*poke* It is aliiiiive!!!
It’s been a long time since I wrote anything on my LJ. But as it’s summer, and I’m home, and my class is finished, and I’m halfway through the reread of Deathly Hallows… well, it occurs to me that I have something to say about the book. And also about the fandom’s reaction to it.
And we all know how delusional creative those lovely HP fans can be.
OMG the wank!!
This book was complex. Several times I went back and reread a section to make sure I completely understood what was going on. Even so, there were times when I had to go back to an earlier chapter and check. So easily can an important detail be missed! Many people rushed through it on the first read (and understandably so - the suspense was killer!), and then wondered, but how did ____ happen??
What bugs me here is that some people ran immediately to their computers to rant about the inconsistency of the plot/magical system/characterization/whatever. Argh, understand the book before you critique! It’s complicated, true, but most issues can be deciphered by careful examination of the text! Also, there is an interview with JKR now: http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/2007/7/30/j-k-rowling-web-chat-transcript
Exhibit A: The Elder Wand. Gregorovitch had it. Here, the wand’s true master is a bit iffy to me; not knowing how Gregorovitch obtained it, it is difficult to say with certainty whether or not it truly belonged to him. Grindelwald then stole the wand; again if he did not take it from its true owner, was it really his? Dumbledore dueled Grindelwald and won it. I think we can assume here that Dumbledore became the wand’s true master, that it “chose” him, because we never see or hear of him losing a battle with this wand.
Then what happened on the Astronomy Tower in HBP??? Draco Disarmed him. He would not have been able to do so if Dumbledore had not used those few seconds to immobilize Harry; he let Draco Disarm him. Thus, the wand passed to Draco. However, Draco did not pick it up; presumably someone else later found the wand up on the Tower, identified it as Dumbledore’s, and then returned it to be buried with him. Snape killed Dumbledore, but only AFTER the wand passed to Draco; the wand was never Snape’s (this seems to be where most people are confused).
So Draco continues on with his own wand until Harry Disarms him in Malfoy Manor in DH. Harry defeats Draco here and takes Draco’s wand. Draco’s wand works well for him; he is its new master. We can assume that the Elder Wand, also belonging to Draco, changes its allegiance accordingly.
Fast forward to the end: Voldemort has the Elder Wand and Harry has Draco’s wand. BOTH wands “belong” to Harry. The Elder Wand does not work properly for Voldemort. This is how Voldemort’s AK backfires.
Exhibit B: Dumbledore’s death explained. This is being compared to assisted suicide, so naturally people are applying their own beliefs to it. Within the context of the book, however, it is clear that Dumbledore does not fear death, has accepted that he has a very limited time to live, and makes plans to ensure that the students of Hogwarts are as safe as possible: he intends for Snape to get the Elder wand and to remain at Hogwarts. The plan doesn’t work out 100%, but still… the choice he made is in character; as he said in SS/PS, “to the well organized mind, death is but the next great adventure”.
At the end of HBP he knows with certainty that he only has, at most, a couple months to live. Personally (yes, here comes my view on the topic!), I cannot judge a person’s choice here as right or wrong, never having been in a situation like this and not knowing what it would be like.
Exhibit C: Nineteen Years Later. Yes, the epilogue was cheesy. Yes, it brought up memories of fanfic. But doesn’t Harry deserve a little cheesiness and fanfic-style, worry-free happiness? I am tired of people whining about how lame it was… missing the point much?
Anyway, people are whining about the kids’ names. Why did they name them after Harry’s parents/lost loved ones, but not Ginny’s? Why did Ginny let Harry name them all, what about her input? Harry hated Snape, why the middle name of Severus?
Come on people. There are tons of Weasley kids to carry on Weasley names. Bill and Fleur have kids besides Victoire. There’s also George, Percy, and Charlie who may have named their kids after people (according to the interview, George DID name his first kid Fred, so there). We don’t know Rose, Hugo, or James’ middle names. And how do you know naming the kids James and Lily wasn’t Ginny’s idea?? As for Albus Severus… Harry had a revelation about Snape. He realized he had misjudged the man and his actions. Is Snape a good person? No, but that does not mean he does not do the right thing every now and then. And he DID do the right things, albeit for the wrong reasons at times, at great personal cost to himself. Harry may never have liked Snape, but he found a deep respect for him. And after several years, I can certainly believe that Harry would have reconciled his feelings about Snape to the point where he would give Severus as a middle name to his child, not out of affection, but out of respect.
Exhibit D: the “Voldemort” Taboo at 12GP. This one confuses me a bit. When the Ministry fell, one of the first things to happen was the establishment of the Taboo, which is how the DE’s found the trio on Tottenham Court Road. But they said it several times at 12GP, too! Then Remus comes to visit and tells them that if the Trace were still on Harry, the DEs would know he was at 12GP, but they don’t. There are a couple DEs staking out the place, but Remus says that they would have more people out there if they knew he was there, that they are just watching any place connected to him.
So… what? The Trace would work through the Fidelius Charm, but the Taboo does not? The only explanation I can come up with is that the mechanics of each spell are different from one another; the Taboo being more like GPS and the Trace being more like a heart moniter, in that it can detect that something is happening without providing information about where.
Exhibit E: Dumbledore’s age? I seem to remember, once upon a time, JKR saying in an interview that he was 150 or so. Well, Muriel can remember the Kendra & Ariana scandal, and she’s 107. This happened while Dumbledore was at Hogwarts and right after he left school - he was a teenager at the time. So unless Muriel wasn’t actually alive at the time (and it does seem that most of what she knows about the issue comes from what she overheard Bathilda Bagshot telling her mother), things do not add up.
Exhibit F: Remus and Tonks’ wedding and Teddy’s birthday. I’ve seen people tossing around the theory that Teddy was conceived before the wedding. So… here is a timeline:
- Chapter 1: We find out Harry’s birthday is “next Saturday” and Remus and Tonks got married “this week.” So, mid-July for a wedding date, it appears.
- Chapter 11: Remus comes to 12GP and we find out Tonks is pregnant. Unless I counted days wrong, this is August 4th.
- Chapter 25: Remus shows up at Shell Cottage with news that Tonks had the baby. It’s… sometime in April, no specific date. Hmm… unless you can tell RIGHT AWAY, I’d say … no, baby came second. I guess we’ll have to wait until Teddy shows up on JKR’s calendar on her website to know for sure!
Well, that's all for now. I have about 2.5 more pages typed up, but I thought this was quite enough for one post. More about ships and other interesting tidbits coming soon.
~ Doc