OotP Chapter Twenty-Nine

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

*AKA, "The chapter where Harry proves his mature, compassionate nature by making quick judgments of others while reiterating how wonderful he and his friends are in comparison, just like me!"

*Best careers advice: Be Harry Potter. You'll be top in your field by 27.

*Hermione spent the large part of the day drawing up timetables for the three of them, as is her custom. When I was in college we had this one type of student (Ada Comstock Scholars) who were women above regular college age who had come back at school, and they were notorious for doing stuff like this. One woman in my class made little color-coded tabs to tape into a book of short stories so you could flip open to the one you wanted without having to just look at the ToC and go to it. We only read one or two short stories in the book for class. The time consumed in this pointless exercise far outweighed the time saved by being able to skip the ToC. This kind of stuff has about as much to do with studying or being a good student as Quidditch.

*Ron says they’ve got as much chance of winning the Quidditch cup as Dad’s got for becoming the Minister of Magic. Oh dear god. Is Arthur going to become MoM one day because this is one of Ron’s Accidental!Psychic moments? ETA: One bullet dodged. But a small one and we're still lying in a pool of blood.

*Hermione’s such a good friend to be sympathetic about Cho. "Have you two had a row again? Awww, that’s a shame."

*Why, Harry’s absolutely right. The twins would never dangle anyone upside down unless they really loathed them or the person really deserved it, like Draco Malfoy. I certainly see a huge difference between Harry and the twins and MWPP and am offended by any suggestion that their painful and humiliating impulses are in any way the same. You don’t have to agree—if you want to be a dirty racist who loves genocide, it’s fine with me!

*Even though MWPP are tormenting Snape for exactly the same reason Harry would consider it okay, he still doesn't get it. "But I don't feel personally angry at Teen!Snape. So I can't follow it!" You can relax, Harry. You’d have adored your dad and his friends in school.

*Harry doesn’t even remember Snape calling Lily a Mudblood. That’s how deep that sort of thing cuts for him. Doesn’t seem to hold it against him at all. Yet there are people insist that Harry is driven by a purely objective hatred of intolerance of all kinds, just like they are, and won’t tolerate anyone who doesn’t exist on their own sensitive, spiritual plane.

*Nope, Harry’s just thinking how his mother "clearly loathed" James and so her marrying him is a mystery. (Here's a tip Harry--don't think about how your parents came to be married. It's not really your business anyway.

*Harry does not have the maturity or knowledge to correctly understand what’s going on here, and how people operate. Since he gets this part completely wrong, maybe let’s think he might have gotten the whole "Snape didn’t deserve it like the people I hate" thing wrong too, huh? ETA: Harry? Wrong? Not really.

*Oh no, it’s Ginny. And she’s windswept. I get this picture of the library doors opening while Ginny enters with a wind machine effect.

*ETA: Sadly the wind would sweep her on through the library and out the window and spare us from her in the next book.

*One of the Gryffindor players knocked himself out with his own bat. Telling us the team is laughably bad every few chapters does not turn their final victory into Rocky II. And when I say the team is bad I of course don’t mean Ginny.

*Harry feels a lump in his throat when he gets his Easter egg because he wants to talk to...Sirius. (Even though Molly sent the egg.) Cause Sirius is somebody he really loves. I guess. I mean, I’d think he just wanted information about his dad but I guess the lump is supposed to indicate he, like, misses him. I must try to remember this when Sirius dies.

*Ginny watches Harry thoughtfully. Do you see how sensitive she is, how she arrives when Harry is really down, and noticed how he’s been feeling, and gives him an egg and helps herself to some while suggesting he talk to Cho to show how she’s not interested in him as a girlfriend and so is just a good friend? Do you see? DO YOU?!! ANSWER ME!!!

*Ginny says damn. OMG she is SUCH badass! I don’t think any other kid has EVER said damn.

*In less than two pages Ginny has been sensitive, cool, smart, sassy and tough. No wonder Harry feels better. She’s better than chocolate. H/G here we come!

*Nice to see that Muggle relations requires "patience, enthusiasm, and a good sense of fun." Sort of like working with children in a non-responsible capacity. That sense of fun’s got to be a killer—perhaps Fred and George can go into this if their joke shop fails. They love having fun with Muggles.

*Hope Hermione isn’t thinking of doing Muggle liaison work. She’d bring back the burning times all over again. Luckily she has so little interest in liaison-ing with Muggles she doesn’t even talk to her parents.

*Banking=finding treasure=tomb robbing. Seems like the banking system rests, at base, on thievery. Wizarding society is quite parasitic, really.

*Ginny has dispatched the twins to help Harry.

*Harry needs to speak with Sirius. Harry does not remember Sirius gave him something specifically described as a way of communicating with him, should he ever be needed. Not even when he remembers that LAST Christmas, Sirius gave him a knife that opened any lock, which you might have thought would make him remember this years’ present.

*I like the way Ron is watching the conversation warily. Ron seems smarter here. Don't see that a lot.

*I don’t like the way Hermione appeals to Ron in a way reminiscent of Molly and Arthur. For many reasons: a)I really don’t like to think of Ron and Hermione yoked together in years to come; b)I don’t like that kind of appealing; c)I suspect this may be considered a sign of true love.

*Ron is alarmed to be asked an opinion. It really must be strange to be Ron. You’re basically ignored, but then when someone wants you on his or her side you're supposed to perform on cue.

*Ron gives an opinion: if Harry wants to do it it’s up to him. Ron’s a big one for letting people decide things for themselves. Perhaps Hermione will cure him of that, or decide he’s cured of it for him. ETA: Or perhaps she'll forget that and pretend it's a big change and kiss him for it in DH.

*Fred seems to judge Ron’s opinions the same way: he sided with us, and that makes him "a true friend and Weasley." This would be just funny if we didn't have Percy as an example of what you are when you disagree with them.

*Harry Potter: man on a mission. His quest? To find those "mitigating factors" that turn bullying for fun into Rough Justice!

*I think Harry is worried about seeing Snape because he feels he’s the one who’s been humiliated. Now that Harry knows his dad was a jerk, Snape has something to use against him.

*Harry notes Hagrid limping to his cabin, and is relieved when smoke comes from the chimney indicating that Hagrid was at least "not unequal to starting a fire." Since presumably Hagrid starts fires by pointing his umbrella at it and saying, "Incendio," I don’t know if that necessarily means he's not bleeding internally.

*Still, Hagrid...limping...sympathy...pain...good guy...so not funny.

*Ron tells Hermione to shut up--again, the one thing Ron seems to be able to rouse himself to defend is a person’s personal decision about his own life. It’s what roused him to uncover the hats in the common room as well. He didn’t take them away, but wanted the elves to make their own decision about whether they wanted to take them.

*Hermione yammers on all through Potions. Because when she’s got something more important on her mind, it’s okay to disrupt the class. Especially this class, where Harry's in no danger of getting in trouble for not paying attention.

*I’m sure Snape only dropped Harry’s potion to trick Malfoy into thinking he liked him, in order to maintain his cover as a spy for the DEs. And I’m sure Malfoy only laughed at Snape’s mean trick to suck up to him. These two aren’t at all friends. ETA: I still scratch my head over this relationship.

*Nice to know that even after Snape does this Harry doesn’t think to taunt him about being a wimp who got humiliated at school. Nice...and totally unbelievable.

*You know, I always remembered Hermione’s part in this scene. I can see she’s just a convenient way to have Harry’s potion be gone, though JKR could have had Harry clean up his own potion before taking up his phial. But after a whole DAY where she’s hissed at Harry for two classes straight, I’m honestly surprised he doesn’t snap at Hermione for getting rid of his potion for him. Since Harry has a habit of lashing out at the nearest convenient people when angry, and finds it hard to be patient and understanding when things work out against him, it’s surprising he doesn’t thank her for always deciding what must be done for other people and doing it.

*ETA: I wonder if JKR saw Hermione that way, though, or if it's just such a forgivable part of being altrustic and caring she didn't. After all, she honestly seems to think Ron's changed his mind about House Elves in DH.

*Auror’s a difficult career and they only take the best. Why does Harry have to do exams at all? Don’t we know he’s the best? Maybe Firenze could just look to the stars and tell us what Harry’s grades would be.

*ETA: Why no, Harry really doesn't have to do exams at all. We really WILL just look at him and know he's the best and make him an auror! Then we'll make him head of the aurors!

*Harry’s only doing Acceptable work now, so when he gets an E or an O we’ll know he really deserved it because there was a chance he might not have. Really. Sort of like we'll be shocked when the Quidditch team wins. Again.

*I wonder what the character tests for Auror are like:

When I cast Crucio, I cast it out of
a)pure sadistic pleasure
b)a wicked sense of humor
c)loyalty to my dark lord
d)righteous anger

I only cast it on people who
a)are not Purebloods
b)can’t cast it themselves
c)don’t think I’m funny
d)really deserve it (list of candidates with personal addresses attached)

*Oh good, McGonnagal will personally assist Harry in becoming an Auror, even if she has to give up her evenings. For a second I was worried Harry might go five minutes without a teacher offering him private tutoring.

*So most of what happens to Harry in this book has nothing to do with Voldemort, but people not liking Dumbledore and taking it out on Harry because everybody knows he’s Dumbledore’s favorite, while Dumbledore himself ignores him so no one will know there’s any connection between them. Good plan there.

*Chapter thirty-four of Umbridge’s DADA book is: "non-retaliation and negotiation." Okay, I’m really beginning to think this book considers it evil to not retaliate against violence and negotiate with your enemies. Because anything like that is clearly collaborating or appeasement? A negotiated peace is a peace without honor? You have to crush your enemy or be crushed? There was a thread at FAP recently about how JKR does feel she’s woven her Christian beliefs into the narrative. Apparently she’s just fonder of the Old Testament "eye for an eye" (or better yet, “brain damage for house points”) than she is of that pansy-assed "turn the other cheek" crap. Jesus deserved whatever he got, really, with that Pinko talk.

*ETA: Harry makes a much better Jesus, really. He gets to kick ass, cast Crucios and still be super brave and offer his awesomeness up to magically save everyone else.

*Though at least I can see why Harry’s failing Umbridge’s class now. If there’s one thing he and his buddies suck at, it’s non-retaliation and negotiation.

*Oh Harry, of course you're feeling better about the fact that your dad embarrassed you and seeking justification for his actions is more important than getting expelled from school. How else could you reconcile yourself to the idea the people you like are always in the right? If you start cultivating humility you’re halfway to non-retaliation. Really, it’s your duty to risk it all so your dad’s buddies from high school can assure you he was a great guy.

*Wow. Ron is really committed to this giving free choice to others and letting them make their own mistakes and follow their own desires thing. Go Ron.

*You know, it’s not kittens’ fault they’re cute and like to frolic. If Hagrid can get soppy over whatever fanged thing’s getting ready to munch on a Slytherin Harry can lay off Umbridge’s kittens.

*Lupin’s alone without Sirius at the table when Harry comes by fireplace. I’m surprised he didn’t find both men in the kitchen, with Sirius bent over the kitchen table as Lupin took him from behind. They must have just finished. Remus is now looking over his homoerotic poetry as Sirius showers.

*ETA: Sorry, after they have sex Remus reads hetero-erotic poetry he's writing to Tonks and Sirius goes upstairs to look at his girls in bikinis!

*Either that or Lupin was going over his list of “100 things I will do when all these idiots kill themselves and I rule the WW.” ETA: Tough break, Remus.

*"I’m fifteen!" Harry yells. I half-expect somebody to say, "Exactly, Harry. And you’re a little bitch. I rest my case."

*James hated the Dark Arts, Harry. There’s your reason. And it’s one you find perfectly acceptable.

*Too bad Harry still doesn't know enough not to trust Sirius’ explanation of why James and Snape hated each other right off (that Snape was just jellus and poor James suffered from Toodammus Talentedus syndrome).

*James apparently hexed people "just for the fun of it." Unlike the twins, who hex people because it will be funny and that brings joy to the good side in their dark times of having to share the world with people they don’t like. What do you mean you don’t see a difference? Either you want to make the good guys out to be evil, or you’re a bigot who loves genocide. Well, which is it?

*ETA: Okay, if you don't see the difference there, surely you see the difference between James and Harry hexing people randomly in the next book?

*Okay Harry, Lupin just told you Snape never missed an opportunity to hex James. Are you honestly pretending you don’t consider that justification when applied to anybody living in this decade?

*James kept his continued feud with Snape a secret from Lily. Good practice for all the cheating he did during their marriage.

*Sirius says James was "a good person." Ah, the ultimate trump card in any moral debate. He’s a good person, so Harry is just being churlish trying to criticize his behavior. That must be the real reason he would have done well in Slytherin! He doesn’t know good people when he sees them!

*ETA: Just kidding, of course. Harry only would have done well in Slytherin because the hat was reading the piece of his brain that belonged to Voldemort. It's probably that piece of soul that's making him question MWPP now.

*Filch comes in looking for an approval for whipping. I don’t know why anyone’s looking askance. The wizarding world is just very rough-and-tumble and violence isn’t bothered about. Getting slashed by a hippogriff’s claws is like breaking a fingernail so being whipped is probably like getting hit with silly string in our world.

*If there was any doubt that the Inquisitor Squad is evil, they’re all looking very pleased at seeing Fred and George cornered.

*I am incapable of applauding Fred and George’s exit the way the way many people do, simply because of parental conditioning. I can’t help but say, "But you had like five weeks left of school before your NEWTS! What a waste not to take them! You’re hurting yourselves here! Who drops out of school a month from graduation?!"

*ETA: Just as well Fred's leaving, I guess. He won't need NEWTS.

*Anyway, if two students were going to have to leave school (and be unable to help later) at least it was for something important, like Harry getting to whine about something that happened 20 years ago to his dad’s friends. Not that I’m complaining; it’s a blessedly interesting scene.



Foley Work
Nice footstep work there in the Pensieve scene.

IITS
And while I’m thinking about Christmas presents from Sirius, I don’t think I will think of the Christmas present he gave me a few months ago that he said would come in handy in exactly the kind of situation I’m in now.

Idiot Picture
See same.

One Radio Rule
Hagrid thinks Muggles can’t know about magic, because that would make them want to use magic to solve all their problems. Yet Muggles seem to have pulled far ahead in the communications department, so they don’t have to break into the headmistress’ office to use the only means of communication with the outside world.

Final score: 3.5

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Ron seems smarter here. Don't see that a lot.

I always thought that Ron was a lot smarter than JKR gave him credit for. Leaving aside the fact that he's good at chess, which must imply a certain amount of analytical ability (or maybe it's cowardice, I suppose the proper Gryffindor way to play chess is to have your King charge the enemy lines alone while the rest of your army stays behind doing nothing).

Then of course there's the fact that he spends the first half of Deathly Hallows saying "but we don't have a clue what we're doing! We are in no way equipped to defeat Voldemort by anything but dumb luck and authorial fiat!"

Of course like all examples of actual characterization in the Potter books, it turned out to be the Influence of Voldemort's Soul.

- Dan Hemmens

[(Anonymous)]

Leaving aside the fact that he's good at chess, which must imply a certain amount of analytical ability

See, that's the thing. I never saw any hint of analytical ability from Ron, apart from that chess match. So many people wanted to see his "strategical genius" so badly and it just never was there. Notice, how in all the books Ron never comes up with a single plan? Only Harry and Hermione do.

Then of course there's the fact that he spends the first half of Deathly Hallows saying "but we don't have a clue what we're doing! We are in no way equipped to defeat Voldemort by anything but dumb luck and authorial fiat!"

How is ceaselessly whining about the obvious without offering any plausible alternatives clever? "Wah, wah, I miss mum's exquisite food, I wanna go home. All these Muggleborns who get killed and imprisoned right, left and center? Who cares? Pfft, I wanna go home and really stuff my face. Because I am too useless to have picked up anything about cooking, despite having been forced to assist with kitchen chores for my whole life. It doesn't even matter to me that my family is on the shit list too. If we can't do anything about our insane quest and are too stupid to turn to somebody competent for help, we'd better just do nothing. Etc., etc."

And that is supposed to be an 18-year-old young man fighting in a civil war? A hero?!!! Honestly? Not an 8-year-old spoiled brat? While I absolutely detest the DH plot-line and a crushingly disappointing revelation about what all the DD's ruthless and supposedly brilliant (ha!) plotting amounted to, as well as completely OOC and brain-dead behavior of most of the characters, still sometimes one has to fight without hope. Isn't it what being heroic is all about?

[(Anonymous)]

How is ceaselessly whining about the obvious without offering any plausible alternatives clever?

It's a damn sight cleverer than "we've got to do something, and this is something". It's a common logical fallacy to assume that in order to make a valid criticism of a plan, you have to present a better alternative. This is in fact not true.

It is, in fact, perfectly legitimate and perfectly appropriate to criticize a course of action, by stating clearly that it will not achieve its intended goals and explaining why. The provision of a valid alternative is strictly optional.

still sometimes one has to fight without hope. Isn't it what being heroic is all about?

Key word there "fight". A fight is a struggle towards a goal with aims, a direction and a chance, however remote of success, however fleeting.

Harry's quest in Deathly Hallows wasn't a "fight", it was braindead wandering. You're making exactly the same logical error that Rowling made: because Harry believed that sitting on his arse in a tent would help him defeat Voldemort, Ron's suggestion that maybe they *stop* sitting on their arses in a tent (and indeed, maybe go back and join their families who, as you point out yourself, were on the shit list and in real physical danger) meant that he was *not* willing to fight against Voldemort.

It's sort of like if I decided to sit in the middle of the street with a can of baked beans on my head, in the belief that it would defeat international terrorism, and you told me that sitting in the middle of the street with a can of baked beans on my head would *not* defeat international terrorism, and I replied by saying "well what *would* defeat international terrorism?" and expecting you to join me sitting in the middle of the street with a can of baked beans on my head, insisting that if you did *not* join me sitting in the middle of the street with a can of baked beans on my head that you would be letting the terrorists win.

- Dan Hemmens

[aasaylva.livejournal.com]

I haven't got my DH copy around at the moment, so maybe I remember this wrong. But ASFAIK, your comparison won't wash:
Ron knew there wasn't a plan to speak off right from the beginning. In fact, Harry told him so - so it's childish to complain baout that later. It's as if you told me right from the beginning how your fight against terroroism involved beans on our head and I went with you and THEN started complaining that, damn, it really hurt my ass sitting in the street and my neck stiffened because of those beans.
And as far as criticism is concerned - there is a big difference between, lets say, telling you that, I don't think your way of solving a mathematical problem was right, because of so and so, although I don't have a better idea either (because that at least gets you off the wrong solution)and telling you your way of coming up with food is inadequate to my personal needs and to what I am used to when 1) you are under no obligation whatever to provide food for me in the first place and 2) I didn't get off my arse to even try to contribute anything myself.

[va32h.livejournal.com]

According to DH (which I do have around at the moment) Ron and Hermione both thought that Harry knew what he was doing when he accepted their offer to follow him on his quest.

What Ron actually says is "We thought you knew what you were doing, we thought you had a plan." And it is entirely reasonable for Ron to assume this: Harry spent much of the previous year closeted with Dumbledore, presumably learning something. Ron's not the one with the Power the Dark Lord Knows Not, Ron isn't supposed to know how to defeat Voldemort. Harry is.

Ron certainly did not know that Harry's fight against Voldemort involved wandering around in a tent. Neither did Harry, to be fair. The tent situation is one that continues to boggle. Why Rowling felt the need to have them camp mindlessly - when they just as easily could have continued staying at 12GP or disappeared into Muggle society is beyond me. And no, I don't buy that they couldn't go back to 12GP because of the DEs, because that is only the result of Rowling playing fast and loose with the rules of her own universe.

Prior to the camping trip, Ron showed more initiative in talking to his father and arranging for the ghoul stand in than Harry ever did.

But then, to Rowling, initiative is some sort of sin. Harry's greatest virtue is his complete passivity and willingness to sit in the middle of the road with a can of beans on his head until something miraculous happens.

Characters that challenge the status quo or make an effort or have ambition are usually the bad guys (see all of Slytherin) and even if they are not bad(Dobby) they end up dead because goodness knows we can't have ambitious people running around seeking change.

Hermione seems to be the only exception to this rule, as it is Hermione who plans everything and Hermione who seems quite ruthless in her ambition. But then Hermione is Rowling isn't she? The one dispensing all the knowledge (even knowledge that she shouldn't even possess - why does Quidditch hating Hermione know about Flesh Memories in Snitches?). Hermione is the one pulling anything the other characters need out of her magical bag of tricks and plot devices.

So it's okay to be ambitious and power hungry, if you are the author (or her fictional stand in). That makes complete sense in Rowling's world, really. It's also okay (even normal) for Rowling to have a happy second marriage whereas all her characters are paired off in high school or doomed to die alone and unloved.

As much as I enjoy this journal and all the laughter it provides, sometimes it's quite depressing to read. This could have been such a fantastic story. What went wrong?

This whole series is very Stephen Colbert...

[violaswamp.livejournal.com]

You and Dan Hemmens bring up a point I hadn't actually noticed. Ron's treason is a direct result of him thinking logically, instead of going with his gut (or rather, HARRY'S gut) and simply having faith.

It's like a microcosmic fantasy version of American politics as parodied by the Colbert Report, if you've ever seen it.

*scratches head*

[cressida0201.livejournal.com]

I think it's weird that Hermione has developed this reputation for hating quidditch. Up to book 6, I would have called her a casual fan: not deeply into the game, but doesn't mind going to one a few times a year, especially if one of her friends is playing. She didn't seem to be suffering horribly by being forced to watch the QWC in book 4. But then suddenly Ginny sneers at her in book 6, and the accusation seems to have stuck. This isn't the first place I've seen Hermione referred to as a quidditch-hater.

Re: *scratches head*

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Yet another reason I couldn't understand why Hermione let Ginny get away with that crack. Not only has she been watching Quidditch regularly (as regularly as Ginny) since she was 11, and iirc was totally into the QWC when they saw it, in that particular scene she's talking about how punishment might get Harry kicked off the team, which would upset him. She hardly needs to know about Quidditch for that. She only has to know Harry likes it--and have seen how the house gets angry when it doesn't go smoothly.

Re: *scratches head*

[cressida0201.livejournal.com]

Perhaps the fact that Hermione makes no reply to Ginny's crack means that moment marks the point at which Ginny takes over as primary Mary Sue in the series. I can't think of any other reason.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

I'm going to go with Dan here about the plan. Sure Ron knew there was no specific plan when they started out (I suspect he thought Harry had some idea of what to do but was just going to wing it)...but if you're still sitting around months later there's no reason not to point out you're not doing anything at all. Ron's complaining about the lack of food is a different issue since as you say, nobody has to provide him with food. But pointing out that they're not doing anything...I have to feel for Ron there. The only reason Harry's plan there worked was because the author came along and dropped answers in his lap. Harry wasn't even really having faith in anything.

Plus, of course, it was the Voldemort bit. Though I suspect the only part that contributed was the doubt in Harry's view they should just have faith in the author to make things work out without them doing anything. The whining about the food was all his. (And wtf with Hermione seeming to just naturally do all the cooking?)

[(Anonymous)]

You're making exactly the same logical error that Rowling made: because Harry believed that sitting on his arse in a tent would help him defeat Voldemort, Ron's suggestion that maybe they *stop* sitting on their arses in a tent (and indeed, maybe go back and join their families who, as you point out yourself, were on the shit list and in real physical danger) meant that he was *not* willing to fight against Voldemort..

I never advocated Harry's arse-sitting as a valid course of action, let alone "fighting", LOL. The thing is that it was a completely inane behavior and they did have some obvious, more sensible alternatives.

Like, checking the few places that they _knew_ were associated with Voldy or with Hepzibah Smith and her family in some way, rather than airily agreeing that of course DD must have already taken care of it. Or they could have sneaked in somewhere with some kind of library/archive and tried to look for some other places associated with Voldy/ descendants of the founders.

Or, after the "heart-warming" trust speech of Harry's after "Seven Potters" chapter they could have chosen competent Order Member(s) to confide in and asked for help.

Or they could have tried to help the victims of Voldy's persecutions, including those Muggleborns who wandered conveniently close to their tent. Etc. BTW, what's the general obsession with wandering in the woods? Surely, the Muggleborns could hide much more easily in the Muggle society than in the few big forests still existing in UK?

If none of the above, for some ineffable reason, they could have used the time to improve their dueling and general magical skills, for Pete's sake! The whole "idly sitting and bickering" thing was so brain-dead I couldn't believe it whilst I plowed through the book.

There was lots of things that a person with normal intelligence could have chosen to do, but IMHO returning home to the Weasleys wasn't one of them. Of course, in HP everybody is a cretin unless it is convenient for the plot for them to have a glimmer of intellect, but surely even once the Burrow and Bill's cottage went under Fidelius (funny, how it is suddenly trivial to do this "immensely complex charm" in DH, but they waited so long to use it), the surrounding areas should have still been closely watched. IMHO, going back was just tantamount to blatantly inviting capture and thus even more stupid than cowering in the woods.

And wtf with Hermione seeming to just naturally do all the cooking?

Yes, when Harry had to cook for the Durseleys he was OMG oppressed, but a girl clearly deserves nothing better. The funny thing here being that both Harry and Ron should have been much more experienced where cooking is concerned than Hermione. And why didn't they just go and _buy_ some normal foodstuffs in some Muggle town? Oh, yea, because JKR wanted them "desperate" and suffering from deprivation, but couldn't be bothered to construct a plausible scenario to provide either.

[aasaylva.livejournal.com]

Re ron and chess:
It's not only he never comes up with any plan - he doesn't think ahead either. Nor does he ever try to fathom what other people might be motivated by (essential in playing because you need to think what your opponent will do). Typical in GoF where Harry starts wondering why Bagman tries to help him and Ron brushes it off with "Who cares why he does. It#s just good he does!" Or with the Firebolt in PoA, just to mention a few.
In fact, Jodel came up with a good explanation for this weird characterization in a comment further down.

Couldn't agree more on the whining Ron issue.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

It's amazing reading the earlier books how Ron somehow becomes dumber in each book. He's pretty quick back in first year, a regular boy who's sometimes lazy or whatever but can still get interested in things. By HBP he's a charicature of himself. And of course he falls to the power of Voldemort's soul even more quickly than other people.

Mind you, this doesn't explain how many of Ron's complaints in DH wound up being taken care of--they didn't know what they were doing, they didn't have a plan, they were wasting their time. Ron just didn't know to trust in the universe to drop everything in their lap when they needed it. Even he himself eventually became a Deus ex Machina, wandering up just as Harry jumps into a freezing pond.

[jodel-from-aol.livejournal.com]

Oh, if only, if only.

In retrospect, it's obvious that JKR simply had fallen in love with the idea of the live chess game and in order to have it, *one* of the kids had to be good at chess. It was yet another disposable plot device. Use once, and discard.

The only mystery is why she gave it to Ron. I suppose at that point she didn't have the guts to make Hermione the one to get them *all* the way through the labyrinth (She got over that restraint by DHs). But she could have played up Ron's contributions earlier in the journey to counterbalance it. After all it *was* Ron who gave her the nudge with the Devil's Snare, and he wasn't dead weight with the keys, either.

Just another one of those things that looked clever on the surface, but once you subject it to examination turns out to be really lazy and stupid.

[va32h.livejournal.com]

[i]looked clever on the surface, but once you subject it to examination turns out to be really lazy and stupid.[/i]

Doesn't that pretty much sum up the entire series?

[jodel-from-aol.livejournal.com]

Oh ghod, yes. I swear that 90% of the "brilliant research" that Rowling was given credit for for years is straight out of K.G. Briggs's Encyclopedia of Faries (or Cictionary of Faries depending on whichever side f the pond you're on.)

Admittedly she did sling it together with some panache in the early books. But after the 3-year summer, lazy and stupid pretty well sums it all up.

[aasaylva.livejournal.com]

If this is so, shouldn't Briggs's descendants sue her for using the material which she clearly just arranged anew...? (grins)

[jodel-from-aol.livejournal.com]

No, but it might serve the whole Plagerisim case a body blow if more people were aware of it.

I mean, yeah, kudos for at least doing *some* research. But if just about all your material has been handily collected into one place...

[(Anonymous)]

Use once, and discard.

A plot bazooka, if you will...

- Dan Hemmens

[aasaylva.livejournal.com]

In retrospect, it's obvious that JKR simply had fallen in love with the idea of the live chess game and in order to have it, *one* of the kids had to be good at chess.
OMG, I think you are right. I always thought, Ron being good at chess was one of the first errors in characterization Rowling committed. I presumed she just wanted to give them all something they could contribute to the trio's achievements - flying and parseltongue for Harry (physical talents), knowledge and academic abilities for Hermione and strategic thinking and planning for Ron. Sounded good but for the little snag there is no person less capable of planning, thinking ahead and putting themselves in other people's shoes than Ron. I totally didn't think of that chess game in the bowels of Hogwarts, but I bet you are spot on with it.

[jodel-from-aol.livejournal.com]

It's a bloody shame (not to mention the sheer waste) that Ron's biggest moment, his one unequivocal piece of heroism and self-sacrifice in the whole series came in the first book.

Frankly, Heroic!Ron was another "use once and discard" element. It almost feels like she didn't know what to do with him afterwards and kept cutting him down to keep him from competing with Harry -- who is clearly supposed to be the only *real* boy in the story. The rest are all phantoms.

[montavilla.livejournal.com]

Well, but in the first book when Ron had his mad chess skillz, he was somewhat capable of putting himself in someone else's shoes. He was pretty good about making friends with Harry--something that, as we can see in subsequent books is near impossible.

And in CoS, Ron is smart enough to figure out Harry needs help and (with the twins) plan a pretty good escape plan. In PoA, he's a bit of an idiot about Scabbers, but it's understandable and there is something not-right about that cat, anyway. And it's only moderately stupid to think that Harry (who has been targeted for death for the past three years) actually put his own name into the Goblet.

And, as I said before, Ron is thoughtful and mature in OotP, even if there seems to be some wizarding law that states that, even on the one occasion that he does outdo Harry (in getting the prefect badge), that must be balanced out by showing what a bad prefect he is--and make him a terrible Quidditch player to boot.

There is a semi-theory floating around SQ that the movies have influenced JKR's characterization of both Ron and Hermione--with Ron becoming stupider (since Rupert Grint is so funny when he's playing dumb) and Hermione becoming more superheroic and emotional (since that's what Emma Watson does best).

There's a bit of interviewese to back this up, as JKR mentioned the pleasure she had writing the Ron/Lavender scenes while imagining Rupert getting to audition Lavenders and telling Dan that he'd be getting a nude scene in DH.

Ron's Downhill Slide

[cressida0201.livejournal.com]

Strange, I didn't find Ron to be "mature and thoughtful" in OotP at all. I'd have to dig out my book to find the spot, a prospect I don't relish, but I could swear I remember rolling my eyes at some moment where Harry and Hermione are talking about something actually important to the plot and Ron's reaction is, "Oh, stop thinking about that. Let's go play quidditch." I think that was the moment when "New Ron" stepped in, for me. Before that, I had been mentally seeing "Original Ron," though marred by the GoF revelation of his complete shallowness about women.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if the movie-contamination theory is true. It is backed up by that slip in HBP describing Hermione as having punched Draco back in PoA. I remember people deriding book-purists for worrying about the movies "spoiling everything" before the first one came out. It would be ironic if they were right all along.