Harrrrrrrrry Potter
In the last few days I've done a re-read of all the Harry Potter books, in preparation for the new one. I hadn't done this before any of the other books, and since there were large gaps before my readings of the 4th, 5th, and 6th books, I've found that there are lots of details that I didn't recall, and lots of continuity that I didn't appreciate.
I remain impressed by the books' vivid characters, especially in conjunction with the changing tone of the books. The interactions with secondary characters like Hagrid change noticeably over time, and Harry and the others go through fairly clear stages of emotional maturation. I also very much appreciate the limited viewpoint; we rarely see anything outside of Harry's perspective, and never get into anyone else's head. I think that's what makes HP generate so much fanfic - our primary viewpoint is limited and biased, which leaves a great deal of room for creativity.
Snape is quite nasty from the beginning, in all sorts of ways that make him an unpleasant person to be around. He expresses no direct interest in the DA job, although he apparently applies for it every year, despite certainly knowing of the "curse". I suspect that was Voldemort's original plan for him when he was sent to Hogwarts, and that it remained part of his cover. For the big question, my money is on "good Snape", mostly because of the conversation that Hagrid overheard, wherein Snape expresses that he "might not want to do it anymore", and essentially is venting his frustration at Dumbledore. He's obviously a double-agent, but this seems like the sort of slip that indicates which side he cares more about. If he were ultimately working for Voldemort, I don't think that interaction would have happened. (I also prefer "good Snape" for narrative purposes, in that it's the opposite of what Harry and now everyone else think is true.) I also wonder whether Snape was the spy who alerted Harry's parents that Voldemort was after them; if so, that's a mark for good, since it means his conversion happened before Voldemort's death.
Poor Draco. He starts out mostly all right, and goes steadily downhill into bitterness and rivalry. I can see where all the fanfic depictions of him as attention-seeking come from, but it's clear that his surroundings are steadily warping him more and more.
Hermione/Ron was a long time coming, from at least book 3, and there are lots of indications.
Neville's certainly not a Squib, he's just clumsy, uncoordinated, and unsure of himself. But he's got plenty of power. I think it would be good drama to have him be placed under an Imperius or Petrificus and be forced to watch someone else undergo the Cruciatus curse, and then break free, perhaps becoming a little more competent and confident in the process.
Sirius' death was fairly clear, as his character had reached a point where he was more useful dead than alive. On that note, I'm guessing that something mildly nasty happens to Remus, but that Tonks helps him pull through, because something happening to Tonks probably wouldn't do anything interesting to the Lupin the Angst Bunny (unless it were really twisted, of course), and something's gotta happen to that relationship.
On horcrux counting, I'm slightly puzzled. If we assume that there were 5 before Harry, and counting Harry's scar as a maybe, then there were either 4 or 5 left by the time Voldemort returned in book 4. Which means that the possible horcrux in the Snake would replace the previously-destroyed horcrux in the book. So I wonder whether there's a limit to how many times one can subdivide a soul, and whether there's any notion of quantity involved (or whether all soul fragments are equal). That is, is it possible to create 8 parts, even though only 7 would exist at a time? So the set I'm guessing at is: book/Nagini, ring, locket, cup, $RavenclawArtifact, and Harry. And there's still the very open question of what object Voldemort was originally intending to use to hold the Horcrux resulting from Harry's death.
I remain impressed by the books' vivid characters, especially in conjunction with the changing tone of the books. The interactions with secondary characters like Hagrid change noticeably over time, and Harry and the others go through fairly clear stages of emotional maturation. I also very much appreciate the limited viewpoint; we rarely see anything outside of Harry's perspective, and never get into anyone else's head. I think that's what makes HP generate so much fanfic - our primary viewpoint is limited and biased, which leaves a great deal of room for creativity.
Snape is quite nasty from the beginning, in all sorts of ways that make him an unpleasant person to be around. He expresses no direct interest in the DA job, although he apparently applies for it every year, despite certainly knowing of the "curse". I suspect that was Voldemort's original plan for him when he was sent to Hogwarts, and that it remained part of his cover. For the big question, my money is on "good Snape", mostly because of the conversation that Hagrid overheard, wherein Snape expresses that he "might not want to do it anymore", and essentially is venting his frustration at Dumbledore. He's obviously a double-agent, but this seems like the sort of slip that indicates which side he cares more about. If he were ultimately working for Voldemort, I don't think that interaction would have happened. (I also prefer "good Snape" for narrative purposes, in that it's the opposite of what Harry and now everyone else think is true.) I also wonder whether Snape was the spy who alerted Harry's parents that Voldemort was after them; if so, that's a mark for good, since it means his conversion happened before Voldemort's death.
Poor Draco. He starts out mostly all right, and goes steadily downhill into bitterness and rivalry. I can see where all the fanfic depictions of him as attention-seeking come from, but it's clear that his surroundings are steadily warping him more and more.
Hermione/Ron was a long time coming, from at least book 3, and there are lots of indications.
Neville's certainly not a Squib, he's just clumsy, uncoordinated, and unsure of himself. But he's got plenty of power. I think it would be good drama to have him be placed under an Imperius or Petrificus and be forced to watch someone else undergo the Cruciatus curse, and then break free, perhaps becoming a little more competent and confident in the process.
Sirius' death was fairly clear, as his character had reached a point where he was more useful dead than alive. On that note, I'm guessing that something mildly nasty happens to Remus, but that Tonks helps him pull through, because something happening to Tonks probably wouldn't do anything interesting to the Lupin the Angst Bunny (unless it were really twisted, of course), and something's gotta happen to that relationship.
On horcrux counting, I'm slightly puzzled. If we assume that there were 5 before Harry, and counting Harry's scar as a maybe, then there were either 4 or 5 left by the time Voldemort returned in book 4. Which means that the possible horcrux in the Snake would replace the previously-destroyed horcrux in the book. So I wonder whether there's a limit to how many times one can subdivide a soul, and whether there's any notion of quantity involved (or whether all soul fragments are equal). That is, is it possible to create 8 parts, even though only 7 would exist at a time? So the set I'm guessing at is: book/Nagini, ring, locket, cup, $RavenclawArtifact, and Harry. And there's still the very open question of what object Voldemort was originally intending to use to hold the Horcrux resulting from Harry's death.