Deathly Hallows, chapter 15

[anehan]

Here's one last recap before Chrismas break. Merry Christmas to everyone who celebrates it! See you in January.

The Goblin's Revenge

* Poor widdle Harry, not being able to cast a Patronus. Feel for his pain and humiliation.

* And once again there's the stuff about not remembering anything when being possessed. Ginny couldn't remember anything, true, but Harry was fully conscious while Voldemort possessed in OotP. Tsk, tsk, Harry. Use your brain.

* Hermione is worried about stealing food. Actually, I for once think that their hero status entitles the Trio to take food. Weird, huh, me giving them a pass on something.

* Ron's being an asshole. I'm not sure what to make of it. On one hand, previously, he has seemed like the most easy-going of the Trio. On the other hand, I like nasty!Ron. Gives me a good reason to hate him, which is always a bonus.

* I would imagine the Trio would be grateful to have Lupin's help now, what with their having no ideas for where to find the Horcruxes.

* Really, all this sitting in a tent with no ideas for what to do makes the Trio look rather stupid. I've read fanfics that make the hunt for the Horcruxes well-planned and intelligent. Here, the Trio just relies on luck.

* I recant; sarcastic!Ron is kind of adorable.

* The Trio goes to London to search for the orphanage where Voldemort grew up. Um, how do they know which orphanage is the right one? Did Dumbledore ever tell it to Harry?

* And they sit ins the tent. And sit. And sit and sit and sit. Ron is in a bad mood, Hermione and Ron expect Harry to have a secret plan, and Harry is morose. Help! Save me from the eternal camping trip!

* I wonder, why can no one produce food out of thin air? Yeah, yeah, it's the first Principal Exception to Gamp's law of whatever, but if you can make somthing else out of thin air, why not food? What makes food special? Oh dear, logic.

* Go you, Hermione! I think you're right that you end up doing the cooking because you're a girl. It's just what one might expect from Ron and Harry, who have grown up having stay-at-home moms (or aunts) who place a lot of importance on food. No disrespect to stay-at-home moms (I had one), but it's a very traditional gender role.

* How convenient of them to run across some fugitives. And a nice exposition dump. Though I kind of like the goblins here. "I am not a house-elf." Teehee!

* Oh, Dean, don't. "I know Harry Potter, and I reckon he's the real thing -- the Chosen One, or whatever you want to call it." What makes yoiu think that, Dean? His mellow temper? His excellent leadership skills? What?

* And more of the exposition dump, this time with Phineas Nigellus, whom Hermione insists calling Professor Black. BTW, why is his name Nigellus, if he is a Black? Did he want a fancier name than "Black" and changed it into its Latinate form?

* Ooh, ooh, a confrontation with Ron is approaching. Finally something happens.

* I feel a bit sorry for Harry, actually. His hero status is a real handicap for him right now. Even Hermione and Ron have bought into it, what with their hope that Harry has some secret plan to find and destroy the Horcruxes. It can't be very pleasant having friends who think you're some kind of super-human.

* Aww, Ron's acting like a bratty teenager, Harry's mild temper makes an appearance, and Hermione acts like a watering-pot. Makes one remember that they are, indeed, typical teenagers.

Comments

[anehan]

The Goblin subplot is, IMO, one of those where Rowling has created a really tantalising situation but ultimately fails to bring it to a satisfying conclusion. It really is characteristic of all of Rowling's subplots that concern magical creatures, be they house-elves, goblins or werewolves.

[jodel-from-aol.livejournal.com]

Once again, I think this is something that can be put down to a non-fantasy reader trying to write a fantasy series. Sher knows what the tropes are, and sort of how they fit together. But she doesn't have a clue as to how they might work if you try to extrapolate them as *real*.

[seductivedark.livejournal.com]

It could probably work if the trope was brought into line with the real world - goblins as sentient beings being accorded the respect each sentient being deserves, for instance.

[jodel-from-aol.livejournal.com]

Well, yes it would. Only, by this point in the series, I don't think that Rowling had enough interest in the subject to even try to extrapolate anything other than her central plotline. And she did a piss-poor job of even that. The goblins were just set dressing by that point.

Although, I suspect that we were always going to have to do a Gringotts break-in. Having one of the DEs stash it in their vault is a too reasonable an element not to have been a part of the original Plan. Only, once again, she never gave it the development and follow through the readers needed. This was not acceptably developed merely by having one of the Weasleys working for Gringotts. Even if -- in her head -- the several mentions of that fact were assumed to be.

[seductivedark.livejournal.com]

Bill had nothing to do with the break-in, though. I think you're right and she was setting the break-in up from PS/SS but the follow-through fell through.

If she was just trying to give atmosphere by having goblins and house elves and (half-)giants and etc., that's one thing - I can see them in the background. She tried to bring them into the plot, which was a mistake if set-dressing was all they were there for. I could have lived with the Gringotts goblins in the background even if Bill worked for them - shadowy and undeveloped with their own culture but working with wizards for their own gain as well as, or in spite of, the gain for the wizards. We all have people on our periphery that we interact with in limited ways but don't understand - pollsters come to mind in my case. ;) I think you're right that she burned out on the story and anything "real" she was going to do just fell by the wayside and we were stuck with the long and boring camping trip because that's all that would surface in her burned-out mind.