Chapter 35: King's Cross
 

I think it is almost like purgitory, the place you go before you die. Like he was sent there to find the truth, the meaning of his life, and his death. They did the same thing in the show greys anatomy, she almost died but went into a purgitory where she met people from her past who helped her understand her life.

The train marked beginning of a journey. I think at least. King's Cross was where they met to go to Hogwarts, were the story of the magic began. They came back to that same place to start over again in the summer, but the journey was in Hogwarts, and they could only get to it at King's Cross. I dunno, I think it symbolized the beginning/ending of a journey.

I strongly disliked the whole idea of this. I thought this chapter was a terrible decision by Rowling. She pretty much just took the easy way out by having Dumbledore tell Harry everything through this chapter. It was overly Christianly symbolic as well.

I thought Kings Cross was like a train platform, where you could choose whether to get onto one train or another. His conversation with Dumbledore on KC really, to me, meant he had to choose whether to live (go back) or die (go on).

Harry was dead. He sacrificed himself for the love of his friends. Just like his mother had sacrificed herself for him. Doing this, he gave his friends the protection of love. Did you notice there were no more deaths after Harry's time in KC?

In "The flaw in the plan" this happens:

See?

Green is the colour opposite to Red. That's why it's important that Harry's eyes are Green, and LV's are red. They're opposites. Love and Hate.

Harry is prepared to give everything out of the love of his friends. And in the end, that's what saves them all.

asy :D

I think this was my least fave chapter. It just didn't seem to flow. I think it could have been done much better. I do see why the conversation between the two had to happen, but...I just didn't like the way she did it.

I challenge anyone to name a single religion, mythology, shamanic belief system, body of folklore in the entire ancient and modern world that does not have a story involving a symbolic representation of choice. Be it a crossroads, a bridge, a fork in the road, a door to choose, a box to open, a tunnel, a lock to turn, or a train station.

JKR is a very intelligent and well-read woman and I think she knows that the ubiquitous nature of these physcial objects and places that represent choice happens for a reason. When push comes to shove, the life you lead comes down to the choices you make. This has been emphasized in every book.

Harry chooses to be a Gryffindor. Harry chooses to help free Dobby. Harry chooses to spare Wormtail. Harry chooses to duel Voldemort in the graveyard. Harry chooses to go to the Department of Mysteries. Harry chooses to follow Dumbledore's orders and keep force feeding him the potion. Harry chooses to trust Dumbledore and focus on the Horcroxes instead. Harry chooses to die.

All of these choices however stem from a choice Harry made when he was 11 years old standing on the platform at Kings Cross Station-to get on a train that would take him to another world. And ever since then he has moved between two worlds, the Muggle World and the Wizarding World, every time he chooses to get on or get off the train at Kings Cross.

So now Harry is once again between two worlds, the World of the Living and the World of the Dead, and he must choose which one to go to. And since it's "all in [his] head" it makes perfect sense that the place in which he must choose which world to go to is exactly the same as the always has been.

I dont think so. the killing curse is green and the stunning spell is red.

Harry's eyes are important because they reminded snape of lily and meant everything... his alliegence, his sacrifice, his care for Harry

Asy is 99% right, I think, I just do not think the green color of Harry's eyes mattered here.

But it was definitely an intersection: Harry was killed by Voldemort - and now he can go on = remain dead - or go back and fight Voldemort. It's again time for a decision. And he is free now from Voldemort - the whining creature with them is the part of Voldemort's soul that was in Harry. I wonder, actually, if it means he stopped understanding Parseltongue the moment he stopped being a Horcrux?

Very well said!!! And I agree.

The real King's Cross is is a railway station in the district of the same name in northeast central London. It is where Platform 9 3/4 is hidden. Obviously the King's Cross chapter is a symbolic place. Symbolic to Harry. I don't think King's Cross is the place where all dead wizards go.

Perhaps Dumbledore chose to appear to Harry at King's Cross because Harry would have to decide where he wanted to go at the end of their conversation. Harry's journey was all about choice and where those choices would take him. Once again he was going to be presented with a choice...

I think Dumbledore was allowed through th veil to this palce to explain to Harry about this choices but also to explain some of his own actions to Harry. Dumbledore regretted a lot of his actions (past and present) and he wanted clouser with Harry.
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P.S. -
Dumbledore has the shape of the London Underground above his knee.

Kings Cross iRailway Station s a part of the London Underground.
(King's Cross contects to King's Cross St. Pancras Underground Station.
Pancras is a tube station in the London Borough of Camden.
It is the busiest station on the London Underground)

I see it as a transitionary place between the physical world and the wizarding afterlife. I believe King's Cross was used as it is related to going on a journey - when you get on a train you can go both ways - hence why Harry had a choice about what to do. I don't think its name is King's Cross and neither is it the literal, physical station.

What do you expect - Jo is a Christian, so naturally she will incorporate her beliefs into her writing.

I thought that as well. The child is described as 'unwanted'. Either unwanted by the parents or by his later 'owner', Harry. I like this metaphor, the piece of Volemorts soul being a helpless (and innocent) child.
And yes, I think he stopped understanding Parseltongue.

Yes, I agree with you, it's definitively different for everybody else. Dumbledore has no idea, where they are and he says: 'This is, as they say, your party.'

The author needs different tools to explain us things which are essential for the understanding of the story. You could call the Pensieve part odd as well. It is a simple way to show us the past. We already know the Pensieve and don't put it in question any more.
I liked the chapter not only because it contains may explanations but also for being a quiet break in the showdown.

I totally agree. Harry was a Horcrux, so when Voldemort killed him, he actually killed the part of his own soul that was in Harry. So, Harry was free of his soul, but he still had his own. I think that's why he was able to return from King's Cross. He never actually died. After all, nothing can reawaken the dead, even Dumbledore said that.

As for King's Cross the actual place, I think Harry was always particuarly fond of that place. It's where he left the world he hated so much and entered the world he loved. Why wouldn't that be the place where he saw Dumbledore? I think Jo wrote it beautifully.

Rowling had kept every aspect of religion out of her first six books and 4/5ths of hte final one, why bring it in so heavily in this one. In the first six books their wasn't a single mention of religion. I mean they didn't even say 'god' once and now we have resurections in the final book.

I agree with the whole purgatory thing. I think it was King's Cross because that was where he always waited to go see Hogwarts, his heaven. And he got to leave the Dursleys, his "underworld". Hogwarts was his home, but this time, he had to choose to go back, and not jump on the Hogwarts Express. Just an idea.

That's your opinion. Jo did say before the book came out that she wasn't going to discuss religion in the context of Harry Potter until after Deathly Hallows, which indicated she was going to allude to something. I personally don't see why religion seems to offend people or make them feel threatened -- and that's coming from an agnostic. I still think it's only natural for her to be influenced in her writing by her beliefs.

Ooo I love the symbolism! Good call!

I think the infant was the part of Voldermort's soul. That was why dumbledore kept on saying to just ignore it. Since they were one, they split. Making Harry his own person and the seprate soul was Voldermort's. It was never said, but I just put two and two together.

I thought that like if you were to get on the train you would begin the journey to the new adventure awaiting you so that why i thought Kings Cross.

[QUOTE=EmmaRiddle;5423964]That's your opinion. Jo did say before the book came out that she wasn't going to discuss religion in the context of Harry Potter until after Deathly Hallows, which indicated she was going to allude to something. I personally don't see why religion seems to offend people or make them feel threatened -- and that's coming from an agnostic. I still think it's only natural for her to be influenced in her writing by her beliefs.
[QUOTE]

I don't think that that's just my opinion; they're really are no religious references at all in teh first six and three quarters books that anyone can find. Time Magazine, before DH was published, had just run a small little article on the fact that religion was completely absent. Also, I wasn't threatened by the introduction of Christianity, I consider myself a Christian. I was just surprised and still feel that one of the many magical things about the Harry Potter world was that religion was absent in it untill this.

Different readers read texts differently, depending on the context within which they read. Parrallels have been drawn by religious figures speaking against the view that Harry Potter = the Devil. I think wherever there are humans, there is a tendency for faith, a belief in something beyond physical comprehension. And the veil, the voices and King's Cross is all a part of that, in a subtle manner.

I think this all greatly depends on one's definition of what is religiously relevant. Basically, Christianity is based on the battle between good (God) and evil (Satan, sin) as they pertain to human souls. Isn't that essentially the basis of every epic story? Voldemort (Satan) uses force and the deceptive seduction of Dark magic (sin) to bring people to the dark side (hell, essentially). You can make a religious inference anywhere if you look hard enough (Like Star Wars, for a notable example. It can be quite interesting what you come up with).

If I had the time and energy, I could pick out religious references in any of the Harry Potter books, I'm sure. Every culture has some idea of a life after death; the fact that Jo was brought up in the Western world probably greatly influenced her to make the afterlife something familiar, and therefore Christian-like. I personally didn't take it as such, because I took it at face-value: Harry died, and was sent somewhere to speak with Dumbledore so that Jo could move the plot on and answer a load of questions.

I could sit here and write a dissertation about how Dumbledore is the Harry Potter equivalent of God, but why bother? In the end, people get what they want to out of literature. Simple as that, but that's my opinion.

More on-topic, I couldn't agree more with Skiving Snackboxes. King's Cross is symbolic of the choices we make. Harry, stuck between a peaceful afterlife and a mostly uncertain and dangerous future, chose to continue living. It's like Dumbledore says in the GoF movie: "Dark and difficult times lie ahead. Soon we must all face the choice between what is right and what is easy." Harry made that choice.