Deathly Hallows, chapter 21
Jul. 3rd, 2009 03:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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deathtocapslockThe Tale of The Three Brothers
* Finally, we come to the point of this book. Or rather, the not-point, since I don't think this book is coherent enough to have a point.
* Luna probably knows all about the Deathly Hallows. If Harry had been real friends with Luna, instead of this I-only-remember-her-when-it's-convenient-to-me friendship, he'd probably have found out about them some time during their friendship.
* I'm still a bit disappointed that Harry wasn't forced to work with Zacharias Smith, or anyone else he'd slighted, to destroy the Horcruxes. He didn't have to grow up at all to finish his quest, which surely is completely against the purpose of a quest.
* To be polite, Harry drinks from a cup provided for him by a stranger. I'm all for politeness, but hello, this is wartime. A little bit a common sense wouldn't go amiss.
* Dumbledore left The Tales of Beedle the Bard for Hermione, apparently as some sort of a clue. But of course Harry has been too busy to have taken a look at it.
* What is it with Harry and Ron that they have to interrupt Hermione when she's reading the tale? I would be very irritated if someone constantly interrupted me when I was reading aloud.
* Oh, so the name of the Elder Wand comes from the tree it was made. I always thought it had something to do with being older or something like that. Shows what I know.
* Well, that was a boring fairy tale. It had all the right elements for a fairy tale, but the execution was lacking.
* Hermione, of course, can't pass the opportunity to question Mr Lovegood's belief in the Deathly Hallows, as if it mattered what he believed. They've found out what the symbol means. Surely that's what's important.
* This is the first time we have heard about Invisibility Cloaks having a limited shelf-life. I rather think that we ought to have had a tiny little hint about the special quality of Harry's Invisibility Cloak.
* Of course Harry is so special himself that he can't have an ordinary Invisibility Cloak--which, we've been told, are extremely rare--but a one-of-a-kind cloak.
* This is also the first time we hear about the bloody trail of the Elder Wand. Once again, I think we ought to have had a hint about its existence before. Say, a chance word from Professor Binns in History of Magic.
* Ron doesn't realize that because Hermione and Harry were raised by Muggles, they learned different superstitions than Ron the wizarding-born. That just goes to show that notwithstanding Arthur's fascination with Muggles, they haven't really learned anything about them. I wonder if it's partly Molly's fault. Not that I think Arthur knows much anything about Muggles, but maybe Molly has prevented him from teaching his children the little that he does know. I wouldn't be at all surprised if that was the case. Molly strikes me as one who is very prejudiced against Muggles, even if she doesn't go as far as wanting to kill them.
* Ah, so Professor Binns has mentioned the Deathstick / the Wand of Destiny / etc. Would have been helpful is we had heard that as well.
* Harry, of course, was asleep during that lecture and thus has no idea such a wand is rumoured to exist. Typical. What happened to the boy who eagerly read his History of Magic textbook before he went to Hogwarts?
* "Wands are only as powerful as the wizards who use them. Some wizards just like to boast that theirs are bigger and better than other people's." Is it terrible that my mind immediately went to the gutter when I read that?
* Oh my god, the painting in Luna's ceiling. Does she have to be so pathetic? But of course, no one could resist the charming fellow that is Harry. Even Zacharias Smith probably had a crush on him.
* Harry feels a great rush of affection for Luna when he sees how Luna idolizes him.
* For all that I diss Hermione, she does think quick in an emergency. Her plan to conceal Ron, obliviate Mr Lovegood, and reveal herself and Harry to the Death Eaters was pure genius. And then she managed to turn and Apparate in mid-air. Truly, the girl is amazing. (All right, all right, so I couldn't resist a little dig, but really, I do admire her in moments like this when she comes across as genuinely quick-witted and not just the author's self-insertion.)
* I'll be leaving for my parents' today and don't know when I'll be back. On Monday at the earliest. I'll answer comments when I'm back.
* Finally, we come to the point of this book. Or rather, the not-point, since I don't think this book is coherent enough to have a point.
* Luna probably knows all about the Deathly Hallows. If Harry had been real friends with Luna, instead of this I-only-remember-her-when-it's-convenient-to-me friendship, he'd probably have found out about them some time during their friendship.
* I'm still a bit disappointed that Harry wasn't forced to work with Zacharias Smith, or anyone else he'd slighted, to destroy the Horcruxes. He didn't have to grow up at all to finish his quest, which surely is completely against the purpose of a quest.
* To be polite, Harry drinks from a cup provided for him by a stranger. I'm all for politeness, but hello, this is wartime. A little bit a common sense wouldn't go amiss.
* Dumbledore left The Tales of Beedle the Bard for Hermione, apparently as some sort of a clue. But of course Harry has been too busy to have taken a look at it.
* What is it with Harry and Ron that they have to interrupt Hermione when she's reading the tale? I would be very irritated if someone constantly interrupted me when I was reading aloud.
* Oh, so the name of the Elder Wand comes from the tree it was made. I always thought it had something to do with being older or something like that. Shows what I know.
* Well, that was a boring fairy tale. It had all the right elements for a fairy tale, but the execution was lacking.
* Hermione, of course, can't pass the opportunity to question Mr Lovegood's belief in the Deathly Hallows, as if it mattered what he believed. They've found out what the symbol means. Surely that's what's important.
* This is the first time we have heard about Invisibility Cloaks having a limited shelf-life. I rather think that we ought to have had a tiny little hint about the special quality of Harry's Invisibility Cloak.
* Of course Harry is so special himself that he can't have an ordinary Invisibility Cloak--which, we've been told, are extremely rare--but a one-of-a-kind cloak.
* This is also the first time we hear about the bloody trail of the Elder Wand. Once again, I think we ought to have had a hint about its existence before. Say, a chance word from Professor Binns in History of Magic.
* Ron doesn't realize that because Hermione and Harry were raised by Muggles, they learned different superstitions than Ron the wizarding-born. That just goes to show that notwithstanding Arthur's fascination with Muggles, they haven't really learned anything about them. I wonder if it's partly Molly's fault. Not that I think Arthur knows much anything about Muggles, but maybe Molly has prevented him from teaching his children the little that he does know. I wouldn't be at all surprised if that was the case. Molly strikes me as one who is very prejudiced against Muggles, even if she doesn't go as far as wanting to kill them.
* Ah, so Professor Binns has mentioned the Deathstick / the Wand of Destiny / etc. Would have been helpful is we had heard that as well.
* Harry, of course, was asleep during that lecture and thus has no idea such a wand is rumoured to exist. Typical. What happened to the boy who eagerly read his History of Magic textbook before he went to Hogwarts?
* "Wands are only as powerful as the wizards who use them. Some wizards just like to boast that theirs are bigger and better than other people's." Is it terrible that my mind immediately went to the gutter when I read that?
* Oh my god, the painting in Luna's ceiling. Does she have to be so pathetic? But of course, no one could resist the charming fellow that is Harry. Even Zacharias Smith probably had a crush on him.
* Harry feels a great rush of affection for Luna when he sees how Luna idolizes him.
* For all that I diss Hermione, she does think quick in an emergency. Her plan to conceal Ron, obliviate Mr Lovegood, and reveal herself and Harry to the Death Eaters was pure genius. And then she managed to turn and Apparate in mid-air. Truly, the girl is amazing. (All right, all right, so I couldn't resist a little dig, but really, I do admire her in moments like this when she comes across as genuinely quick-witted and not just the author's self-insertion.)
* I'll be leaving for my parents' today and don't know when I'll be back. On Monday at the earliest. I'll answer comments when I'm back.
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no subject
Date: 2009-07-03 02:26 pm (UTC)Harry was born perfect, doncha know? He has perfect people radar, he has perfect timing, he has perfect flying ability, he's perfect in every way. Except where he doesn't like to do his homework, but that's why Hermione was invented, to take the strain of the everyday world off him. He was meant for bigger and better things and learning to use people, goblins and house elves to free up his time is just the burden of the Great Magical Bwana.
* Oh, so the name of the Elder Wand comes from the tree it was made. I always thought it had something to do with being older or something like that.
I think the name is supposed to give off both vibes. It's the Elder wand of all wands, and it's made from the elder tree. In earlier books this would have played the juxtaposition much better than it does here. I think Rowling dropped her interest as well as the ball in more than a couple of places.
* This is the first time we have heard about Invisibility Cloaks having a limited shelf-life. I rather think that we ought to have had a tiny little hint about the special quality of Harry's Invisibility Cloak.
Because Harry was born perfect, doncha know? His IC is more speshul than anybody else's speshul cloak.
All the foreshadowing - the DHs, the 3 Bros, everything, could have come out at The Burrow as Molly tried to replace the family Harry never knew. He could have been forced, out of politeness and a liking of Molly, to listen to the Tale of the 3 Brothers somewhere back in CoS and had it brought up occasionally in talk, the way we bring up familiar tales - "Harry's such a Cinderella story," for instance - most westerners understand the reference. There should have been something like that in the WW, too, shared culture that is taught to the Muggleborns as they come in.
That's something I don't get. Rowling taught English in Portugal for a bit, didn't she? Part of teaching language is introducing people to the culture of the language. We learned about literature, important historical figures - for instance, I heard about El Cid and his Death Ride of Vengeance in Spanish class. Why was there nothing in place for the Muggleborns who are, after all, making a huge culture shift? Someone, somewhere, between Gryffindor and Dumbledore, should have recognized that need.
Once again, I think we ought to have had a hint about its existence before. Say, a chance word from Professor Binns in History of Magic.
A bloody tale should have had every twelve year old boy at Hogwarts repeating the tale and pretending that he and he alone could master the EW. Draco as Harry's foil would have been perfect here. All the boys randomly playing, Harry making the claim to ownership of the EW, Draco saying that a Gryffindor couldn't do it because they're not cunning enough and besides, Harry was raised Muggleborn... showing Draco's prejudicial upbringing and giving a cool ironic foreshadowing.
(no subject) (part II)
Date: 2009-07-03 02:26 pm (UTC)Arthur doesn't look at Muggles as real people. They're like trained seals or hind-leg-walking poodles or sea monkeys to him. He's fascinated with them the way a kid is fascinated by bugs. IMO, of course, his supposed liberality toward Muggles boils down to the Superior's fascination with but no true curiosity toward, supposed "Inferiors." "Aren't they quaint?" "Isn't it cute when they do that?" There's a clear separation between Arthur and Muggles and he has never shown any interest, IMO, in bridging that gap. He'd rather watch and be entertained. He doesn't like people who try and take those precocious but childish Muggles away from him.
Molly strikes me as one who is very prejudiced against Muggles, even if she doesn't go as far as wanting to kill them.
I think Molly is more indicative of the WW population in general. They have their Separation. It was good enough for the past generations, it's good enough for her. Mixing only leads to trouble. We're all God's creatures, we all have our place, and by God, we all ought to remain in our places. She may also be fed up with Arthur's childish fascination. He's out collecting things like plugs (and does that mean stoppers or electrical junctures?) when he doesn't even know what they are or what they do and he has no real intention of finding out. I think the books reek of prejudice on some level, and it isn't just the overtly hostile DEs.
But of course, no one could resist the charming fellow that is Harry.
Poor Luna! Yes, she really is pathetic in the end. Only her worship of The Great Pottorini saves her. She, like Zacharias, Draco, Hermione, Ernie McM and Ernie from the Knight bus, Stan, Molly, Ginny, various and sundry Black descendants, Remus, Dumbledore, (insert character name here) can only cling to Harry like the Israelites raised up their dying in the desert to view the snake icons.
* Harry feels a great rush of affection for Luna when he sees how Luna idolizes him.
That's Harry's criteria for choosing who he likes - do they idolize him?
* For all that I diss Hermione, she does think quick in an emergency.
Except when Snape is dying, in which case she's just a slack-jawed observer. She who could heal Ron's major Splinch, and heal Harry of the bite of that same snake, didn't know what to do. Introducing Hermione, author's self-insert, plot device, and indicator of authorial dictate of who is Deserving and who Isn't.
Her plan to conceal Ron, obliviate Mr Lovegood, and reveal herself and Harry to the Death Eaters was pure genius.
Yes, it was. This was one instance of forethought in DHs that worked very well.
* I'll be leaving for my parents' today and don't know when I'll be back.
Have a good time!
Re: (no subject) (part II)
Date: 2009-07-05 05:03 pm (UTC)Re: (no subject) (part II)
Date: 2009-07-08 07:45 pm (UTC)In a way, I'm glad that Hermione didn't save Snape, although it is one of those jarring scenes because she ought to have been able to do it. But I guess Rowling couldn't but kill Snape. She had fucked him over so completely there was nothing left in his life. A life-sentence in Azkaban would have been waiting for him if he had survived, his role as a spy notwithstanding.
Re: (no subject) (part II)
Date: 2009-07-08 09:26 pm (UTC)I'll bet Super-Harry could have gotten his sentence dropped. He got the portrait for him, after all, and he became Head Auror, he saw the memories, and there seems to be nothing against euthanasia in the Potterverse.
On Snape having nothing left, he could have found something, far, far away from Hogwarts as a zillion fanfics speculate. If anybody deserved a second chance in the series, and a peaceful life, Snape was at the head of that list.
no subject
Date: 2009-07-03 11:50 pm (UTC)Maybe one day in Poa or Gof, Harry could be reading Hermione's notes and ask her what's the 'Elder Wand' and Hermione could tut and say that's what Binns was talking about for 45 minutes this morning. Ron could say something about how they had better things to do then pay attention to Binns, Hermione could roll her eyes and the story could move on with no need for further reference.
I said below that Ron could have commented on the exceptional quality of Harry's cloak when he first got it in Philosopher's Stone.
I'm no writer, those scenarios need some work! However it would be easy to mention each one briefly in separate books and different siituations. I probably wouldn't give any of them more than a few sentences, just a brief mention, so that when they were finally linked in Book 7, everyone would go 'Aha!', or 'I remember that', not 'wtf?'
no subject
Date: 2009-07-04 03:39 am (UTC)And Ron, wizarding-raised as he is, could look blank and say, "Huh?" From what we've seen, mental health, other than the extreme cases like the Longbottoms and Lockhart, is nothing to be concerned about in the WW.
Yes, any of those scenes, plus any number of others, could have been inserted at some point well before DHs. It all could begin with Vernon overhearing about the Potter boy and how his story would rank right up there with the Tales of Beedle the Bard only that it's real. Anything to make it a cohesive series instead of an ending with a huge WTF?! as its base. But no, secrecy, the sudden surprise, had to take precedence. :P
no subject
Date: 2009-07-08 07:37 pm (UTC)It's so annoying. Harry doesn't develop at all. Even his Quidditch ability stays the same all through the series, and isn't that unconvincing.
Good point about the lack of cultural education for the Muggleborns. It's so typical of the Wizarding World that they neglect such an important part of education. It'd be in their own best interests to assimilate the Muggleborns as soon as possible, but they just seem to use their energies in hating them instead of doing something constructive to solve the "problem".