A Big Canon Puzzle (Or, exactly when did everyone die??)

[shiiki]

So I have a lot of time on my hands for reasons that some of you know. Which leads to a lot of reading and poking about the fandom, and finally, when I'm tired of all that, fic-plotting

Comments

[sowritesauds]

Hmm.

I would never have even thought to question all of this! :) So I guess I haven't really given it a lot of thought in the past. But I think I'm with you, I would choose to take Lily's letter as more concrete than Moody's. Also, the fact that it comes two books later might mean that JKR had done some thinking regarding the timelines and such and decided to offer that up as an adendum to Moody's recollections.

[shiiki]

Also, the fact that it comes two books later might mean that JKR had done some thinking regarding the timelines and such and decided to offer that up as an adendum to Moody's recollections.

But unfortunately not enough thinking to have it all mesh. *sigh*

Thanks!

[shiiki]

Ah yes, the secret is out. I'm obsessive about little details fitting in before I even start writing!

There are inconsistencies in her timelines even for more major things (I can't recall exact references, but I know there are instances where she has two Sundays in a row!) so why would she put that much thought into the backstory plot? Understandable, but unfortunately headache-inducing for us when we try to piece it all together. :)

[dragon_animagus]

Oh my... O_O I'm glad you spotted it, because I sure wouldn't have.

And I would go with the closest bit of direct evidence, which is to say Lily's letter. Moody does tell Harry about the Order Members from memory, and brilliant as Moody undoubtedly was, here he'll have to take the step back, thank JKR for muddled up time lines and bear and grin it, hee. I'd go with Lily.

hth

[shiiki]

Ah, Moody. Well, he could just be paranoid enough to never give the right dates of things to anyone else! Hee. Thanks!

[_thirty2flavors]

ESSENTIALLY: Rowling's timeline makes no sense omgwtf. :( And I don't blame her, interweaving plots like she's got, it'd be impossible to keep it all straight. The only reason we notice is because we're all crazy Marauder fangirls.

Aside from everyone being dead, the letter's timing is sketchy -- Harry mentions something about Peter being jumpy cause it's the last time he'll see them alive, but it can't be, they were only supposed to be under the Fidelus Charm something like two weeks before they died -- logically he'd have to have seen them then. The same goes for Sirius.

My problem with Lily's letter has always been that it makes no sense that Sirius has it at all. How on Earth did his shortly-pre-Azkaban posessions get from wherever he lived at the time to his hated mother's house? It's not the sort of thing you'd have, in, like, Gringotts, and I'm pretty sure it's not like he was able to just stroll back into wherever-the-hell-he-lived and say, "hm, let's get some personal affects". What? That makes no sense.

[shiiki]

And I don't blame her, interweaving plots like she's got, it'd be impossible to keep it all straight. The only reason we notice is because we're all crazy Marauder fangirls.

Amen, sistah! Hee :D

Harry mentions something about Peter being jumpy cause it's the last time he'll see them alive, but it can't be, they were only supposed to be under the Fidelus Charm something like two weeks before they died -- logically he'd have to have seen them then. The same goes for Sirius.

I've discounted Harry's assumptions - obviously he's not quite as sleuthy about timelines as we are. Peter, after all, could be jumpy for a whole number of reasons, one of which being that he's Voldy's slave. That'd make anyone jumpy!

I assumed from what Lily said about 'the Order coming first' that Sirius couldn't be there for Harry's birthday because he was away on Order business.

How on Earth did his shortly-pre-Azkaban posessions get from wherever he lived at the time to his hated mother's house?That's a very good point. Exactly where did all Sirius's

[kerosinkanister]

Wandered over here from CM.

That's a very good point. Exactly where did all Sirius's personal possessions go when he went to Azkaban anyway?

Maybe the letter is a fake planted in Sirius's room. Though of course that leaves you wondering who would plant that letter and for what purpose.

You could try submitting this to hogwarts_today or daily_snitch. If either of them picks it up you'll get a lot more discussion.

[_thirty2flavors]

A fake letter planted in Sirius' room with a convenient matching photograph would be pretty hilarious. It's like, "HAHA, I know what'll get them! I'll write a fake letter from his dead mom and put it in his dead godfather's teenage bedroom! OH CURSES, FOILED BY HIS DEAD MOM'S EX-BFF WHO IS STILL IN LOVE WITH HER AFTER OVER A DECADE! DAMN."

[snorkackcatcher]

Hey, good points. I don't think you can reconcile the dates for Rosier -- the Pensieve Karkaroff trial scene is after the fall of Voldemort in 1981 (because Dumbledore mentions that event in connection with Snape) -- unless you assume there were two Rosiers. The best recovery shot would be to assume that Sirius was misremembering.

As for the McKinnons, again I don't think it fits if you take the obvious interpretation that Marlene was killed at the same time as her family. If you suppose that those events took place at different times, you can fit it in, but that's a stretch.

[shiiki]

About Rosier - I was wondering if it's mentioned anywhere whose deaths he might be responsible for. I know Dolohov killed the Prewetts, Travers had a hand in the McKinnons, but the most that seems to be said for Rosier was that he took a chunk out of Moody's nose.

I thought it might just all fit if I pretended that Moody slipped up and said 'two weeks' when he meant 'two years' for Marlene's death. Which would have the Order photograph in 1979 - plenty of time for people to get killed!