WHY THE TIME TURNER WAS NOT USED TO SAVE HARRY'S PARENTS?

Harry Potter is one of the well known book series in the world and many theories relating to it has been created by the fans of the series and thus bringing forward some questions which raises some doubts about the logic behind the series. 

One of such question that makes the fans scratch their heads is why the time turner was not used to save Harry's Parents. 

In this post, I am going to try and answer to this question restoring the logic back in the series. But before coming to any conclusion some facts needs to be cleared and in that process there are possibilities of having SPOILERS for the series so you have been warned.

What are Time Turners?

As has been described in Harry Potter Wikia:

“A Time-Turner is a device used for time travel. It is a special timepiece which resembles an hourglass on a necklace.”

So, it is a device by which a person can travel through time (it must also be noted that it can be either in past or in future).

Next question that would come in mind is what are the implications of time travel. A well known theory of travelling back in time is the grandfather paradox. As mentioned in Wikipedia:

"The grandfather paradox is a paradox of time travel in which inconsistencies emerge through changing the past. The name comes from the paradox's common description: a person travels to the past and kills their own grandfather before the conception of their father or mother, which prevents the time traveler's existence. Despite its title, the grandfather paradox does not exclusively regard the contradiction of killing one's own grandfather to prevent one's birth. Rather, the paradox regards any action that alters the past, since there is a contradiction whenever the past becomes different from the way it was."

Applying this theory to a general example would be as follows:

Let's assume we are able to go back in time:

Now imagine you have build a house and you are living in it when someone comes to your house and hands you a time turner and now you can go to whichever time you prefer.

You go back in time and break down your building in which you are living in the present.

So, now you would be trapped in a paradox or contradiction in time as if you did not have a house in that place, you would neither have any possibility of gaining your time turner nor will you be able to get back in time.

This is the reason time travel to the past is considered to be a fictional belief.

Now coming to Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Askaban, neither the body of Buckbeak nor the punishment of Sirius Black was seen by the people so when Harry and Hermione went back in time it was still a possibility that the event has not happened. Thus when they were so called ‘altering the past', it had never actually happened in the very beginning as they were the ones who were already present during that time changing the events behind everyone's back. If you have seen the movie, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Askaban then you would understand how it has been well potrayed in the movie. Each and every scene has a hint that the characters were present. At least at one point of time Hermione even says that she saw something.

Whereas, on the contrary the death of the parents of Harry Potter had happened and people had already witnessed the lifeless bodies of the two and thus making it a fact rather than a presumption.

So, if they would have been altering a fact, that would have caused a paradox or created an alternate timeline as mentioned above, where going back in time would have not been required on the first place.

This fact has been brought in the Cursed Child. Reading it would get you an idea of how time travel was creating alternate timelines for Albus and Scorpius for trying to save Cedric Diggory whose lifeless body was witnessed by a lot of people and thus making it a fact.

So, if Harry would have went back in time to save his parents using a time turner he would have been stuck in the time paradox altering whole of their timeline where the following events would not occur:

1. Harry would not be raised by his Aunt and Uncle,

2. There would not be any letter addressed to the cupboard under the staircase,
3. Harry would not have met Hagrid,
4. The Potters might have been living happily in Godric’s Hollow,
5. Sirius might not have been imprisoned and he might have had a family of his own,
6. Peter Pettigrew could not have betrayed the Potters,
7. There might not be a Voldemort to be defeated (as Harry would have to defeat Voldemort to save his parents)
8. The prophecy would be of no use,

9. Neville's parents would not get cursed to madness,

And last but not the least,

10. There would not be a BOY WHO LIVED,

Thus there would have been no story whatsoever which have had happened for us to read, or in a way, the value of the story would be as good as nothing.
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The Part V of the Tales of King Weasley and the Brightest Witch is coming very soon exclusively on WATTPAD