Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Choices, Redemption, and Morality
Grief and Coming of Age
Knowledge and Power
Mortality and Sacrifice
Friendship, Community, and Resistance
Summary
Analysis
Harry feels like he's back with Dumbledore's body as Bill, Fleur, Dean, and Luna surround him. Dean carries Griphook inside and Harry sees Voldemort punishing everyone at Malfoy Manor. Harry says that he wants to dig Dobby's grave by hand and he realizes that his grief and anger have finally allowed him to shut his mind to Voldemort. He feels as though he no longer cares about the Horcruxes and thinks of how Dumbledore predicted that Wormtail would show Harry mercy. Ron and Dean join Harry to dig and, finally, Harry wraps Dobby in his jacket. Ron puts his own socks and shoes on Dobby's feet while Dean gives Dobby his hat. Luna and everyone else arrive and Harry feels as though Dobby deserves a grander funeral. Luna thanks Dobby, Bill refills the hole with dirt, and Harry carves a headstone.
Choosing to dig Dobby's grave by hand allows Harry to feel as though he's honoring the years of work that Dobby did, unpaid and unappreciated. Further, realizing that he can now shut his mind to Voldemort shows Harry that when he focuses on his love for others, even when it's angry and tumultuous love like now, he's able to remain in his own mind and maintain autonomy. This should remind Harry that Dumbledore had the right idea, and that there are few things in the world stronger or more meaningful than love.
Themes
Harry joins everyone in the living room. Bill is in the middle of explaining that he's moved the rest of his family to Muriel's to protect them from the Death Eaters. He says that both Shell Cottage and Muriel's houses are protected by the Fidelius Charm and says that they can move Ollivander and Griphook soon. Harry says he needs to speak to them both first. Harry thinks that he saw Dumbledore's eye in the mirror and then Dobby came. He wonders if Dumbledore knew Harry would struggle to know what to do, and wonders if Dumbledore withheld information on purpose. Harry sees flashes of Voldemort arriving at Hogwarts and Harry chooses to speak to Griphook first. He calls Ron and Hermione.
Seeing Dumbledore's eye makes it clear to Harry that there are questions that, at this point, he simply can't find answers to. Dumbledore is dead and, yet, Harry saw his eye—now, Harry has to choose to believe that Dumbledore is helping him and orchestrated a quest for him that Harry is capable of finishing, or he has to decide that Dumbledore deceived him. That Harry has the choice one way or the other reminds him that it's up to him to decide how to engage with Dumbledore's legacy; it's not something that someone else will force on him.
Themes
Griphook is still holding the sword of Gryffindor. He and Harry remember that Griphook showed Harry to his vault at Gringotts years ago. Griphook mentions that Harry buried Dobby and says that Harry is an unusual wizard in that he dug the grave by hand and rescued him from the Malfoys. Harry says he needs help breaking into the Lestranges' Gringotts vault. Griphook insists it's impossible, but when Harry says he doesn't want to do this for his own gain, Griphook says he believes it—most "wand-carriers" don't treat goblins and elves well, but Harry does. Griphook notes that wizards have denied goblins the right to wands and Ron begins to argue that goblins won't share their metalworking secrets. Harry insists that this isn't about wizards being against other creatures, but Griphook points out that, with Voldemort in power, no wizard will stand up for goblins or elves.
Griphook's observations about Harry are observations about a wizard who, notably, wasn't raised in the Wizarding world. Ron has grown up hearing about goblins and how they keep their secrets, so he hasn't yet fully bought into Hermione's desire to liberate elves. Harry is in some ways an outsider who can see these injustices and engage with them without the biased history that places wizards above everyone else. Griphook also has a point about what will happen with Voldemort in power: it's one thing to stand up to bumbling Cornelius Fudge for elf rights, and another entirely to fight for one's own life in addition to elves' or goblins' rights.
Themes
Hermione insists that, as a Mudblood, she has just as few rights as Griphook does under Voldemort. Harry says he needs something else from the Lestranges' vault and Griphook says he'll think about helping. Harry takes the sword from Griphook as he leaves the room, and, in the hallway, he whispers that he thinks the Lestranges have another Horcrux in the vault. He says that Bellatrix probably doesn't know what it is, but that Gringotts would be a symbol of belonging for Voldemort.
It's worth noting that Voldemort seems to keep secrets from his followers in the same way that Dumbledore possibly kept secrets from Harry. By drawing out these comparisons, it becomes easier to see that there's a lot of nuance when it comes to good versus evil in the Wizarding world, and that people from all walks of life engage in the same, possibly unsavory, behavior.
Themes
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In Ollivander's room, Harry firmly closes his mind to Voldemort, thinking he made his decision to speak to Griphook first. He asks Ollivander first if he can mend his broken wand, but Ollivander can't. He then asks Ollivander to identify the wands Harry stole. One is Bellatrix's; the other is Draco's. Ollivander explains that wands have feelings and learn from their owners. He thinks that Draco's wand is now loyal to Harry, and that Wormtail's wand is loyal to Ron. Harry asks if it's necessary to kill to take control of a wand and asks about the Elder Wand. Ollivander looks terrified, but confirms everything that Harry has seen about Voldemort's quest for it. He says that Voldemort thinks the wand will make him invincible.
Just like Xenophilius Lovegood, Ollivander exists in a liminal space when it comes to good and evil: though he could've let Voldemort kill him rather than spill the secrets of wandlore, he chose instead to save his life and share what he knows. However, Ollivander is just as willing to tell Harry the same information and to give Harry other useful information, suggesting that he's attempting to atone for what he told Voldemort by telling the one person capable of remedying what Voldemort will do.
Themes
Ollivander assures Hermione that the Elder Wand is indeed real, and confirms that he told Voldemort that Gregorovitch had the wand. Harry then asks what Ollivander knows about the Deathly Hallows. Ollivander looks bewildered. Harry thanks him and leads Ron and Hermione out to the garden, still resisting the connection with Voldemort. He tells them that Grindelwald stole the wand from Gregorovitch, and Dumbledore won the wand in their famous duel. Ron says they need to go to Hogwarts and get it, but Harry says it's too late. He sees Voldemort opening Dumbledore's tomb to take the wand and tells Ron that Dumbledore wanted them to get the Horcruxes, not the Hallows.
Now, Harry reveals that his choice to speak to Griphook first really means a choice to not go to Hogwarts and stop Voldemort from getting the Elder Wand out of Dumbledore's tomb. With this, Harry shows that he's throwing his faith in his knowledge, not in the brute strength represented by the Elder Wand. He believes that he can find information that will help him overpower the wand or make the wand less meaningful in the long run.
Themes
