probably screaming

You read that correctly.

I just came to a very grim realization that makes a ton of sense. (Note: This might have been realized by others as well.)

We know that in the Tale of the Three Brothers, Death’s main goal was to kill the brothers right? He was pissed because they had cheated him and he wanted to take their lives once and for all.

And so he gives the eldest brother the wand, knowing that someone would end up killing him for it. The youngest brother knows what Death is up to and takes his Invisibility Cloak, much to Death’s reluctance, so that he can hide from Death until he’s ready to face him. And the middle brother? The middle brother was given the Resurrection Stone.

And what did the stone do?

It brought back his wife (sort of) and gave the brother such a huge desire to be with her that he ended up taking his own life.

Pfft. Can you imagine? The sort-of-kind-of appearance of your dead loved one convincing you to go die.

Hahahaha…ha…yeah…

And here’s where it gets dark.

We know that Harry was willing to die for his friends because he’s a noble git whose face pops up in the dictionary next to the word: “self-sacrifice”.

The only thing he was missing was the stigmata. (In fact, I’m surprised Jo didn’t put something like that in; she wasn’t exactly subtle about it.)

Anyway, we know that Harry begins walking to the forest and though he is determined, he also begins to have second thoughts:

And then he activates the Resurrection Stone - the stone that Death intentionally used to kill the second brother.

And what happens?

Harry’s loved ones appear to him, though they look odd (and that’s important; we’ll come back to that later) and they’re totally fine with him dying and even convince him that they’re proud of him for what doing what he’s doing, that it doesn’t hurt at all, and that it’ll be quick.

So in conclusion, the four people who have gone above and beyond multiple times to protect this child are completely fine with him dying.

I mean Lily, the woman who leapt in front of her child and demanded to be killed in his place, only tells him that he’s been brave and doesn’t say anything else. The woman who repeatedly pleaded for Harry’s life supposedly stands there and just lets him go die.

Yeah, that’s in character (//sarcasm).

But of course, that’s not Lily, is it?

It’s not James.

It’s not Sirius.

It’s not Remus.

I don’t even think it was the middle brother’s wife.

I don’t think that the Resurrection Stone brings back your loved ones at all. I think it shows you whatever it can to convince you to die.

That’s why James, Lily, Remus, and Sirius were all described as looking different than how they had died. (As opposed to say Nearly Headless Nick who looked exactly how he looked when he died, semi-detached head and all). And why the wife of the brother was described as looking/acting odd as well.

They weren’t really there. They were basically magical holograms who said what they needed to say so that Harry wouldn’t have any second thoughts as he marched towards death. And Death. 

Because who greets him?

That’s right, Death himself.

I mean Dumbledore.

I mean…no actually there’s been this really amazing theory going around for a while now that Dumbledore = Death and it actually makes a lot of sense.

Especially if you add my theory that Dumbledore intentionally gave Harry the Resurrection Stone so that when he was about to die, he would see magical holograms of his loved ones who would convince him that he was making the right choice, that it wouldn’t hurt, that they were proud of him, etc.

Because we know that Dumbledore wanted Harry to die. Harry was raised like a pig for slaughter. Note: He didn’t want Harry to be dead. He just wanted Harry to go through the action of dying so that Voldemort would be destroyed.

And so Dumbledore added this little detail to make sure that, well, the job would get done. 

So in conclusion:

Centuries ago, Death wanted someone to die. He gave the person a stone that made an image (just an image) of his loved one, which convinced said person that he needed to die.