Thoughts on Pottermore So Far

[sweettalkeress.livejournal.com]

Sooo, I have a Pottermore account (I'm WatchHawthorn3475, if anybody wants to chat with me). I've only really been able to play it now that I've gotten back from school, since for whatever reason the settings aren't fully enabled on my school's computers (not even the laptops). So the first chapter I got to explore in full was Chapter 3. No matter.

First thing's first: my thoughts may seem a bit messy and disjointed. Hopefully you can still bear with me, since the website basically follows the plot of the books.



One thing I noticed by reading the comments was how a lot of the readers are apparently very easily amused. They're positively floored by the notion that Rowling might have worked out other backstories and bits of information that never actually appeared in the story, and that it makes her a great writer. Newsflash, I do that and I only write amateur fanfiction!

Also, according to Ollivander's wand shop, Ollivander is a special snowflake wandmaker who makes better wands than anyone else in any other country, to the point people go to him for wands and ignore the wandmakers in their own countries!

My wand is Phoenix feather and English Oak. This makes me feel special because Merlin’s wand was English Oak too (allegedly). Although, Phoenix feather is supposed to make a wand willful, while English Oak makes a wand loyal. That is counterintuitive. Though I guess it still makes sense--it'll be loyal to me and nobody else!

Also, the pet shop does a terrible job with naming its owls. For one thing, there is no such thing as a Brown Owl. Many owls are brown, but there is no owl with the species name Brown Owl (there is, however, a Tawny Owl). The closest I could find in my handy-dandy owl encyclopedia (HUGE animal-lover here!) is the Brown Wood Owl, but that owl lives in Asia. Anyway, this owl looks more like a Barred Owl, except that Barred Owls are North American! Continuing along this point, why is an English pet shop selling a screech owl? Screech owls are New-World owls only! The Old-World equivalent is called a scops owl! I could allow that this is an American localization, but I somehow don't think this site is that sophisticated. Does Wizarding Britain have an illicit pet trade?

Just imagine what pet shops in regions such as South America, Tropical Asia, or Africa are like. So many, many owls! I can imagine a Russian wizard looking uber-intimidating with a giant Eurasian Eagle Owl, while a wizard from Costa Rica could boast a snazzy Crested Owl. To say nothing of all the hilarious, adorable Tyto owls wizards in tropical Asia and the South Pacific could have. Imagine an Indonesian witch with a Sulawesi Owl on her shoulder. Just imagine!

Anyway, I didn't buy an owl at all; I bought a Siamese Cat because cats are actually smart and may actually want to play with you every so often.

In other pet news, Pottermore refers to Hedwig as a "white, snowy owl." I guess that's better than saying "white Snowy Owl," since that would just be redundant. But still, it's not like it's hard to find out that a Snowy Owl is white (or that it's an actual species of owl)!

Incidentally, anyone else think that the name "Whizz Hard" contains some really unfortunate innuendo? Given that this is Rowling, I wonder if that was intentional.

From a note on wizard clothing: “Anti-Muggles will often attempt to demonstrate their superiority by adopting a deliberately flamboyant, out-of-date or dandyish style in public.”

If she’s trying to suggest that Oscar Wilde was a wizard, I might just have to kill something!

Have I mentioned that people in the comments on this site seem very easily amused? A ton of people on the Hogwarts Express page were going positively gaga at the thought that they would actually be in King's Cross station for any sort of reason!

I've also read several of the character blurbs, among them Lee Jordan's. According to a comment, the actor who plays Lee Jordan now has a new gig (though I don't recognize it).

Percy's page has some really cute pictures. They all draw him with glasses. Does he need glasses in the books? Because he's never shown with them in the movies, is he?

The comments about Draco Malfoy are insane. Some people genuinely think he’s a complex character; others just think he’s hot (which, given that this is the first book, eew!)

You know how Rowling tried to sell that toads were an uncool pet? Several people who bought toads responded rather defiantly.

Once you finally arrive at Hogwarts, one of the comments says: “I’d give anything to receive a letter [to Hogwarts]” Yeah, well I sometimes think I’d give anything to go off and live in the world of Pokemon, where there’s no global warming or environmental strife other than that caused by obviously-evil villains!

I’m actually in SLYTHERIN!!!!!!111111 *SQUEE* I don’t believe it!!! Not gonna lie, I spazzed out a little at that one, I mean, I sorta thought I’d get something like Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff. Quite honestly, though, given that I was subconsciously hoping I'd be in Slytherin I suspect that might have biased the answers to some of my questions. Oh, well, it doesn't matter now.

Of course, then they go on to insist that the snake is the wisest of all creatures. Um... snakes are really, really dumb!

Another highlight that I picked up on from the Slytherin introductory speech is that they claim that it's good to have a reputation for being scary. That's interesting because isn't that what most major Gryffindors were known for?

It appears that the house common rooms are like message boards where anyone in that house can go to hold conversations.

I’m intrigued by how special snowflake Harry wasn’t a Hatstall, but both Hermione and Neville were.

And... that's all I've got for right now. I have to admit, the interactivity of the site in general is nice, and that's probably the only reason I'm even bothering with it. Now I just wonder what'll happen once the plot actually starts.

Comments

[oryx_leucoryx]

But in that case, shouldn't the soul-bit be more vulnerable than a typical Horcrux? The nasty stuff is what makes the other Horcruces hard to destroy. The Harrycrux should have been easier.

[snapes-witch.livejournal.com]

I have no idea.

[madderbrad.livejournal.com]

Heh, I had a list of three or four points showing just how robust the Harrycrux-not-a-Harrycrux was - sitting happily inside Harry for lo, all those years, when we're shown how basilisk venom can destroy it, how his love of Sirius can drive out a Voldemort possession, how his merest *touch* can burn and destroy Quirrell - but, yeah. Rowling.

It's so typical of a wave-your-arms-in-the-air-and-guess author to whip up something like the Harrycrux, isn't it? Wow, gee, it has all the 'good' attributes of a Horcrux - it anchored Voldemort to this life - but none of the bad traits. Just sitting there until it was needed for the convenience of her story.

Or - if it really wasn't a Horcrux, like Rowling is now preaching - does that mean that Dumbledore was wrong in planning Harry's death? That the huge climactic reveal/surprise at the end of the series ... wasn't?

Sigh.

I wonder just why she felt the need to embellish her canon with these Harrycrux retcons? Rowling said it was what made Harry so cranky in book 5, right? And now he was a pure Gryffindor, the only Slytherin part of him was the Voldemort soul fragment. Why the need to dabble, to change, to adjust?

Well, that's okay ... Rowling's new guesswork only goes to support my theory that it was, likewise, the soul fragment which was the 'chest monster' independent agent within Harry that was attracted to Ginny. Which makes perfect sense ... only an EVIL PERSON could 'love' Ginny Weasley, I tells ya! :-)

[charlottehywd.livejournal.com]

So, isn't the Harrycrux just giving him a free pass to be as jerkish as he wants to be? Oh, it wasn't him, of course, who was cranky and selfish! It was just the Harrycrux influencing his behavior!

I wonder what his excuse would be after it was removed.

[madderbrad.livejournal.com]

I dare say Rowling would deny that he was 'cranky and selfish' in the first place, or otherwise proclaim that he never was again after losing the Harrycrux.

Even though his behaviour right after the battle - avoiding the supposed love of his life, denying her any comfort in favour of looking for a nap and a sandwich - would knock that assertion for six.

And naming all of his children after his side of the family was pretty selfish too.