One for Sorrow

I've suddenly remembered a theory that I used to hold about the final Harry-vs-Voldemort showdown, which I'd actually forgotten in the DH-muddle. After reading HBP, I thought I had figured out how "the power the Dark Lord knows not" was going to affect the final battle. I thought the seven books were tracing Harry's learning of the four kinds of love, so that by the time he faced Voldemort, he'd be armed with all of them.

He learned philios quite early on through Hagrid, Ron, and Hermione, later expanded to include others. Spending time with the Weasleys taught him the storgé which he had missed in his own family, thanks to his parents dying and the unhealthy environment at the Dursleys'. He'd been fumbling toward eros for a few books, with HBP!Ginny representing his finally getting it right after his blunder with Cho. (This is why I never subscribed to the Love Potion theory, despite the fact that I felt H/G was badly written in HBP.) And, I thought, true agapé was the last thing he'd learn, the thing he'd been struggling with ever since meeting Draco back in book 1. I thought Book 7 would be where Harry finally learned that he had to love the Slytherins even if he didn't like them, and be willing to save the wizarding world for them too. I also thought Harry would realize he had to forgive Snape and put that whole thing behind him--that he wouldn't be able to defeat Voldemort without doing so, in fact.

Maybe I too was thinking like a Tolkien fan there. After all, Frodo starts off on his journey to destroy the Ring for the sake of the whole Shire, not just those hobbits he likes.

Oh, and speaking of Frodo, do you think JKR was deliberately trying to do a Ring parallel in DH, between the Horcrux Locket Of Doom and the all-powerful magical artefacts which people are irresistibly tempted by?