So!! Who's finished Deathly Hallows??
POSTED BY: PhoenixRose
UPDATED: Wednesday, August 22, 2007 19:03
VIEWED: 20853
PAGE 9 of 12
The way JK Rowling could get out of that would probably be to say that Harry wasn't really Harry then, and launch into some vague semi-scientific diatribe about the events of your life shaping who you are :P or, her old classic: as a child Harry wasn't capable of making decisions and so wasn't Harry because, of course, 'it is our choices that make us what we are'
I doubt she'd bother though - that's just what I'd do to appease the people who'd caught me out!!! xD
*Browncoat Bobhen*
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Actually, PR, Rowling herself gave the explanation about "knowing death" in an interview. (Unfortunately I don't have a reference, but I've read it on the HP Lexicon and/or Leaky Cauldron site.) So it's not fanon, but it's also true that it's a post-justification. I think Rowling just missed that point and had to come up with a semi-reasonable rationalization.
To be honest, I'm a little bemused (good word, that) by your complaint about her introducing new elements in each book. Did you really expect to have the entire complex story foreshadowed in every detail in Book One?
I have the opposite impression: that Rowling did a great job of planting subtle clues and hints about coming attractions in the early books. There are numerous examples, but I'll give two from Philosopher's (aka Sorceror's) Stone: Ollivander hinting about the importance of Harry's wand being Voldemort's wand's brother, and Ron's rat Scabbers (who turned out to be a good deal more than he seemed).
And how about a big one from Chamber of Secrets: the whole book revolved around the enchanted diary, but even so we never learned the critical importance of that object until Book Six.
I don't have any problem at all with the various inconsistencies and contradictions. In fact, I'm amazed at how few of those there are in such a long and complex story. I recently heard an interview with the guy who performs the audio books of the HP series. He mentioned that he had to do something like 140 different voices for the characters in Order of the Phoenix alone!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'm pointin' right at it!
NOTIFY: N | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
No, of course I don't expect everything to be foreshadowed in book one (though, as you pointed out, much of it was. Gridelwald was mentioned in Stone and not again til Hallows, etc) but having everything stay consistent is different. Just, as an example, in Goblet the village of Hogsmeade is mentioned as out-of-bounds for those below third year in the start-of-school anouncements, but it was never alluded to in the first two books. Now, that wouldn't have given away any plot details or anything, it's just inconsistent. It still would have been a new thing for book three if it had been mentioned before, but never seen. We find out that the Hogwarts Express actually pulls in to Hogsmeade station in Phoenix, so the village could have been mentioned as where the train station is, if nothing else. My complaint isn't that she introduced something new each book, but that she avoided even mentioning said things in previous books so that they would be totally new, even when they should have gotten a few words. Not everything. A house-elf was totally new and probably would have been mentioned. That one's cool. See what I'm saying? My complaint is that, though it might not be the case, she just kind of made up this new thing for the story when it should have been mentioned before, and it seems slightly lazy. Rowling is an excellent writer when it comes to keeping you reading, but if you actually analyze her writing and her stories, there are little problems like that, and a lot of derivative things. It doesn't really decrease my enjoyment of them much, but when you read them as many times as I have, things start to pop out as being a little off.
And, I just finished up my re-read last night, and the thing about the Malfoys just wanting to weasel their way into the castle as soon as possible was something Harry knew from a conversation between Lucious and Voldemort that he was in Voldemort's head for, so that explans the conclusion he came to about Narcissa a bit.
Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.
A troll's hair is still pointy, even when it's wearing a hat.
NOTIFY: N | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Thanks Penguin:) I know you did...but I was so pleased...( mind you this is all Alan Rickman's fault as I wouldn't have been so attached to Snape had he not been the actor playing him)
"I'm not all that interested in the mental health of people who want to kill me. "- Leroy Jethro Gibbs
NOTIFY: N | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by msg:
I wouldn't have been so attached to Snape had he not been the actor playing him)
I knew it!!! Snape groupies are all just Rickman groupies!
I am immune because I can't stand the movies.
Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.
A troll's hair is still pointy, even when it's wearing a hat.
NOTIFY: N | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
It wasn't until I read Snape's death scene a second time that I realised he asked Harry to look at him so he could see Lily's eyes one last time before he died. That made me very sniffly.
Loved the book. 
I think it was the best written of any of the books so far. It certainly moved at a furious pace.
Banners, Avatars, LJ Icons and other fun stuff at www.desktophippie.com
NOTIFY: N | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Yeah it's Alan elegant evil that makes Snape more attractive...I still would have concluded he was a good person because of all the hints and clues, but I would have been less passionate about it.
It also explains why , when disciplining Harry, Snape always backs down when he looks in Harry's eyes.
"I'm not all that interested in the mental health of people who want to kill me. "- Leroy Jethro Gibbs
NOTIFY: N | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
I gotta go with Alan Rickman adulation too - he's Goooood, not only does he bring Snape's nastiness right up front - he also throws in some obvious frustration at Harry's tendancy to be just plain DENSE! (c'mon, even the most adoring fan has wanted to slap him a time or two, even Minerva has at him for it!)
The occlumency scenes really highlights Snape's frustration with Harry's lackluster efforts in his own defense, Rickman totally delivers the goods in that one.
His best line tho, is the sardonically delivered one on the doorstep of Umbridges office.
"Unless you wish to poison mister potter, and if you did you'd have my ut-most sympathy, I'm afraid i cannot help you..
I LOL'ed.
-F
NOTIFY: N | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Oh, I almost forgot! JK Rowling wrote a complete ending for each of the main characters, where they ended up 19 years later and so on, but didn't get to include it in the book. This covers the stuff she left out.
Select to view spoiler:
SPOILER ALERT: Those who do not wish to know what happens to the
characters after the book ends should stop reading here.
Rowling said the world was a sunnier, happier place after the seventh
book and the death of Voldemort.
Harry Potter, who always voiced a desire to become an Auror, or
someone who fights dark wizards, was named head of the Auror
Department under the new wizarding government headed by his friend
and ally, Kingsley Shacklebolt.
His wife, Ginny Weasley, stuck with her athletic career, playing for
the Holyhead Harpies, the all-female Quidditch team. Eventually,
Ginny left the team to raise their three children -- James, Albus and
Lily -- while writing as the senior Quidditch correspondent for the
wizarding newspaper, the Daily Prophet.
Harry's best friend Ron Weasley joined his brother, George, as a
partner at their successful joke shop, Weasley's Wizard Wheezes.
Hermione Granger, Ron's wife and the third person of the series' dark
wizard fighting trio, furthered the rights of subjugated creatures,
such as house elves, in the Department for the Regulation and Control
of Magical Creatures before joining the magical law enforcement
squad. The couple had two children -- Rose and Hugo.
Luna Lovegood, Harry's airily distracted friend with a love for
imaginary animals who joins the fight against Voldemort in the Order
of the Pheonix, becomes a famous wizarding naturalist who eventually
marries the grandson of Newt Scamander, author of "Fantastic Beasts
and Where to Find Them."
And what Muggle, or non-wizard, song would have been played at the
funeral of Albus Dumbledore, the most brilliant and talented wizard
the world had ever known?
"Surely 'I Did It My Way' by Frank Sinatra," Rowling told her fans,
referring to the song "My Way," written by Paul Anka but popularized
by Sinatra, among other singers.
Banners, Avatars, LJ Icons and other fun stuff at www.desktophippie.com
NOTIFY: N | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME