When Voldemort found the Potters' home, James fought against him even though he knew he had no chance of surviving, just to give a chance of escape to his wife and son. He sacrificed himself for them, just like Lily did for Harry, so why was Voldemort able to kill Lily, amirite?

+285 When Voldemort found the Potters' home, James fought against him even though he knew he had no chance of surviving, just to give a chance of escape to his wife and son. He sacrificed himself for them, just like Lily did for Harry, so why was Voldemort able to kill Lily, amirite?

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Oh. My. God.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Voldemort was always going to kill James, but he wasn't planning on killing Lily because Snape asked him not to. Voldemort kept telling Lily to step aside, but she refused, and he killed her, which protected Harry because she gave her life to save him when she could have easily stepped aside and been spared.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

you're right! merci

by Anonymous 12 years ago

But James still died for them. He could have run away, so technically he chose to give up his life. In Deathly Hallows, Voldemort was going to kill Harry anyways, yet Harry chose to walk to his death instead of abandoning everyone, and later Voldemort could not silence the people of Hogwarts. Isn't that kind of the same thing?

by Anonymous 12 years ago

harry had the choice not to die right then james was gunna die at that time no matter what

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Unless he ran away.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

He didn't have his wand on him, because he left it on the couch after playing with Harry, so he couldn't have even disapparated. Even if he did have his wand on him, I don't think he could have gotten away quickly enough. James' death didn't protect anyone, because unlike Lily, he was never given the option of living. It's safe to assume that he would have died even if given the choice, but he was never given the choice, so technically, he didn't sacrifice himself. In Harry's position, it would've been incredibly easy for him to just leave, but he actively made the decision to sacrifice himself.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

"Don't you want to ask me why James's death didn't protect Lily and Harry? There's your answer - you've just answered your own question - because she could have lived - and chose to die. James was going to be killed anyway. Do you see what I mean? I'm not saying James wasn't ready to; he died trying to protect his family, but he was going to be murdered anyway. He had no - he wasn't given a choice, so he rushed into it in a kind of animal way. I think there are distinctions in courage. James was immensely brave. But the caliber of Lily's bravery was, I think in this instance, higher because she could have saved herself. Now any mother, any normal mother would have done what Lily did. So in that sense, her courage too was of an animal quality but she was given time to choose. James wasn't. It's like an intruder entering your house, isn't it? You would instinctively rush them. But if in cold blood you were told, "Get out of the way," you know, what would you do? I mean, I don't think any mother would stand aside from their child. But does that answer it? She did very consciously lay down her life. She had a clear choice. " Quote from JKR herself :) Check out this interview; it's f...

by Anonymous 12 years ago

antastic. I think this aspect is what makes the whole Snape backstory so interesting. If he hadn't been in love with Lily, Voldemort never would have told her to get out of the way, and she never would've had the opportunity to sacrifice herself.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Do you happen to have a link to that interview? I want to read it, but unsurprisingly JK Rowling has done a lot of interviews so it's hard to find specific ones.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Sorry! My comment got cut off and I forgot to re-paste the interview. http://www.mugglenet.com/jkrinterview.shtml

by Anonymous 12 years ago

here's the thing, james barely had a chance to react, voldemort just apparated into their living room and killed him right away. voldemort however gave lily a chance to step aside because snaped asked him to, but she refused.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Eh, I think you're half right. Jo did directly address this once (either in an interview or in the books, I can't recall which). It had nothing to do with who Tom was planning to kill. If Tom had simply cast the curse at Harry and Lily jumped in front of it at the last second, it wouldn't have activated the charm. By the same token, if James was hidden from Tom and had time for the possibility of escape to occur to him, yet still battled Tom, the charm, I believe, would have activated. Tom giving Lily the opportunity to step aside and spare herself, it turned it from instinctive protection (which is what James did) into a conscious sacrifice, which is what was needed to activate the charm. I'll never in my life argue that what James did wasn't a sacrifice, but that's just the way the protective charm decides it.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I like how you just call him "Tom" :D

by Anonymous 12 years ago

But, When Harry died in book 7, he placed the same protection over his friends just like Lily did over him, and Voldemort meant for him to die.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Cause Lilys a pussy

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Read the first two words of this post. Didn't read the rest.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

And so you felt the need to comment...why?

by Anonymous 12 years ago

And you felt the need to reply to me...why?

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Shut up Meg.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

This Harry Potter obsession is getting out of hand, there are literally millions of other books

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Yeah, but these books fucking rock.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I don't hate people who like the books, but it's literally all I see and hear about when I go on the internet. I just want people to be in control of their obsessions.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Do you know what the word literally means?

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Okay, but you don't need to constantly point out that you hate the series. It sort of makes me wonder if you have some kind of obsession with hating it.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I don't hate the series. And yes, I know what the word literally means. Sigh...

by Anonymous 12 years ago

because voldemort was gunna kill james anyways he gave lilly the option and she chose to die for harryy

by Anonymous 12 years ago

It always annoyed me that Lily got all the credit. James was really brave, too.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

And yet people still say they hate James. Okay, he was a jerk and he took Lily from Snape, but he was awesome and brave too, I love him.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Thanks to everyone who voted No Way and then gave a logical explanation instead of calling Lily a pussy.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

He was gonna kill James anyways! I'm sure James would have sacrificed himself but he didn't have the chance. And the only reason lily had a chance was because of snape! Snape asked voldemort to not kill lily and he told her to step aside but if snape hadn't have done that, lily would have been just like James, without a choice, and harry would have died! so it was all because of snape....amazing.

by Anonymous 12 years ago