What can be said about the sparkling shawl bead laden glassy-eyed witch that is Sybill Trelawney? She is known to be wacky, a little bit overly dramatic and of course, the seer who predicted Voldemort’s downfall. Her prophecy shaped the entire Harry Potter wizarding world, its characters, and storylines.
Poor Trelawney is doomed not to be taken seriously as she is a descendent of Cassandra, the cursed Greek mythological diviner. No one would believe her predictions and Trelawney has much the same fate. So J.K. Rowling made this character in a very sneaky way. Trelawney is doomed not to be believed, but many, if not all of her predictions are true, even if she doesn’t understand this herself.
Peter Pettigrew
Oh, poor Sirius Black. His friends believed that he had sold out Lily and James Potter’s location. Even Lupin believed it until he saw that Peter Pettigrew was alive and visible on the Marauder’s Map, a map that never lies. “His servant has been chained these twelve years.” Pettigrew was chained. It might not have been Azkaban, but Peter was trapped in a form in which he could never reveal his true identity, Scabbers the rat.
It was outside the Whomping Willow that Pettigrew escaped. “Tonight, before midnight… the servant will break free and set out to rejoin his master.” Running in fear to the forest in Albania that awaited what was left of Voldemort. “The Dark Lord will rise again with his servant’s aid, greater and more terrible than ever he was.”
Student Deaths In The Battle Of Hogwarts
Long before the Battle of Hogwarts, in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, McGonagall said, “Then you should know, Potter, that Sybill Trelawney has predicted the death of one student a year since she arrived at this school. None of them has died yet.” But after that fateful battle?
Many fans theorize that Trelawney wasn’t a drama queen who just liked to greet new classes with the omen of death. That Trelawney was listing the many deaths that would come to pass. How many students were the target of her pointed finger? If any prediction was hoped to be wrong, it was certainly this one.
First To Rise, First To Die
If only Trelawney could have been a fraud and crazy old kook. But we know better now than to insult her words, no matter how vague and wacky they may seem. When Dumbledore offers a seat to Trelawney during a Christmas dinner, she objects saying “I dare not, Headmaster! If I join the table, we shall be thirteen! Nothing could be more unlucky! Never forget that when thirteen dine together, the first to rise will be the first to die.” And she was right. Not once. Not twice. But three times. On that very table, at a meeting in Grimmauld Place and after the mourning of Alastor Moody. This prophecy claimed Dumbledore, Sirius, and Lupin respectively.
Basically The Plot Of Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince
“Two of spades: conflict,” she murmured, as she passed the place where Harry crouched, hidden. “Seven of spades: an ill omen. Ten of spades: violence. Knave of spades: a dark young man, possibly troubled, one who dislikes the questioner —” All foretelling the incidents leading to Dumbledore’s death and the invasion of Hogwarts in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. The cards she shuffled over and over again remained the same. When she decided to draw a fifth, “The lightning-struck tower… calamity. Disaster. Coming closer all the time." It revealed the manner of Dumbledore’s death. And although Trelawney tried to warn Dumbledore, it was to no avail.
Right Birthday, Wrong Person
Harry is a Horcrux. A living carrier of a sliver of Voldemort’s soul. In Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban, no one is yet privy to this information. So when Trelawney predicts the specifics of Harry’s birth and is corrected by Harry who says he was born in July, is it possible that she really saw into the hidden segment of Voldemort’s soul?
A person of “dark hair” and “mean stature” with “tragic losses so young in life” could be the young Tom Riddle, whose mother passed away and father abandoned him, as well as Harry. The only difference? Their birth date. And when was Tom Riddle born? Midwinter. As Trelawney was “right in saying.”
Moony’s Teaching Post
Professor Remus Lupin, also known as “Moony” by his fellow Mauraders, was a werewolf. Unfortunately for Remus, it was he who would be the victim of the cursed Defense Against the Dark Arts position. Cursed since Voldemort was rejected the position by Dumbledore all those years ago. And so, is it just dumb luck that Trelawney predicts he won’t last at Hogwarts? “I have seen that poor Professor Lupin will not be with us for very long. He seems aware, himself, that his time is short." Or is Trelawney even going so far as to predict the death of the beloved teacher in the Battle of Hogwarts? She’s right either way.
Hermione’s Dramatic Exit
It was predicted by Trelawney that “Around Easter, one of our number will leave us forever.” Something that sounded much more menacing than its actual meaning. Hermione and Trelawney were always at odds. Hermione, a student of books and proven knowledge, didn’t believe in the art of divination. And so seeing the class as a waste of her already time turner twisted schedule she decided to leave. Simple as that. We wonder if Hermione had heard Harry’s prediction during his divination exam of a very much alive hippogriff flying away before either knew of their plans to save him, would she be less of a skeptic?
The Importance of Love
Why did Harry survive Voldemort’s attack on him in Harry Potter and The Order of The Phoenix? Why did he survive his first year in the chambers beneath Hogwarts as Quirrell threatened to end his life? And why did one-year-old Harry survive that dreaded Halloween night when his parents did not? Love. It was Lily’s sacrifice as she pleaded to the Dark Lord not to kill her son that protected him from that moment onwards. Trelawney predicted that the one to defeat Voldemort would have a “power the Dark Lord knows not.” A power he could never know as he was conceived under the influence of a love potion. It is to be noted that Harry was also saved by Narcissa’s love for Draco during Deathly Hallows.
Sliding Doors
“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…” Neville Longbottom. Seen by his peers as the clumsy one, and by his grandmother as a person who could always be better, always be something more.
But this picture could have been very different indeed. This prophecy could have been directed towards either Harry Potter or Neville Longbottom. But it was Voldemort’s choice that caused the prophecy to become final. He had marked Harry as his equal, sealing his fate.
The Fateful Prediction
“…And either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives… " It has already been established that Harry is a Horcrux. That Harry had to die in order for Voldemort’s soul to perish. But when Harry learned of this knowledge, he was not aware that he would survive. He genuinely thought he was going to die. Trelawney’s all-knowing, life-determining prophecy had finally come to pass and Voldemort was dead. A husk of the great wizard he had aspired to be, for so long and so hard.
