Deathly Hallows, chapter 21
Jul. 3rd, 2009 03:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
anehan posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
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.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
Hermione Rant
Date: 2009-07-03 11:32 pm (UTC)We’ll have to agree to disagree here! To seem genuinely quick-witted, it has to be a consistent character trait and it’s not. She fluctuates between this off the cuff brilliance and slack-jawed incompetence and the reasoning never ties up. You can’t say – she didn’t think to snatch the Horcrux off Ron, even when she knew (and said) that it was causing the problem, because she loves him so much she lost her head. It would be a believable reason, but then how was she able to save him from a serious splinching, when he could conceivably bleed to death? You can’t say she let Snape die because she didn’t know what to do in a life or death situation, though that might tally with her earlier incarnation, for the same reason (and Snape’s life was definitely less important to her than Ron’s). Also, she saved Harry from the *exact same thing* (Nagini) a few chapters before.
She apparated Yaxley to the front-door of Grimmauld Place – why not apparate him away again? Or stun him? Or obliviate him? Or scar him for life? She blew their headquarters (and subjected us all to tiresome, life-shortening camping scenes) in a situation which was a lot easier to rectify then the little miracle she performed here. And why did she act like such a dimwit at Godric’s Hollow, jumping at a hissed ‘come’ but not working out that a hiss was Parseltongue? Or blindly following this mute old woman into her strange smelling house in the first place? (Has someone died in here?!) Of course, things changed when she had to save Harry, when she suddenly was able to fight off a giant snake and cure Harry in a way St Mungo’s couldn’t hope to.
This isn’t a quick-thinking girl, but a true author insert/Hollywood wet dream, that hadn’t had a chance to shine for a few pages. So instead of the Trio all working together to get themselves out, JKR made her do everything and she looked as unbelievable as she had for the entire book.
In the earlier books, while Harry was earnest and 100% well meaning if reckless, Ron was tactical and streetwise, but really lazy unless put on the spot and Hermione was exceptionally clever, morally sound but panicked in tense action situations.(That's how I saw them, anyway.) If JKR had stuck to that and resisted the Super-Hermione, Ron is a fool, GoldenPolyJuiceBoy nonsense, the later books would have been much better. Instead she lost control of *all* her characters, not just the Trio, until it was obvious that the only thing driving their behaviour was plot requirement.
Re: Hermione Rant
Date: 2009-07-08 08:09 pm (UTC)I agree that Hermione's characterization is very inconsistent. At times she is brilliant and quick-witted, yet at other times she's a moron. Add to that her fascination with Ron and I'm left with a character that's designed to drive me crazy. I like her, true, but that's more for what she was in the earlier books than what she is now.
I agree, she used to panic in serious situations (remember her reaction to the boggart in her third-year DADA test), and I liked her as she was. Not everyone has to be quick at thinking on their feet. But I guess that was one of the things that had to go when the Super!Hermione came into being.