Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is the seventh and final of the
Harry Potter novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The book was released on 21 July 2007, ending the series that began in 1997 with the publication of
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. This book chronicles the events directly following
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2005), and leads to the long-awaited final confrontation between Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was published in the United Kingdom by Bloomsbury Publishing, in the United States by Scholastic, in Canada by Raincoast Books, and in Australia and New Zealand by Allen & Unwin. Released globally in ninety-three countries,
Deathly Hallows broke sales records as the fastest-selling book ever. It sold 15 million copies in the first twenty-four hours following its release, including more than 11 million in the U.S. and U.K. alone. The previous record, nine million in its first day, had been held by
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. The novel has also been translated into numerous languages, including Ukrainian, Swedish, Polish and
Hindi.
Several awards were given to the novel, including the 2008 Colorado Blue Spruce Book Award, and it was listed as a "Best Book for Young Adults" by the American Library Association.
[7] Reception to the book was generally positive, although some reviewers found the characters to be repetitive or unchanging. A two-part film based on the novel is in the works, with part one's release date in November 2010.
Plot introduction
Throughout the six previous novels in the Harry Potter series, the main character, Harry Potter, has struggled with the inherent difficulties of adolescence in addition to being a famous wizard. When Harry was a baby, Lord Voldemort, a powerful evil wizard, murdered Harry's parents but mysteriously vanished after attempting to kill Harry. This results in Harry's immediate fame, and his being placed in the care of his muggle, or non-magical, relatives
Aunt Petunia and
Uncle Vernon.
Harry re-enters the wizarding world at age 11, enrolling in the
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He makes friends with Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, and is soon confronted by Lord Voldemort, who is trying to regain power (and a body). Returning to school after summer break, there are several attacks on students after the legendary "Chamber of Secrets" is thought to be opened. Harry ends the attacks by killing a Basilisk and defeating Lord Voldemort's "memory" stored in an enchanted diary. The following year, Harry hears that he has been targeted by escaped murderer
Sirius Black. Despite stringent security measures at Hogwarts, Harry is confronted by Black at the end of his third year of schooling and Harry learns that Black was framed and is actually Harry's godfather. Harry's fourth year of school sees him entered in a dangerous magical competition called the
Triwizard Tournament. At the conclusion of the Tournament, Harry witnesses the return of Lord Voldemort to full strength. When the next school year begins, the Ministry of Magic appoints
Dolores Umbridge as the new High Inquisitor of Hogwarts. After forming an underground student group in opposition to Umbridge, Harry and several of his friends face off against Voldemort's
Death Eaters, a group of Dark witches and wizards, and narrowly defeat them. In Harry's sixth year of school, he learns that Voldemort has been using Horcruxes to become immortal. Horcruxes are fragments of the soul that are placed within an object so that when the body dies, a part of the soul remains and the person can be regenerated or resurrected.
[8] However, the destruction of the creator's body leaves the wizard or witch in a state of half-life, without corporeal form.
[9] When returning from a mission to discover a Horcrux,
Professor Dumbledore, the Headmaster of the school and Harry's mentor, is murdered by Severus Snape, a teacher at the school with whom Harry is consistently at odds and who Harry has suspected of being a Death Eater. At the conclusion of the book, Harry pledges not to return to school the following year and to search for Horcruxes instead.