"All was Well"

[erastes]

I consider that, in years to come, this particular phrase will be discussed and dissected by people more educated than I, and will (if Potterfiction stays as popular) be considered to be one of the greatest literary lies ever. For me it ranks along with "All animals are created equal" and will - just as that phrase was shown to be a nonsense -lose

Comments

[mary_j_59]

Yes, the only way that horrible sentence makes sense to me is as a statement of hubris, or of black irony. Honestly, what I got out of the series - and what I was hoping for at the end - is this: Magic is not natural to humans and they should not have it. Let the other magical brethren deal with their own world and their own lives in their own way! Human beings are not capable of handling that kind of power without becoming thoroughly corrupt, so they shouldn't have to deal with it. I was fully expecting Severus Snape to survive, but lose his magic due to his injuries (and this would *not* be a punishment, but a reward! Magic certainly did him no favors) and I thought the same might happen to Harry. Seriously, I would have been pleased if the series had ended with the end of magic for humans

[erastes]

I hope to god that she doesn't delve in this world again, but I fear that there's very very little chance of that.

You put it very well - humans are incapable of managing the power they have been gifted with (Goblins and Elves seem to have it better, even if somehow along the line, Elves got enslaved)

And yes - wouldn't it be good if it had been black irony? Although I wouldn't put it past her for her to actually interpret her own writing as such.

[gehayi]

She really DOES mean all is well. Take a look

[solar_type_star]

I think it really becomes clear with those statements that "all was well" is a something written exclusively for Harry, or from Harry's POV (like the whole series -she hasn't been able to let go of that even at the very end of the series). I guess the Epilogue had such a loose 3rd person subjective POV that it was natural to assume that it was a general statement. But JKR was still inside Harry's head, thinking about Harry and what relates to him

[tinydundie42]

Harry Dresden could beat Harry Potter any day. And he's actually *likable*.

[dementedsiren]

I think you really have a point with she really does think all is well, in spite of all the evidence to the contrary. Because Harry is more important than anyone else, and all is well as far as he's concerned.

She's treating the series like a fairy tale, there at the end - the prince(ss) gets the happy family, and everyone lives happily ever after. What she doesn't seem to realize is that through the books she managed to create a terribly complex world where other things actually matter. IMO, it's something she's struggled with (and at times succeeded at) doing all along - balancing the coming of age narrative with a high-fantasy epic. Sometimes we were lucky enough to get both done well, but more often than not we either got "Harry's Story" (to the exclusion of things making sense) or "Wizarding Epic" (which totally screwed characterizations for the sake of world building). It's unfortunate, particularly when it leaves us with something like "All was well" to deal with at the end.