Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter #6) by J.K. Rowling

Now, for the final post, the one I must make before I go to bed. What a good book! Wow. I'm sort of glad I didn't read it long ago -- the ending isn't particularly friendly to those who can't get their hands on the next one. I very much wish I hadn't heard spoilers, but still, so good! It makes me wonder how often mysteries have been written in series form -- things can be much more complex and mysterious with that much room to work.

Now for a non-sequitur...

“‘I don’t mean to be rude –‘ he began, in a tone that threatened rudeness in every syllable.

‘— yet, sadly, accidental rudeness occurs alarmingly often,’ Dumbledore finished the sentence gravely. ‘Best to say nothing at all, my dear man.’” –Uncle Vernon and Dumbledore

Generally I don't put spoilers on my blog. At least not major ones, and often not even small ones, if I notice. Normally I talk about the spoilers in person, with those who have read it already. But in this case, there's just too much to talk about, and I can't give predictions in person without people reacting, even when they think they aren't, and I'm quite good at reading people. That's why I can normally tell whether people are mafia or not (when playing Mafia, of course) and have been mistaken for the Sheriff. And anyway, Liz told me to post predictions. So... SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER











First off, in spite of everything, I still think Snape's good. Bold, but I can't get around it. It's not just that Dumbledore trusted him. It's that he's always been the too obviously evil person, the decoy mystery authors use. Rowling could be counting on us knowing that and then switching it for the surprise, but it just doesn't feel right. Besides, Dumbledore had a reason to trust him, and there's no way that it's what Harry thought it was. Dumbledore was clever, for one, and Harry has a tendency to be wrong about these motivation kinds of things. That reason he trusted Snape is too big not to have a big Reveal. And it wouldn't work for the Reveal to be, "Look, here's the ironclad reason Dumbledore trusted Snape, but here's how Snape tricked him." If that were the case, we'd already know the reason, and find out how Snape tricked him after finding out that Snape's evil, for greater effect.

So how could Snape possibly be good? You tell me, you're the ones who have read the seventh book and are laughing at me right now. (= No, I think perhaps Dumbledore wanted Snape to kill him. He certainly seemed to plan for it in regards to Harry, at any rate. And he said "please" to Snape, but didn't specify further.

So why would he want Snape to kill him? How could Snape keeping his cover possibly be worth that? Especially given that he has no one to report to now, as no one on the good side will trust him anymore? I don't know. I suspect a situation will turn up in which it will be very important that he did and there will be a way to save Harry, even without his trust. I don't know how that will happen or how Dumbledore could have predicted it with enough confidence to sacrifice like that, but I don't need to know. It's like with Veronica Mars -- think about the characters enough and you can figure out who did it in the first season, and you know a motivation will show up later.

If Snape is good, you've got to admire him. I keep being reminded of Mafia, oddly enough. I suppose because it's the closest experience I have to lying like that. He seems to do the same thing as I do in Mafia -- act out the role, become it so much that you find ways to tell people what you need to and yet keep as much of the truth as possible in it as well, to tell them things that you can, in a way, believe yourself. After all, he could hardly just close his mind to Voldemort... that wouldn't be suspicious, no!

As for other predictions, like whether Harry lives or dies... I'll admit that if I were reading these books in a vacuum, with no one to talk to, I would probably expect Harry to survive, kill Voldemort in some big final battle, and that to be that. Other people might die, maybe even Ron or Hermione, but not Harry. As it is, I must admit I'm not sure. I shouldn't let other people and spoilers cloud my judgment, since I'm generally pretty good with books (not to brag -- I ought to be, when I've read as many as I have), but... Then, too, I normally revise my opinions in the middle of the book, as everyone does. And I'm not going to bother to post again in the middle of the seventh book. At least probably not. Hmmm. You know, I think the main thing is just that I don't like predicting whether people will live or die. To me, it breaks the suspension of disbelief on a level that speculating about someone's goodness will never do. If someone dies, I want to be as shocked as I would be in real life. I want to grieve. There's the vague possibility of death in war, but actual death or any stronger possibilities of it will be sudden. There's the necessity that good will win out over evil, but how that will happen, what sacrifices will be made... I think I prefer not to go there. Back to non-sequiturs.

“‘Sir – I got a Ministry of Magic leaflet by owl, about security measures we should all take against the Death Eaters…’

‘Yes, I received one myself,’ said Dumbledore, still smiling. ‘Did you find it useful?’

‘Not really.’

‘No, I thought not. You have not asked me, for instance, what is my favourite flavour of jam, to check that I am indeed Professor Dumbledore, and not an impostor.’

‘I didn’t…’ Harry began, not entirely sure whether he was being reprimanded or not.

‘For future reference, Harry, it is raspberry … although of course, if I were a Death Eater, I would have been sure to research my own jam-preferences before impersonating myself.’”

“He had known Ginny for years now … it was natural that he should feel protective … natural that he should want to look out for her … want to rip Dean limb from limb for kissing her … no … he would have to control that particular brotherly feeling …”

“‘Imagine, please, just for a moment, that you had never heard that prophecy! How would you feel about Voldemort now? Think!’

Harry watched Dumbledore striding up and down in front of him, and thought. He thought of his mother, his father and Sirius. He thought of Cedric Diggory. He thought of all the terrible deeds he knew Lord Voldemort had done. A flame seemed to leap inside his chest, searing his throat.

‘I’d want him finished,’ said Harry quietly. ‘And I’d want to do it.’”

And this is why the prophecy has never seemed like a big deal to me. Uh, duh they're going to face each other... and I hate to break it to you, but it's a matter of course that the evil bad guy dies in the end. Maybe this time both will die, but the prophecy doesn't say anything about that. Maybe this time the stronger magic of love will somehow be used to turn Voldemort good?! And yet, the prophecy seems pretty specifically against that bit of wild speculation, unless Harry actually dies to save Voldemort. Doesn't quite seem in character with the series, especially since Dumbledore strongly implied that it's Harry's love that makes him want to kill Voldemort, and didn't urge any mercy on that score. So, overall, it's not a very helpful prophecy. Which is in character.