The Prophecy. It is an old and tired part of fantasy writing, but I really like how Rowling twists it, changes it by inserting the power of choice here. Voldemort chooses his adversary.



House elf issue comes to a climax of sorts, but it is not yet fully resolved. It will be hammered home in book 7.

I find the idea that Kreecher is just what he was made by wizards slightly suspect. It undermines the whole idea of house elves as agents. Dumbledore's attitude here would seem to confirm the attitude of those who do not see them as autonomous.


Another theme, especially significant I suppose in the context of tragedy, is how lack of knowledge is such an important factor. It has been the key point of the whole book, and now it turns out to be at the centre of the beginning of the whole story, in that none of this would have happened if Voldemort had not been acting on incomplete information.


I also like how Rowling plays with making ideas into real things: that thoughts can leave deeper scarring than almost anything else, for example.