Epilogue?

[lemonsnapples]

Hi guys! I feel like a loser posting a journal when I just did one yesterday (. . . or was it the day before?), but I couldn't help it--I had to ask this question.

Comments

[greyannabel]

I must admit that my first reaction, after reading the epilogue, was a strong need to vomit. This had nothing to do with how it killed my ships, because I never expected D/Hr to happen in canon, anyway. But I do think the epilogue undermined what was otherwise a fairly serious, and quite dark, book. It was pure fluff and completely, totally unnecessary - not to mention SO damn confusing. I wish the book had ended before the epilogue or that I had some bleach to cleanse my mind with after reading it.

And yes, this reply makes no sense. It's the middle of the night, sorry :)

[lemonsnapples]

Yeah, I agree, it had a completely different tone from the rest of the book--although, I honestly didn't think that it was that bad, since it ended the book on a positive note. (._.)" I guess that I'm one of the few, huh?

Hmm, how was it confusing?

No that's all right, it makes sense to me. :)

[nuitsansetoiles]

It was confusing because she dumped waaay too many kids on us at once. I had a hard time following whose kid was whose and who was actually going to Hogwarts. In general, I just confused about what exactly was going on. Granted, I had just spent the whole day doing nothing but read that book, so my brain might have shut down by then. But I hope that clarified it a little.

[greyannabel]

Yup, nuitsansetoiles is right about why I thought it was confusing :) Oh, and don't get me wrong -- I'm very happy for the people who enjoyed it. I think there are plenty of people who liked it, but they're less likely to speak up than the ones who disliked it.

[lovexfetish]

seriously, i don't HATE the epilogue, i just don't like it.
it's too fluffy for my liking.
but hey, i ship R/HR too and i didn't really have a problem with the canon ships, it was clearly expected.
but I WANT TO KNOW what happened to the whole wizarding world! is harry an auror now? what's happening in general? krum? where is he? where are the others? and so many questions unanswered, that's what frustrating me the most.

[lemonsnapples]

That seems to be the problem that most people here have with the epilogue--it didn't have enough information about all (well, not really, but you know what I mean) characters' jobs, their spouse's names, their children's names, etc.

I dunno, I didn't expect that at all from the epilogue, so I didn't mind it. Like I said, I didn't think that it was great--no, not at all--I just couldn't understand why some people absolutely despised it.

Thanks for the reply! :)

[lovexfetish]

:)

I think people are more disappointed than anything. But I guess after everything they've been through, cheesiness only make us smile. I don't know what was happening in JKR's head when she wrote the epilogue but I think it's rubbish to think that she did it for the children. If they've read the whole book, it's not the epilogue that's gonna made up for it. The change was too radical, from dark to fluff, and frankly, it's frustrating. But let's not ruin everything, shall we.

[lemonsnapples]

That seems to be the general consensus--most people here says that the ending had too little information about the future of the HP gang.

This is such a noobish question, but what's OBHWF? I wiki'ed it, and the Weasley's family tree turned up (where I was surprised to find that the Weasleys were related to the Blacks), but I haven't a clue what each letter stands for.

Also, did you really hate the epilogue, too? Do more people really hate the epilogue than like it around here? ;_;

I mean, I'm not saying that I loved it or anything, I just didn't think that it was that bad . . .

[lemonsnapples]

Yeah, it was cheezy--but personally, I felt relieved by the cheeziness after so much death and angst from before. A lot of fanfic writers do similar kinds of epilogues themselves, too, I think--even the extremely good ones.

With the epilogue, I know he survived, and doesn't appeal to be a pirah.

Definitely, I was happy for Draco right then and there--though I do wonder what's happened to him and his family after the the Voldy business ended.

Plus, I liked hearing that Harry/Ron/Hermione were happy.

Me too. :)

[surrealiste]

My biggest problem wasn't to do with the canon ships. My OTP (Harry/Draco) was never going to be canon, so I expected the OBHWF ending even though I don't love the pairings. My problem with the epilogue was that it felt so awfully tacked on, so unnecessary, confusing, and told us nothing about anyone's lives except for the fact that they procreated. The series is about Harry and has always been about Harry, so why didn't we get a more focused excerpt from his life, telling us about his career and his character after Voldemort's downfall, instead of a listing of everyone's children?

I guess overall, it just read like a fic you could find on FFN instead of a solid conclusion to a wonderful series.

[surrealiste]

Oh, and the names. The names made me want to cry.

[lemonsnapples]

Hmm, you seem to have a different reason from a lot of the others here--they say that it's because the epilogue didn't have enough information about Luna, George, Neville, etc., etc., but you say that you wanted an epilogue more focused on Harry, with some depth into the story.

Why did you think that it was confusing, though? That seems to pop up often, and I don't completely get it. I guess that I haven't read the series carefully enough . . .

[surrealiste]

Well, I could have really been happy either way. One on hand, information about other characters would have been really interesting and welcome, but since we don't get any info, it gives us a lot of leeway to play around with their futures. I just felt that with everything Harry went through in the series, we should have gotten a little more depth about how he'd been coping and things.

For me, it was confusing because there were just so many names. I kept having to reread and check who was who, which kids were related, which kids belonged to which parents. I think the epilogue could have been so much more effective if she didn't try to list every single child and give us almost ten new characters in the space of a few pages. :/

[bloodfusion]

The Epilogue, to put it bluntly, was a fucking useless disaster. I just want to tear it out of the book and forget I ever read it. I hated it for a number of reasons

[kitsuneasika]

I fully agree with every word you said--that's my opinion exactly.

[danceuntildawn9]

Same here

[drcjsnider]

But the epilogue isn't even really about the Trio becaue Hermione is treated like some wayward thought just there to gently modify Ron (but still showing support in him). Ugh... I mean if you are going to mention her and at MENTION her.

The only thing I got from the stupid epilogue is that Harry grows up to be a wise dad, Draco doens't end up spending life in Azkaban, and that someone besides Harry raises Tonks kid (maybe her mom). I'm guessing the Victorie chick is Bill and Fleur's daughter? Who the fux knows? The epilogue was written like really bad fanfiction and would have been turned down by most of the sites that make you beta your work.