Chapter Thirty-Two -- The Elder Wand

[gehayi]

Today's spork is by quinby.

***

Chapter Thirty-Two -- The Elder Wand

Comments

[guardians_song]

"Luna and her friends PWN the Trio"

Yes. Yes they do.

[smurasaki]

Pacing, she must learn pacing.

And has Harry managed to do anything in this book. Anything at all? Anywhere?
*sob*
Couldn't we have had Luna and Neville as the heroes?

[minkhollow]

He's angsted a lot and walked into traps!
...Wait. You meant something productive, didn't you? I'm sorry, but your hero is in another book.

[smurasaki]

*sigh*
Harry may win the "most useless hero" award. If he even qualifies as a hero by now. Old Dumbles really did turn him into a sheep for the slaughter, didn't he.

[gehayi]

I think that he lost all right to be called a hero when he Crucio'd Amycus. He'd been annoyingly passive up till then, but...the way I figure it, a grey character or an anti-hero could develop noble qualities or feel remorse for his/her actions and become heroic. By the same token, if the traditional heroic character does something vicious or wrong that the villains have been condemned for doing, does it with all the enthusiasm of the bad guys and feels no remorse, regret, horror, etc. afterwards

[rainfletcher]

I cheered when Luna, Seamus and Ernie saved the trio's bacon. (Hooray for a significant action by a Hufflepuff! More!)

Then I melted when Luna and Harry had their moment immediately afterward, when she gave him hope by reminding her that they were still there, and still fighting.

And then I got really, really pissed off. We have these flashes of wonderful character interaction that hint at how good it could have been, but that's all they are - flashes and moments, fleeting and ephemeral

[erastes]

I think just about every character is assassinated in this book - it's almost like she was doing it deliberately. I want this to be the END of it, and I shall leave you all hating everyone. In my case she succeeded, except for Luna and Neville (and Abe) of course. So much potential wasted - look at Percy, for another example - what was the POINT of "Prefects who gained power" (and you are trying to tell me that Riddle wasn't in there? and Percy going over to the Ministry if he was going to be completely wasted and just turn up and say "Oh Hai, I'm sorry."

grrrrr.

A reader can often tell when an author gets so sick of a book they are writing when they dash off the ending and just tie up the ends in a slap dash fashion and she does this in SPADES.

Excellent and beautifully vicious spork

xxx

[t0ra_chan]

So much potential wasted - look at Percy, for another example - what was the POINT of "Prefects who gained power" (and you are trying to tell me that Riddle wasn't in there? and Percy going over to the Ministry if he was going to be completely wasted and just turn up and say "Oh Hai, I'm sorry."

Yeah, I don't get this subplot either. What was the point of ostracizing Percy from his family? If JKR didn't want to write more of him, simply have him move to London and be done with it. I suspect this ties in with the whole "Arthur was supposed to die in OotP". But since she chickened out and didn't kill him after all, this went nowhere and she simply decided to keep Percy's story as it was.

[smurasaki]

Hm...actually, I wouldn't trust Harry to know the difference between unconscious (or faking it) and dead. Perhaps Snape waited until the Trio was safely away, swigged some antidote, and departed for a South Seas island.

[shyfoxling]

I wouldn't trust Harry to know the difference between unconscious (or faking it) and dead.

"Or faking it" -- indeed. The most damning bit seems to be:

something in the depths of the dark pair seemed to vanish, leaving them fixed, blank, and empty

but three pages prior there is something almost the same, where Snape is clearly still alive:

Snape’s face was like a death mask. It was marble white and so still that when he spoke, it was a shock to see that anyone lived behind the blank eyes.

So hey, it could happen.

[mistress_siana]

So we are supposed to believe that the Potions Master would have no antidotes or tricks up his sleeve to combat snakebite?

No. We are supposed to believe that the Potions Master, DADA expert, and Head of Slytherin, who had been leading a double life for decades, devoted to bringing down a dark wizard with a notorious affinity for snakes, would have no tricks up his sleeve to combat snakebite. Snarl, I think, doesn't quite cut it. If I was Rowling, I'd call it a Snape-shaped plot hole, but I can't sink that low without lots of booze.