At the end of Deathly Hallows Part 2, how could Narcissa tell such a big lie to Voldemort that Harry is dead? Why did Voldemort not know that Narcissa was lying?
Whereas Voldemort was a capable Legilimens who could read anyone’s mind, due to this it was impossible for him to lie, but as we saw in the movie, Voldemort gets convinced by Narcissa’s words and he assumes Harry to be dead.
Today we will know the answer to this question: how could Narcissa lie to Voldemort and why did Voldemort believe her words? Why did Voldemort not know that Harry is alive?
First of all, let us know that Narcissa lied to Voldemort. By lying to Voldemort, she had put her life at stake. Had Voldemort even the slightest idea that she was lying to him, he would have killed her at that time. Even knowing this, she did all this to save her son, Draco.
Actually, when Voldemort called Harry to the Forbidden Forest and called back his army from Hogwarts, Draco did not reach there, which made Narcissa start worrying about Draco. She just wanted Draco’s safety and she did not even know that Draco was alive. At that time, she was only worried about her son.
So, she asked Harry if Draco was alive, to which Harry nodded his head and replied yes. Narcissa understood what she had to do. She lied to Voldemort that Harry was dead.
She knew that if Voldemort believed Harry to be dead, then this war would stop. Voldemort would go to Hogwarts to celebrate this victory. If he was with his better Draco, then this fight would not stop. In this fight, Harry lies to Draco that Harry is dead.
But now the question arises: why did Voldemort not know the truth? Why could he not catch Narcissa’s lie? Although he was a very capable Legilimens, he did not even doubt Narcissa. This is because he maybe did not use Legilimency on Narcissa.
People think that the ability of Legilimency remains active at any time, but it is not so. It is a spell which has to be used consciously. Just by having this ability, you will not be able to read someone’s mind, you have to use it. Neither in the book nor in the movie has it been mentioned that Voldemort used this skill on Narcissa.
Now, I will tell you the reasons due to which Voldemort did not doubt Narcissa at all and believed her words.
The first reason was that Voldemort had no reason not to trust Narcissa. Narcissa never did anything that would make Voldemort doubt her, so Voldemort had complete trust in her.
The second reason was that Narcissa told Voldemort the same things Voldemort wanted to hear and believe. When Voldemort hit the Killing Curse on Harry, he was not destroyed like the last time.
He was still in his body and he was sure that the Killing Curse did not rebound, meaning Harry was dead. But since he had not been able to kill Harry in the last several attempts, he just wanted to confirm that Harry was dead. That is why he asked Narcissa to check Harry, because he trusted her and Narcissa told him only what he wanted to hear—that Harry was dead.
Another reason, which was most important, was that when Voldemort hit the Killing Curse on Harry, he lost one of his Horcruxes which was inside Harry. So he also fainted along with Harry.
After regaining consciousness, he could not understand why he fainted and he had become very weak due to losing his Horcrux. We saw this in the movie: as he was losing his Horcrux, he was becoming very weak. Due to weakness and fatigue, the thought of using Legilimency did not come to his mind.
Another reason could also be that the Horcrux that was inside Harry, due to which both were able to know each other’s thoughts, was destroyed. After that, the connection was also broken and Voldemort could not feel Harry’s mind, which made him think that Harry was really dead.
Due to all these reasons, Voldemort did not use Legilimency. Due to his own pride, he had assumed that Harry was dead. All he wanted was a confirmation so that he could celebrate his victory. Narcissa told him what he wanted to believe and he did not even use his ability to cross-check it.
But what would have happened if Voldemort had used Legilimency on Narcissa? In this entire series, the power of love has been given a lot of importance. Lily’s love saved Harry’s life many times and the love between Harry and his friends gave Harry a lot of strength.
In Order of the Phoenix, when Voldemort possesses Harry, the love for Sirius and the grief of losing him forced Voldemort to leave Harry’s body because Voldemort could never understand love and never feel it.
When Narcissa lied to Voldemort, her only concern was for Draco. The reason for her lying was to save Draco. Her only thoughts were love and concern for her son.
At this point, even if Voldemort used Legilimency on Narcissa, he would not be able to catch her lie. If by any chance he did catch her lie, he would immediately kill Narcissa.
By the way, what are your thoughts about this? Do tell me in the comments.
