Re-Titling Game
So, there's this quote on Red Hen that I've been turning over in my mind:
"When you take a clear overview, Rowling’s books stopped being “about” their titles after PoA. [...] The Goblet [...] was carried in, got confunded, spouted something that tossed Harry into the soup, boogied off and we never saw it again. [...] The Order was just about totally irrelevant to the course of the actual story [...] The Half-Blood Prince was a somewhat different proposition, I agree, but he wasn’t the story either. Or not the main story. [...] [The Deathly Hallows] would be the McGuffin that kicks off a major part of the adventure, or they will be some gaudy peripheral issue that Harry cannot access, until the final showdown."
Whereas the philosopher's stone was a driving force (albeit mysterious) to the first book, the Chamber of Secrets was essential to the second book, and the prisoner who escaped from Azkaban was absolutely essential to the book's unfolding plot and conclusion.
So, looking back at the latter four books...
- If you kept their titles, how would you make the titles actually relevant? (Maybe the Goblet of Fire not only spits out the Champions' names, but is waiting for them at the end of the final task, and so it ends up being Harry's semi-goal and is the object which transports him and Cedric to the graveyard, for instance.)
- If not, which titles would you choose instead?
Goblet of Fire had a working title of Harry Potter and the Doomspell Tournament. Cheesy, but at least more relevant. Harry Potter and the Triwizard Tournament would be equally relevant, but also a bit boring. Harry Potter and the Three Tasks? There must be something better.
Order of the Phoenix might work better as Harry Potter and the Department of Mysteries, given that Harry's dreams/visions drive a lot of the action and are crucial to the climax. But I'm sure there are other options too.
Half-Blood Prince... I dunno. Harry Potter and the Room of Requirement? Not very zingy. You could go the movie route and make Draco's task less mysterious, and call it Harry Potter and the Vanishing Cabinet.
...and so on. We have some brilliant minds here; surely we can come up with good titles!
"When you take a clear overview, Rowling’s books stopped being “about” their titles after PoA. [...] The Goblet [...] was carried in, got confunded, spouted something that tossed Harry into the soup, boogied off and we never saw it again. [...] The Order was just about totally irrelevant to the course of the actual story [...] The Half-Blood Prince was a somewhat different proposition, I agree, but he wasn’t the story either. Or not the main story. [...] [The Deathly Hallows] would be the McGuffin that kicks off a major part of the adventure, or they will be some gaudy peripheral issue that Harry cannot access, until the final showdown."
Whereas the philosopher's stone was a driving force (albeit mysterious) to the first book, the Chamber of Secrets was essential to the second book, and the prisoner who escaped from Azkaban was absolutely essential to the book's unfolding plot and conclusion.
So, looking back at the latter four books...
- If you kept their titles, how would you make the titles actually relevant? (Maybe the Goblet of Fire not only spits out the Champions' names, but is waiting for them at the end of the final task, and so it ends up being Harry's semi-goal and is the object which transports him and Cedric to the graveyard, for instance.)
- If not, which titles would you choose instead?
Goblet of Fire had a working title of Harry Potter and the Doomspell Tournament. Cheesy, but at least more relevant. Harry Potter and the Triwizard Tournament would be equally relevant, but also a bit boring. Harry Potter and the Three Tasks? There must be something better.
Order of the Phoenix might work better as Harry Potter and the Department of Mysteries, given that Harry's dreams/visions drive a lot of the action and are crucial to the climax. But I'm sure there are other options too.
Half-Blood Prince... I dunno. Harry Potter and the Room of Requirement? Not very zingy. You could go the movie route and make Draco's task less mysterious, and call it Harry Potter and the Vanishing Cabinet.
...and so on. We have some brilliant minds here; surely we can come up with good titles!