Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - cover art released

Bloomsbury has released the cover art for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows!

The publication date for the final book in JK Rowling's series draws nearer and nearer. I've started re-reading the first 6 books in preparation for book 7. The speculation mounts - who's going to die? Will Harry defeat Voldemort? Will Harry survive? And what of Snape? Is he a baddie through and through, or a super-secret double agent?

Without further ado, let me provide you with yet more source material to ponder over. Here's the complete set of covers for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - both the US and UK covers are here. Click on any image to get a larger version.


Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows US full cover art (front and back)

Hmmm. OK - I see in the background what at first glance appears to be the Coliseum in Rome - except it looks remarkably undamaged - and there are people (depicted only as shadowy figures) seated or standing all around the first level. Is it the Quidditch stadium?

Voldemort and Harry are in the foreground - both reaching for something? Trying to catch something? Or maybe they're both acting - each with an arm raised in dramatic declaration - because at the edges of the book are curtains. Maybe they're stage curtains? Maybe the Coliseum is actually a painted backdrop? The curtains are worn, damaged at the bottom, and there's torn up wooden beams and rocks in the very front of the picture. Will Harry and Voldermort's final showdown be in the ruins of some old theatre somewhere? Or in the middle of the Quidditch stadium? Interesting...

Harry seems to be wearing muggle clothing - a big brown coat and a green jumper, He's also got a leather pouch around his neck - an amulet? Or perhaps a Horcrux - could it be Slytherin's locket maybe?

Note that Harry is alone with Voldemort. Hermione and Ron are nowhere to be seen - and neither are any of their other friends. No Ginny, no Neville, no Luna Lovegood. And no wands. Neither Harry nor Voldemort are holding their wands. Is that what they are both reaching for, or what they have just let go of? Maybe they're both doing Accio spells to get their wands back...

Mind you, as their wands are "brothers", and we know they aren't much use against each other, maybe they're both reaching for something else. I would hope that by the final showdown Harry will have become far more skilled at wandless magic (and especially magic where he doesn't have to speak) - because I think he's going to need it.

UPDATE 30/03/07: After another look, I think Voldemort is trying to magically force something away from himself (look at the position of his hand - it's almost in a classic "STOP!" pose), while Harry is trying to bring something towards himself (again, look at the position of his hand - it's positioned as though he's waiting to catch something). Could be they're aiming at the same thing - Voldemort doesn't want Harry to have it (and doesn't want it himself either), and Harry wants it... Or it could be two different things. We shall see.

Whichever it is, it seems as though the final conflict may be between Harry and Voldemort - solo. I can't wait!

But wait! There's more, much much more...


Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows US front cover art

Ther's no text shown on the US cover apart from the title and author.


Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows UK full cover art (front and back)

Harry, Ron and Hermione are falling into a pile of treasure - coins, precious gems, golden cups and bowls - and a silver suit of armour in separate pieces - the most interesting of which is a helmet with a griffon/gryphon on it (or maybe a dragon?). Hmmm. Although Gryffindor's emblem is a lion, the door knocker on Dumbledore's office is a griffon. Wonder whose armour it is? They look pretty freaked-out to be there...

Behind Harry, Ron and Hermione, is a stone entrance through which they have fallen. At first glance it looks a bit similar to the archways shown in the Coliseum on the American cover, but if you look closely you can see it's actually circular, rather than an arch. A circle of stones marking the entrance to something. Are they falling forwards through it, or are they falling down into it, with the viewer looking up at them falling towards us? Like falling down a well? Or - are they being sucked back into it?

UPDATE 30/03/07: Having looked even more closely, I am now convinced that they are being sucked into the round entrance hole. Look at the direction in which their hair (particularly Ron and Hermione's hair) is blowing. It's being blown forwards - and that would only happen if they were moving backwards. Your hair is blown in the opposite direction to that in which you are moving (unless you're in a very strong wind). Try it! I rest my case.

The pile of treasure looks very shiny and well-kept, not like it's been mouldering at the bottom of a well of hundreds of years. Magically polished maybe? Could they have fallen into a vault at Gringott's? Through the entranceway you can see what looks like a sunset behind them - which is very similar to the sunset sky depicted on the US cover.

Hermione and especially Harry look very bruised and battered. Harry's robes are torn in places and he has scrapes on his arms - as does Hermione. It's obviously not been an easy journey thus far. Hermione and Ron appear to be wearing their dress robes. Ron's are green, Hermione's purple. Harry seems to be wearing ordinary black robes. Are they at Hogwart's? Were they at a ball or their graduation ceremony or something?

The most interesting thing of all is that there's something or someone on Harry's back - holding Godric Gryffindor's sword raised in its hand. There are rubies on the pommel, so I know it's his sword. As for who is on Harry's back - I can see a bald head and long pointy ears, so I'm guessing it might be Dobby or another house elf - or maybe it's a new character we haven't met yet. Or perhaps it's Kreacher! As Voldemort is now back to (nearly) full strength I don't think it's him - plus I think they would all be looking far more freaked out if it were Voldemort - whereas Harry looks like he's giving the creature a piggy-back.

On the back cover is the outside of Hogwart's at night, with a full moon. On the inside front cover we see Harry's patronus - a stag - in all its glory.

On the inside back cover is an interesting illustration - a snake inside a crystal ball. Is it Voldemort's snake, Nagini? Or a representation of the fact that Harry (the possible Heir of Gryffindor) must battle against Voldemort, the Heir of Slytherin (whose symbol is a snake)? Maybe it's a reference to Harry's ability to speak parseltongue, or perhaps it's a hint that once again Professor Trelawney will see the future in her crystal ball. Is Nagini a Horcrux - or is Harry the final Horcrux? Who can tell?


Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows UK front cover art

Here's what it says on the inside front flap:

Harry has been burdened with a dark, dangerous and seemingly impossible task; that of locating and destroying Voldemort's remaining Horcruxes. Never has Harry felt so alone, or faced a future so full of shadows. But Harry must somehow find within himself the strength to complete the task he has been given. He must leave the warmth, safety and companionship of The Burrow and follow without fear or hesitation the inexorable path laid out for him...

In this final, seventh installment of the Harry Potter series, JK Rowling unveils in spectacular fashion the answers to the many questions that have been so eagerly awaited. The spellbinding, richly woven narrative, which plunges, twists and turns at a breathtaking pace, confirms the author as a mistress of storytelling, whose books will be read, re-read and read again.

And on the back cover:

Harry is waiting in Privet Drive. The Order of the Phoenix is comingf to escort him safely away without Voldemort and his supporters knowing - if they can. But what will Harry do then? How can he fulfil the momentous and seemingly impossible task that Professor Dumbledore has left him with?

And on the back cover flap:

JK (Joanne Kathleen) Rowling has written fiction since she was a child, and always wanted to be an author. Her parents loved reading, and their house in Chepstow was full of books. In fact, JK Rowling wrote her first 'book' at the age of six - a story about a rabbit called Rabbit!

The idea for Harry Potter occurred to JK Rowling on the train from Manchester to London, where she says Harry Potter 'just strolled into my head fully-formed', and by the time she had arrived at King's Cross, many of the characters had taken shape. During the next five years she outlined the plots for each book and began writing the first in the series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, which was first published by Bloomsbury in 1997. The other Harry Potter titles: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, followed. JK Rowling has also written two other companion books, Quidditch Through the Ages and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, in aid of Comic Relief.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows UK adult full cover art (front and back)

The only image on the adult UK cover version (apart from a rather nice photo of JK) is Slytherin's locket - in gold, on a thick gold chain. It's one of those lockets that opens to reveal something - usually a lock of hair or a picture - inside. Wonder what will be inside this locket. It's engraved with a richly-decorated "S", encrusted with emeralds.


Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows UK adult front cover art

The text on the inside front flap is exactly the same as on the UK (kids) version.

Nothing's written on the back cover - it's filled with the photo of JK. She has some interesting books on her bookshelves - James Joyce, Jane Austen, Adrian Mole, Freud, The Metropolitan Museum, an atlas...

And on the back cover flap:

JK (Joanne Kathleen) Rowling has written fiction since she was a child. Born in 1965, she grew up in Chepstow and wrote her first 'book' at the age of six - a story about a rabbit called Rabbit. She studied French and Classics at Exeter University, then moved to London to work at Amnesty International, and then to Portugal to teach English as a foreign language, before settling in Edinburgh.

The idea for Harry Potter occurred to her on the train from Manchester to London, where she says Harry Potter 'just strolled into my head fully-formed', and by the time she had arrived at King's Cross, many of the characters had taken shape. During the next five years she outlined the plots for each book and began writing the first in the series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, which was first published by Bloomsbury in 1997. The other Harry Potter titles: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, followed. JK Rowling has also written two other companion books, Quidditch Through the Ages and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, in aid of Comic Relief.

As befits the release of more info about possibly the most eagerly anticipated book of all time, there's lots of coverage and speculation already. As well as having some truly massive cover images - which is where I got these ones from (thanks for the email, guys!) - the Leaky Cauldron's Leaky Lounge has some pretty interesting dicussions going on. Check them out!

Only 112 days and 23 hours to go! Woohoo! Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows countdown clock courtesy of The Leaky Cauldron - get your Harry Potter countdown clock here!

MTV has an impressively thoughtful article on the covers - there's obviously at least one Harry Potter fan working at MTV. Wikipedia has a very detailed summary of what we know about the book so far.

MuggleNet does by far the best editorials - I'm sure there will be a very in-depth one about the cover very soon. In the meantime, here's the MuggleNet Editorial index page - browse away! And here's an interesting take from Beyond Hogwart's - Judging a book by its cover - check out the comments, too. And here's a good piece from the TimesOnline: Final Harry Potter cover unveiled and one from the St Petersburg Times: Spell in the binding. Enjoy!

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