically. Now it does later pretty much say that Harry can kill Voldemort, but I'm trying to point out that there are two distinct sections there.
There's also the possibility that the vanquishing part of the prophecy has
already taken place -- certainly what happened to Voldemort on the night he
first tried to kill Harry fits the definition of vanquishing. Come to think of it, it's pretty well happened as many as three other times.
Harry might kill Voldemort and still die, but I think that if Voldemort
does kill Harry, there will be an excellent chance that Voldemort will
live. Unless, of course, Harry's scar
is the seventh hoarcrux (as has been much speculated in the various Potter discussion groups), and by killing Harry Voldemort destroys it and renders himself truly mortal again, in which case, I should think that anyone who's handy might be able to take him out. Maybe even Trevor.
