Posted on 07/21/2007 5:18:11 PM PDT by JenB
So you finally know what happens to Harry. All our questions are answered. Or not. What are your reactions? Whose death hurt the most? Do you want more, and about whom?
SPOILERS are ok on this thread! You have been warned!
Wow. It's over.
That is what surprised me when JKR didn't kill off that ugly toad Umbridge.
They're on the Tammy Faye thread.
“Now, here is what else is puzzling me. Harry is, albeit unwittingly, the seventh horcrux. In Hallows, there is some discussion (between Harry and Hermione, I think) about the risk of being too close to a horcrux for any length of time. Even wearing the locket turns out to be risky. And Hermione points out that the reason Ginny got into real trouble was that she opened herself emotionally to the horcrux that was Riddle’s diary, a risk also spelled out in Chamber of Secrets. It is made very clear that there is real danger in becoming emotionally close to a horcrux. So, as Harry is the horcrux, how come for seven books, everyone from Dumbledore to Ginny gets so emotionally close to him with no ill effects?”
Ok, here is what I think. The horcrux that reside in Harry is not able to build up too much negative power because the scar on harry’s forehead acts like a pressure relief valve and bleeds it off.
I wonder if Tammy Faye’s eyebrows will have to be buried separately with little tiny oak stakes through them?
I was surprised JKR omitted a final word
about Harry assuming guardianship of
Tonk’s and Remus’ newborn son. It was
obviously her intention to have Harry
do a repeat of the Godfather role played
by Sirius. Other people left in Limbo:
the Half-Blood Prince Snape.
Professor McGonigal,
Hagrid,
the Malfoy Family, Draco - maybe beause
of Dumbledore’s explicit request for his life,
but Lucius and his wife are accepted into
‘polite society’?
And WHO rebuilt the destroyed Hogwartz?
Some of the lengthy chapters wherein Harry
and Hermione fend their way across the
countryside minus Ron could have been
abbreviated. Too many pages spent
on Harry’s Dumbledore disillusionment.
Interesting additions: the pensive
childhood revelations re Snape and
Lily/Petunia and Dumbledore’s family.
But, didn’t Teddy’s grandmother live? (Tonks’ Mom). Maybe Teddy still lived with her.
Ok, I have a question. Bathilda Bagsly(?) was able to “see” Herry and Hermione even though they were under the invisibilty cloak. Now I think this was because it was not in fact Bathilda, but was instead, Nagini the snake. The snake was able to sense their body heat and thus “see” them.
Now, when Harry met Voldemort in the forest the snake was still inside his protective bubble. But after Narcissa proclaimed Harry dead the protection was lifted from Nagini.I wonder why the snake was not able to detect that harry was actually alive?
Speaking of Bathilda Bagshot, anyone else think the “Bagshot” is a nod to Tolkien?
I’m not really sure at where you get the idea of no ill effect. A lot of bad stuff happens to people close to Harry throughout the books, sure nobody gets possessed like Ginny did by the diary, but the list of dead, maimed, injured, and heartbroken is pretty long and fairly inclusive. And one has to wonder how much the possession of Ginny was the result of her being close to two horcruxes.
That’s what I thought. I know Ted Tonks was killed, but I don’t think his wife did.
Sirius and Lupin probably did recognize his patronus, but it would have come as no surprise that he loved Lily Evans -- they knew that already, at school.
And perhaps one of the reasons Snape hated Sirius so much was precisely that he would recognize his patronus.
Didn’t she get blasted for similarities between Potter and LoTR? If I remember correctly Dobby was compared to Gollum. If that was the case, I think she’d want to steer as far away from Tolkien as she could.
Andromeda Tonks, Teddy’s grandmother survived.
Yes, but just about every fantasy writer has been blamed for stealing from Tolkien and Lewis.
I think it was the movie reviews that did more comparison of Dobby and Gollum.
Tolkien and Wagner stole the Ring from the same sources.
There are only a few stories.
And the old wizard gets killed in every one of them. Eragon’s the same way.
Snape is definitely the one whose death seemed the emptiest... no particular closing out there, just the knowledge that he had to die. The only part I’m sorry about was that he died thinking it was all for nothing and that Lily’s son was soon to die.
I don’t think Harry needed to apologize for his father’s actions. Harry is Harry and James was James, and I do think that most of James and Snape’s rivalry was over Lily. And most of that was Snape’s doing, I believe. I think he always felt deep down that he wasn’t good enough for Lily, it seems the sort of thing an abused child would think. And then his actions kept pushing her away. Like on some level he wanted her away from him, felt he couldn’t make her happy and James - who was everything Snape wanted to be - could.
But in the end neither man’s love was enough to save her. Her love was what ultimately saved everything, her love for Harry and the friendly shining love that young Snape saw in her from childhood influenced him to do the rest.
Presumably, her love made James grow up into a better person than he was when we saw him at 15. Her love made Snape realize what he was doing. And I think Petunia’s memory of Lily’s love is what made her take in Harry in the first place.
Actually, based on some recent personal experiences, that part rang true for me. The disillusionment is rarely instantaneous and finally, at some point, one is forced to make a choice.
Dumbledore was still "mostly right" in terms of dealing with Voldemort -- his weaknesses were more personal than mission-related, so Harry's choice is still fairly straightforward.
It's a bit less easy when the object of your disillusionment appears to be "wrong" about the important stuff. Or wrong about some of the important stuff, but not all of it, and it's not easy to tell the difference.
The plot might have been more interesting if Rowling had found some way to sharpen the importance of deciding between Hallows and Horcruxes -- perhaps something along the lines of the Hallows being capable of directly dealing with the horcruxes, but Harry is forced to choose only one or the other because there's not enough time to do both. It would have been interesting also to have Voldemort be aware of the Hallows, so that they both have to decide.
Bah. Eragon (and Eldest) are cheap rehashes of every book and movie cliche that Christopher Paolini has ever read or seen.
Eragon the book was predictable but basically OK, because it did have some interesting ideas and settings.
Eldest, however, was awful. He basically grabbed his "main supporting cast" from Star Wars and LOTR. I won't read the third book if and when it appears.
I saw the movie then bought the two books. I slugged through “Eragon” but couldn’t handle “Eldest.” I’ll probably use it to start fires this winter.
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