Comments | izhilzha: Finis coronat opus

izhilzha

Finis coronat opus

Jul 23, 2007 11:47

The end crowns the work.The book isn't perfect; neither is the series. But J.K. Rowling has accomplished something spectacular with them--true modern myth, a gripping adventure tale, a wise coming-of-age story, and a spell-binding personal journey. She has managed something I can only dream of doing (and have, for years): She has told a tale full ( Read more... )

harry potter, books, literature, deathly hallows, review, godstuff

Comments 17

fpb July 24 2007, 05:28:55 UTC

Just as I missed Wood (where is he mentioned>), so you missed the real meaning of Slytherin's collective abandonment of Hogwarts. Whether or not Pansy (who is a notoriously silly as well as a malevolent person) meant what she said, when a crowd of Hogwarts citizens and Hogwarts parents appear on the scene in the second part of the battle, to help overwhelm the Death Eaters, they are led by Horace Slughorn, who is then seen together with McGonagall and Flitwick, duelling Voldemort himself. I think it is quite certain that most Slytherins made use of their sudden escape to call reinforcements. Phineas Nigellus is quite right to brag that Slytherin did its part.

izhilzha July 24 2007, 16:07:08 UTC

Ah! I wasn't sure if that was Aberforth, calling in the reinforcements, or what (we did have Snape, Regulus, and Slughorn as representatives of Slytherin House doing extremely awesome things on the side of good). But thank you for pointing that out.

And Oliver Wood--I don't recall if we see him come into the Room of Requirement, but Harry runs into him on the way out of the Great Hall. Wood is helping carry Colin Creevey's body.

persephone_kore July 25 2007, 05:52:00 UTC

I don't think it helped that Voldemort mentioned something to Lucius and Narcissa about Draco not coming to him "like the rest of the Slytherins." On the other hand, (1) Voldemort lies a lot and is mistaken perhaps more and (2) I was thinking that going away and calling in reinforcements -- particularly, calling in family as reinforcements -- would be a particularly House-appropriate way for Slytherins to help... and that was when I had forgotten Slughorn was mentioned as leading the charge!

It also occurs to me that traditionally Slytherin families are the ones Voldemort is most likely to have assumed were on his side without checking as closely as he might otherwise. He does refer in GoF to Lucius being "slippery," so he doesn't necessarily take support for granted, but he probably wasn't expecting open opposition either. Which would mean that whichever Slytherins' families didn't support him would probably be easier to find and in possession of most of their usual resources. Not to mention almost entirely magical, which -- to be ( ... )

izhilzha July 25 2007, 22:34:11 UTC

These are excellent thoughts! I love the idea of the Slytherins doing what they do best by going away and bringing back family reinforcements. :-) Thank you very much for pointing this out!

maevebran July 24 2007, 07:30:21 UTC

I loved the book too. I was glad that it wasn't "Rocks fall, everbody dies" like I feared.
--Molly Weasley vs. Bellatrix! INDEED!
I was touched that Reamus and Tonks named Harry their son's godfather. It was very fitting.
I loved the Potterwatch radio show.
Aberforth watching over Harry was cool.
Kreacher leading the Hogworts House elfs in stabbing the Death Eaters in the legs was awesome. I loved how Kreacher became a friend in this book.
Ron's concern for the House Elfs was cool because it was genuine and Harmionie's reaction priceless.

izhilzha July 25 2007, 17:11:17 UTC

I was touched that Reamus and Tonks named Harry their son's godfather. It was very fitting.

Yes, oh, yes. :-)

And Potterwatch was inspired is what it was. *beams*

And after that moment? Ron/Hermione FOREVAH. Yes. *hugs them, but not while they're snogging*

jhall1 July 24 2007, 19:31:20 UTC

She has managed something I can only dream of doing (and have, for years): She has told a tale full of imagination, every inch her own, every struggle born from her experience and life and light, and given that to us in images and actions that we can understand and take into ourselves.

And, almost as remarkable, she has somehow managed to arrange movie contracts that seem to ensure great fidelity to her vision.

I thought that killing both Remus and Tonks was arguably kinder than killing one of them, given how much they were in love. But I'd like to know who adopted Teddy.

I agree that Mrs Weasley was made of win. :)

izhilzha July 24 2007, 20:20:34 UTC

And, almost as remarkable, she has somehow managed to arrange movie contracts that seem to ensure great fidelity to her vision.

LOL! Yes, that's far more astonishing, actually, considering the nature of the movie business and the fact that they made 5 of them before the release of book 7 and the wrap-up of the story. *shakes head at filmmakers*

Re: Remus and Tonks--I was so deep in Harry's own grief and orphan status that it seemed far worse to me that he and Teddy should lose both of them then that they were together in death. *shrug* Again, I don't think JKR was wrong to kill them both, speaking to the narrative and theme...but it was really hard for me to deal with.

I imagine that Andromeda Tonks (nee Black), who has lost the entire rest of her family, pretty much, raised Teddy. With lots of help from Harry and his friends and their families.

jn_oscargrouch July 27 2007, 06:58:26 UTC

that was one of the things I snerked about with the Shell House sequence... Bill is going to HAVE to be in the movie... notice how Charlie and Bill are not in the movies?

kalquessa July 26 2007, 18:21:18 UTC

"having disarmed the rulers and authorities, he made a public display of them, triumphing over them through the cross [sacrifice]"

Oo, nice catch, I would never have made this connection, but...dude!

I was strongly hoping for a reversal on the part of some of the Slytherins.

Word. She did end up going to the "Even Slytherins can be good guys" place, but...I didn't feel like she took it far enough. Some Slytherin seventh years staying behind to fight would have gone a long way. A longer way, in fact, than Harry's little "so what if you do end up in Slytherin?" speech to Albus Severus. Telling is good. Showing is better. The only showing we really get is the Malfoys, and none of them were heros. They loved each other more than Voldie and power he represented in the end, but they didn't actually come out on the side of the good guys, either. I could have really used a self-sacrificing Malfoy, preferrably Draco because I don't really care about Narcissa (or didn't until she lied to Voldemort) and Lucius is sexier when he's full-on ( ... )

izhilzha July 26 2007, 20:38:57 UTC

Word. She did end up going to the "Even Slytherins can be good guys" place, but...I didn't feel like she took it far enough. Some Slytherin seventh years staying behind to fight would have gone a long way.

I agree, though as you can see in comments to this post, fpb and persephone_kore have succeeded in convincing me that it's actually more satisfying than I originally thought.

JKR still should have made it plainer, imho.

Ron's return to Harry and Hermione, and his struggle with the locket Horcrux. Moving, wonderful, suspenseful.

Everyone else seemed to love this, but I thought the Emotional Torture of Ron Weasley was a bit overdone and kind of inelegant. Maybe Ron really is that thick, but I just had a hard time with idea that he was actually hurt that much (indeed, hurt at all) by a spectre of Harry/Hermione.Huh. I didn't see that scene as being about Ron's romantic insecurities, except very, very indirectly. I saw it as the Horcrux taking advantage of things Ron has struggled with all his life: youngest boy of six, inept, unnecessary, not ( ... )

kalquessa July 26 2007, 20:56:49 UTC

JKR still should have made it plainer, imho.

Yeah, same here. Fannish explanations and fixes are all well and good, but what I wanted was to see some green ties on the defender's line at Hogwarts. That would have been worth twelve of Slughorn dueling Voldemort to me.

I saw it as the Horcrux taking advantage of things Ron has struggled with all his life: youngest boy of six, inept, unnecessary, not special or important or even needed.I guess I can see that. I just always have a hard time with scenes like this where some magical device tortures people with the voices of loved ones hurling abuse at them (there's an instance of this in the Dark Tower series, too, and I'm sure I've seen the device elsewhere as well, I just can't remember where at the moment). Maybe it really would be a horrible experience to go through something like this, I don't know, but it always seems kind of hollow to me because I imagine the same thing happening to me and my response (I think, obviously, this theory is 100% non-tested) would be "Whatever, the real ( ... )

izhilzha July 26 2007, 21:00:18 UTC

Maybe it really would be a horrible experience to go through something like this, I don't know, but it always seems kind of hollow to me because I imagine the same thing happening to me and my response (I think, obviously, this theory is 100% non-tested) would be "Whatever, the real people whose voices you're faking all think I'm awesome."

*g*

Whereas my reaction would be far, far closer to Ron's. When insecurities or fears have been a part of one's life for a long time--unexposed and not canceled out (Harry doesn't see that he needs to *tell* Ron how important Ron is to him until after this scene happens. He thinks Ron knows, but Ron's not sure)--I totally understand how easy it is to listen to those sorts of voices. *hugs Ron*

Thread 5

jn_oscargrouch July 27 2007, 07:08:44 UTC

Love your thoughts. We're so on the same page.

One thing I liked, that you didn't mention, was seeing the Ravenclaw's house. I love the entrance key "solving the witty riddle" followed by it's fantastic answers. And the description of it. I don't know... it always interested me, because I think Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff sure get ignored, save for Luna, Cho and Cedric, so that made me happy. also, because I think I'd probably end up in one of those two houses if i were at Hogwarts. LOL!

izhilzha July 30 2007, 20:08:38 UTC

Oh dear--I was planning to mention Ravenclaw! That moment made me go "omg I would so be in Ravenclaw if I were at Hogwarts--I would *ask* the Hat to put me there!" :-)