Re-Titling Game

[sunnyskywalker]

So, there's this quote on Red Hen that I've been turning over in my mind:

"When you take a clear overview, Rowling’s books stopped being “about” their titles after PoA. [...] The Goblet [...] was carried in, got confunded, spouted something that tossed Harry into the soup, boogied off and we never saw it again. [...] The Order was just about totally irrelevant to the course of the actual story [...] The Half-Blood Prince was a somewhat different proposition, I agree, but he wasn’t the story either. Or not the main story. [...] [The Deathly Hallows] would be the McGuffin that kicks off a major part of the adventure, or they will be some gaudy peripheral issue that Harry cannot access, until the final showdown."

Whereas the philosopher's stone was a driving force (albeit mysterious) to the first book, the Chamber of Secrets was essential to the second book, and the prisoner who escaped from Azkaban was absolutely essential to the book's unfolding plot and conclusion.

So, looking back at the latter four books...

- If you kept their titles, how would you make the titles actually relevant? (Maybe the Goblet of Fire not only spits out the Champions' names, but is waiting for them at the end of the final task, and so it ends up being Harry's semi-goal and is the object which transports him and Cedric to the graveyard, for instance.)

- If not, which titles would you choose instead?

Goblet of Fire had a working title of Harry Potter and the Doomspell Tournament. Cheesy, but at least more relevant. Harry Potter and the Triwizard Tournament would be equally relevant, but also a bit boring. Harry Potter and the Three Tasks? There must be something better.

Order of the Phoenix might work better as Harry Potter and the Department of Mysteries, given that Harry's dreams/visions drive a lot of the action and are crucial to the climax. But I'm sure there are other options too.

Half-Blood Prince... I dunno. Harry Potter and the Room of Requirement? Not very zingy. You could go the movie route and make Draco's task less mysterious, and call it Harry Potter and the Vanishing Cabinet.

...and so on. We have some brilliant minds here; surely we can come up with good titles!

Comments

[danajsparks.livejournal.com]

I'm having trouble thinking of a good title for HBP because I'm not sure what the book is even about. It doesn't exactly have a plot, or even a central conflict.

[oryx_leucoryx]

We didn't know it when we read it, but in part it is Harry Potter and the Elder Wand, Part 1 - because Dumbly's plans for his death were motivated by his need to control the inheritance of his wand (and then Draco interfered). But from Harry's POV it was Harry Potter and the Dark Lord's Home Videos or Harry Potter and the Troubles of the Quidditch Team, and yes, Harry Potter and the Chest Monster of Doom.

[sunnyskywalker]

Better the Dark Lord's home videos than the chest monster...

It's too bad we didn't get more of Snape's DADA lessons. I bet those could have been relevant to the book somehow. Especially of JKR played up that Harry resisted learning from Snape-in-class but loved learning from the Prince's book. (And hey, maybe the inferi lesson could have stuck with Harry better and he actually remembered the fire trick himself, and then got to feel pissy that Snape had taught him something useful. How dare an evil person be competent!)

Title

[terri-testing.livejournal.com]

How about, Harry Stalks Slytherins?

Re: Title

[sunnyskywalker]

Ha! Yes, Harry Potter and Draco's Dot on the Marauders' Map was a pretty major part of the book.

[sunnyskywalker]

That's the trouble I'm having with it too. Harry Potter and Voldemort's Backstory? Harry Potter and Snape's Old Textbook Which Doesn't Actually Matter Much?

Other maybe-important elements: the Pensieve/Pensieve Memories, the Astronomy Tower, the Cave of the Inferi, the Birdbath of Doom, Felix Felicis, the Slug Club.

This book definitely needs focus. I actually like The Half-Blood Prince, and would like to figure out how to make that title more relevant. Maybe Harry could have started discovering that Snape and Lily used to be friends in this book (maybe Slughorn tells him), and then the revelation that the potions book had a Draco-eviscerating hex and Snape killing Dumbledore would feel doubly like betrayals - he wouldn't just be freaked that Snape was the one who gave Voldemort the prophecy, but that he betrayed his best friend Lily and created dangerous magic while still in school and fooled Dumbledore for years to finish the betrayal. (This would also require Harry worrying about the hexes from the book which he used and what that means about him.) He'd probably decide Snape was never a real friend, of course, being Harry. So then the Prince's tale in the next book would be not information from nowhere, but the revelation that yes, they really were friends, Snape really did want to protect Lily from the Marauders, and that he's been working essentially for Lily's memory all along. And, um, maybe playing up the Snape-as-Draco's-mentor (whom Draco is now resisting) role in all that for generational parallels and connecting subplots.

[danajsparks.livejournal.com]

That would be a good change to the story, I think.

As for a title for the book Rowling gave us, maybe HP and the Dark Arts?