My DH post
Most people have said a lot of what I wanted to say.
Families
In general, I loved the strength of the mothers in this. Narcissa, Molly, dead Lily, even Petunia, Tonks and Andromeda.
Families in this were interesting.
Dudley, whom I think of as as abused by the smothering and limitng love of his parents as Harry was by their neglect, may turn out all right as an adult. He isn't a good person, but I had feared he was completely incapable of independent thought, and he's proved different. Yay Dudley! And does anyone else wonder what it was that Petunia might have said to Harry before she left? I always thought her attitude toward the wizarding world was a bad case of sour grapes. I should have realized she was the elder sister, too, but hadn't quite figured that out. Either way, Petunia was often kinder to Harry than Vernon in a kind of bass-ackwards way. She knew of the wizarding world, knew of Dumbledore, and was a pretty typical example of someone forced to know of the world they could never join. No wonder she was bitter. It was almost worse than being a Squib.
The Malfoys I cannot get over how human they were in this. I loved them. From the get-go with Narcissa making all the decisions while Lucius floundered in depression and fear, to Draco lying about recognizing his school-mates, to Narcissa lying about Harry's death near the end because he gave her information about Draco. I loved how all the social-climbing, arrogant pretenses, and blind obedience crumbled every time we see them. Until at the end, Lucius and Narcissa care for nothing but their only son, and when they are in the Great Hall after the victory, they aren't lying to people or being snobbish. They're just together and puzzled and grateful to be alive. It makes sense that years later the Potters and the various Weasley familes don't get along with the Malfoys--no matter who Draco married--because even if he isn't evil, Draco's basic personality is that he's arrogant and doesn't really know how to get along with people. Scorpius isn't that wierd a name considerig Draco's own name, though I've alway wondered at Lucius' name. Light. Was it supposed to be a clue that he was never as bad as he seemed? Or just a contrast, because he was one of the worst people Harry encountered early on. I think he grew and changed a lot. So did Draco, but it was much more subtle because Draco wasn't as bad to begin.
I am glad the Weasleys were united once more. Percy was never my favorite character, but it was good to get him back into the fold before Fred's dead. Poor George. I can't imagine many more tragedies than losing a twin. I loved how Arthur and Molly weren't relegated to comic relief in this by their overprotectiveness. Molly's obsession with safety could be a bit annoying sometimes. They both proved capable of being very good fighters. I don't find it hard to believe that Molly killed Bellatrix, though it's hard to imagine it being an AK. It likely was, but--I don't know. And the watch, Fabian's watch. (OK, my puppets wanted it to be Gideon's but still Fabian. Wow. Molly's dead brothers.) I cried. Just bawled.
Growth
I already mentioned the Malfoys and Dudley.
I can't forget Neville. I want to marry Neville Longbottom. Oh, how he's grown. So much, and I love him. From the chubby boy chasing his frog on the Hogwart's Express to the other Gryffindor hero pulling the sword from the Sorting Hat to slay Voldemort's creature. It hurt to see him so abused by the Carrows and having to haul bodies in from the grounds. But he was so calm and so practical. Like Harry, he'd been through so much as a child, losing his parents just as much as if they were dead. His Gran was great, and I was so happy to see she was proud of him. That approval is what he'd wanted all along. If Matthew Lewis doesn't stay with this character until the movies are done I will cry.
And as much as I dislike him, Ron grew a lot too. The whole trio did. They all learned when to shut up nagging at one another, learned to read each others moods somewhat. Ron's typical Ron-like whinging under the infuence of the horcrux so got on my nerves. And then he left. I knew we hadn't seen the last of him. Too predicatable. But how he came back was brilliant. This is the Ron I remember loving in the first book and haven't really seen since, the Ron who got sorted into Gryffindor for more than his Weasley red hair. Remember the chess game? And Harry's little speech in the woods about how it isn't all as cool as it sounds finally sank in with Ron. I could see the little light-bulb go off over his head. And after that he took charge and started thinking. Yay! It was brilliant how he and Hermione snuck off to get the Basilisk fangs.
I don't think Hermione showed as much growth in personality or maturity. She was a little bit ahead of the boys anyway, and seems that she'll always be bossy and bookish and a bit of a shrew. But she did get a bit over her fears about complicated magic, doing things without consulting and angsting. Just doing them.
I suppose I should talk about Harry. The book was about him after all. Of course, Harry grew. There is some stupid article being passed around about how Snape was the real hero because Harry didn't mature. Hell! What books was that writer reading anyway? Harry learns to accept his friends and their help. He learns he can be strong and that he can make mistakes. Harry, as Dumbledore said, has always been an abnormally unselfish boy, so much so that his occasional selfishness has almost seemed OOC. But he's been growing up. We met him when he was 11, an abused orphan who didn't really trust anyone though he wanted to. Among friends like Hagrid and Ron and Hermione, he blossomed into an incredibly sweet child--so unlike James it had to be looks alone that confused Sirius and Snape both. That child had problems along the way, misunderstandings, rebellions, more betrayals. Would CAPSLOCKRAGE Harry at fifteen (OotP) have accepted Dumbledore's pronouncement that he had to give himself willingly to Voldemort? Even from a pensieve memory and hearing the reasons? I don't think so. He had a lot of time to work out his feelings about Dumbledore--the disappointments, the anger and the acceptance. Harry was a better man than Dumbledore. He was definately a better man than Voldemort. More some other day. I've been trying to fit the whole series into my personal 'third option' theories in popular culture these days. I'll spit it all out eventually. Other people have scratched the surface of where those thoughts are going with compariing Harry to Frodo and Aslan. I would add to that list Capt. John Sheridan and move on until I work it all out in my head.
Deaths
It's hard to discuss these without sounding like I am complaining. Every one of them hurt except the bad guys and Mad-Eye Moody. His death didn't seem real somehow. I think Hedwig was emotionally gratuitous but was probably to rob Harry of her services while they were on the run. She would have cluttered things up somehow. Even Crookshanks was abandoned, though I can't quite work out where.
I didn't really like how Peter Pettigrew died. I guess it was good that he felt some remorse at the end, but the hand seemed so deus ex. Tonks and Remus. If one of them had to die, the other did too. Kid or not, they both have proved themselves emotionally erratic in trying circumstances, there is no way one would see the other fall without throwing themselves recklessly into the fray. Tonks may have held back more, because OMG!mother is a sacred state to JKR, so it's likely she died first and Remus threw himself after, leaving Teddy to granny Andromeda, who has no family left really except a sister who doesn't acknowlege her existence. I would have liked to have seen it. Colin Creevey was a token 'war is hell' casualty. We didn't know many of the younger students by name so it sort of had to be Colin.
I'm not going to talk about Snape today. There's been a lot of talking about Snape. I'll just say this: He was neither good nor evil at the last. His love for Lily drove him to things he would have turned from before. He was human. I like that.
One of the Weasleys had to die. I was almost sure throughout that she'd kill Molly, the last of the Prewetts. I'm glad she didn't kill Arthur. It couldn't be Ron or Ginny because they're too central. It couldn't be Percy, Charlie or Bill because they're too distant. It had to be one of the twins. Poor George losing his twin. At least he died laughing.
I've run out of steam. More later maybe.
Families
In general, I loved the strength of the mothers in this. Narcissa, Molly, dead Lily, even Petunia, Tonks and Andromeda.
Families in this were interesting.
Dudley, whom I think of as as abused by the smothering and limitng love of his parents as Harry was by their neglect, may turn out all right as an adult. He isn't a good person, but I had feared he was completely incapable of independent thought, and he's proved different. Yay Dudley! And does anyone else wonder what it was that Petunia might have said to Harry before she left? I always thought her attitude toward the wizarding world was a bad case of sour grapes. I should have realized she was the elder sister, too, but hadn't quite figured that out. Either way, Petunia was often kinder to Harry than Vernon in a kind of bass-ackwards way. She knew of the wizarding world, knew of Dumbledore, and was a pretty typical example of someone forced to know of the world they could never join. No wonder she was bitter. It was almost worse than being a Squib.
The Malfoys I cannot get over how human they were in this. I loved them. From the get-go with Narcissa making all the decisions while Lucius floundered in depression and fear, to Draco lying about recognizing his school-mates, to Narcissa lying about Harry's death near the end because he gave her information about Draco. I loved how all the social-climbing, arrogant pretenses, and blind obedience crumbled every time we see them. Until at the end, Lucius and Narcissa care for nothing but their only son, and when they are in the Great Hall after the victory, they aren't lying to people or being snobbish. They're just together and puzzled and grateful to be alive. It makes sense that years later the Potters and the various Weasley familes don't get along with the Malfoys--no matter who Draco married--because even if he isn't evil, Draco's basic personality is that he's arrogant and doesn't really know how to get along with people. Scorpius isn't that wierd a name considerig Draco's own name, though I've alway wondered at Lucius' name. Light. Was it supposed to be a clue that he was never as bad as he seemed? Or just a contrast, because he was one of the worst people Harry encountered early on. I think he grew and changed a lot. So did Draco, but it was much more subtle because Draco wasn't as bad to begin.
I am glad the Weasleys were united once more. Percy was never my favorite character, but it was good to get him back into the fold before Fred's dead. Poor George. I can't imagine many more tragedies than losing a twin. I loved how Arthur and Molly weren't relegated to comic relief in this by their overprotectiveness. Molly's obsession with safety could be a bit annoying sometimes. They both proved capable of being very good fighters. I don't find it hard to believe that Molly killed Bellatrix, though it's hard to imagine it being an AK. It likely was, but--I don't know. And the watch, Fabian's watch. (OK, my puppets wanted it to be Gideon's but still Fabian. Wow. Molly's dead brothers.) I cried. Just bawled.
Growth
I already mentioned the Malfoys and Dudley.
I can't forget Neville. I want to marry Neville Longbottom. Oh, how he's grown. So much, and I love him. From the chubby boy chasing his frog on the Hogwart's Express to the other Gryffindor hero pulling the sword from the Sorting Hat to slay Voldemort's creature. It hurt to see him so abused by the Carrows and having to haul bodies in from the grounds. But he was so calm and so practical. Like Harry, he'd been through so much as a child, losing his parents just as much as if they were dead. His Gran was great, and I was so happy to see she was proud of him. That approval is what he'd wanted all along. If Matthew Lewis doesn't stay with this character until the movies are done I will cry.
And as much as I dislike him, Ron grew a lot too. The whole trio did. They all learned when to shut up nagging at one another, learned to read each others moods somewhat. Ron's typical Ron-like whinging under the infuence of the horcrux so got on my nerves. And then he left. I knew we hadn't seen the last of him. Too predicatable. But how he came back was brilliant. This is the Ron I remember loving in the first book and haven't really seen since, the Ron who got sorted into Gryffindor for more than his Weasley red hair. Remember the chess game? And Harry's little speech in the woods about how it isn't all as cool as it sounds finally sank in with Ron. I could see the little light-bulb go off over his head. And after that he took charge and started thinking. Yay! It was brilliant how he and Hermione snuck off to get the Basilisk fangs.
I don't think Hermione showed as much growth in personality or maturity. She was a little bit ahead of the boys anyway, and seems that she'll always be bossy and bookish and a bit of a shrew. But she did get a bit over her fears about complicated magic, doing things without consulting and angsting. Just doing them.
I suppose I should talk about Harry. The book was about him after all. Of course, Harry grew. There is some stupid article being passed around about how Snape was the real hero because Harry didn't mature. Hell! What books was that writer reading anyway? Harry learns to accept his friends and their help. He learns he can be strong and that he can make mistakes. Harry, as Dumbledore said, has always been an abnormally unselfish boy, so much so that his occasional selfishness has almost seemed OOC. But he's been growing up. We met him when he was 11, an abused orphan who didn't really trust anyone though he wanted to. Among friends like Hagrid and Ron and Hermione, he blossomed into an incredibly sweet child--so unlike James it had to be looks alone that confused Sirius and Snape both. That child had problems along the way, misunderstandings, rebellions, more betrayals. Would CAPSLOCKRAGE Harry at fifteen (OotP) have accepted Dumbledore's pronouncement that he had to give himself willingly to Voldemort? Even from a pensieve memory and hearing the reasons? I don't think so. He had a lot of time to work out his feelings about Dumbledore--the disappointments, the anger and the acceptance. Harry was a better man than Dumbledore. He was definately a better man than Voldemort. More some other day. I've been trying to fit the whole series into my personal 'third option' theories in popular culture these days. I'll spit it all out eventually. Other people have scratched the surface of where those thoughts are going with compariing Harry to Frodo and Aslan. I would add to that list Capt. John Sheridan and move on until I work it all out in my head.
Deaths
It's hard to discuss these without sounding like I am complaining. Every one of them hurt except the bad guys and Mad-Eye Moody. His death didn't seem real somehow. I think Hedwig was emotionally gratuitous but was probably to rob Harry of her services while they were on the run. She would have cluttered things up somehow. Even Crookshanks was abandoned, though I can't quite work out where.
I didn't really like how Peter Pettigrew died. I guess it was good that he felt some remorse at the end, but the hand seemed so deus ex. Tonks and Remus. If one of them had to die, the other did too. Kid or not, they both have proved themselves emotionally erratic in trying circumstances, there is no way one would see the other fall without throwing themselves recklessly into the fray. Tonks may have held back more, because OMG!mother is a sacred state to JKR, so it's likely she died first and Remus threw himself after, leaving Teddy to granny Andromeda, who has no family left really except a sister who doesn't acknowlege her existence. I would have liked to have seen it. Colin Creevey was a token 'war is hell' casualty. We didn't know many of the younger students by name so it sort of had to be Colin.
I'm not going to talk about Snape today. There's been a lot of talking about Snape. I'll just say this: He was neither good nor evil at the last. His love for Lily drove him to things he would have turned from before. He was human. I like that.
One of the Weasleys had to die. I was almost sure throughout that she'd kill Molly, the last of the Prewetts. I'm glad she didn't kill Arthur. It couldn't be Ron or Ginny because they're too central. It couldn't be Percy, Charlie or Bill because they're too distant. It had to be one of the twins. Poor George losing his twin. At least he died laughing.
I've run out of steam. More later maybe.