(no subject)
I've been offline since... er, a couple days now, because with all the HP spoiler crap floating around it just wasn't worth the risk. But now I've read the book, and I know no one else i know in RL will finish for days at least, and I need to whine really really bad.
So I loved the book right up until the end. I was right there with most of it, I cried in all the right spots, and I loved when Harry "died." And I totally knew that the Ravenclaw diadem was going to be that one from the Room of Requirements in the 6th book! I was so excited when I was right! And that Neville killed the snake horcrux! yay Neville! But then... they had their final battle and... it isn't that any of that alone bothered me, it's just that it wasn't enough, there were things I had really really hoped would come up that didn't. And now it was over and they wouldn't.
Well, I worry that alot of this comes not from any actual flaw in the book and more from my own fannish prejudices, which makes me crazy. Did fandom ruin me for the books??? I think it did. Because I have a deep and overwhelming hatred for Ginny that I can't seem to get a hold of, and you can just imagine how hard that made it for me to stomach the ending.
At least Percy got redeemed, but even that was rushed and unsatisfying. And it was made out like it was all Percy's fault and the fact that so many of his family members--particularly Fred and George--treated him like dirt for years was meaningless. He didn't turn on them half because they never seemed to want him anyway, he just did it because he wasn't as cool as them.
Mostly though, I am a rabid Sirius fan, and I feel like this book ripped out my heart and spat on it. He only got mentioned a handful of times, and half of those were functionally bashing him. That evil elf abuser, if only he'd patted Kreacher on the head once or twice everything would have gone so much better! Well fine. And then Snape gets redeemed--and I kind of knew it was coming and was mostly ready and accepting, but oh, great, look, he was in love with Lily and his highest goal was to protect Harry all along, and then I get to read a short Snape bio and we see all his angst. Not a word about the circumstances of Sirius's running away, or how exactly the werewolf prank happened, but who cares about any of that drivel.
Then the veil--apparently it was just some random symbolism. It meant nothing. It still makes no sense to me as symbolism, but I guess I'm just stupid. Fine. I might be able to live with this if--if only there had been some point to his death. And I mean a GOOD point. Because it seems like the point was, he had to die so Harry could get Kreacher and then find out about the locket horcrux, which basically means that he had to die because he was in the way. He was useless, wasting space, and abusing his poor widdle elf so that Harry couldn't get the necessary info from him. His life was pointless and Harry is well rid of him.
Well fine, I am well rid of Harry. I always liked him, but after that nauseating last chapter I think I might be over that phase. And this, I am fairly sure, has nothing whatsoever to do with my fannish prejudices. It has to do with my much more universal disgust with generic romance-and-kids happy endings. Even if Harry married Luna (by far my favorite of the remotely plausible options) I would still hate reading about his stupid swarm of kids. I always liked him because I felt like he was a bit of an outcast, not just because of curse scar stuff but because he was that kind of kid--quiet, prone to making odd friends, only superficially interested in the typical teenager stuff because he had Bigger things on his mind. But apparently that was just because circumstances forced him to be, and once he came out the other side all he really wanted was to procreate. Also, it annoyed me that after finding out that remorse could heal the horcrux damage and seeing the burned up child thing when Harry "died", we didn't see Harry save/heal/redeem Voldemort on any level. It seemed to me like better knowledge of the rules of wand succession turned out to be Harry's real edge on Voldemort. Love is just about romance and relatives, after all.
It's not that I think there's anything wrong with getting married and having kids exactly. Obviously some people have to live like that if we're to continue as a species. But I hate that it's always what everyone has to want, and I admit it, I wanted Harry to do something more interesting so I could vicariously live a fulfilling life through him. I think, when I consider it, my actual favorite fanfic idea about Harry's adulthood was one where he worked at a muggle center for troubled kids. I don't remember much else about the fic, but that bit stuck with me and made me smile.
But most heinously. Am I supposed to be touched by how he named the kids all after dead people? Because I am not, I want to go smack him and tell him that there's such a thing as birth control. Because HE NAMED A KID AFTER SNAPE, BUT THERE WAS NO SIRIUS. After all, Sirius was a waste of space anyway, wasn't he? What good did he ever do anyone? Harry wants a nice normal life now, and Sirius was damaged! All those years in Azkaban, how dare he start to show strain when he gets cooped up in Grimmauld for too long! Best to forget all about him, because he only helped by loving Harry and supporting him and trying to be there for him even if it meant living in a cave and eating rats. He didn't do anything big and spectacular and magical, he wasn't positioned to give any Big Help, so forget him, the loser. FOR THIS THERE CAN BE NO FORGIVENESS, EVER. Canon Harry, you are dead to me.
I'm packing my fannish bags to go live in the deepest, furthest corners of AU-dom now, and I am not returning.
So I loved the book right up until the end. I was right there with most of it, I cried in all the right spots, and I loved when Harry "died." And I totally knew that the Ravenclaw diadem was going to be that one from the Room of Requirements in the 6th book! I was so excited when I was right! And that Neville killed the snake horcrux! yay Neville! But then... they had their final battle and... it isn't that any of that alone bothered me, it's just that it wasn't enough, there were things I had really really hoped would come up that didn't. And now it was over and they wouldn't.
Well, I worry that alot of this comes not from any actual flaw in the book and more from my own fannish prejudices, which makes me crazy. Did fandom ruin me for the books??? I think it did. Because I have a deep and overwhelming hatred for Ginny that I can't seem to get a hold of, and you can just imagine how hard that made it for me to stomach the ending.
At least Percy got redeemed, but even that was rushed and unsatisfying. And it was made out like it was all Percy's fault and the fact that so many of his family members--particularly Fred and George--treated him like dirt for years was meaningless. He didn't turn on them half because they never seemed to want him anyway, he just did it because he wasn't as cool as them.
Mostly though, I am a rabid Sirius fan, and I feel like this book ripped out my heart and spat on it. He only got mentioned a handful of times, and half of those were functionally bashing him. That evil elf abuser, if only he'd patted Kreacher on the head once or twice everything would have gone so much better! Well fine. And then Snape gets redeemed--and I kind of knew it was coming and was mostly ready and accepting, but oh, great, look, he was in love with Lily and his highest goal was to protect Harry all along, and then I get to read a short Snape bio and we see all his angst. Not a word about the circumstances of Sirius's running away, or how exactly the werewolf prank happened, but who cares about any of that drivel.
Then the veil--apparently it was just some random symbolism. It meant nothing. It still makes no sense to me as symbolism, but I guess I'm just stupid. Fine. I might be able to live with this if--if only there had been some point to his death. And I mean a GOOD point. Because it seems like the point was, he had to die so Harry could get Kreacher and then find out about the locket horcrux, which basically means that he had to die because he was in the way. He was useless, wasting space, and abusing his poor widdle elf so that Harry couldn't get the necessary info from him. His life was pointless and Harry is well rid of him.
Well fine, I am well rid of Harry. I always liked him, but after that nauseating last chapter I think I might be over that phase. And this, I am fairly sure, has nothing whatsoever to do with my fannish prejudices. It has to do with my much more universal disgust with generic romance-and-kids happy endings. Even if Harry married Luna (by far my favorite of the remotely plausible options) I would still hate reading about his stupid swarm of kids. I always liked him because I felt like he was a bit of an outcast, not just because of curse scar stuff but because he was that kind of kid--quiet, prone to making odd friends, only superficially interested in the typical teenager stuff because he had Bigger things on his mind. But apparently that was just because circumstances forced him to be, and once he came out the other side all he really wanted was to procreate. Also, it annoyed me that after finding out that remorse could heal the horcrux damage and seeing the burned up child thing when Harry "died", we didn't see Harry save/heal/redeem Voldemort on any level. It seemed to me like better knowledge of the rules of wand succession turned out to be Harry's real edge on Voldemort. Love is just about romance and relatives, after all.
It's not that I think there's anything wrong with getting married and having kids exactly. Obviously some people have to live like that if we're to continue as a species. But I hate that it's always what everyone has to want, and I admit it, I wanted Harry to do something more interesting so I could vicariously live a fulfilling life through him. I think, when I consider it, my actual favorite fanfic idea about Harry's adulthood was one where he worked at a muggle center for troubled kids. I don't remember much else about the fic, but that bit stuck with me and made me smile.
But most heinously. Am I supposed to be touched by how he named the kids all after dead people? Because I am not, I want to go smack him and tell him that there's such a thing as birth control. Because HE NAMED A KID AFTER SNAPE, BUT THERE WAS NO SIRIUS. After all, Sirius was a waste of space anyway, wasn't he? What good did he ever do anyone? Harry wants a nice normal life now, and Sirius was damaged! All those years in Azkaban, how dare he start to show strain when he gets cooped up in Grimmauld for too long! Best to forget all about him, because he only helped by loving Harry and supporting him and trying to be there for him even if it meant living in a cave and eating rats. He didn't do anything big and spectacular and magical, he wasn't positioned to give any Big Help, so forget him, the loser. FOR THIS THERE CAN BE NO FORGIVENESS, EVER. Canon Harry, you are dead to me.
I'm packing my fannish bags to go live in the deepest, furthest corners of AU-dom now, and I am not returning.