For the benefit of readers who haven’t finished the final entry in J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series of books, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the remainder of this post will take place after the jump.
Warning! Minor spoilers follow.
Has anyone else noticed that the date of death given on the tombstones of Harry’s parents is October 31, 1981? Assuming that Harry was 1 year old when they died, that would make the timeframe of the action of The Deathly Hallows as 1996, roughly the time at which Harry Potter and the Sorceror’s Stone was accepted for publication.
Perhaps I haven’t been paying close enough attention but this seems like new information to me. Why does the action take place in the past?
JK Rowling set the first book in 1991, the time when she began writing Sorcerer’s Stone…. Which would make Harry born in 1980. And the action of Deathly Hallows set about 10 years ago….