Limbo

Limbo is a spiritual world between life and death that the souls of Muggles pass through as they travel to the afterlife. When wizards die, they remain in limbo when they travel there, unable to leave until they have chosen whether they want to come back as a ghost or "move on" into the afterlife. Muggles and Wizards who go into a coma, or suffer a near-death experience, travel by soul to limbo and remain there for a time. If they come back to consciousness/life, they go back to the world of the living. If their bodies succumb to death, their souls move on into the afterlife (Muggles only). However, when wizards and witches die, they, again, remain in limbo until they've made the choice to come back to life as a ghost or move to the afterlife.

History
In 1995 when Harry Potter saw that Arthur Weasley had been attacked by Nagini in the Department of Mysteries in the Ministry of Magic the Weasleys had to stay at Sirius Black's home at 12 Grimmauld Place until they could go to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. When Molly Weasley brought a letter with Fawkes' fire saying that he was still alive. It sounded for Harry that Arthur Weasley was floating between life and death.

In May of 1998, Harry Potter allowed himself to be struck by a Killing Curse cast by Lord Voldemort in an attempt to protect his friends and loved ones and to destroy the piece of Voldemort's soul that resided within him. What neither he nor Voldemort realised, however, was that when Voldemort used Harry's blood in his resurrection in 1995, he unwittingly took Lily Potter's magical protection of Harry into himself as well, thereby tethering Harry's life to his own. Because of this and the fact that the Elder Wand that struck him with the Killing Curse was really his, instead of dying, Harry fell unconscious, the soul shard of Voldemort that was in him was destroyed, and he was left with an iron clad bruise. Harry went into a "coma like" state, going into limbo. As a result of destroying part of his own soul in Harry, Voldemort also fell unconscious and went into a "coma like" state.



Harry awoke to find himself lying naked in a formless mist. As he adjusted to his surroundings he wished to himself that he were clothed, and as this wish came to him a short ways away a pile of clean fresh clothes appeared. After putting the clothes on the mist began to take shape into a copy of King's Cross Station, Harry saw a stunted, whimpering child-like form lying on the ground, for which he felt both pity and revulsion. This was the fragment of Voldemort's soul that resided in Voldemort himself. He also saw Albus Dumbledore, his deceased mentor, and the two had a long talk in which Dumbledore answered many of Harry's questions and told him that he was not actually dead. Instead of waiting in his coma/limbo state to see if he lived or died, Harry was guaranteed his return to life because his mother's protection within Voldemort and his mastery of the Elder Wand anchored him to life. However, the curse that struck Harry was so powerful that it gave him the choice to return to the world of the living to finally stop Voldemort or to board a train and "go on" to the afterlife that Dumbledore had gone to.

With the destruction of all of his Horcruxes, when Voldemort's Killing Curse rebounded and finally ended his life once and for all, his broken and mangled soul was forced to exist in the stunted form Harry saw in King's Cross, unable to return to the land of the living and unable to go the land of the dead, because his soul was maimed and unwhole.

Appearance
Limbo's appearance was different to all those who were in there.

Etymology
In Dante Alighieri's Inferno, Limbo is the first circle of Hell. It is where pagans who were good people go, because they did not believe in the Judeo-Christian God.

The Veil
Limbo is what is beyond the veil in the Department of Mysteries.

Real Life
People who have gone into a coma or near-death experiences and survived have said that they went through a tunnel near a light to the afterlife and had meetings with deceased loved ones. Doctors have dismissed this as the brain shutting down in their comatose state. This is possibly where J.K. Rowling got the idea for limbo.

Visitors to Limbo

 * Harry Potter
 * Lord Voldemort
 * Arthur Weasley
 * Dead

Appearances

 * Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (video game)