COS Chapter Fourteen: "Cornelius Fudge"
Dec. 17th, 2010 07:43 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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deathtocapslock* The WW seems to have a really inconsistent attitude towards criminal justice. On the one hand, their punishments are often extremely excessive (yes, let’s lock people up surrounded by depression-inducing, soul-devouring monsters for petty theft); on the other, they can be ridiculously weak when the plot demands it (murder? Well, you won’t be able to come to Hogwarts anymore. Although we will give you a job for life as Gamekeeper in the very same school which you terrorised with your monster).
* “Riddle does sound like Percy – who asked him to grass on Hagrid, anyway?” Apologies in advance for this little rant-ette, but WTF? Seriously, W – T – F? As far as Ron knows, Hagrid’s just killed someone, and he thinks Tom shouldn’t tell anyone? I’ll freely admit that I never got this whole “no snitching” rule in school stories, but this just seems ridiculous. So it’s better to let people die than tell a teacher? Really? Ron’s being really hypocritical, too, unless he’d been planning to sit on his arse and do nothing once he got proof that Draco was the Heir of Slytherin.
* Also, note how Harry says that he doesn’t blame Tom “for wanting to stay here”, rather than, I don’t know, wanting to save someone’s life.
* Choosing the subjects that “could affect [their] whole future” at the age of twelve seems a bit early, really.
* Jolly nice of Percy to offer to help Harry like that. If I were in his situation, I’d be quite grateful.
* Note how Percy says “non-magical community”, instead of using some demeaning slur like “muggle” or “mudblood”. Bloody pinko! It’s no wonder he ended up going bad!
* For all that wizards think of Muggle Studies (Christ, what a patronising name) as a “soft option”, they seem to have real difficulty learning anything about Muggles. Apart from the Malfoys, for some reason, who seem to know loads.
* “But the only thing Harry felt he was really good at was Quidditch.” I’m sort of half-tempted to give JKR a bit of credit for acknowledging Harry’s general uselessness, but she blows it for me by avoiding making Harry ever have to work hard and improve. Having difficulty? Don’t worry, Hermione will sort it out for you!
* Did Ginny really need to go so far as to rip Harry’s books apart in her quest to find the diary? What, was she worried that he might have hidden it somewhere inside one of the pages? Oh well, I suppose property damage is OK if it’s in service of a higher cause, like keeping your crush on someone secret.
* No, Hermione, you clearly have a lot of learning to do. It’s not true that only a Gryffindor could do it. Gryffindors never do anything wrong, and, if it seems like they have done, it’s because they were possessed and made to do it by a Slytherin. Don’t worry, though, you’ll learn soon enough.
* Pity Hermione doesn’t feel the need to tell Harry and Ron about her suspicions. Still, this secrecy is quite consistent for her character, so I forgive JKR for it.
* “Yes, perhaps you’d better come too, Weasley.” Even when his best(-ish) friend has just been attacked, Ron’s still an afterthought behind Harry Potter.
* I’m surprised Fred and George don’t slip laxatives into the Hogwarts water supply, thereby ensuring that teachers are constantly rushed off their feet escorting students to the bathrooms.
* Erm, Lee, given that only four people have been attacked so far, the fact that the Slytherins are all fine isn’t exactly that surprising.
* Trust George to try and spin the worst possible interpretation on Percy’s behaviour.
* Yeah, that’s right, all this stuff’s coming from a Slytherin, so it’s OK to chuck them out. Just like a lot of international terrorism is carried out by Islamic groups, so it’s OK to throw every Muslim in prison. Sure, the vast majority will be innocent, but you’ll also get the guilty ones, and retribution’s the most important function of the justice system, right?
* Harry and Ron are so busy plotting, they don’t notice Lee Jordan taking out his copy of The Protocols of the Elders of Slytherin, which conclusively demonstrates that Severus Snape is trying to take over the wizarding world using his control of the international media.
* Does Hagrid not realise that pointing his crossbow at anyone who comes knocking just makes him look like the sort of violent person who would set a monster on the school?
* Cornelius Fudge is indeed wearing “a strange mixture of clothes”. Does the gene that gives them magical powers also give them appalling dress sense or something?
* Of course, Dumbledore could probably come up with quite a good defence of Hagrid if he tried. For some reason, though, he again chooses to frame his defence by assuming that Dumbledore’s trust should be good enough proof of innocence for anyone, without bothering to explain just why it is he thinks he’s innocent.
* “‘Yeh can’ take Dumbledore away!’ yelled Hagrid… ‘Take him away, an’ the Muggle-borns won’ stand a chance! There’ll be killin’s next!’” Erm, Hagrid, what exactly has DD done so far to prevent the attacks? Or is he saying that the Heir of Slytherin must be so in awe of the headmaster that he’s holding back from killing people? Because there’s actually no evidence than Dumbledore’s presence is doing anything to prevent the attacks or keep the students safe. If anything, Lord V probably knows that DD won’t do anything to stop the attacks – after all, he didn’t do anything last time…
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no subject
Date: 2010-12-20 05:19 pm (UTC)Obviously neither is familiar with Full Metal Alchemist (anime or manga), in which the process of making a Philosopher Stone shows that the stone is akin to Soylent Green! (bwahahahah!) =:-o
It's also interesting that she's connecting the stone to Lily and James. I wonder where she was going with that? What sort of connection was she trying to make there.
Well what she ended up with was DD being friends with Flamel, and Flamel deciding to give (surrender?) the stone to Dumbles. But in hindsight, after 7 books of DD "receiving" things like James' invisibility cloak, Grindewald's Elder Wand, etc., it makes one question just how willingly Flamel handed the stone over.
Perhaps JKR was originally going to have DD give it to James to keep in his family's vault for whatever reason, but I find it hard to believe that Dumbles would have let it out of his grasp once he got his hands on it.
So that DOES leave the question open as to what James' and/or Lily's motivations would have been for obtaining the stone (not to mention HOW they obtained it), and the corner JKR painted herself into by having the Potters possess the stone, then how would Voldie been able to kill them?
no subject
Date: 2010-12-21 12:23 am (UTC)Ooh. Love your icon.
I think the purity aspect was why she wanted the Potters associated with the stone but, as she found when she tested out the idea with her characters, it made them look like thieves. Idea scrapped. (Too bad she didn't work through some other questionable ideas the same way, it seems to work for her.)
Dumbledore was supposedly such an intelligent wizard that he was corresponding with all sorts of great wizards and witches while he was still in Hogwarts. I expect that's when he got involved with Flamel. They didn't need to work on the stone together to be partners in alchemical research. Again, reference to alchemy and Flamel, tying Dumbledore to purity - the "epitome of goodness." :P
no subject
Date: 2010-12-21 12:55 am (UTC)Exactly.
So at least according to FMA, whoever attempts to make a Philosopher's Stone is the farthest from highly, positively spiritual as you can get...
Ooh. Love your icon.
Thanks...I made it a couple of years ago. Take it if you like. :-)
I think the purity aspect was why she wanted the Potters associated with the stone but, as she found when she tested out the idea with her characters, it made them look like thieves.
Also, JKR ended up with the implication that DD only got his hands on the stone a relatively short time before Book 1 began; in theory, Flamel could have given him the stone years, or even decades, before, but that idea doesn't really stand up to scrutiny, because WHY would have Flamel surrendered the stone that early on? And wouldn't Voldie have gone after the stone during WizWar1 if it was just sitting in a Gringotts vault at that time?
So not only did JKR have a moral character dilemma with the storyline of the Potters having the stone in their possession, but a logistical one, too -- because WHY would Flamel have given up the stone back then, to ANYONE? And if the Potters had the stone sitting in their own vault, how would Dumbles have gotten his hands on it after their death?
So the easiest answer was to eliminate the Potter storyline, and just have the stone somehow be in Dumbles possession at the beginning of Book 1.
no subject
Date: 2010-12-21 02:19 am (UTC)If he'd had the cloak for some reason - if he'd borrowed it for an Order operation against the DEs, if James had left it with him instead of his borrowing it, he might have come off looking at least a little better than he did at the end.
Thanks, snagged the icon!
no subject
Date: 2010-12-21 12:33 pm (UTC)The reason for keeping the cloak or asking for it is....lame, it's basicly just because he wanted it.
Why the hell would James let him borrow it anyway, they wouldn't even take Dumbledore as secret keeper! Yet James at the moment when he'd need the cloak the most decides to let someone borrow it.
I agree that if JKR had at least given Dumbledore a better reason for having the cloak it would have been easier to accept why he had it.
Instead Dumbledore looks like some crazy collector who will do anything to get that last item for his collection.
no subject
Date: 2010-12-21 03:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-21 08:29 pm (UTC)IDK, the way JKR has all Gryffindors fanwank Dumbles, I think Twinkly could have just said to James "Oh, that looks like an interesting cloak, can I borrow it to study it in more depth?", and James would have drunk the Kool Aid and handed it over...
:-/
no subject
Date: 2010-12-22 11:42 am (UTC)Incorrect use of "fanwank". I doubt the Gryffindors would spend their time trying to reconcile continuity snarls and inconsistencies in Dumbledore's background and character - that's our job!
no subject
Date: 2010-12-21 08:21 pm (UTC)It's rather more than that.
The legend states that the person who possesses all 3 of the Deathly Hallows can basically rule the world. Dumbles knew he already had the Elder Wand in his possession, suddenly he finds someone with what seems to be THE Invisibility Cloak.
So what if the owner was in hiding with his wife and child, in fear for their lives, and the Cloak could have been more useful to them than to Dumbles? Dumbles own curiosity, at the very least, was more important than the Potters' safety.
*Possibly* Dumbles may have thought that if the Cloak remained with the Potters, but Voldie still succeeded in killing them, the Cloak may have fallen into Voldie's hands...therefore he may have thought that taking possession of it was a precautionary measure...
But the Dumbles JKR presents us with in Book 7 is too cunning, too manipulative, and too self-serving for me to buy any allegedly altruistic motive to his taking the Cloak.
So he already had the Elder Wand, and now he had the Invisibility Cloak. All he needed was the DH stone...is it just a coincidence that he "just happened" to get his hands on Flamel's Philosopher Stone sometime after the Potters' deaths? Could he have thought at one time that Flamel's stone may have been the DH stone?
no subject
Date: 2010-12-21 08:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-22 02:35 am (UTC)I guess his idea of Greater Good might still be him on top of the wizard world food chain. His past was shown and proof was given that he was not above seeking world domination with the *cough* right partner.
I just think JKR was trying to hit us with too many things about Dumbledore there at the end - Is Dumbledore the altuistic character fighting for the greater good, or is he a self serving manipulative wizard bent on world domination?
Like Severus complained about Dumbledore touching the stone in the cursed ring. That never worked for me or seemed in character. I would expect in all of Dumbledore's knowledge, let alone his age and experience he would have had the patience to be more careful. It just seems very ooc that he'd be that uncautious, it looks like something one of the students would do - not a headmaster WHO knew what to expect from Voldemort.
Dumbledore suddenly seems very stupid and non-thinking - a little like Voldemort himself; obsessed.
no subject
Date: 2010-12-22 11:48 am (UTC)Not necessarily - the official definintion of "Master of Death" is pretty crap and I have great sympathy with Grindelwald's interpretation that it would let you raise an army of undead to conquer the world. (Incidentally I was very disappointed at Albus' dismissal of the possibility of Death himself making the Hallows, since it would have added some much-needed sense of wonder and magic to the Potterverse).
Like Severus complained about Dumbledore touching the stone in the cursed ring. That never worked for me or seemed in character. I would expect in all of Dumbledore's knowledge, let alone his age and experience he would have had the patience to be more careful. It just seems very ooc that he'd be that uncautious, it looks like something one of the students would do - not a headmaster WHO knew what to expect from Voldemort.
I think it makes perfect sense - as he himself admits, he wanted his parents and sister to reassure him that he wasn't to blame for anything that happened at Godric's Hollow. It's exactly the sort of thing a narcissist like him would do - after all, he's the Greatest Wizard In The World, what harm could he possibly suffer? (Maybe when the Hallows enter close proximity they try and get the nearest people killed?)
no subject
Date: 2010-12-21 03:23 pm (UTC)Not if he did not expect to lose his body. He believed himself immortal already. More immortal than he could ever be with the Stone, because he was even AK-proof.