Did the quirky fortune-telling teacher from Harry Potter predict one of the most important deaths in Volume 3?

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The art of divination is often not taken seriously, even in the magical world of Harry Potter. This also applies to the somewhat quirky fortune-telling teacher Sybill Trelawney. But according to a fan theory, there could be more to her dark death prophecies.

Who is Trelawney? From the third year onwards, students at Hogwarts can take the subject of divination. This ancient art is taught by Sybill Trelawney. She is descended from a very well known fortune teller, Cassandra Trelawney.

At first glance, Sybill herself doesn’t seem to be very talented. Their “predictions” often resemble more generic horoscopes. She has a particular fondness for dark prophecies that are said to predict misfortune, illness or even death.

Only two of her prophecies are generally considered true:

  • The prophecy about the fall of Voldemort that came before Harry was born
  • The prophecy of Voldemort’s return, from Harry’s third year

    • But was that really all? According to many fans, no. A particularly popular theory is that Trelawney predicted one, or even two, really important deaths.

    Spoiler warning: There are a lot of spoilers for Harry Potter coming up.

    Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban – Trailer for the third part of the fantasy series

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    If 13 eat together, one dies

    The theory refers to a passage in the third part. It’s Christmas, and the students and teachers remaining at Hogwarts gather in the Great Hall for dinner. Among others, Harry, Ron and Dumbledore are sitting at the table. When Trelawney joins them, she initially refuses to sit down. At Dumbledore’s prompting, she says:

    I dare not, Headmaster! When I sit down at the table there will be thirteen of us! Nothing could bring more misfortune! Never forget, when thirteen dine together, the first to rise will be the first to die.

    Reluctantly, Trelawney sits down as the thirteenth person at the table. When Harry and Ron get up first, she again predicts their imminent death. At first glance, the prediction seems to have been nothing but superstition.

    What those present don’t know at this point is that there was another person at the table the whole time, namely Peter Pettigrew in the form of Ron’s rat Scabbers. So there were already thirteen people at the table before Trelawney sat down. The first person to stand was Dumbledore as he greeted the fortune telling teacher. And as we know, it was actually Dumbledore who would die almost three years later.

    More cases? But it shouldn’t stay that way. There is a very similar situation in part five. Thirteen members of the “Order of the Phoenix” eat together at the same table in “Grimmauldplatz No. 12”. Sirius Black stands up first. He is also the first of the group to die shortly afterwards.

    Just a coincidence? So did Sybill Trelawney actually predict the deaths of two important characters without anyone noticing? Or is it just a coincidence – a lucky strike?

    We will probably never be able to be completely sure. Maybe it’s just an Easter egg from JK Rowling, who used Trelawney’s predictions to announce future events with a wink.

    In any case, the “Prediction of the 13” is not an isolated case. Some of Trelawney’s cryptic prophecies can be interpreted in one way or another so that they ultimately turn out to be true. The death of Dumbledore is particularly prominent, also in another example:

    The tower struck by lightning

    In addition to classic prophecies, there are various forms of fortune telling, for example reading tea leaves, interpreting dreams or laying tarot cards.

    In the latter, Harry happens to observe his former fortune-telling teacher in Part 6. The meaning of the cards seems to visibly disturb Trelawney:

  • Three of the cards predicted conflict, violence and ill omens. All of this happened a little later with the Death Eaters attack on Hogwarts.
  • The fourth card means: “A dark young man who dislikes the questioner.” The young man in this context could be Draco Malfoy, and the questioner could be Snape or Dumbledore.
  • The fifth card was the “Lightning Struck Tower.” It means misfortune and catastrophe, which later happened with Dumbledore’s death. The tower is also a reference to the Astronomy Tower, where Dumbledore was killed with a “green flash.”

    • A real prediction? Since Trelawney initially thought this prediction was a mistake, she kept redrawing the cards. But every time she got the same result.

    She also told Dumbledore this at some point. However, he sent her away, appearing not to believe her. Dumbledore was already planning his own death at this point. So he must have known that Trelawney’s prophecy was secretly correct.

    Another clue is the name of the chapter in which Dumbledore dies. It is named after the tarot card: “Tower Struck by Lightning”. Therefore, many fans are sure that Trelawney actually predicted the death of Dumbledore in one way or another.

    How do you see the whole thing? Do you believe that many of Trelawney’s dire predictions are actually true? Feel free to write it to us in the comments! Of course, many details about such theories can be found primarily in the books. You can find out what big differences there were compared to the films here on MeinMMO: The 10 biggest differences between films and books in the ranking

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