I think I liked the last book better than you did, but I agree that this one was much better. I did find it pretty hard to believe that Harry wasn't more suspicious of the mysterious Half-Blood Prince at this late date, especially since the obvious candidate for the title was Voldemort himself. I also thought that the eventual explanation of "Half-Blood Prince" was a little strained, to say the least
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Evidence in favor: the phoenix and related imagery that have always surrounded Dumbledore. The fact that there's clearly more to what happened with Dumbledore and Snape than met the eye.
Evidence opposed: the various indications throughout the books that resisting or coming back from death is at best less than cricket (or should that be less than Quidditch?), and at worst a short path to overconcentration on the Dark Arts. (The least bad instance was probably Nicholas Flamel's use of the Philosopher's Stone, and he gave it up in the end.) We saw a body broken physically as well as killed magically. The metaphysics of Rowling's world don't strike me as having the same room for a literal miracle that Tolkien's did.
I don't think it's quite impossible, though it would severely risk coming off as cheap and/or counter to the general theme of the books. I think it's somewhat more likely that the possibility of Dumbledore coming back will be used as a red herring for something else.
I was imagining a more of an Obi-Wan sort of thing myself. Which also gives an out that "it's all just in Harry's head", and maybe everyone can think he's going crazy...
warning: i haven't reread any of the books or read any of fandom's speculation on this.moominmollyJuly 26 2005, 12:47:21 UTC
Other evidence for: doesn't he give Draco some long-winded speech about how he can still choose to do the right thing and they can put him into hiding so nobody can find him and says (I had to look this up):
He cannot kill you if you are already dead. Come over to the right side, Draco, and we can hide you more completely than you can possibly imagine [...] Nobody would be surprised that you had died in your attempt to kill me -- forgive me, but Lord Voldemort probably expects it.I think that this means they have some way of ... of faking death, or of killing someone while preserving their intact soul in another body, or something
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I assume RAB = Regulus Black, unless the mentions of Regulus were just misdirection.
According to a poster on rec.arts.sf.written: 'in Book 5, in the chapter where the trio and the Weasleys are cleaning [the Black] house... [one] of several odd items they tun across is "a heavy locket none of them could open"' (Which, as others have suggested, has almost certainly been filched by Mundungus Fletcher.)
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Evidence opposed: the various indications throughout the books that resisting or coming back from death is at best less than cricket (or should that be less than Quidditch?), and at worst a short path to overconcentration on the Dark Arts. (The least bad instance was probably Nicholas Flamel's use of the Philosopher's Stone, and he gave it up in the end.) We saw a body broken physically as well as killed magically. The metaphysics of Rowling's world don't strike me as having the same room for a literal miracle that Tolkien's did.
I don't think it's quite impossible, though it would severely risk coming off as cheap and/or counter to the general theme of the books. I think it's somewhat more likely that the possibility of Dumbledore coming back will be used as a red herring for something else.
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He cannot kill you if you are already dead. Come over to the right side, Draco, and we can hide you more completely than you can possibly imagine [...] Nobody would be surprised that you had died in your attempt to kill me -- forgive me, but Lord Voldemort probably expects it.I think that this means they have some way of ... of faking death, or of killing someone while preserving their intact soul in another body, or something ( ... )
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According to a poster on rec.arts.sf.written: 'in Book 5, in the chapter where the trio and the Weasleys are cleaning [the Black] house... [one] of several odd items they tun across is "a heavy locket none of them could open"' (Which, as others have suggested, has almost certainly been filched by Mundungus Fletcher.)
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