Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Cannot-Die

Review of The End Is The Beginning by Nitraz on AO3. Written for my Creative Writing Exam.

Among the many reimaginings of the ‘Harry Potter’ series, a personal favourite is 'The End Is The Beginning' by L Skogland, posted in 2021 on Achieve of Our Own under the username Nitraz. It is the first instalment in an ongoing series, in which the author imagines what could have been if, in book seven, Harry had chosen to move on after being killed by Voldemort instead of going back to his life. After a confusing encounter with a being claiming to be Death, he is sent back in time to his 4-year-old body, keeping calm and carrying on until he starts Hogwarts for the second time, where the sequel ‘Metamorphosis’ picks up.

Aside from the main plotline of Harry going back in time and attempting to live a better life, ‘The End Is The Beginning’ includes many subplots that are sometimes dropped for several chapters. In combination with the other fanfics following a similar premise and the serialised publishing by chapter, this can lead to some confusion. However, a quick view of the summary and descriptive tags, as well as a look at the ending of the last chapter, is usually enough to get back on track. When in doubt, the entire work is available for re-reading, which I have found to be enjoyable.

As Nitraz is far from the first or only person to write his own spin on the well-beloved story, readers may encounter many familiar tropes; the premise itself is a trope called 'time travel fix-it'—a type of fanfiction where a character time travels and fixes issues the author had with the original work. Others include Death as a primordial being able to take physical form, and Harry being Master of Death—meaning he collected the three Deathly Hallows, greeted Death like an old friend and gains additional powers from this.

This iteration of Death was particularly intriguing to me. His magic is shown to have limits yet is different and far out of reach for the human characters. For an immortal being, he is still quite changeable, undergoing a fascinating character transformation. Additionally, his relationship with Harry is starkly contrasted by how he treats other humans, which I found fascinating to read about since the story is told mainly from Harry’s perspective.

With tags such as ‘Morally Grey Harry Potter’, ‘Necromancy’ and ‘Blood Magic’, the reader enters this story expecting Harry to undergo a drastic change from the one in the original, which Nitraz delivers on slowly and believably. At times his change is stated very explicitly when I think his actions showed it well enough. ‘Harry in turn had become more detached to death and violence.’ (Nitraz, 2021, Chapter 33, no pagination) This had become rather obvious after his actions in Chapter 24, especially as he expressed a willingness to do it again. Despite this, he shows more compassion than his official counterpart. Aside from saving the world, there is little evidence that he is actually a good person in the original, but in 'The End Is The Beginning', he makes an effort to improve the world around him and care for other people, particularly house-elves.

Rowling's treatment of house-elves is a hot issue among fans, as she portrays them as slaves who are happy to be enslaved. Many fanfic authors take different approaches to this, Nitraz's being that they rely on their bond to another magical being for their own magic and wizards tricked them into forming a bond that leaves them practically no freedom. It suits the story well and allows him to write house-elves behaving in line with their original characterisation.

A trope I am not personally a fan of is the 'Snape is a good guy' trope. While commendable, I believe his actions as a double-agent do not excuse his abuse of various children. However, Nitraz shows him interacting with Harry’s adult persona, who prompts him to rethink his treatment of students, making this a version of the trope I can accept.

While the only Lord mentioned in the Harry Potter series is Lord Voldemort himself, many fanfic authors have combined the old wizarding pureblood families and elements of real Britain, like the House of Lords, and decided that Lord is an actual position in a pureblood family and has political power. Nitraz utilises a variation of this trope, where Harry is Lord Potter and Lord Peverell and an heir to the Black and Slytherin families. As I have read stories where he was Lord Potter, Peverell, Slytherin, Gryffindor, Pendragon, and whatever else the author came up with, this is believable and backed up by the original books, perhaps except for Slytherin heir. It serves the dual purpose of helping Harry along with his political ambitions and getting to know more about the goblins, as they handle most business with inheritance. As we get to see more facets of them and their culture, they become less of an anti-Semitic stereotype, which is always a plus, in my opinion.

As one might expect, this story deals a lot with the theme of death and, following that, morality. Not only does it examine the morality of our main character, but of familiar characters that were black and white in the original. While there was discussion of Dumbledore's morality in the later books, many fans did not feel it was enough as he never answered for things like continuously sending Harry back to an abusive family and putting the students of Hogwarts in danger by placing the Philosopher's Stone at the school. On the other hand, Voldemort is evil incarnate, and while we get to know his backstory and motives, we are never encouraged to show sympathy for him. In 'The End Is The Beginning', Nitraz explores this more, delving into the values he may have held originally and how his obsession with immortality and subsequent splitting of his soul led him away from those values. Fans of ‘Black Panther’ (Marvel Studios, 2018) will recognise similarities to Killmonger, who may have had the right ideas but went about achieving them wrongly. Furthermore, family and ancestral history play a significant role. From abusive families and relatives who ignore this abuse to Harry's desire for a connection to his family, be they living or dead—especially as he finds a living relative other than the Dursleys and struggles to connect with his dead father despite being able to communicate with him.

Nitraz's writing is clear and concise while still delving deep into emotional exchanges, fleshing out vivid inner lives for many characters and sprinkling in humour where appropriate. He walks a steady path between canon-compliant—sticking to the original work—and canon divergent—deviating from the original work while the world or the story stay similar enough to be recognisable. He examines themes through a different lens and addresses some issues fans have identified while creating a similar vibe to the series many have fallen in love with.

'The End Is The Beginning' is for Harry Potter fans who love the series but acknowledge its problems. It is for people interested in moral greyness, themes of death, revenge and belonging; for people who yelled at Harry for being stupid and not asking questions; for those left confused when defeating a tiny group of evil-doers supposedly made everything right, when none of the systematic issues which led to their rise to power were addressed. It requires the reader to be familiar with the Harry Potter series but expands on it in satisfying ways, both in terms of the magical society and magic itself. It includes many of my favourite tropes and handles the ones I like less very well. As an ongoing series with a regular updating schedule, this is well worth reading—five out of five stars.