Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (#7) by J.K. Rowling

Wow. Holy Cow. Yes, that was a satisfying book. One of the best books I've read. Yes, Harry became a man. With that said, we shall commence to the spoilers, shall we?













Like Liz, I feel pretty good about my predictions. But how they were done, well... That made the book Great. The scenes that especially hit me: Snape showing Dumbledore his Patronus. Harry Potter with his parents and Lupin and Sirius, walking with them to his death. Harry explaining to his son Albus Severus that he was named after a headmaster from Slytherin, probably the bravest man he ever knew.

I was completely shocked that a piece of Voldemort's soul was in Harry. It was a very good reason for him to have to die, which I hadn't really believed in before, because no such reason had existed. Well, apart from all the stuff about the greater magic of love and sacrifice, which I'll admit foreshadowed it quite a bit. Even that, though, wasn't enough. Sacrifice without reason is just masochism. There's always a reason behind the great sacrifices, whether it's Harry's mother dying for him or Christ dying on the cross for us. It Accomplishes something. Anyway, I'm a little ticked that there was so much speculation about his death. What business do people have predicting the death of the main character? Don't they know how freaking rare that is?! I am, of course, ticked because I would have been even more shocked if it hadn't been for all that speculation.

As for his return to the land of the living, I did say that I thought he would be alive at the end of the book, but I'll admit my belief faltered a bit once I really expected him to die. I'm not sure how much it faltered. I would say the return was cheap, except, well, all of that stuff, all that explanation, everything's been set up since day one. We always knew this was the deeper magic, and that Voldemort would never understand it, and it would defeat him in the end. One's reminded of Aslan's explanation to Susan and Lucy of the Deeper Magic. And, that, of course, makes it not cheap at all, but the only way that any True story can ever end.

I'm glad Neville had a part in Voldemort's downfall! Especially because if Harry's plan had gone the way he had expected, he would have needed people to carry on, to kill the snake and then Voldemort. And why not? Harry did what the others could not, and then it would be their turn. But I'm glad Harry came back. (= And I'm glad Neville killed the snake before he knew it.

I'm also glad I forgot that I knew Snape was going to die (Joi mentioned at some point in the afternoon that Snape was Liz' favorite character, and later Liz arrived and mentioned that her favorite character dies. The two of you really were a bit excessively chatty last week...). It wasn't really a surprise, with people dropping like flies. But I did expect Snape to be vindicated before he died, not after. Poor Snape. But that made his story all the more tragic, and his story couldn't help but be a tragedy.

The fact that people were dropping like flies was so expected I'm surprised people bothered to bring it up. It's only really surprising when it's people like Fred or Lupin, and you expect even a few people like them to die in battle. But since people bothered to bring it up, I thought there would be more people like them dying. Not that I'm complaining. Makes me feel a bit cold-hearted that more of the deaths didn't hit me that strongly, but... ::shrug::

Some favorite moments:


“‘Death’s got an Invisibility Cloak?’ Harry interrupted again.

‘So he can sneak up on people,’ said Ron. ‘Sometimes he gets bored of running at them, flapping his arms and shrieking…sorry, Hermione.’”

“‘You trust him…you do not trust me.’” –Snape to Dumbledore about Harry

I like that Harry and Snape both suspected Dumbledore of this, that they were both unnecessarily jealous of his trust.

“‘He accepts that he must die, and understands that there are far, far worse things in the living world than dying.’” –Dumbledore to Harry about the "Master of Death"

When he said that before, I thought he meant that killing someone is not the most evil thing you can do, which is true, although it’s often treated like the worst evil in these books (don't want to scar the younger kids reading them). But it seemed like an odd thing to want to point out to Voldemort. What he meant, though, is really about the victim’s choices. And he’s right, Voldemort doesn’t understand, because the thing Voldemort fears above all is death. He underestimates the heroes because he thinks they would fear it above all too, and that once they’ve died he has won.

“‘Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?’” –Dumbledore

“‘You mean he was weak!’ screamed Voldemort. ‘Too weak to dare, too weak to take what might have been his, what will be mine!’”

All of a sudden I’m strongly reminded of a certain witch standing in a garden in Narnia, eating the fruit.

And that's all I have to say about that. At least on here, for now. Perhaps it is time to give Joi a call...

Book Seven Chapter Nineteen SPOILERS

I just finished (or had, before I started talking on the phone...) chapter nineteen and took a small break to go check the predictions Liz told me about (I don't feel like linking to them at the moment, but she put links in her comments on my last post), and I added many thoughts in my comments on her posts. I had one more, though, that I suddenly decided I really wanted to post and get off my chest. I think the doe is Ginny's. Because of her relationship with Harry, the animal fits. And she's already been mentioned in connection with the Sword. Don't know how she did it, but that's another one of those things that will show up later. This incident had the sort of feel to it that normally is associated in these books with some wonderful older person like Dumbledore watching out for him, but it seems plausible that it isn't an adult (er, someone over 17) this time. So, we'll see. Back to the book for a bit.

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.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Harry Potter #5) by J.K. Rowling

There are going to be spoilers in the post above this. I'm going to leave a blank space on both ends, so you shouldn't be able to see spoilers by accident while you're reading this one, but I thought I still ought to leave a warning here, so you'll be careful. Oh, and some might consider this post to have spoilers, but I tried to be suitably vague about the stuff that isn't super obvious right away. So whether you should read or not depends on how much you hate any hint at all of the contents of a book.

I'm afraid that I disagree with you and Tracy even more on reading this a second time, Andrea. Sorry. I had remembered this as a book that I liked in spite of all Harry's whining, which I thought wasn't too bad considering what he's been through and all that. Now, reading it again, I wonder, what whining? I mean there is some, but it didn't seem to me that it drags on particularly or anything. I thought what there was seemed entirely consistent with, well, everything. I thought the characters were consistent, all the reactions made sense. Melanie, I remember you were upset he never apologized, but, again, it seemed like he and his friends acted as they always have. There were times when he did say sorry, and there were times when they made up nonverbally, as friends do. Even Dumbledore seemed consistent. If he had explained his actions as intended to protect himself, that would be one thing. But he didn't. It was for Harry's sake, he didn't want to tempt Voldemort. So, what with all the consistency, you can see why I don't feel that there's anything at all about this to make it "fan fiction" or "not canon."

Umbridge makes a really good villain. Almost too good, since she makes the book harder to read. I mean, Voldemort is evil and all, but at least he's honest about it! Umbridge, on the other hand, made me sick. Not to mention enraged.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Harry Potter #4) by J.K. Rowling

I've just finished book six, but I have a bit of catchup to do before I write about that.

This was an excellent book. I remember marveling about that as I finished it. As I reread each of these books I find that I've forgotten many things and have to solve parts of the mysteries all over again, while other things remain quite clear. There was one major bit of Goblet of Fire that I couldn't help but remember, and I was quite impressed with Voldemort's evil scheme, remembering. The first time I was too surprised to be impressed.

This book really expanded the emotional range of the series, too. Parts of the book [I won't say which parts, just in case Sharon doesn't want to know, not having read it yet... (= ] feel quite as traumatic as you know they're supposed to be. It's like you've been hearing about Harry's pain, but now it's yours, too. Or as though you felt his pain before, but it was a child's pain, and now it's not. Good book.