Deathly Hallows stuff, part 2
This is pretty much a continuation of my last post on DH. Less ranting about fandom doofuses (doofi?), more commentary on the book.
Exhibit G: Slughorn chose his side. I was afraid that he would run away and hide again, but near the end of the final battle we see him fighting Voldemort alongside McGonagall and Kingsley. This is quite a difference from him hiding out in vacationing Muggles’ houses, disguised as an armchair.
Exhibit H: the reality of death. JKR achieved EXACTLY what she wanted to do here. Some deaths were gruesome, in-your-face dramatic (Fred, Dobby, Snape), others were off-screen (Remus, Tonks). You never knew if a character was going to survive the next page. The deaths of so many of our beloved characters at the hands of Voldemort and his DEs highlights how ruthless they really are. Before, we all speculated on “who JKR would kill off.” But when the author’s goal is to make death seem REAL and eminent, how can it be achieved if this or that character is safe? The better question would have been, “who would Voldemort kill off?” Answer: anyone who gets in his way.
Exhibit I: Gregorovitch and Peverell. Surely I'm not the only one who recognized these names right away!! I was frustrated at Harry, more over Gregorovitch (“Dude! You remember GoF, seriously Harry, come on!!) than Peverell, since Peverell was just mentioned in reference to the markings on Gaunt’s ring whereas we KNEW who Gregorovitch was. There were a lot fewer details to remember back in GoF, lol!
Exhibit J: Goblin and house-elf worldviews. Once again we see how realistic JKR makes her fantasy world: misunderstanding and conflict arise because different races/cultures have different concepts about what is normal, just, and right, inevitably leading to clashes. We already knew a bit about house-elf perspective, but now we see how drastic the difference can be when house-elves are treated with kindness, if not respect: was Kreacher ever really bad? Certainly he cannot be described as evil. The goblins are another story: the goblin concept of ownership/payment is very interesting, and opens up a lot of fanfic possibilities, I think - haven’t you ever wondered about all those goblin rebellions??
Exhibit K: Teddy - a Metamorphmagus, but (according to the chat), not a werewolf. So Remus was wrong. Interesting topic for discussion: even werewolves don’t fully understand the mechanics of their curse, or is it just that Remus separated himself from others like him to the point where he didn’t even know much about the others? He said werewolves don't usually reproduce, but how rare is it exactly?
Exhibit L: Harry Potter and the Bad Guys Who Aren't Really Bad could have been a title. It's redemption time in Potterland!! Well, maybe not redemption exactly, not for everyone. Snape turns out not all bad. Dudley begins to reform. Kreacher does an about-face and then proceeds to kick some DE ass (heck yeah!). Draco continues to learn what Voldemort and the DEs are all about and is given a second chance. I would like to see some good fanfic authors take a stab at Draco’s life post-Voldemort. Could he be developing *gasp* a CONSCIENCE?
Exhibit M: Voldemort flying. So he achieved another unprecedented goal. And for some reason when I read the words “he can fly!” I thought of Peter Pan. Apparently, Voldemort worked out that all you need to do is think happy thoughts.
The only other character we saw fly was Snape, who presumably learned it from Voldemort. Now, I am wondering how they did it - was it Dark magic? Or not? Because just flying seems rather benign. Is this an ability that died with them, or do others know how to fly? If so, and if it is not Dark magic, is this something that would have passed on to the rest of the magical community?
Exhibit N: The Unforgivables - JKR addresses Harry’s use of the Cruciatus in the chat. The Imperius Curse, on the other hand, I see as more of a morally ambiguous grey area. Harry and other good guys use it, but they do not use it for torture. They use it to make the subjects cover their tracks when they are undercover, hide, let them inside locked places, etc. But does this make the Imperius Curse acceptable?
Exhibit O: The Deathstick. Call me nitpicky, but I can't help myself on this one. JKR is usually so creative with names. The "Elder Wand" is a cool name, even "Wand of Destiny" is decent.... but Deathstick?? Kind of a corny moniker for an object so powerful and destructive. Eh, whatever.... *wonders how many results would come up in an ebay search for "deathstick"*
I have a commentary about ships and other wanktastic goings-on, but I'll save it for later.
~ Doc