Oh man. Those were my sentiments exactly. I felt that everything just kept going along as usual, and then the deadly hallows show up. And I just didn't know what to think. But it took awhile for everything to sink in, and now I get it.
Dumbledore wanted the Hallows but ultimatly gave up, and decided that it wasn't a great idea for them to be united anyway, and that is the same decision Harry ends up making.
The Hallows were there to tempt Harry. The whole moral of the series is that it doesn't matter who you are or what you can do, it's the choices that you make. It started with Dumbledore telling Harry that he isn't like Voldemort because he chooses not to be and then it was summed up nicely with Harry telling his kid that he can choose his house at Hogwarts if he disagrees with the sorting hat.
And about the wands... the elder wand doesn't always have to be the same wand, because a wand's power isn't completely dependent on the wand, the power is transfered to the witch/wizard that conquers the wand. That is why the wand that Ron gave to Harry didn't work as well. The wand didn't choose Harry, and Harry didn't win it, so it didn't want to work with Harry (It should have worked much better for Ron, if he tried). These wand complexities are why the conversation with Olivander was so important (and the history of the elder wand always being claimed through muder). It is also why Voldemort was so interested in the wandmakers, he knew that there was something more important than just having the right wand. So....Then when Harry had the elder wand's power, he used it to fix his wand, transferring the power to his original wand.
And finally, I felt that the epilogue was added on, and out of character for the books. I kind of think that it might have been more satisfying for the book to end when everyone was in the Great Hall, being somber about losses that they had suffered, but hopeful for the future. It was great to know that life got better but... It just left so many more questions. There were a thousand questions that were waiting to be answered, and then she answered three of them, which was worse than leaving them all unanswered.
and this comment was a bit too long, kinda like the book...
thanks for the wand explanation. i'm still confused about why dumbledore left harry, ron, and hermione all the clues about the hallows, like the fairytale book he left for hermonie. so dumbledore wanted harry to be tempted by them, so he could see if harry could resist the temptation and willingly face his death?
i saw this litte 8-year old girl reading the book on the train. she was almost finished with it. if i can't understand these things i wonder what she thinks about the book. i was very tempted to ask her about her thoughts.
Apparently there are also folks who think that Dumbledore's sister was gang raped by the boys who attacked her. This flew right over my head when I read it - I'm interested to know what you think.
I forgot about the story of Dumbledore's sister, the 'Battle of Hogwarts' chapters that followed her story were so good, my favorite part of book. (McGonagall leading school desks into battle? Amazing! And Mrs. Weasley, she was fierce)
Now that you mention it, I think its possible that Dumbledore's sister was raped. At first I thought she could have been tortured, like the Crucio curse or whatever its called, because it causes people to lose their sanity. But why would they torture someone unprovoked? Its interesting that Rowling doesn't go into any detail, except that what happened to her was so traumatic she couldn't do any magic for the rest of her life. And she couldn't even control her temper, suffering from "fits" that Dumbledore couldn't control. What could have happened to her that was so traumatic? Its very possible she could have been gang raped. Maybe Rowling left this unsaid for the sake of her younger readers? What do you think?
I'm not sure what I think. I guess I'd have to read the few paragraphs over again to have an opinion. From what I remember I can certainly see why people think that might have been what Rowling was implying.
On the Mrs. Weasley front: I seriously cheered out loud when she started fighting Bellatrix. "EEEEE BITCH" (or whatever she said exactly, I'm sure that's a paraphrase) is going to be my new favorite battle cry.
I felt that everything just kept going along as usual, and then the deadly hallows show up. And I just didn't know what to think. But it took awhile for everything to sink in, and now I get it.
Dumbledore wanted the Hallows but ultimatly gave up, and decided that it wasn't a great idea for them to be united anyway, and that is the same decision Harry ends up making.
The Hallows were there to tempt Harry. The whole moral of the series is that it doesn't matter who you are or what you can do, it's the choices that you make. It started with Dumbledore telling Harry that he isn't like Voldemort because he chooses not to be and then it was summed up nicely with Harry telling his kid that he can choose his house at Hogwarts if he disagrees with the sorting hat.
And about the wands... the elder wand doesn't always have to be the same wand, because a wand's power isn't completely dependent on the wand, the power is transfered to the witch/wizard that conquers the wand. That is why the wand that Ron gave to Harry didn't work as well. The wand didn't choose Harry, and Harry didn't win it, so it didn't want to work with Harry (It should have worked much better for Ron, if he tried). These wand complexities are why the conversation with Olivander was so important (and the history of the elder wand always being claimed through muder). It is also why Voldemort was so interested in the wandmakers, he knew that there was something more important than just having the right wand. So....Then when Harry had the elder wand's power, he used it to fix his wand, transferring the power to his original wand.
And finally, I felt that the epilogue was added on, and out of character for the books. I kind of think that it might have been more satisfying for the book to end when everyone was in the Great Hall, being somber about losses that they had suffered, but hopeful for the future. It was great to know that life got better but... It just left so many more questions. There were a thousand questions that were waiting to be answered, and then she answered three of them, which was worse than leaving them all unanswered.
and this comment was a bit too long, kinda like the book...
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i saw this litte 8-year old girl reading the book on the train. she was almost finished with it. if i can't understand these things i wonder what she thinks about the book. i was very tempted to ask her about her thoughts.
Reply
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Now that you mention it, I think its possible that Dumbledore's sister was raped. At first I thought she could have been tortured, like the Crucio curse or whatever its called, because it causes people to lose their sanity. But why would they torture someone unprovoked? Its interesting that Rowling doesn't go into any detail, except that what happened to her was so traumatic she couldn't do any magic for the rest of her life. And she couldn't even control her temper, suffering from "fits" that Dumbledore couldn't control. What could have happened to her that was so traumatic? Its very possible she could have been gang raped. Maybe Rowling left this unsaid for the sake of her younger readers? What do you think?
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On the Mrs. Weasley front: I seriously cheered out loud when she started fighting Bellatrix. "EEEEE BITCH" (or whatever she said exactly, I'm sure that's a paraphrase) is going to be my new favorite battle cry.
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