Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Parenthood
Time, Mistakes, and the Past
Friendship, Family, Love, and Bravery
Reputation and Expectation
Death and Sacrifice
Summary
Analysis
On the roof of the Hogwarts owlery, Albus and Scorpius debate what spell to use to destroy the Time-Turner. Suddenly, Delphi appears, and Albus explains that he sent her an owl to let her know what they were doing—it concerns her too. Albus tells Delphi that they need to destroy the Time-Turner, describing the horrible alternate timeline they created when Cedric lived, became a Death Eater, and enabled Voldemort to rule the world. Delphi agrees that they have to destroy it—Cedric would have understood the importance of saving the world.
Delphi’s comment that Cedric would have understood destroying the Time-Turner in order to save the world—rather than trying to save him from his unjust death—suggests that even sacrificing others, when done for the benefit of society as a whole, is an ethical and heroic thing to do. Delphi even suggests that Cedric would likely have made the same choice if given the chance, thus also marking him as a hero.
Themes
As Delphi takes the Time-Turner, Albus notices a tattoo on the back of her neck for the first time. She tells him it’s a bird called an Augurey that cries when rain comes—wizards used to believe that they foretold death. She explains that when she was growing up, her guardian, Euphemia Rowle, kept one in a cage. Rowle only took Delphi in because she received gold for fostering her. Rowle said that the Augurey cried because it knew Delphi would come to a “sticky end.” She got the tattoo because it reminds her that the future is hers to make. Scorpius realizes that the Rowles were pretty extreme Death Eaters, and he demands that she give the Time-Turner back.
The Augurey symbolizes Delphi’s desire to shape her own future, and in some ways is contrasted with the Time-Turner. While Albus and Scorpius realize the problems with trying to affect the past and craft the future, Delphi suggests that she finds empowerment in trying to change her own path forward by affecting the past. Ironically, the Augurey comes out of Delphi’s childhood trauma, suggesting that even though she appears to be focusing on the future, in reality she is simply trying to make up for her difficult past.
Themes
Scorpius says that he doesn’t believe Delphi was ill, or that that’s the reason she didn’t come to Hogwarts. In the other world, they called her the Augurey. Delphi starts to smile sinisterly, and she quickly binds Albus and Scorpius, snapping their wands in half. Albus asks her why she’s doing this and who she is. Delphi says that she’s the new past, the new future, and the answer the world has been looking for.
As Scorpius figures out that Delphi was the “Augurey” mentioned in the alternate timeline, it provides some clarity on the bird symbol from earlier in the act, showing how Delphi used the Augurey to demonstrate that she was the master of her own—and the world’s—fate.
Themes
