Choices, Redemption, and Morality Theme Analysis

For the seventh and final installment of the Harry Potter series, Harry, Hermione, and Ron—all now adults in the Wizarding world—set off on their own to follow through with the mission that Dumbledore gave Harry: to discover and destroy Voldemort's Horcruxes (bits of his soul contained in physical objects) and, in doing so, to destroy Voldemort himself. At the heart of the story is a question that the series has already spent a lot of time exploring: what makes a person good or evil? As an adult, Harry begins to truly understand that people aren't born good or evil, though the particulars of one's upbringing can certainly help sway a person one way or the other. Instead, the true marker of either good or evil is what choices a person makes—and by introducing this element of choice, the novel also leaves room for morally ambiguous characters to redeem themselves.

The idea that good and evil are choices and not innate states of being is one that Harry has grappled with time and again as he's grown up and come of age in the Wizarding world. Despite this, Harry still struggles to understand how this applies to both people he loves and those he unabashedly hates. This rises to the forefront at Bill and Fleur's wedding, when Harry finds himself in the middle of a heated argument between Elphias Doge, a friend of Dumbledore's, and Auntie Muriel, the Weasleys' gossip-loving old aunt. It's important to keep in mind that, for Harry, drawing out any possible nuance in Dumbledore's character is complicated by the fact that Harry idolized Dumbledore. Dumbledore was a combination of a father figure, mentor, and co-conspirator to Harry, and the Dumbledore that Harry knew was unfailingly selfless, kind, and worked tirelessly on behalf of minorities and other marginalized communities in the Wizarding world. Because of this, it's a nasty shock for Harry when he hears that Dumbledore was possibly to blame for his own sister's death and even briefly flirted with evil as a young man by becoming friends with the evil wizard Grindelwald and plotting to subjugate Muggles. A major part of Harry's development happens as he struggles to reconcile these wildly different sides of Dumbledore. Harry must try to hold two possible truths about Dumbledore—that he was a good and kind person, and that he made horrific mistakes and held unjustifiable views as a young man—in his mind at the same time, and he must decide whether or not he can forgive Dumbledore for this misstep.

The questions of Dumbledore's ambiguous morality plague Harry throughout the novel, but as he, Ron, and Hermione journey through the countryside in search of Horcruxes, Harry is offered a variety of opportunities to see the same questions of moral ambiguity play out. From Kreacher, the house-elf that Harry grudgingly inherited (and whom Harry has detested since meeting him two years ago), Harry discovers that Sirius's younger brother, Regulus, wasn't the brainwashed, Voldemort-loving Dark wizard that Sirius made him out to be. While it's true that Regulus joined the Death Eaters because he initially believed in their mission, Harry also discovers that Regulus was kind and gentle toward Kreacher, and that he died after secretly working to take down Voldemort by stealing one of the Horcruxes. Kreacher's story adds nuance and depth to all the people he mentions, not least himself—it turns out that Kreacher wasn't an evil, spiteful creature; all he wanted was kindness, attention, and thanks. Getting recognition from Harry sways Kreacher's loyalty from dangerous Dark wizards like the Malfoys and Bellatrix Lestrange—who did treat him kindly—and means that Kreacher even shows up to rally the house-elves in the final battle at Hogwarts on Harry's behalf. Through the characters of Kreacher and Regulus, Harry is introduced to the idea that there are wizards working for Voldemort who do get cold feet and later fight for good, while also reminding Harry that even his beloved godfather, Sirius, wasn't faultless—in life, he was cruel and dismissive of Kreacher.

Later, Ron, disillusioned with Harry and their quest, leaves Harry and Hermione in a fit of rage for the comfort of a warm bed and hot meals. Though Harry's close relationship with Ron gives him the willingness to understand that Ron's bad decision doesn't make him a bad person, Ron importantly still feels horrible and spends a great deal of time trying to make up for his misstep—showing that it falls as much to the person who made the mistake to atone for their misdeeds as it does to others to forgive them. All of this primes Harry to eventually decide that, for the purposes of his quest, it's far more important to focus on and fight for Dumbledore's better qualities, while also learning from Dumbledore's mistakes that it's possible for people to change for the better. This allows Harry to accept help from former enemies like Narcissa Malfoy and even to forgive his longtime enemy, Severus Snape—who, Harry discovers, spent his entire adult life trying desperately to atone for his misdeeds.

The novel's final suggestion that good, evil, and the possibility for redemption are choices that anyone can make is clearer nowhere than at the culmination of the final battle, when Harry gives Voldemort the choice to repent. That Voldemort chooses not to, and that Voldemort's final killing curse rebounds and kills him instead of Harry, forms a poignant and cautionary tale. Anyone, the novel suggests, can atone for their bad choices by choosing to feel compassion and work for others, while doubling down on one's cruel and heartless beliefs will only bring worse outcomes—and giving someone the opportunity to make this decision, as Harry does, is one of the kindest things a person can do for another.