HBP Chapter Three: "Will and Won't"
Oct. 26th, 2012 11:54 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
for-diddled.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
deathtocapslock* So, after two chapters of pointless filler, we can finally – FINALLY – get to the actual story. Such as it is.
* Oh, no, my mistake, we have six pages describing the state of Harry’s bedroom first.
* Apparently Harry’s breath left a “misty fug” on the window-pane. Really, JKR? His breath left “a hot, stale, or suffocating atmosphere”, did it? Honestly, if you’re going to try and use obscure words, at least try and use them correctly. Gah.
* Wow, Harry really lives like a total pig. Still, let’s be fair here, cleaning up can be quite boring and tedious. I mean, it’s not as if there are any magic spells which can instantly tidy a room and— oh, wait.
* Although I don’t suppose Hogwarts does teach its pupils any tidying spells. I mean, they probably don’t have time, there’s just so much other stuff they need to teach. How will the wizards of the future survive without being able to make pineapples tap-dance or turn rabbits into fluffy slippers? (Hey, don’t knock it. You never know when your feet will unexpectedly start feeling cold and you’ll need to transfigure yourself a couple of slippers.)
* JK Rowling now treats us to an example of the “read book and newspaper cuttings in lieu of having an actual plot” method of storytelling she’ll so mercilessly inflict upon is in Deathly Hallows. Oh well. We can’t say we haven’t been warned.
* Harry Potter is now being nicknamed “the Chosen One”. Seriously, Rowling? Come on, pretty much every fantasy story has a “chosen one” somewhere in it. At least “the boy who lived” was original to your stories. Do you really want to drop one of the unique elements of your books and replace it with an overused, generic fantasy cliché? On second thoughts, don’t bother answering that.
* So Harry is “the only person ever known to have survived the Killing Curse”. Really? Because I can’t believe that Lilly was the only person in recorded history to lay down her life to save somebody else. Even if you say that her sacrifice was more special because she was offered a chance to save herself, what about people who are captured by their enemies and offered their lives if they betray their friends, but still prefer death? Or maybe all the other Dark Lords know that their killing curses will be useless after this, and sensibly choose something else to kill their opponents. (“Accio heart!”)
* What’s the point of having the photographs move, again? It just seems like it would be a distraction from the actual text. Not to mention the annoyance if the subject randomly decides to wander out of the frame and you can’t see them. (And where do they wander off to, anyway? Does the world outside of the frame still exist in the photograph? And how do the pictures decide to move? Are they sentient? Is, for example, burning an old newspaper for kindling tantamount to mass murder?)
* Naturally Scrimgeour’s first priority on becoming Minister was to try and get Dumbledore’s support. Equally naturally Dumbledore refused to offer it. Gotta make sure the Minister remembers who’s boss in the wizarding world, after all.
* Harry’s trunk is no tidier than the rest of the room: its bottom is covered with a “residue” of sweet rappers, empty ink bottles, broken quills and dirty underwear (!).
* I must say, I don’t envy the wizards’ position in this war. You’d never know whether somebody was actually your brother/parent/spouse or just a Death Eater Polyjuiced to look like them; and, even if it is really them, they might have been Imperiused. It’s a wonder wizards aren’t cracking under the strain of paranoia and having nervous breakdowns all over the place.
* Dumbledore arrives! Yay! Ooh, ooh, Mrs. Rowling, if we ask you very nicely, can we please have some plot now?
* “However, let us assume that you have invited me warmly into your house.” No, Albus, you presumptuous, arrogant, self-righteous git, let’s not assume that. Instead, let’s actually ask Mr. Dursley if he’s OK with you coming into his house and taking his nephew away. I know he’s only a muggle, and most wizards wouldn’t bother with such niceties, but you’ve always liked to show off your tolerance, so maybe you should put your professed beliefs into practice once in a while.
* “[E]ven Uncle Vernon could sense that here was a man whom it would be very difficult to bully” – well, yes, because Dumbledore is an even bigger bully than Vernon is. He just happens to be slightly more subtle about it.
* “—yet, sadly, accidental rudeness occurs alarmingly often.” Not where Dumbledore’s concerned, however. No, you can tell his rudeness here is all carefully calculated, probably to get Harry on-side for the trip to Slughorn’s house.
* No wonder Dudley’s looking so frightened; his main interactions with wizards haven’t exactly been very positive so far. Let’s see, first of all Hagrid tried to turn him into a pig, then the Twins almost suffocated him with their magical toffees. TBH I think I’d feel pretty nervous around wizards if I were him.
* “Shall we assume that you have invited me into your sitting room?” TBH Dumbledore I’d rather assume that they’d told you to sod off, and that you’ve finally grown a sense of decency and agreed to go. Not that that’s likely to happen, of course.
* “‘I would assume that you were going to offer me refreshment,’ Dumbledore said to Uncle Vernon, ‘but the evidence so far suggests that that would be optimistic to the point of foolishness.’” Oh, f—k off, Dumbledore, you massive four-letter word. Not only do you barge into the Dursleys’ house like this, you now try and make out that they’re in the wrong for not offering you drinks, as if people have an obligation to wait on any random stranger who forces his way into their home. Aaargh! *lapses into incoherent rage and swears angrily at novel for several minutes*
* So what was the spell Dumbledore used to get the mead? Did he teleport it direct from Hogsmeade? Magically store it in his wand somehow?
* “Harry could not supress a suspicion that Dumbledore was rather enjoying himself.” No doubt that’s why Harry likes Dumbledore so much: they both get off on humiliating defenceless antagonists.
* “But it would have been better manners to drink it, you know” – yes, and even better manners not to hit the Dursleys over the head with glasses of mead. Still, it’s all their fault, isn’t it, Dumbledore?
* Good job Sirius made a will, since otherwise Kreacher and the Order HQ would have passed over to a notorious Death Eater. Still, it would have been funny to see the looks on everybody’s faces when they realised what had happened.
* Buckbeak would prefer to live with Hagrid? Yeah right. For all that Hagrid goes on about how much he loves animals, he’s got a very warped, sentimental, anthropomorphised view of them. I can’t imagine any animal liking him at all.
* I call BS on the idea that Dumbledore just so happened to shrewdly guess Harry didn’t think he was going to come round. More likely he’s been peeking at the author’s notes or mind-reading Harry.
* Dumbles gets all self-righteous and judgemental about the Dursleys’ treatment of Harry, without bothering to explain why he didn’t feel any need to intervene and stop them.
* So the magical protection will end when Harry’s seventeen… why, exactly? What’s so special about being age seventeen? I mean, maybe that’s the legal age of adulthood in the wizarding world, but Harry’s supposedly being protected by The Primal Power of Love or whatever wizards call it, and having this deep and timeless magic conform to civil law statutes about when you are and aren’t allowed to use magic is just completely bathetic.
* Any idea what Aunt Petunia’s “oddly flushed” look is about? It’s clearly meant to be significant in some way, but I can’t quite work out how. Is she thinking that her sister’s only child might soon be killed?
* “And now, Harry, let us step out into the night and pursue that flighty temptress, adventure.” If there were a prize for best bad line in fiction, I’d definitely nominate this one. J
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2012-10-27 10:10 am (UTC)When the fandom initially decried the 'fug' thing I recall pro-Jo defenders pointing out the dictionary definition and thinking that it wasn't a mistake. But, technically, it is, isn't it? As you point out, you don't *leave a fug* on a window. The 'fug' is the overall atmosphere!
Although dictionary.com tells me that 'fug' is *perhaps* a variant of 'fog'. Still, I'd mark Rowling down for this one. :-)
I mean, it’s not as if there are any magic spells which can instantly tidy a room and— oh, wait.
Well, he can't cast them, can he? He's under-age and all that.
Harry Potter is now being nicknamed “the Chosen One”. Seriously, Rowling?
Isn't that terrible? Shades of Buffy and the Matrix! Gawd.
One of my outstanding questions about HP is whether Rowling understood how bad her last two books were.
I do believe this 'Chosen One' nonsense is one of the better indications that Rowling *knew* that she had no idea where she was going, that she had no (firm) plot in mind to finish the series. She'd introduced the Prophecy as the book #5 gimmick which served as the foundation of that entire (880 pages!) tome. I remember thinking how brilliant it was, how much potential the Prophecy had for generating drama and angst for the rest of the series. I refer you to any decent post-OotP pre-HBP fan fiction story as proof.
But Rowling didn't have a clue what to do with the prophecy. So she decided to get rid of it, emasculate it. It's only mentioned twice in HBP; once when she makes a farce of it when Harry reveals it to his mates, destroying any potential it had for that scene. And then it's forgotten until Dumbledore decries it, telling Harry - and we readers - that the Prophecy means nothing. Then dropped in DH until Harry quotes a couple of phrases at the very end in Rowling's desperation to make readers think it had currency after all.
Rowling didn't have the guts to use the prophecy, stand it on its feet and have it determine Harry's future. But she wanted Harry to be singled out as the Wizarding World's saviour. So along comes the watered down version. We're told Harry's now anointed as the 'Chosen One'.
But there's never any REASON given for this, is there? Why did the Prophet suddenly decide to call the boy that, six years into the series? If they, and the public, never knew about the (real) prophecy?
Because Rowling wanted Harry to be the 'Chosen One' ... but without having the courage to introduce something solid that she'd have to actually manage as part of her story.
So Harry is granted this extra title for no evident reason. Other than the 'surviving the Killing Curse' thing that everyone's known about for 15 years.
Gah.
“Accio heart!”
Hee. :-)
Because I can’t believe that Lilly was the only person ...
Remember, they don't even have to die ... they just have to 'mean to'.
*snerk*
The whole thing was rubbish, wasn't it?
Equally naturally Dumbledore refused to offer it.
If Dumbledore supported the ministry then we'd see an effective resistance against Voldemort and Harry would become a much lesser player. So, again, the entire wizarding world is warped to suit the author's lazy writing. The Supreme Wugwump and head of the government's upper house refuses to work with the government in combating public enemy #1 ... so we can accept his banking everything on a sixteen year old boy.
Pfah.
Dumbledore, you massive four-letter word.
He was a condescending bastiche, wasn't he? Holding all the cards. Mind you, the Dursleys weren't that nice either. I think we're supposed to accept Dumbledore's bad behaviour as being 'good' in this case. The sort of justice that makes sense to the child readers.
So what was the spell Dumbledore used to get the mead? Teleportation?
Since Rowling invents the food restriction thing in the next book as the world's worst excuse for leaving the Trio hungry on their infinite camping trip, I guess so. :-)
having this deep and timeless magic conform to civil law statutes -
Well, maybe it's the other way around. The statutes were written to conform to the 'laws of magic' as they are known to wizards?
no subject
Date: 2012-10-27 02:33 pm (UTC)Actually, that always bothered me. Kreacher, in this scene, clearly expresses his desire to belong to Bellatrix. Later, when Harry sets him to follow Draco, he says he wants Draco as his master. So, when the Malfoys have a house-elf who doesn't want to belong to them it's only right that Harry should free him so the elf could go to Hogwarts and run errands for him. But when Harry has a house-elf who doesn't want to belong to him, the elf should still be sent to Hogwarts against it's will so it could run errands for Harry. I know that this isn't even all that rational, but I just don't want Harry to own Kreacher!! It irks me! Kreacher was always loyal to the Blacks.
no subject
Date: 2012-10-27 06:59 pm (UTC)And yet, several chapters from now, we’re invited to look down on the Gaunts for living in a filthy shack.
/Harry Potter is now being nicknamed “the Chosen One”. Seriously, Rowling? Come on, pretty much every fantasy story has a “chosen one” somewhere in it./
I agree, why couldn’t Harry have just stayed “The Boy Who Lived?” He’s still important, so why does he need the “Chosen One” moniker when it’s been used so many times already? And here I thought that it was unnecessary in the Star Wars prequels.
/Because I can’t believe that Lilly was the only person in recorded history to lay down her life to save somebody else./
This would make more sense if there was some sort of incantation or ritual involved that Lily knew about when she was offering her life for Harry’s. Unfortunately, all possibility of that was destroyed in DH.
/Gotta make sure the Minister remembers who’s boss in the wizarding world, after all./
And this is supposed to be the same person whom we’re supposed to admire for turning down the offer to become the Minister of Magic. You’ll notice that Tom Riddle never attempted to become the Minister of Magic either, as far as we know, and we’re not supposed to think kindly of him for it because he found power elsewhere. Sort of like Dumbledore…
/I can’t imagine any animal liking him at all./
Well, we’ve seen that Aragog likes Hagrid, not enough to stop himself from trying to eat his friends, but well enough that he apparently didn’t mind Hagrid cooping him up in a box during the Chamber of Secrets debacle.
/Dumbles gets all self-righteous and judgemental about the Dursleys’ treatment of Harry, without bothering to explain why he didn’t feel any need to intervene and stop them./
Nobody does. Everyone in the story just accepts that Harry *has* to live with the Dursleys, no questions asked. Not even the Weasleys make an effort to intervene: to see if they can adopt Harry or get the Dursleys to treat him fairly or find an alternative living arrangement for him.
no subject
Date: 2012-10-30 10:26 pm (UTC)Nor did they offer any kind of guidance or support.
And this is supposed to be the same person whom we’re supposed to admire for turning down the offer to become the Minister of Magic. You’ll notice that Tom Riddle never attempted to become the Minister of Magic either, as far as we know, and we’re not supposed to think kindly of him for it because he found power elsewhere. Sort of like Dumbledore…
A bit like Gaddafi, who held no formal position of power but was still dictator for decades. Or the Kims, who were just head of the National Defence Commission. Or Stalin, merely the General Secretary of the Communist party. I think Cromwell refused to become King because a king had legally established limits on his power - a "Lord Protector" had no such checks. Dumbledore's the same, if he was Minister he'd have to follow the rules.
no subject
Date: 2012-11-03 08:35 pm (UTC)That is so true. Dumbledore is so proud of himself for turning down a open postition of power. Yet by working behind the scenes he has even more power and doesn't have to answer to anyone. Because how could anyone possible know more that him?
Given what Wizards can do with potions not trusting the beverages is smart.
Dumbledore's telling off the Dursleys is too little to late. We learned the Mrs. Figg has been working for Dumbledore the whole time. And she told Harry she knew if he enjoyed spending time with her the Dursleys would have stopped it. We don't know how much Mrs. Figg knew to tell Dumbledore. But what she could say was nothing good. It is not like Dumbledore believed the Dursleys were giving Harry a loving home. Dumbledore had the power to step in at any time. He never bothers to visit before. He doesn't do anything when it could have made a difference.
And his actions in the visit was unnecessary. He couldn't send a message telling the Dursley's that he wanted to meet and that he had good news. The Dursley's would consider that soon Harry would not be coming back good news.
Everyone in the story just accepts that Harry *has* to live with the Dursleys
And even if he "has" to live with the Dursley, no also questions the lack of action to have them treat Harry better. Even Harry when he reliases the Dumbledore knew how they treated him and did nothing to stop it.
no subject
Date: 2012-10-27 08:36 pm (UTC)And how come the Ministry didn't confiscate the estate for inspection for 30 days, to remove all Dark artifacts? Oh right, because Rowling had yet to invent that bit of wizarding law.
But in universe, either that really was a new law, made sometime during the time between now and Dumbles' death (and about which Hermione learned through her reading of The Prophet) or the Ministry couldn't find the house because of the Fidelius Charm, and the entire scene with Kreacher was not intended to test whether the charm held but to remind Harry that he can now command Kreacher. Anyway, if the Fidelius couldn't hold once the ownership passed from Sirius wouldn't that have happened from the moment of his death, some 2-3 weeks previously? So the fact that Bella hasn't claimed the house yet should have been evidence enough.
no subject
Date: 2012-10-27 11:19 pm (UTC)How about lining you catbox with pictures of Albus Dumbledore? :)
no subject
Date: 2012-10-27 11:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-10-30 10:21 pm (UTC)* What’s the point of having the photographs move, again? It just seems like it would be a distraction from the actual text. Not to mention the annoyance if the subject randomly decides to wander out of the frame and you can’t see them. (And where do they wander off to, anyway? Does the world outside of the frame still exist in the photograph? And how do the pictures decide to move? Are they sentient? Is, for example, burning an old newspaper for kindling tantamount to mass murder?)
The whimsy of the early books always sits oddly with the later books, which take place in a more 'real' world.