Comments | keladry_lupin: Canon versus fanon

keladry_lupin

Canon versus fanon

May 21, 2007 14:07

Finished GoF today! It's interesting, some of the fanon assumptions that get blown out of the water by reading the Potter books again. I'm drawing my own conclusions here, but this just makes sense to me ( Read more... )

books, potterverse

Comments 15

melusin_79 May 21 2007, 21:27:32 UTC

That's a good point about Minerva/the cat. You would have assumed that Dumbledore would know if he had any registered animagi in his school - as well as the fact that he's known her for years and was her teacher.

keladry_lupin May 21 2007, 21:40:27 UTC

At the end of CoS, Riddle confirms that Dumbledore was the Transfiguration teacher. And we know from the Lexicon that Minerva was only a year or two ahead of Riddle in school. So Dumbledore taught Minerva, too. Unless she went away and apprenticed with someone else, and learned how to be an Animagus from her master ... this is also a possibility!

But still, I think it's safe to assume that if their relationship was more than that of colleagues -- especially with their common background in Transfiguration -- Minerva might be proud enough of her accomplishment to reveal such a secret at some earlier point than when they're on Privet Drive and waiting for Hagrid to bring baby Harry to the Dursleys.

melusin_79 May 21 2007, 21:45:14 UTC

the whole master/apprentice thing is fanon, too, remember. I don't see how he couldn't have known - unless she can vary her cat form.

keladry_lupin May 22 2007, 04:21:06 UTC

JKR mentioned in a chat or interview that there are no wizarding universities, so if someone wanted to learn beyond the NEWT level, they could do an apprenticeship. So that's canon. But you're right; I was assuming that Minerva did an apprenticeship or worked for some time, between leaving Hogwarts and coming back as a teacher.

hjsnapepm May 21 2007, 21:56:21 UTC

Do we know anything about how long McGonagall has been an Animagus? I haven't really given it much thought...

keladry_lupin May 22 2007, 04:39:33 UTC

No, that isn't in canon. We only know how long she's been teaching (though I don't remember off-hand).

deeble May 21 2007, 22:47:52 UTC

I'll give JK the benefit of the doubt and say Minerva was surprised that Dumbledore recognized her in the dark. (I'm re-reading too -- just finished GoF myself, coincidentally.)

Otherwise, there's really no way it makes sense. It's possible she changed her mind later about Minerva's backstory.

tempest_dreams May 22 2007, 03:06:42 UTC

Mmm - I agree with deeble, this is what I always took it to mean.

Back from Phoenix Rising! Will post more details soon.

keladry_lupin May 22 2007, 04:33:27 UTC

I'm looking forward to reading everyone's reports! Southern has already posted stuff on her LJ, so I've seen some photos already.

keladry_lupin May 22 2007, 04:32:22 UTC

I'm on chapter three of OotP now; trying to catch up to the read_hp community schedule; they reviewed Harry's hearing today.

Okay, I can see that -- that possibility never occurred to me, actually. I'm inclined to think that she changed her mind later, myself. I can't be sure, but it seems like once she realized that adults were reading these books, she started beefing them up considerably. (I've only been a fan since 2001, so I could be mitaken about that.)

deemichelle May 22 2007, 02:51:29 UTC

I need to pull mine out again. I don't have much time. Do I?

keladry_lupin May 22 2007, 04:37:56 UTC

Till July 20th. We've got about nine weeks left. Whaddya think? I think you can do it, though I have no idea, really, what your RL consists of. Here's the read_hp community's calendars: http://community.livejournal.com/read_hp/1576.html

deemichelle May 23 2007, 02:13:45 UTC

LOVE the icon!!!

:-)

and thanks for the link. I'll check it out!
My real life is slowing down a bit. Ballet, dance & acrobatics are done for a few weeks. Baseball started tonight, so that will be busy, but not as busy as last year.

I'll keep you posted!

g_smarmy May 22 2007, 07:00:21 UTC

I always assumed that Minerva didn't mean "how did you know I'm an Animagus?" - as you say, Dumbledore would have taught her - but rather, "how did you recognize me in the dark?"

I've experienced the same thing, starting to assume that things are canon after reading too many fanfics. I actually wrote a list of fanon things that are NOT canon before HBP was published, to remind myself. Now I haven't been reading fanfic in quite a while, so it shouldn't be a problem for DH.

keladry_lupin May 22 2007, 14:55:03 UTC

That thought hadn't occurred to me, before Deeble mentioned it. But writing down a list is a good idea, actually! Wish I'd thought of it when I first started re-reading, a few months ago.