“Three brothers, travelling along a lonely, winding road at twilight reached a deep treacherous river where anyone who attempted to swim or wade would drown. Learned in the magical arts, the brothers conjured a bridge with their wands and proceed to cross. Halfway though the bridge, a hooded figure stood before them. The figure was the enraged spirit of Death, cheated of his due. Death cunningly pretended to congratulate them and proceeds to award them with gifts of their own choosing (the elder wand, the resurrection stone and the invisibility cloak).”

YouTuber Jay, from SuperCarlinBrothers, proposed a theory that the resurrection stone doesn’t operate how we think. Rather than bring a version of the dead into the realm of the living he argues that the stone is actually a tool to lure fools to death. It fits The Tale of the Three Brothers; Death was angry to be fooled by the brothers and naturally gave them ‘prizes’ which would lead them back to death anyway (except Ignotus Peverell, of course). When the second brother, Cadmus Peverell, used the resurrection stone to bring back his deceased lover, he couldn’t bear to remain apart from her and he killed himself. Death won.

“And so Death took the second brother for his own” (Tale of the Three Brothers)

Did sinister Death plan this all along? Did he design the stone to lure the Cadmus to death under the guise of a magical object that would bring his dead lover back to life?

During Voldemort’s brief truce during the Battle of Hogwarts, Harry ventures into Snape’s memories via Dumbledore’s pensive and realises he needs to surrender.

When Harry finally uses the resurrection stone in the forest, he comes face to face with both of his parents, Lily and James, as well as Sirius and Lupin. You’d think his parents, and two of his role-models would want to protect him, right? Or at least help him fight Voldemort, or figure out another way? Wrong. They encourage him to die.

Watch the film clip from 1:10 onwards

James coaxes his son to death, “you’re nearly there son”. Sirius assures him dying is fast and painless, even more so than falling asleep. If Harry had any qualms about walking to his certain death in the Forbidden Forest, they were gone after he used the stone.

A further theory has been suggested by Tumblr user Prisonersirius. In the scene where Harry reunites with his family before surrendering to Voldemort, Lily and James appear as they were the night they died, even wearing the same clothes. Sirius, who died just several years earlier and Remus, who died that very night, also appear young. The theory claims that this is because on the night James and Lily were murdered, the spirits of Remus and Sirius died too.

Remus lost James and Lily, but also thought he lost Peter. He thought Sirius, who was incapacitated at Azkaban Prison, was a traitor. He lost all of his best friends in one night. It`s the same story for Sirius; two of his friends were murdered, one was revealed to be a traitor, one thought Sirius himself was the traitor and he lost his liberty and freedom.

Yes, I’m crying too.

Claire