Harry Potter Aside
With the 6th book, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, coming out this Saturday, I've been re reading the other books, well actually listening to them on audio tape. In addition, I have been tooling around on the web seeing what people are expecting for this next book, and there is this large debate going on about who the Half Blood Prince is. I have read several of these threads on discussion boards and newsgroups, and people have some rather interesting notions about, my favourite being that Neville, a pure blood wizard, is actually the Half-Blood Prince. There are many other suspects, including Hagrid, Dumbledore, and some unknown character who will be teaching Defense against the Dark Arts.
So, after reading all of this, I started thinking about the books I had just re-listened to in the context of this mystery. J.k. Rowling has stated that neither Lord Voldermort or Harry Potter are the Half-blood Prince. She has also stated that the Half-Blood Prince was either a working title for the second book or a chapter title or was related to that book in some way. As such, I began to look at the The Chamber of Secrets in regards to who in it could be or have a relation to the half-blood prince and a strange idea hit me.
One of the main themes in the Harry Potter books has been the revelation of hidden truths and also the hiding of secrets that are dangerous to those on both sides. In the second book, it was revealed that Lord Voldermort, who wanted to cleanse to world of mudbloods and half-bloods, was in fact a half-blood himself. In the fifth book, the prophecy shows that Voldermort choose the half-blood Potter over the pure blood Neville as his perceived threat.
Also, except in the third book, none of the books have actually referred to a person in the title. It has always been an onject or a thing that is a part of the mystery of either Harry's past and future or Voldermort's past and future. Even Sirius Black was more a thing to reveal hidden secrets than a character that enhanced the book overly much. So what is to stop the Half-Blood prince from being a hidden truth more than an actual person? Once I looked at the Half-Blood prince in that light, I saw another possibility that never was touched on in the Chamber of Secrets but could have been; the reality of who were the founders of Hogwarts and mainly who was Slytherin.
The book is really about Slytherin's legacy, which in many ways is Lord Voldermorts legacy as he is the last heir of Slytherin. So why could the Half-Blood prince not be Slytherin himself? Here is the great Slytherin, purported greatest champion of Pure bloods, being no more than a half-blood like Voldermort and like Harry.
Of course, I really don't see the power in that truth, but it makes a bizarre sort of sense, especially when you consider the way Rowling sometimes grasps at straws to make a point. Anyway, I am most likely wrong, but I found it interesting and I guess I will find out this weekend after I have finished reading the book.
So, after reading all of this, I started thinking about the books I had just re-listened to in the context of this mystery. J.k. Rowling has stated that neither Lord Voldermort or Harry Potter are the Half-blood Prince. She has also stated that the Half-Blood Prince was either a working title for the second book or a chapter title or was related to that book in some way. As such, I began to look at the The Chamber of Secrets in regards to who in it could be or have a relation to the half-blood prince and a strange idea hit me.
One of the main themes in the Harry Potter books has been the revelation of hidden truths and also the hiding of secrets that are dangerous to those on both sides. In the second book, it was revealed that Lord Voldermort, who wanted to cleanse to world of mudbloods and half-bloods, was in fact a half-blood himself. In the fifth book, the prophecy shows that Voldermort choose the half-blood Potter over the pure blood Neville as his perceived threat.
Also, except in the third book, none of the books have actually referred to a person in the title. It has always been an onject or a thing that is a part of the mystery of either Harry's past and future or Voldermort's past and future. Even Sirius Black was more a thing to reveal hidden secrets than a character that enhanced the book overly much. So what is to stop the Half-Blood prince from being a hidden truth more than an actual person? Once I looked at the Half-Blood prince in that light, I saw another possibility that never was touched on in the Chamber of Secrets but could have been; the reality of who were the founders of Hogwarts and mainly who was Slytherin.
The book is really about Slytherin's legacy, which in many ways is Lord Voldermorts legacy as he is the last heir of Slytherin. So why could the Half-Blood prince not be Slytherin himself? Here is the great Slytherin, purported greatest champion of Pure bloods, being no more than a half-blood like Voldermort and like Harry.
Of course, I really don't see the power in that truth, but it makes a bizarre sort of sense, especially when you consider the way Rowling sometimes grasps at straws to make a point. Anyway, I am most likely wrong, but I found it interesting and I guess I will find out this weekend after I have finished reading the book.