At Last, It Ends
Thoughts and impressions on HBP.
It's amazing how often I refuse to listen to myself. Years ago, years ago, I told tahmthelame, "Every year they think Snape's the bad guy, and every year they're wrong. As soon as we stop suspecting him, she's gonna make Snape the bad guy!" *grips hair*
That said, I refuse to believe that he's actually gone all the way. Whether he was obeying Dumbledore's orders, whether he did it to save his life, whether he really meant it but will come to regret it, I can't see complex, complicated Snape switching into full villain mode--black and white delineations have never defined him, and I will not believe that they do now. "All bad" seems as unlikely a characterization for him as "all good."
Dumbledore's "Please" stirred a lot of people, myself included. I don't know if I would call it begging, and what interests me most is that he didn't include a request. Just "Please." Please...what? Please save me from Malfoy, who I'm sure isn't going to kill me? Please cure my illness that you don't know about? Please take care of Harry who you don't know is here? Please protect the school in my absence, because I'm sure I'm going to die even though you're here to fix me and Malfoy is wimping out? Or please...follow the orders that I gave you earlier and have no need to repeat.
Of course, there's the Legilimens to consider. The plea itself could have been unspoken. But if that was the case, why let out a "please" at all? Was the word directed to Malfoy, then, to feign weakness (giving Malfoy confidence and sparing Snape of the murder), or to Harry, to make him (like us) wonder about the many motivations of the act? I will not believe that it was a moment of weakness in a man who carries around a charred hand and just drank ten glasses of pure pain.
Or maybe it's the Denial Decantation I've been drinking. *shrugs*
On the other hand, Dumbledore has his weaknesses. Please--don't let me have been wrong about you Severus. Please choose the path I have tried to show you. Please recognize your worth. Please don't make yourself a killer....
Draco really pleased me in this book. I'm not sure he acted very intelligently, but he did act--at least thrice, and it's implied that there were more attempts. The Vanishing Cabinets were a nice idea. (Incidentally, I'm glad to hear that Montague recovered. The twins should be locked away.) I guess Montague stayed in limbo because one cabinet was broken, having been smashed by Peeves a few years ago. The scene of Draco in the bathroom, sobbing over the sink, was devastatingly hot striking. He did nearly as much maturing as Harry, at last, and it does show. I'm not sure why he couldn't kill Dumbledore. Fear, probably, that Dumbledore wasn't as helpless as he looked.
irked_indeed and I chatted briefly about what the remnants of Dumbledore, the paintings and Chocolate Frog cards, could do. I think the paintings keep their ability of reaction, but not proaction. He can carry messages but his wisdom will be little more than platitudes. *waxes philosophical* But that's what remains for us, when our loved ones pass. "He would have loved this." "She's probably rolling over in her grave right now." "They would have been so proud." That's the kind of thing the portraits display: a two-dimensional show of how their subjects would have felt. I can see, toward the end:
...Harry raised his eyes to the portrait of Dumbledore on the wall.
The old Headmaster smiled back at him. His blue eyes twinkled behind the half-moon spectacles. "Well done, Harry."
Harry's heart soared...
I was a little confused for a while regarding Azkaban, because the dementors left in book 5 and there are still prisoners in book 6. I've decided that although we were told in book 3 that "there's no need for locks and bars" in the prison, they must still be there, and that the dementors were replaced with wizards to keep the prisoners in check. That interests me because I had expected the dementors to set everyone free. I'm also speculating that one of the Horcruxes (or a step to it) is at Azkaban, so we'll get to see the place at last.
R.A.B.: I settled on Regulus Black, too, and I like the theory, but I'm not willing to commit to it. Remember book 5, when we were all, "Oh, yeah, yeah, old Mrs. Figg down the block is a witch, yeah, Jo, we're onto you this time." Mm-hm. There are lots of last names that start with "B": Borgin, Burkes, Bones, Braddock, Bletchley, Bode, Bole, Blotts, Binns. I'm personally rooting for Bones, because Susan doesn't seem to have much family left!
I want book 7 to be called Harry Potter and the Seven Souls. Here's our Horcrux count:
1.Diary--destroyed
2.Ring--destroyed
3.Locket--with RAB
4.Nagini--with Voldemort
5.Cup--??
6.Unknown item (likely to be a Ravenclaw or Gryffindor artifact, and if Gryffindor likely to be at Godric's Hollow)
7.Voldemort himself
I had considered that Quirrell, Harry, or Ginny could be Horcruxes, but disregarded them all: Quirrell was a host and the soul lived when he died. Voldie had no time to put in a Horcrux when he tried to kill Harry--and he hasn't killed anyone in Harry's presence since. Again, no one died in the course of Ginny's possession. Besides, a living thing is not such a great place to store your soul.
I really like the idea that book 7 might deviate from the norm, and become a quest-type book: we have the chance to travel around the wizarding world, see all the characters one last time, give everyone the opportunity to shine once or twice, use all that background knowledge, all while being pursued from several different parties.
Bits:
I love Nagini, I'm going to cry and cry when she dies. Just warning you now.
I approve of all the Canon shipping. :)
I'm prepared to continue to believe that Slughorn is a good guy.
Still not much Wormtail! Unreal. His wizard's debt goes unpaid for, what, the third book in a row?
I expect Aberforth to play a named role in book 7, maybe even get a line!
I can't believe the goblins haven't rebelled yet. The time is ripe, guys, bust out the pitchforks! I expected more of the magical beasts and beings to begin choosing sides. Werewolves and dementors did, but there are hags, giants, goblins, veela, vampires, house elves, centaurs, merfolk (not that they'll be much help in a land war), goodness knows what else. There is a lot of power there. Use it, someone, please!
I was much more pleased with this that OotP. The writing was denser, the funny parts were funnier (or equally funny), the gruesome parts were nicely gruesome. And there were zombies! She paid us a lot of fan service, but I wouldn't call it that per se, I would call it adjusting her areas of focus to those she knows hold our interest. We've seen quite enough classwork, so she cuts down on it...we like Riddle, so there's lots. Of course, there's the shipping and the name-dropping (I love that, I collect names like a crow collects shineys) and some extremely funny references to fanon. The squidporn reference almost killed me. It's almost as if the story is being written interactively. I wonder if there's precedent in that--did the serial-fiction writers of Dickens' era hang out in pubs listening to people remark on their work? Certainly it's never been on this scale.
I'll start gleaning for details in a few days, and I'm sure there'll be more speculation after that, but for now I leave you with a trio of amusing links from notemily.
HBP in Pictures
HBP by e.e.cummings (and if you don't quite get it, there's a link to an explanation in the comments.)
HBP as written by my friends list
Now can my brain get back to normal, please?
It's amazing how often I refuse to listen to myself. Years ago, years ago, I told tahmthelame, "Every year they think Snape's the bad guy, and every year they're wrong. As soon as we stop suspecting him, she's gonna make Snape the bad guy!" *grips hair*
That said, I refuse to believe that he's actually gone all the way. Whether he was obeying Dumbledore's orders, whether he did it to save his life, whether he really meant it but will come to regret it, I can't see complex, complicated Snape switching into full villain mode--black and white delineations have never defined him, and I will not believe that they do now. "All bad" seems as unlikely a characterization for him as "all good."
Dumbledore's "Please" stirred a lot of people, myself included. I don't know if I would call it begging, and what interests me most is that he didn't include a request. Just "Please." Please...what? Please save me from Malfoy, who I'm sure isn't going to kill me? Please cure my illness that you don't know about? Please take care of Harry who you don't know is here? Please protect the school in my absence, because I'm sure I'm going to die even though you're here to fix me and Malfoy is wimping out? Or please...follow the orders that I gave you earlier and have no need to repeat.
Of course, there's the Legilimens to consider. The plea itself could have been unspoken. But if that was the case, why let out a "please" at all? Was the word directed to Malfoy, then, to feign weakness (giving Malfoy confidence and sparing Snape of the murder), or to Harry, to make him (like us) wonder about the many motivations of the act? I will not believe that it was a moment of weakness in a man who carries around a charred hand and just drank ten glasses of pure pain.
Or maybe it's the Denial Decantation I've been drinking. *shrugs*
On the other hand, Dumbledore has his weaknesses. Please--don't let me have been wrong about you Severus. Please choose the path I have tried to show you. Please recognize your worth. Please don't make yourself a killer....
Draco really pleased me in this book. I'm not sure he acted very intelligently, but he did act--at least thrice, and it's implied that there were more attempts. The Vanishing Cabinets were a nice idea. (Incidentally, I'm glad to hear that Montague recovered. The twins should be locked away.) I guess Montague stayed in limbo because one cabinet was broken, having been smashed by Peeves a few years ago. The scene of Draco in the bathroom, sobbing over the sink, was devastatingly hot striking. He did nearly as much maturing as Harry, at last, and it does show. I'm not sure why he couldn't kill Dumbledore. Fear, probably, that Dumbledore wasn't as helpless as he looked.
irked_indeed and I chatted briefly about what the remnants of Dumbledore, the paintings and Chocolate Frog cards, could do. I think the paintings keep their ability of reaction, but not proaction. He can carry messages but his wisdom will be little more than platitudes. *waxes philosophical* But that's what remains for us, when our loved ones pass. "He would have loved this." "She's probably rolling over in her grave right now." "They would have been so proud." That's the kind of thing the portraits display: a two-dimensional show of how their subjects would have felt. I can see, toward the end:
...Harry raised his eyes to the portrait of Dumbledore on the wall.
The old Headmaster smiled back at him. His blue eyes twinkled behind the half-moon spectacles. "Well done, Harry."
Harry's heart soared...
I was a little confused for a while regarding Azkaban, because the dementors left in book 5 and there are still prisoners in book 6. I've decided that although we were told in book 3 that "there's no need for locks and bars" in the prison, they must still be there, and that the dementors were replaced with wizards to keep the prisoners in check. That interests me because I had expected the dementors to set everyone free. I'm also speculating that one of the Horcruxes (or a step to it) is at Azkaban, so we'll get to see the place at last.
R.A.B.: I settled on Regulus Black, too, and I like the theory, but I'm not willing to commit to it. Remember book 5, when we were all, "Oh, yeah, yeah, old Mrs. Figg down the block is a witch, yeah, Jo, we're onto you this time." Mm-hm. There are lots of last names that start with "B": Borgin, Burkes, Bones, Braddock, Bletchley, Bode, Bole, Blotts, Binns. I'm personally rooting for Bones, because Susan doesn't seem to have much family left!
I want book 7 to be called Harry Potter and the Seven Souls. Here's our Horcrux count:
1.Diary--destroyed
2.Ring--destroyed
3.Locket--with RAB
4.Nagini--with Voldemort
5.Cup--??
6.Unknown item (likely to be a Ravenclaw or Gryffindor artifact, and if Gryffindor likely to be at Godric's Hollow)
7.Voldemort himself
I had considered that Quirrell, Harry, or Ginny could be Horcruxes, but disregarded them all: Quirrell was a host and the soul lived when he died. Voldie had no time to put in a Horcrux when he tried to kill Harry--and he hasn't killed anyone in Harry's presence since. Again, no one died in the course of Ginny's possession. Besides, a living thing is not such a great place to store your soul.
I really like the idea that book 7 might deviate from the norm, and become a quest-type book: we have the chance to travel around the wizarding world, see all the characters one last time, give everyone the opportunity to shine once or twice, use all that background knowledge, all while being pursued from several different parties.
Bits:
I expect Aberforth to play a named role in book 7, maybe even get a line!
I can't believe the goblins haven't rebelled yet. The time is ripe, guys, bust out the pitchforks! I expected more of the magical beasts and beings to begin choosing sides. Werewolves and dementors did, but there are hags, giants, goblins, veela, vampires, house elves, centaurs, merfolk (not that they'll be much help in a land war), goodness knows what else. There is a lot of power there. Use it, someone, please!
I was much more pleased with this that OotP. The writing was denser, the funny parts were funnier (or equally funny), the gruesome parts were nicely gruesome. And there were zombies! She paid us a lot of fan service, but I wouldn't call it that per se, I would call it adjusting her areas of focus to those she knows hold our interest. We've seen quite enough classwork, so she cuts down on it...we like Riddle, so there's lots. Of course, there's the shipping and the name-dropping (I love that, I collect names like a crow collects shineys) and some extremely funny references to fanon. The squidporn reference almost killed me. It's almost as if the story is being written interactively. I wonder if there's precedent in that--did the serial-fiction writers of Dickens' era hang out in pubs listening to people remark on their work? Certainly it's never been on this scale.
I'll start gleaning for details in a few days, and I'm sure there'll be more speculation after that, but for now I leave you with a trio of amusing links from notemily.
HBP in Pictures
HBP by e.e.cummings (and if you don't quite get it, there's a link to an explanation in the comments.)
HBP as written by my friends list
Now can my brain get back to normal, please?