Deathly Hallows Chapter 14

[montavilla.livejournal.com]

The Thief

Harry lands with the rest of the trio in a forest. Hermione later tells him that it’s the place where the Quidditch World Cup took place. So, where is the Robinson family, I wonder?

Never mind for now. The immediate problem is that Ron has comically, I mean tragically splinched himself. Don’t drink and Apparate, kids.

Thankfully, Ron has only splinched part of his upper arm, so it’s in a PG-rated place. The wound looks liked someone scooped away part of the arm. I am imagining an ice-cream-shaped piece of Ron’s flesh ending up somewhere inappropriate. Like maybe some little kid’s ice-cream cone.

Inappropriate! I know. This isn’t funny! It’s dramatic!

Naturally Hermione has prepared for life-threatening injuries by packing “Essence of Dittany” in her bag. I’ll bet she’s got a bezoar in there, too.

Harry reaches into her bag for the bottle of dittany and object after object begins “presenting itself to his touch,” making the bag sound like the newest version of Safari, or that cool iTunes interface which stacks your albums into a neat row of pictures.

Three drops of dittany close the wound and create new skin over the gaping hole. Hermione admits that that’s all she knows how to do. Well, as long as it stops someone from bleeding to death. Should come in handy if they ever come across anyone else who happens to be bleeding to death. Say, from a big bite on the neck.

Hermione admits, tearfully, that Yaxley grabbed her as they Apparated to 12 Grimauld Place, and, since he probably saw the door, then he’s in on the secret and can tell the Death Eaters any time about their hideout.

Hmm. So, the smart thing would have been to stay on the stoop, pull him into the house and either kill him or imprison him in one of the many rooms. Or obliviate him, which we know Hermione can do. But, I guess this is one of those times when Hermione isn’t a cool head in a crisis.

But Harry gallantly takes the blame by showing Hermione Moody’s eye and admitting that he was the one who screwed up the mission.

Harry worries about the Death Eaters showing up—like they did at the all-night café, but Ron is too weak to move, so they decide to set up camp in the tent Hermione thoughtfully packed in her bag.

Hermione casts a number of protective spells around the tent. Salvio Hexia: The closest I can translate this is to Healthy Hex (Salveo: To be healthy) or Safety Hex (Salvus: Safe, sound).

Protego Totalum: Total Protection. Repello Muggletum: Go away, Muggles! (So, Muggle is a Latin word?) and Muffliato: Soundproofing. Her last ward is Cave Inimicum: Beware of Enemy, which is probably some kind of alarm system.

By the way, Erecto is the spell that sets up the tent, which Hermione casts in the middle of the other spells, since Harry isn’t competent enough to do it himself. Sometime I wonder if Harry learned anything in six years of school.

I am slightly amused that Harry recognizes the tent and correctly identifies its owner as Perkins, that bloke from the Ministry. This is Harry, who can’t remember who that tall weedy kid he spent five years in classes with was.

Hermione nearly says the name Voldemort—which would have made this a much shorter book. Ron, however, saves them all through the power of superstition. Harry wants to argue about that, since Dumbledore said it was cowardly to use You-Know-Who, but Hermione sides with Ron because he’s so ill.

In the tent, Ron worries about the Cattermoles. This worrying over other people really turns Hermione on, as Harry notices. Grr. This is not unusual for Ron, folks! Ron shows empathy all the time, and I always believe that it’s genuine. In contrast, Hermione’s tears always seem based more on political ideology than actual empathy.

The locket is passed around and discussed, leading to the revelation that—surprise!—the Trio doesn’t know how to destroy the damn thing! This is yet another time that a Dark Arts expert would have come in handy.

Ron is the one who first realizes that the locket has a pulse—like a tiny, beating heart. Do all the Horcruxes have little beating hearts? Or do they contain the other organs? Perhaps the ring Horcrux contained Voldemort’s kidney? And the cup holds his bladder? Wouldn’t it be funny if it randomly pissed? If the diadem holds his brain, that would explain a lot of his actions…

Harry makes the executive decision to wear the locket, even though they know that it’s evil. They discussed the danger of wearing a Horcrux, and even speculated that it might make Umbridge more evil than ever. But either Harry thinks he can handle it or he just plain forgot.

There’s a spooky passage while Harry sits sentry at the tent entrance and thinks emo thoughts about the danger they are in and his eventual showdown with Voldemort. His scar starts to prickle and Harry thinks about Kreacher, left back in the house without knowing where they are or if they’ll ever be back. I think it’s curious that the mental connection actually prompts Harry to think about another being—it’s almost as if Voldemort were more empathetic than Harry, instead of being a sociopath.

I’m also wondering if the locket, being in close proximity to Harry’s Horcrux, might not intensify the connection and make it easier for Harry to eavesdrop on Voldemort’s thoughts. But that’s never stated in the text, and Harry’s had plenty of visions before this, so I don’t think so. Harry’s visions seem to be based most strongly on what will advance the plot, rather than anything else, as Voldemort doesn’t seem particularly emotional in this one.

The vision involves Voldemort torturing an upside-down Gregorovitch. You know, this “hanging man” motif is getting old for me. I’m not horrified by the image of a trussed-up Santa Claus slowly turning while Voldemort questions him about “it.” The picture in my mind is rather comic, as Voldemort is forced to pause every five seconds as Gregorovitch revolves away from him.

Voldemort Legilimenses Gregorovitch and Harry sees a memory of a young man with golden hair, perched on a window sill. The young man shoots a stunning spell at Gregorovitch and jumps (or flies) out the window. Apparently, the young man has stolen something from Gregorovitch, something Voldemort wants very much, but we still don’t know what it is.

Again, withholding this information from the reader is just silly. It makes the mystery all about what Voldemort wants—a mystery we cannot possibly solve because we need to hear the story of The Three Brothers and Their Idiot Requests That Death Fulfills For No Apparent Reason. There was no need to make this mysterious. It would have been more suspenseful and interesting for the reader if we had known Voldemort was searching for a super wand.

By the way, Gregorovitch, who must have suffered (or prospered) until Grindelwald’s reign of terror, has no idea who this young man is. That’s even worse than Harry not recognizing him. True, Harry saw a picture of the guy about five hours ago, but if someone is holding your country in thrall, then you would probably know what he looked like. It’s not like Grindelwald was a child when he stole the wand from Gregorovitch.

And it’s not like Grindelwald radically changed appearance and name, the way that Voldemort did.

Moreover, even if Gregorovtich didn’t recognize Grindelwald’s face from the moving photographs in the papers—surely he must have recognized the wand! I mean, random people recognize Bellatrix Lestrange’s wand. Gregorovitch was a wandmaker. A violin maker would recognize a Stradivarius by the sound. Surely a wandmaker would recognize the Elder Wand by sight, especially if he had owned it!

At this point, Harry wakes up screaming, annoying Hermione because he’s not practicing Occlumency. So, we get another scolding from Hermione and Harry is sent to bed like a naughty child.

Continuing the naughty child theme, he and Ron whisper to each other about the vision and what Voldemort might be up to. Harry lays out the mystery one more time for us: Voldemort is looking for something. We don’t know what it is, but it’s probably connected to Harry’s super wand mastery that keeps Voldemort from killing him. Whatever it is, a wild, laughing boy who looks familiar (because Harry saw him hugging Dumbledore about five hours ago) stole it.

Geez. Now we’re recapping the chapter within the chapter.

There is an interesting note though: Grindelwald reminds Harry of Fred and George. So, maybe he does have a clue about how destructive the twins could be. Had Fred not later been killed, perhaps they would have become the next Dark Lords. (Sort of like Bill Gates.) The wizarding world really dodged a bullet there, even if Fred did not.

Anyway, after doing his recapping duties, Harry falls asleep, exhausted. I know how he feels.

But at least he isn’t obsessing about Dumbledore.

Fan Service:
Snapists rejoice as Harry proves true Snape’s assessment of him as a lazy, mediocre wizard who relies on his more talented friends to do everything.
Steve Kloves rejoices as Hermione becomes even more super than he could ever have imagined.
Remember that moment when Ron failed his Apparation test by half an eyebrow? That totally foreshadowed Ron splinching himself!

Fan Slappage:
Remember how important it was that Harry learn Occlumency? Doesn’t seem to be that important after all.
The more we learn about Grindelwald, the less impressive he gets.

DVD Extras:

TITLE CARD: Meanwhile, back at Hogwarts….

INT: DAY -- Headmaster’s Office

Snape sits at the desk, perusing an enormous schedule spreadsheet (on parchment). There is a KNOCK at the door and PANSY PARKINSON sticks her head in.

PANSY
You wanted to see me, Headmaster Snape?

SNAPE
Yes. Have a seat.

Pansy sits expectantly in the chair opposite the desk.

SNAPE (CONT’D)
As you know, Miss Parkinson, there has been a change in the Ministry and here at Hogwarts.

PANSY
And about time, too, sir.

SNAPE
(waving aside the compliment)
I have been asked by…ah… interested parties to gather some information about the Boy Who Lived.

PANSY
Harry Potter? Is it true, then? That he threatens the D—that he is dangerous?

SNAPE
That is the general opinion. I thought perhaps you, with your excellent contacts in this school, might be able to tell me something about his movements last term.

PANSY
(thinking hard)
Well, he did the normal things. He did quit Quidditch halfway through the season, and he was always following Draco—Mr. Malfoy around. It was very annoying.

SNAPE
(playing with his wand)
Yes, yes. Anything else? Romantic attachments?

PANSY
Oh, yes! He spent nearly all last term plastered up against that stupid blood traitor Weasley.

SNAPE
Are you sure about that?

PANSY
You couldn’t miss it! It was the talk of the school! They were everywhere together. You couldn’t go to the lake or the library without seeing them. It was disgusting!

SNAPE
Thank you, Miss Parkinson. That was very helpful.

PANSY
You’re welcome. Shall I go now?

SNAPE
Just one more thing. (waving his wand) Obliviate!

Pansy’s eyes become unfocussed. Snape stands and moves close enough to murmur in her ear.

SNAPE (CONT’D)
You remember nothing about this three month snogfest between Harry Potter and Ginevra Weasley. As far as you are concerned, Harry Potter has no romantic attachments. In fact, you are convinced that he’s secretly gay.

He waves the wand a second time and Pansy snaps out of her trance.

PANSY
So, like I said, Potter’s too weird to have any girlfriends. I think he’s gay. Was that all you wanted, Headmaster?

SNAPE
Yes. You may go.

She leaves. Snape sits back at his desk and closes his eyes. The portrait of Albus Dumbledore smiles and twinkles from its place behind the desk.

DUMBLEDORE’S PORTRAIT
One down! Only two hundred and seventy-nine more to go!

Snape groans and rubs his temples.

SNAPE
The things I do for you, Albus.

FADE OUT

Comments

[montavilla.livejournal.com]

Years ago I made myself a promise in writing, which was that I'd never with hold information from a reader unless there was a good reason to (such as, obviously, when writing a mystery). Although I've never seen it in any writing tip book, I think it's a good rule.

Because you should ask yourself: Am I making this mysterious for a reason, or just because I'm afraid it won't be interesting if I don't make make it obscure?

On the whole, JKR was pretty good at stringing us along with big mysteries and little mysteries. Big Mystery: Where is Sirius Black and how is he getting into the castle? Little Mystery: How is Hermione taking three classes at once?

But some of them were just plain annoying. The Mystery of Tonks's Hair Color was stupid. (Note that Bill and Fleur's romance, which has no mystery and precious little tension ends up being much more satisfying.)

DH has way too many mysteries stuffed into it. And the big ones (Dumbledore's backstory, Voldemort's obscure object of desire) are essentially stupid.

[mmmarcusz.livejournal.com]

There was a hint of darkness, in the falling-out between Albus and Aberforth, but nothing much. I can't find myself caring much about such a one-dimensional character, whose only human moment was when he said he saw socks in the Mirror.

[tdotm.livejournal.com]

Ironically, I much preferred the relatively undeveloped version of Dumbles from the early books. The kind, but jolly grandfather figure that you can always depend on - very popular with children, as is anything that makes them feel secure. Dumbles always made Harry feel secure, that came through loud and clear.

As the series went on he became more complicated - JKR added an extra layer of arseh"*leishness so that he became far less appealing. Eg. in OotP, when he started ignoring Harry, who was so desperate. Getting Snape to teach him Occlumency etc. (Sorry, Snape was the expert, but they hated each other and it's hard to believe that nobody else had sufficient knowledge to give him some beginners lessons at least.) By Deathly Hallows, she was in full on 'character development' mode - the Kiss of Death in most cases. Also, while he was revealed to be more complicated, his reasoning remained totally confused.

1. Scrimgeour was a Minister who had the loyalty of the Aurors, why not encourage Harry to build a relationship with him and get Snape to obtain Slughorn's memorys - he'd probably have them by the second week in September.

2. Why on earth would he insist that Harry HAD to be the one to find the Horcruxes, yet fail to come up with any game plans to help him? He could have had a large package of info to give to him if he should die, but it got damaged/lost somehow. But no, JKR made Dumbles just leave him clueless. What a b*stard! He knew he had a year to live, so why let Hary arse about until May/June? He knew the boy was a fool. Hermione was bright, but a big fish in a small pond. In the real world, 95% of the Order would be more efficient than the Trio.

3. Why the insistence in ignoring superstion and encouraging Harry to use Voldie's name? Had Dumbledore really never heard of the Taboo? Was it brand new magic? How can we believe that if other wizards were so reluctant to say it - what on Earth was JKR trying to indicate? If Dumbles hoped Harry would get himself killed, (which would cover both 2 and 3) the readers should have been made aware of that, because currently it's just a MESS.

JKR should have left him as the charming, cuddly, enigmatic Wilfred Hyde-White type of the earlier books. She could have written it so that Dumbles, maybe expecting he'd have two years to live, was caught unawares by events. Instead of turning him into the multi-layered, ex-racist, meglomaniac, cat toying with several dying mice, whose sudden back-story littered up far too many pages in the last book.

[tdotm.livejournal.com]

Yes.

[seductivedark.livejournal.com]

It's not so much what she shows, it's the incongruity (sp?) between what she shows and what she thinks we'll admire.

It's also that she thinks we should admire it. She's been very forward in giving interviews that explain how things are supposed to be. People have noticed. Given her power - she now has money which equals power, she is in a position to influence generations through her books, and I'd suggest that popularity is power too - that's frightening. It's disturbing that so many fans take her at her word on these things. The icon to this community sums this up so perfectly!

[montavilla.livejournal.com]

Right. I can't blame JKR that much for making statements about her work. After all, people are dying to interview her and she has to say something. I'm sure it's hard to be that famous without saying something stupid on occasion.

What's disturbing is how many people just accept the story on face value--without thinking about the message that is really there.

[seductivedark.livejournal.com]

I'm sure it's hard to be that famous without saying something stupid on occasion.

Oh, sure. It's surprising it doesn't happen more often, and not just to her (I think she's reached her limit). There is such a thing as "qualifying language" - ie: "I don't have my notes with me..." "...I'll check when I get back and update my web page (and someone would make a note reminding her to do it)," "I think - I'll have to check to be sure..." and so on.

The thing she does in interviews that is somewhat disturbing to me is giving reactions to things people say. Shock that anyone would like Snape, for instance. The reactions may or may not be staged to play to the crowd - they still convey information in a different and, I think, more primal way by by-passing language. You know what she thinks, you know if she approves or disapproves. Some parents use this on their children, some teachers use this in school, politicians and salesmen use a form of it to direct crowds and customers.

Given that, I'm not too surprised that people will bend over backwards to find explanations and make adjustments to their thinking to accommodate her views. Her approval is important to them.

[flyingskull.livejournal.com]

Seems to me - very personal opinion and all that - that Dumbledore is a True Smiling Villain, though his esteemed creator didn't realise what she was doing. Allow me to do the rather Not Done thing and quote myself:

«True Smiling Villain" (http://flyingskull.livejournal.com/17260.html#cutid1)»

... I would like to end this ramble - thank you for not pelting me with rotten tomatoes - with a tribute to the subtlest of the True Smiling Villains: Dumbledore. He smiles! He speaks of love! He actually pontificates (BTW the pope is a good example of the TSV in Real Life) on love! His eyes twinkle! He dresses like a clown! He dances! And he coldly sends a boy to be abused time and time again so to be sure said boy won't balk when he's supposed to die for the common good. Not having enjoyed life, y'know, well, except when he was hurting other people, but most of the time certainly not enjoyed life at all and so leaving a world of pain and misery would be easy... easier... whatever. Do you think La Rowling is a very clever author after all? ^_^

There was no way she could have made him into anything but a True Smiling Villain, once she decided he was the one to have Harry brought up abused. There's also no way he didn't know what was happening at the Dursleys all those long years. So the Grindewald thingy and her interview revelation - rather poor taste, that, if you ask me - are, after seven books of undiluted hatred for Mr Twinkly on my part, a tad superfluous

Gandalf watched over Bilbo and Frodo and they were happy in the Shire; Obi Wan is there making sure Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru (Beryl? never quite got that) don't go and lock Luke up in a closet; Belgarath sees to it Garion is bought up well, if simply; I can't think of any other Wise Old Mentor who saw to it his protegée got abused so thouroughly to pay for his having treated another boy just as abominably. I really could never follow what JKR's excuse for this story arc was, except to use the emo of her Sue/Stu being abused in a very fanbratty way.

[tdotm.livejournal.com]

I totally agree that the way she wrote it ties in with your idea, but what would be the point? I have a small suspicion that JKR just made a hash of the whole thing!

He can't actually still favour Grindelwald's beliefs, otherwise Harry would have died in Philosopher's Stone. If he was anti-Voldemort, why torture Harry? Snape didn't treat him as badly (though Harry wouldn't agree). If he genuinely wanted to be cruel, why not arrange his death the minute he realises it's necessary, then plan the hunt for the Horcruxes with members of the Order who were actually accomplished? Harry's death would either mean that Voldie could never have got his body back, or if it happened after Goblet, at least Voldie would be lulled into a false sense of security. Dumbles could then fight Voldie himself, the only Wizard he ever feared, with over a century of experience and the bl**dy Elder Wand!

My earlier post was inspired by the fact that JKR wanted Dumbles to be beloved, but failed to write him that way. I had suggestions as to how he could come across as less of a b*stard. Some responses indicated that she genuinely felt what she'd written was already an admirable, kind and brilliant force for good, which is frightening, but probably true. You suggest that he was deliberately a bit of a monster, which I agree is how it was written, but makes no actual sense in the context of the story. I'm confused - me and JKR both.

[flyingskull.livejournal.com]

Well, I was being snide and, clearly, not succeeding at it.

I know JKR wants Dumbledore to be admired, nay loved, by her readers the same way she wants Harry to be venerated and all Slytherins to be hated and despised. What I was pointing out - badly, for which I beg pardon - is that it's not the Grindewald problem that makes Dumbledore look like a monster, it's the fact that he deliberately had Harry abused as a child. Even if one wants to be extra charitable and think that Mr Twinkle had no idea the Dursleys were so horrible to the Chosen One, there's still the fact that he deliberately sends him back to be abused year after year and that's unforgivable in my book.

I wouldn't have minded if JKR had addressed the problem one way or another, but she never does just as she never addresses the problem of what the abuse has done to her protagonist/hero/self-insert.

Again, sorry for the misfiring of attempted sarcasm. That kind of thing only works amid friends.

[tdotm.livejournal.com]

You *were* succeeding at it. I'm the one who must have come across as too earnest - bl*ody website has no roll eye/winking smilies!

I knew you understood JKR's intentions - she's hardly a writer of complexity, not this millenium anyway - but I genuinely am confused. Your 'smiling hero' comparison is *exactly* what she wrote. I still don't understand why she wrote him to be so awful, without realising it. Especially as she insists she wasn't specifically targeting children - who might not realise his massive flaws(and those of many of her main characters)

If she was a 10 year old child genius when she started, I'd be wowed (though still disappointed that she regressed as the series went on). But she was a grown woman - how could she not tell? Money and fame eats away at the brain - that's why!

[flyingskull.livejournal.com]

Oh, hey, you didn't come across as too earnest, I was just worried I had offended with my deranged brand of humour. All's Well That Ends Well, as Willy would say and misunderstanding cleared.

"True Smiling Villain" was a sort of ramble I had about a cetain type of villain in storytelling (or literature, if you prefer) that I have arbitrarily so named because of Hamlet and being a confirmed Bard-addict. I had some real examples of this type of chracters and, as I was typing, I realised Ol' Dumbles fit the trope to a T. So I added him as a sort of in-joke, my e-friends being generally persons to view favourably a harsh critique of JKR's... well, opus for lack of a better term.

I think - as I've said elsewhere - she was in it for the money since the beginning. She stole ideas, names, situations and most of it right, left and centre producing something that she thought (and rightly) would sell in an easy journalistic style that had no real foundations in worldbuilding or character-building. Sort of a glorified fanfic crossover that worked. But it could only work up to a point, because there was no underlining unity of tone and purpose.

I think she is truly not capable of - or interested in - literary analysis and that she put the abuse in because it was emo and trendy and gave her self-insert hero a license to do any and everything she had always wanted to do to people who irritate her; which, of course, begs the question of her social handicaps. Well, that and how she acts in interviews, especially towards fans.

As you can see I tend to overthink things and am also verbose to a fault. Have an emoticon ^_-

[montavilla.livejournal.com]

Even if one wants to be extra charitable and think that Mr Twinkle had no idea the Dursleys were so horrible to the Chosen One, there's still the fact that he deliberately sends him back to be abused year after year and that's unforgivable in my book.

That's the crux of it. Even before DH came out, it was something people seemed puzzled about with Dumbledore. Having Harry sent to the Dursleys in the first place sort of works because of all the reasons Dumbledore gives in PS/SS. Harry's in danger, it's better he grows up without being famous, yadda yadda yadda.

And the stuff with the Dursleys in the first book was so fairy-tale that could easily be dismissed as an exaggeration of younger sibling envy. I mean, all kids think that their parents favor their sibs and that everything is so unfair. Also, younger brothers usually get sat on by their older brothers. That Harry is a cousin and not a brother just makes it ever so much more so.

But it was Harry going back year after year and the escalation of bad stuff that makes Dumbledore look monstrous. I mean, in the second year, Harry was locked in his room and there were bars on the windows. In OotP, Vernon was throttling Harry.

And the topper was Dumbledore coming to visit in HBP and delivering that lecture. What a hypocrite!

[va32h.livejournal.com]

I think what caused this is that - and pardon me for the sacrilege! - Rowling made it up as she went along.

I have NEVER understood why fans refused to consider the possibility that all these plot lapses, continuity errors, etc. were caused by making stuff up as she went along.

When HBP came out the leaky loungers were wetting their pants with glee about the vanishing cabinet and wasn't Jo the most cleverest ever because she mentioned that vanishing cabinet back in book two!! And here it is again now!! Because apparently it would be totally impossible for her to decide, while writing book 6, to go back and find something in a previous book that she could use again.

I understand that she's said in interviews that she had the whole plot written out. But I never interpreted that as "I have every single detail intricately plotted out".

When the first couple books came out, the Dursley situation was very much cartoon violence. Like Homer Simpson throttling his son, or Roald Dahl's evil headmistress in Mathilda.

And if the series remained a children's series, the Dursleys would never have been an issue. But since she decided that her story was Great Literature, and we were all supposed to be taking this Very Seriously as a treatise on the nature of good and evil or whatever, then yes, the notion that her "epitome of good" does some pretty horrible things becomes a problem.

She needed to either keep on with the "children's book" atmosphere, where abusive foster parents are the norm, or had the characters address the issue of Harry's upbringing.

But you know, either of those would have required some sort of effort on her part.

[seductivedark.livejournal.com]

She needed to either keep on with the "children's book" atmosphere, where abusive foster parents are the norm, or had the characters address the issue of Harry's upbringing.

I'd always thought of both the Dursleys' treatment of Harry and Snape's apparent unfairness as what Montavilla described, childish exaggeration. Kids imagine abuse where there is none (and it's been shown that they can be led to describing realistic but unfounded instances of abuse with those "recovered memories") and imagining unfairness in a teacher's treatment where the child was actually in the wrong himself. Kids don't always see the larger picture.

And if the series remained a children's series, the Dursleys would never have been an issue.

Right. Because that's the way a lot of the more fairy-tale-like stories are written, because that's the way kids, or most kids, seem to think - the world is unfair and everybody picks on them. Kids don't have a lot of power and so they feel like they're sacrificed to the cruel whim of fate.

When the series started getting darker and Harry started growing up, he should either have learned that the perceptions of his childish self were wrong, or someone should have come along and dealt with what would have been turning into very real abuse to clear it out of the way for the Hero to concentrate on his Mission.

Or the mentor should have been overtly and deliberately exposed as not a mentor at all but a much crueler and more demonic villain than even the titular baddie. LV would have merely been a rival for DD's power and all of this prophecy stuff had just fallen into DD's lap so he took advantage of it and seriously meant for Harry to die in the end so he, DD, could become stronger. In this scenario, Harry would have defeated LV only to find himself face to face with his true nemesis, DD.

[flyingskull.livejournal.com]

Or the mentor should have been overtly and deliberately exposed as not a mentor at all but a much crueler and more demonic villain than even the titular baddie. LV would have merely been a rival for DD's power and all of this prophecy stuff had just fallen into DD's lap so he took advantage of it and seriously meant for Harry to die in the end so he, DD, could become stronger. In this scenario, Harry would have defeated LV only to find himself face to face with his true nemesis, DD.

That would have redeemed the series to me and make me like the books intead of loathing them as the series progressed; I'd even have been appeased if she had addressed the sodding problem she had created with the Mentor-turned-sadistic-monster, but no, that was not to be.

[flyingskull.livejournal.com]

THIS!

Also, I believe she had always had Harry as a Christ figure and meant to go through the whole Death and Resurrection thing at the end. She presented this as 'having the whole plot written out' because she couldn't very well say anything else, but she really did make it up as she went along and not very well or very coherently at that. I uncharitably suppose it was because her head swelled so much she thought she didn't need to pay attention to silly things like worldbuilding or characterisation as her fans would buy anything she chose to write, retcon it to death and fill in the huge plotholes.

[jodel-from-aol.livejournal.com]

Yes indeed. She made it up as she went along, and the more outside influences crawled out from under their rocks the more unmanageable the whole thing got.

I understand that in Britain the first two books came out something like six months apart. Or, in other words, she was well into the writing of book 2 before she ever sold Book 1. It was another full year before Book 3 came out, but that was still on Brit time, and other editions came out later, even other english-language editions. And I also don't think that Bloomsbury had her out working the crowds in the media blitz at the rate that they got her into once she managed to get them to forget about OotP needing a deadline, because she couldn't meet one.

She was essentially free-associating through the last three books, and there was next to no oversight on the part of the publishers.

As I've said in an e-mail correspondence elsewhere, it's bloody awkward, since, on the one hand, she wants to tell the reader what to think about everything (or, at least post-burnout Rowling did), and yet she leaves so many blanks that we *have* to fill them in ourselves, or it would be like trying to read lacework.

For example: the Labyrinth was *obviously* a trap, so one would suppose that Albus had *some* kind of plan for when he had Tom stalled at the mirror. Capture, entrapment, *something* anyway. But never a hint of what it might have been do we ever get.

(To which my correspondent replied: "Nada.  Which is why the book is ultimately hollow.  DD’s motives are never clear.")

[mmmarcusz.livejournal.com]

I understand that in Britain the first two books came out something like six months apart. Or, in other words, she was well into the writing of book 2 before she ever sold Book 1.

But she had PS written long before she sold it, didn't she?

But seeing the last 3 books as free-association - definitely. Just random bits thrown together.

[flyingskull.livejournal.com]

Yes, exactly what you said. Also what va32h and seductivedark have said. I couldn't have said it better.

Am replying mostly to agree and to thank you for the caps and the WONDERFUL DVD Extras. They keep on brightening my days.

[oryx_leucoryx]

3. Why the insistence in ignoring superstion and encouraging Harry to use Voldie's name? Had Dumbledore really never heard of the Taboo? Was it brand new magic? How can we believe that if other wizards were so reluctant to say it - what on Earth was JKR trying to indicate? If Dumbles hoped Harry would get himself killed, (which would cover both 2 and 3) the readers should have been made aware of that, because currently it's just a MESS.

Or how about encouraging everyone to call him by his actual real name, Tom Riddle? To remind people he had once been rather ordinary, and to enable his supporters to find out he had a Muggle father? Would Bellatrix have gone to torture the Longbottoms to revive a half-blood?

[jodel-from-aol.livejournal.com]

Hell we didn't even know that Grindelwald was still *alive* until we finally saw Tom confront him in his tower. Just that information alone would have been a useful bit of gridst to the fandom mills.