How did Harry Potter Come Back to Life?

The Harry Potter franchise contains many different emotional deaths and one such should have been Harry himself. However, turns out Harry actually comes back to life after he got hit by the Killing curse. This confused many fans since the Killing curse was presented as a piece of magic that allows you to instantly kill your opponents. So, how did Harry avoid death and come back to life?

The truth is Harry never actually died. His mother’s protection lived on in Voldemort’s blood after he incorporated it in the potion which brought him back to his physical body. This is why Harry got to heaven, but since he could choose to stay alive he managed to come back to the real world.

If you want to know more about this topic which often confuses fans keep reading this article.

Why did Harry not die in the Dark Forest?

Once Voldemort announced he would spare everyone in Hogwarts if Harry came to him willingly and surrendered. Once Harry made it to Deatheaters’ camp Voldemort cast the Killing Curse, but turns out Harry didn’t die.

The question has divided the fans ever since J. K. Rowling wrote the event into the books since there are so many different explanations as to why Harry didn’t die.

Most people believe that Harry escaped the death because once Voldemort’s Avada Kedavra hit him, the curse only killed his own part of the soul which was connected to Harry.

Another thing fans often point out is that Voldemort could not kill Harry since he was using the Elder Wand at the time and the true owner of the wand, ever since the events in the Malfoy manor was Harry. 

This seems like the most likely explanation since it’s pointed out in the books as well. The book series points out that while Voldemort could use the Elder Wand he could not cast a proper Avada Kedavra which in turn would not have its ordinary effect.

However, the conversation Harry has with Dumbledore reveals that his mother’s protection saved him and he never truly died which is why he had the choice to go back to life.

How did Harry Potter come back to life?

The answer to this question is connected to the previous one. It in part has to do with the way Voldemort came back to life. He used a resurrection potion that featured Harry’s blood. 

This process reestablishes Lilly’s protection over Harry because it was carried over through his blood. Because this made the protection active again Voldemort only killed his own part of the soul and not Harry.

This left Harry in a sort of a Limbo where he met professor Dumbledor. He was essentially stuck between life and death and was given an option to choose whether he wants to continue on the path of death or if he wants to come back to life.

Presumably, this was happening while Harry was being carried back towards Hogwarts and he made his decision on the way which is why he was able to come back to life just as they came back to Hogwarts.

One important thing to keep in mind is that Harry didn’t actually die during this process. While the killing curse was successful it only killed the part of Voldemort’s soul and Harry only got knocked out.

Did the Resurrection Stone bring Harry Potter back to life? 

Contrary to its name, the Resurrection Stone is not what brought Harry back to life. Although many people assume the stone has the ability to bring the dead back to life this is not really how it works.

The way it works is described in the legend of the three brothers. Rather than reviving people the stone just brings them back as a shadow of who they were before they died.

This is why the second brother ultimately killed himself. His original wish was to bring the girl he loved back to life but the Resurrection Stone couldn’t bring her back.

We actually see the way it works when Harry drops the stone in the Forbidden forest. Rather than bringing his parents and Remus and Sirius back to life, they appear in front of him like ghosts. 

This means that even if Harry tried to bring himself back to life with the stone, he wouldn’t actually succeed in his plane. He would simply return to the world as a ghost.

How does Harry Potter come back to life without the Resurrection Stone?  

Harry survived the Killing curse because of his mother’s protection. The night Voldemort killed his parents, Lilly created a magical protection power originating from love. 

The protection was supposed to be lifted once harry turned seventeen, however, Voldemort accidentally prolonged its effects. Voldemort concluded that if he mixes Harry’s blood into his resurrection potion, it would course through his veins and allow him to bypass Lilly’s protection and allow him to touch Harry without getting hurt.

What Voldemort didn’t know is that this would also make sure the protection continues to live through his own blood and keep Harry alive. 

This is why when Harry got hit by the Killing curse he did end up in J. K. Rowling’s version of heaven he wasn’t actually dead. After the conversation with professor Dumbledore, he got the chance to either stay with him or return to the real world.

Why did Dumbledore give Harry the Resurrection Stone? 

Since we don’t see Dumbledore’s full will, except for the parts read out loud to Harry, Hermione and Ron we will never truly know what Dumbledore’s intentions were. However, there are quite a few theories as to why he left Harry the Resurrection Stone.

The most popular theory comes from the other things he left to the trio. Many fans believed that since he left The Tales of Beedle the Bard to Hermione, Dumbledore was alluding to the Deathly Hallows.

Since the collection of books contain the story of the three brothers which deal with the three gifts Death gave to the brothers, many believe he wanted to point the trio to the Deathly Hallows.

After all, Dumbledore during his younger days was a known believer of the story. While most of the wizarding world believes the story was completely fictional, Dumbledore was convinced whoever holds all three of the gifts will become the Master of the Death.

However, there is a more fitting explanation. Since Dumbledore was aware of the fact that Harry will have to die, he left the stone to him so he can get some reassurance during his final moments before he confronted Voldemort and allowed him to kill him.

Did Dumbledore know Harry would survive? 

Although most fans look at professor Dumbledore as a mentor figure who always wanted the best for Harry, we actually don’t know if he knew Harry would survive. His conversation with Snape lets us know that he was aware of the fact that Harry has to die by Voldemort’s hand, however, there is no talk about whether Harry would survive his encounter with Voldemort.

The conversation we get throughout the series points to the fact that Dumbledore was ready to sacrifice Harry for the greater good or convince him to surrendering to Voldemort would be the best course of action.

Because the blood sacrifice created the bond between the two and that event only took place during the fourth movie/ book it probably messed up all of the theories Dumbledore had.

This is further complicated by the fact that Harry was a Horcrux and there is very little information regarding Horcruxes. Aside from Nagini, Harry is the only living Horcrux and no one really knows what happens to the host once the part of the soul is destroyed.

Additionally, Harry is different from Nagini as well, since Voldemort planned to create Nagini and that wasn’t the case with Harry. The little information that is out there regarding Horcruxes does involve the note that they have to be created willingly.

However, we can conclude that Dumbledore was convinced there was a chance for Harry to survive. The fact that he was so adamant about the fact that Voldemort kills Harry indicates that he believed that Voldemort’s spell would only affect his own part of the soul attached to Harry, while anyone else’s spell would kill Harry as well. This is why we can say that while Dumbledore wasn’t sure that Harry would live he was convinced there is a chance for him to avoid death.