The big Deathly Hallows reactions post

[sunnyskywalker]

On Saturday, I experienced a thrilling story of flight, pursuit, redemption, and the power of love. I am, of course, talking about the Sacramento Music Circus's production of Les Miserables. I can't recommend this enough. The actors playing Valjean and Javert are amazing - the first has played Valjean nearly 2000 times, so you know he knows what he

Comments

[fictualities]

I also like how Harry splits himself into seven, in a sense, just like Voldemort - but instead of actually splitting himself, he multiplies himself, because he has friends who love him.

This is a COMPLETELY brilliant connection.

I love that Hermione's first thought was to go to a Muggle area. Smart and plays up that she really is Muggle-born - it's easy to forget sometimes, since she rarely mentions Muggle things.Yes yes yes. About time she did something like this, too

[sunnyskywalker]

Thanks!

I stopped so many times while reading, thinking, "There is going to be SO MUCH FIC about this." Like young Albus/Grindlewald. And the whole year at Hogwarts could be its own book.

But yes, things just don't quite gel the way they promise they're going to.

[kameni]

I loved the Ravenclaw riddles, too.

And like fictualities, I'm impressed by the connection between the seven Harrys and seven fragments of Voldemort.

I didn't have particularly high expectations for the book, though, so I'm... well, not disappointed, though I feel a fit guilty for spending time reading it this weekend.

[sunnyskywalker]

That was probably the best way, not to have too many expectations. I tried, but bits in the middle got me excited that it might be better than I expected.

[sunnyskywalker]

I think I found a lot of the little points enjoyable and some of the bigger, more structural choices blech. Which makes the book fun enough to read through, but frustrating when I try to put it all together in my head.

Yes, there is always Star Wars :D

[plasticinecupid]

Ugh, what were JKR's editors up to? This sort of list should have been sent back to the author with her first draft, not constructed by astute fans after release. Good points all, and I especially agree about Ginny. We're supposed to care about Harry's relationship with her? She may as well be a blow up doll for all her presence adds to the story. & of course, barf @ the clueless misuse of Snape. One potentially round, fascinating character, and he gets lopped right off like an atrophied limb. Ahh, fun times.

[sunnyskywalker]

Ginny could be played by that dummy Dementor in the OotP movie. It's even wooden! But it probably would have been worse if JKR had tried to include her more in this book, judging by HBP, so maybe we should count that as a blessing.

I have a whole rant on how killing Snape (and Lupin, to a lesser extent) is probably just authorial laziness that lets her avoid the sticky problem of what to do with a live Snape. But that is for a less jet-lagged frame of mind.

[plasticinecupid]

That's what I thought about Sirius's death. He had gained some depth, so clearly he had to die. Can't have any of that infection lingering.

[nyx_010]

Whoa, you really read that Snape thing wrong. He was offended by the suggestion that he'd started caring for Harry. Snape conjured his Patronus (Lily's was also a doe) to draw attention to his love for her. The 'always' was about how he still loved her even though she'd been dead for so long.

Also, I'm pretty sure that Voldemort only started tracking people who said his name in the second war because pretty much the only person who said his name at that point was Harry. They were hoping to find him.

[sunnyskywalker]

*re-reads to see what I said 7 years ago*

Probably that is what she meant, yeah. But parts of the book were incoherent enough and sappy enough that at the time, I was probably automatically expecting that she meant the most absurd, sappy interpretation of whatever she wrote. I can't really remember why I reacted that way now, though.

I think the tracking thing was more that I would have expected that--since Ron is not introducing the Taboo like some amazing new magical thing that has never been done before, and which therefore probably has some historical precedent (Voldemort or someone else)--we would have heard about the possibility before. And especially since everyone in the wizarding world has been afraid to say Voldemort's name, it would have made logical since if he had used it in the first war, or would at least have said that even though it wasn't used then because Voldemort didn't have the right tools to set it up for whatever reason people were afraid he would any day (with all the talk about not knowing whom to trust and

[nyx_010]

*shrugs* Sometimes you miss things when you're reading. I know I've had some pretty...let's say odd misinterpretations of things.

I don't know, it just doesn't make sense to me. Why would Dumbledore go around telling everybody and their grandma to say 'Voldemort' if it meant Death Eaters could show up on their doorstep? And even if he was that crazy, wouldn't somebody have something to say about his whole 'fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself' mantra? Why would Hagrid not have mentioned it back in PS when he and Harry were talking about Voldemort? And why would Voldemort have set up a Taboo in the first place? It seems like a waste of resources.

I think that avoiding Voldemort's name was something that people did on their own, maybe because the very thought of the guy had them quivering in their boots. Yeah, it's kind of silly, but it makes more sense.

I could see the Ministry using the Taboo. It would make catching people who use Unforgivables a breeze and it could be used in delightfully corrupt ways.

[sunnyskywalker]

If people had only been afraid that Voldemort might set up a Taboo during the first war, it wouldn't have had to have a logical reason for him to want to do it, necessarily--it would just have to be something that everyone knew was magically possible because someone else* had done it in the past before, so their "speak of the devil" superstition is even stronger than for Muggles because they know it might really be true. Hagrid et al. might not have thought to mention it because it didn't actually happen.

Though there is actually a reason he might have wanted to, and it's kind of Dumbledore's fault. Dumbledore says right in PS/SS Chapter 1 that he's been encouraging people to call Voldemort by his chosen name for the past 11 years. So Voldemort might well reason that anyone who actually says "Voldemort" is likely to be someone tight with Dumbledore, like an Order member, and therefore someone worth taking out. Which Dumbledore would realize fairly quickly when it didn't catch on, which is why he would redouble his efforts to convince