(no subject)
Now for more on the Deathyl Hallows. As
unforth
pointed out I had neglected to mention Dobby. For me there is little else to say that the book does not tell us. He was a free elf who died protecting the most important person to him. He is one character I think died with little to no regret.
Now let's talk about the Malfoys. They do very little, relegated to the background after Draco's failure, but what's there is quite interesting. It's said more than once that they do not seem so devoted to the Dark Lord anymore, that they care more for the safety of their family than for pure blood pride. No scene shows this more than Narcissa examining Harry to see if he's dead, using it a ploy to find out if Draco still lives. Her love for Draco kept Voldemort from realizing his victory was anyhting but. Then when the battle begins anew rather than fight beside their "compatriots" they desperately searched for their son. It was surprising to see a family that had been so vilified shown in this light. It does not excuse any of their actions in the past, but it did make them more sympathetic.
Then there is the Weasley family. They made it out better than I thought they would have. Given how many viewed them I am surprised that more were not killed. But the separation of the twins was something I did not see. It's hard to think of them separate, if one was there so was the other. I've also seen some wank over Molly vs. Bellatrix that pretty much boils down to "ZOMG, how could that fat bitch beat Bellatrix!!!". Thanks to a poor poor man mistaking me for his kid when I was younger, I've seen full well what happens when a mom thinks someone is an immediate threat to their kids. I don't want to think of what would have happened to him is death magic were involved.
Now while I liked the book as a whole there were some areas that rubbed me the wrong way. The largest was how there were no Slytherin students who remained to fight. I didn't think many of them would stay since many have Death Eater parents, but all of them? Total House unity would have felt corny and too clean but for not even one Slytherin to stay and fight against Voldemort was really hard to swallow. Another part that irked me was impersonating Parseltongue to get into the Chamber. I'm conflicted between seeing Parseltongue as simply another language that few understand and it being more magical.
My brain's run out of juice again so I'll end with this thought. Why couldn't Umbridge have taken a bullet between the eyes? (Seriously, if the LARP ever starts back up can we have some Umbridge ancestors to slaughter?)