As a superfan of Harry Potter, I'm good at finding and picking at the plotholes. I do this with all books, but HP especially, since it is one of my greatest loves and I know it inside and out. Some plotholes choose to ignore and pretend that they don't exist; some you accept and learn to live with; and others you create far-fetched explanations that somehow work to make them fit (and if it's good, the rest of the fandom will follow suit). Some examples of plotholes in HP are: if Harry saw his mom die, why didn't he see the thestrals until Cedric died, and why didn't he see them at the end of that year taking the carriages back to the train instead of the following year? how did Fred and George never notice that Peter Petigrew was wandering around the Marauder's Map, usually with their own brother? if the invisibility cloak is supposed to be powerful enough to hide you from death, how did a bunch of teenagers create a map powerful enough to detect it? It's this last one that I want to focus on. Maybe this is me, being a crazy fangirl and making up some explanation to fill in the hole, but I think that this isn't really a plothole at all. I believe that there is a perfectly plausible explanation for the cloak showing up on the map while still being one of the Deathly Hallows and powerful enough to hide one from death.
(In my own words) As the story goes, three brothers (the Peverells) came to a river that couldn't be crossed. They happened to be wizards, though, skilled in the use of magic. So they pulled out their wands and created a bridge. Now, Death felt cheated. Those who try to cross the river are supposed to die, but these three found a way around that. So Death made a plan. As the brothers were crossing the bridge, Death approached them. He congratulated them on their cleverness and success and told them that he wanted to reward them. He would grant them each one wish. The oldest brother asked for a wand that could defeat any foe, so Death took a branch from an elder tree and presented it to the first brother. The brother went away and challenged an old enemy to a duel, won, and bragged of his success and the power of his undefeatable wand. Others overheard this, so when the brother was sleeping, someone snuck into his room, stole the wand, and killed him for good measure. So Death took the first brother as his own. The middle brother asked for a stone that could recall the dead, so Death picked a pebble from the river and told the second brother that if he turned it thrice, it would bring back a loved one who had died. So the second brother went to his home, turned the stone, and recalled the spirit of his beloved. For a time, they were happy together, but eventually the brother saw that his beloved was fading and miserable; she didn't belong in this world anymore. So he set her free and killed himself that he might be with her again. And so Death claimed the second brother for his own. Now, the youngest brother was clever. He asked Death for something that would be able to hide the brother from Death himself. Death was dismayed by this request, but a promise was a promise, and so he removed a piece from his own cloak of invisibility and gave it to the brother and he went on his way. Years passed, and Death searched high and low for the third brother, but he could not find him. It wasn't until many years later, when the third brother had grown old, that he passed the cloak on to his own son, that Death was able to find him, and the brother greeted him as an old friend.
It is this cloak that Harry now possesses, a cloak that can literally hide you from death.
The Marauder's Map was created by Hogwarts students, four boys between 15-17 years of age, one of whom was Harry's father and the previous owner of the cloak.
So how did four teenage boys create a map that can do what death itself can't? Yes, James Potter owned the cloak, so they knew about it and would want to be able to see it on the map, but that doesn't explain how they could be more powerful than a cloak created by death. I happen to think that there is a flaw in this logic and that they wouldn't have to be more powerful than death to create a map that can see the cloak.
I think the answer lies in the story, or in the metaphor behind it. Three brothers asked for three things from death, and when brought together under the power of one person, that person becomes master of death. First, a wand that is undefeatable. With this, one has the power to send anyone they wish to the grave, thus, the power to take life. Second, a stone that can resurrect the dead. With this, one can recall those who have been lost to the grave, thus, the power to reverse death. Third, a cloak of invisibility. With this, one can hide from death, thus, the power to avoid death. And that is the key. The point of the cloak isn't to hide from death, but to be able to avoid it at all costs. It happens to be an invisibility cloak because that is what Death uses, but it really could have been anything and Death still wouldn't have been able to take the third brother. I think that it should rightly be named a cloak of immortality.
Think about this: Death is walking along and he bumps into something, but nothing seems to be there. Well, he's Death and he's pretty smart, so he knows that there must be something or someone invisible there, so he goes to kill it. Well, it looks like the invisibility cloak wasn't really enough to avoid Death after all.
Now imagine that it's really a cloak of immortality. Death happens across this interesting map that shows the names of everyone in Hogwarts. Oh, look, there's the person who owns the third Deathly Hallow, the cloak. Now, Death knows exactly where he is, but there is nothing he can do to the person. Death can't touch him. Thus, it really isn't important that the cloak not be visible because it just doesn't matter. The map didn't need to be more powerful than death to show the wearer of the cloak because death still wouldn't be able to claim them.
If you noticed in the story, Death couldn't get the third brother until he took the cloak off of his own free will. He didn't wait until he died of old age; instead, he chose when it was time to take it off. If it's a cloak of immortality, then the third brother wouldn't have been able to die of old age while wearing it, which is why he had to eventually take it off to move on. Now, Harry was never attacked by anything deadly while wearing the cloak; if he had been, it would have given things away too early and it would have seemed really far-fetched, him not dying just because he's wearing an invisibility cloak. That doesn't mean it can't be true, it just means it would have made for a lousy plotline. You may argue that he got hit by spells and such plenty of times while wearing the cloak, but none of it was deadly. I truly believe that if Harry was hit by Avada Kedavra while wearing the cloak, he still wouldn't have died (though he obviously didn't need it, anyway).
Voldemort, in his search for immortality, was going after the wrong Hallow. The wand could only bring death to your opponent, it couldn't do anything for your own life. The one item that could have given him what he wanted was in Harry's possession all along.
So, not sure how well I explained that, but what do you think? Is it really a cloak of immortality, or am I reaching?
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