Comments | cabell: um, excuse me?

cabell

um, excuse me?

Dec 21, 2006 13:09

Okay, so the newly announced title of the seventh and final Harry Potter tome makes no sense.

( cut for spoilers, although frankly I think not wanting to know the title is a little crazed, but you know, I respect your lifestyle choices )

nitpicking, harry potter, fandom

Comments 29

vaxjedi December 21 2006, 19:35:27 UTC

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hallow

hallow (plural hallows)

1. (archaic) a holy person, a saint
* All Hallows Eve (or Halloween), the night before All Hallows Day (now more commonly known as "All Saints Day").

threeoranges December 21 2006, 20:00:57 UTC

The Death-like Saints? The Morbid Sacred Things?

It still makes no freaking sense, because, for one thing, saints are by definition dead. "The Deathly Dead Things". Yes. Well.

cabell December 21 2006, 20:03:45 UTC

LOL.

Thank you. It DOES seem rather like J.K. Rowling is going to start appearing in layered black and heavy eyeliner any day now. It's certainly how I've started imagining young Harry with all his shouting. :p

threeoranges December 21 2006, 20:49:31 UTC

HP and the Invasion of the Goths :)

I see your flist is pointing that a "hallow" in Arthurian legend, is a "sacred relic", which certainly fits in with the Horcruxes. However, those objects can't be "sacred" because they contain a little bit of Voldie - they must be "sacred" for some other reason. Which just confirms the long-held fan theory that all the things Voldie hid his soul in are associated with the Founders - Hufflepuff Cup, Slytherin locket, plus hypothetical Ravenclaw something + hypothetical Gryffindor something else. They must be the reason why those objects are "hallowed", yes?

And, lovely to meet you!

Thread 7

anonymous December 21 2006, 19:39:05 UTC

I would regard "Hallows" in this context as sacred things. I could see the Deathly Hallows as most likely being an old sacred space that has been coopted by something dark and evil to make it into a very dangerous place - much like the Barrow Downs in Fellowship of the Ring. They had originally been burial mounds of long dead kings and warriors, who had degenerated into evil.

travspence December 21 2006, 19:48:19 UTC

Do you really believe this will be the last? I suspect she'll start another cycle because it's so damn lucrative.

cabell December 21 2006, 20:08:37 UTC

Yeah, that had occurred to me. I certainly wouldn't be surprised.

eeanm December 22 2006, 20:14:23 UTC

The thing is that she had been planning this series many years before she started. And I think it was always a 7 part series. I don't think she'll write more "Harry Potter and the..." books. She'll make plenty of money with whatever she ends up writing after Deathly Hallows.

inhumandecency December 21 2006, 20:00:03 UTC

Many verbs serve as nouns. Consider "the shouts," "the walks," "the acts," or the archaic "the watches." Also note that "hallow" has an archaic second meaning relating to shouting and pursuit (which plays a role in another fantasy novel some of you might have read).

Not that I know what to make of the title. It almost sounds like it was chosen to be confusing. Nor should we expect, based on the title of the fifth and sixth books, for it to tell us anything worth knowing anyway.

My best guess is that it's some kind of reference to Harry's charge to sanctify the remaining horcruces.

tafkats December 21 2006, 20:35:40 UTC

That was my first thought as well: What the fuck does that mean?