I think we can all pretty collectively agree that the Dursleys are the human personification of suckage, so I rarely pay them much mind in the Potter fandom. But a new fan theory connecting the Dursleys with the Deathly Hallows just piqued enough of the Internet's interest that we're all second guessing exactly what was happening on Privet Drive behind the scenes. In fact, according to this theory, the Dursleys might have had a lot more to do with those fated artifacts than we thought.
First, a refresher for those of us who didn't spend Christmas cry-laughing under the tree rereading the seventh Harry Potter book: the Deathly Hallows are three powerful magical objects that the Peverell brothers requested from Death as a reward for outsmarting him with magic. Among with were the Elder Wand, or the most powerful wand in existence; the Resurrection Stone, which brought people back from the dead; and the Invisibility Cloak, which hid people from Death. It's all super spooky and intense and way over the heads of humans like the Dursleys ... or is it?
Enter Reddit user iShootWithACamera, who originally proposed the strange connection between the Dursleys and the Hallows: that the Dursleys were secretly "giving" Harry the Hallows the entire time.
Although we rarely hear from the Dursleys after Harry peaces out in the summer, the books do make pointed mention of them at least three times during Harry's terms at Hogwarts — specifically in regards to the "gifts" that they send him. Among those gifts were a toothpick, a tissue, and a fifty-cent piece. #Swag, amirite? Undoubtedly Harry binned them with that trademark Potter sass, and that was the last we heard of it. Only now has iShootWithACamera made the connection that these seemingly random ~gifts~ from the Dursleys were actually some pretty intense foreshadowing re: the Hallows. In fact, if you squint, each gift in turn seems to represent one of them.
If we're accepting this theory as canon (which I am, sorry not sorry), then the toothpick symbolizes the Elder Wand, the fifty-cent piece symbolizes the Resurrection Stone, and the tissue represents the very Invisibility Cloak Harry inherited from his father. Cue the GASP.
So the question is now: why the hell would the Dursleys send Harry representations of the Hallows? Was this an Easter egg J.K. Rowling planted for us, or are we all so recklessly attached to this series that we are determined to wring out the potential of every throwaway line until we have beat it to death? (Guilty as charged.) I suppose it's hard to tell without knowing which of the Dursleys decided to send Harry "gifts" in the first place. I'm guessing Hedwig just rolled up and bugged the hell out of them until they gave her something to bring back, because aside from Petunia's connection to Dumbledore, I don't see them fitting into the magical narrative at all.
In any case, mad props to the eagle eyes of iShootWithACamera, and madder props to J.K. Rowling, whose brain is more infinite than this universe.
Images: Warner Bros; Giphy
