The Elder wand … a killing stick with it’s power removed … made me think of the cross.

The Cloak … covered over with the ‘robe of righteousness’ … we put on Jesus righteousness and so are not condemned to die for our own lack of righeousness.

The resurrection stone (that you turn over 3 times to use) .. simply that resurrection is ours through the sacrifice of Christ … or the tombstone that Jesus spent 3 days behind – truly dead but perfect and unable to be held by death. Hmm.. yeah I like the tombstone angle.

Agree

Press releases tell that several European title translations of HP7 will translate «hallows» with «talismans» (for instance the Norwegian translation due to be published om Dec 1st). I don’t think «talisman» is a good way of translating the word «hallow». It would have been better to choose «relics», to conserve the sence of sanctity in the english word. But this is probably not a very big question. The same object may in the Bible be both a means of salvation and (later on) a means of paganism (cfr the brass snake of Moses).

Odd Sverre Hove
Bergen, Norway

The Elder Wand avoids death through power to resist death. However, the wand’s power does not truly conquer death, only postpones it and only so long as the owner maintains his vigilance. When used to avoid death by taking the lives of others, the wand corrupts the one using it. We can also see in the Elder Wand the solution that is most common in men’s minds. They watch carefully over their health, avoid danger, and minimize risks, but eventually death catches up with them anyway. When used wisely, the power to resist death can lead to a long, full life with no regrets when death comes. But when a person ends up consuming his life trying to avoid death, never truly enjoying life as a result, he has not conquered death but become trapped by it.

The Resurrection Stone avoids death by bringing the dead back to life. However, the mere image of the dead leads to despair and eventually to the death of the holder of the stone. Those who dwell on the dead, endlessly longing for their return, can become trapped in depression and eventually despair. Despair leads to death, since the person no longer feels joy at living and ultimately has no life at all.

However, used wisely the stone does have an important power. For those who do not fear their own death, the comfort of others who have already gone beyond death can be a blessing rather than a curse. If they walked this earth, lived a full life, and embraced death when it came, then we have hope that we can do the same. This use of the Resurrection Stone is what allows Harry to pass by the Dementors on his way to confront Voldemort. From the example of those who have already passed from life to death, Harry gains the peace he needs to avoid despair.

The Cloak of Invisibility is the most unusual of the Hallows. It has the power to hide the person wearing it, and thus the person can avoid death in many situations. Most interesting is that the cloak is the one worn by Death. Because the wearer is not visible to the living he has, in effect, taken on the form of death. One interpretation is that when we no longer fear death, having already embraced it, we can truly live. This is a paradox, to be sure, but a key element in understanding Harry Potter. As Dumbledore said to Harry:

“You are the true master of death, because the true master does not seek to run away from Death. He accepts that he must die, and understands that there are far, far worse things in the living world than dying.”

In the end, avoiding death doesn’t work as a means of conquering death. Paradoxically, embracing death is the only way to conquer death. Harry’s march into the forest to die at the hand (wand?) of Voldemort is the inevitable solution to both the Horcruxes and Hallows. The Gospel of John 12:25-27 sums it up nicely.

In terms of the Trinity, there is some similarity. Dying with Christ (Romans 6) could be considered similar to putting on the Cloak of Invisibility.

As to the Hallows being “not hallowed”, as I understand the fable, it is not the objects in themselves that are evil, but the way they are used, which is something Harry realizes but Voldemort doesn’t:

In the fable, the hallows are magical objects used by the brothers to try and cheat death, i.e. to usurp God’s power over Life and Death, which is evil. Death functions both as a personified obstacle and a tempter.

In HP7, Rowlings novel, the hallows are magical objects (literally the same as in the fable?) used by Voldemort and Harry, among others. Voldemort obviously doesn’t know about the fable or he disregards it; at any rate he hasn’t learned the moral lesson inherent in it, but Harry does and has. Therefore Harry uses the magical object differently. He does not covet God’s power over Life and Death, he doesn’t want to be immortal, or in other words, be like God, which incidentally is the original sin.

In real life, finally – or rather, the level of symbolism – the hallows are equivalent to mythological objects such as the Holy Grail, objects which symbolize the power of God, and Voldemort and Harry become the antagonists Death and Everyman. On this level, the elder wand symbolizes God power over life and death which may not be usurped; the stone, which Harry uses, like you say, “to have the comfort (of his beloved dead) very briefly, while he himself is approaching his departure” becomes a symbol of the resurrection associated with Christ; and the cloak, indeed “the only one of the Hallows that can be used safely on a regular basis”, becomes the Holy Spirit which helps Everyman find his way in the word. With his final sacrifice and his renunciation of the power conferred by the Elder wand and the stone (i.e. the usurped power of God), Harry proves himself to be capable of Love, and therefore reconciled to God and able to return to Paradise (i.e. the family on the level of the novel).

While I don’t have a problem with the way Harry used the stone, I kind of wish he hadn’t left it lying in the Forest. Much too risky. I think he should have accio’d the thing, then taken it down to the Department of Mysteries and tossed it through the Veil.

Thus, the Elder Wand confers absolute power (the Father Almighty); the Resurrection Stone the power to raise the dead (Christ); the invisibility cloak hides or shields one from death (Holy Spirit). In the end, it is the Elder Wand (i.e. the power over life and death or “God Almighty”), rather his desire for it, that ultimately defeats Voldemort – fittingly, since the Elder-tree is also associated in Germanic Mythology with the goddess Holla who protects the life of humans and animals, but was also given human sacrifices.

However, it is not human sacrifice that ensures power over life and death, as Voldemorts failed attempt to gain control by murdering Snape shows, but the ability to conquer (“expelliarmus”!). Only by conquering (yourself, your desire for power, you name it) Everyman can ultimately gain the grail and conquer death. That’s the same motif we find in the philosopher’s stone which will only come to who wants to have it but not use it.

Thus, if the Horcruxes symbolize, as I think, the capacity fallen man has for choosing evil (and the resulting consequence of having to face death), the Hallows and the grail-like hunt for them symbolize fallen man’s desire to conquer death as well – to taste of the fruit of the tree of life and death (and aren’t wands made from trees?), and become truly godlike. On the other hand, they also symbolize God’s power over death, the reward that comes with obedience and the willingness to love and die the sacrificial death of love. Make sense?

- A temptation that everyone else had failed, but HP passed

I am amazed no one else sees this. – The devil offers Jesus the world – the three brothers make a deal with death. Harry turns down the temptation, just like Jesus

David