death to capslock

Allies the Order never made

2022-01-22T10:39:00Z

Posted by: sunnyskywalker

We hear of several Order members’ missions—mostly unsuccessful—to convince various groups not to join Voldemort, and perhaps fight him instead. Remus tries “reasoned argument” with the werewolves, Hagrid and Maxime give gifts to the Gurg of the giants, and Charlie maybe talks to his dragon-handler friends. Dumbledore himself has apparently been talking to the centaurs for several years, judging by the way Firenze has surprisingly detailed information about the philosopher’s stone trap and the identity of the unicorn-killer.

There’s an interesting omission here. Did anyone try to negotiate with the goblins?
( Read more... )

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From Pottermore: Stuff on Hogwarts Acceptance, Squibs, and Neville

2015-09-26T14:47:00Z

Posted by: danajsparks.livejournal.com

In a recent comment about Pottermore, penguinsuzie wrote:

Reading the one about the Hogwarts Acceptance was actually making me annoyed.

The book refusing baby Neville. How great it is that Squibs are successfully kept out of Hogwarts. The fact that they are still using the same system a thousand years later because the wizarding world's lack of innovation is staggering. Though if she'd tried to tell us otherwise it wouldn't be believable because the magical community is so backwards already.

I had yet to read this note, so I checked it out. Here's what it says:

( The Quill of Acceptance and The Book of Admittance )

The Hogwarts acceptance process works similarly to how I imagined. However, in addition to what penguinsuzie has already said, there are a few things I find rather disturbing about this entry.

1. The Book may be "perfect" at keeping squibs out, but is it truly perfect at admitting everyone who may be eligible? What if it continues to mistake low levels of magical output for "residual aura," as it almost did with Neville?

2. The Book didn't admit Neville until he survived a fall, but Neville didn't simply "fall;" he was "accidently" dropped out the window by his Great Uncle Algie. So, does the Book's "sternness" therefore justify the abuse of potential squibs?

3. Hagrid says that Harry's "name's been down ever since he was born." Dumbledore must have known that Neville's name wasn't initially inscribed in the Book, which leads me to question whether he ever seriously considered Neville as a candidate for the prophecy. And did Tom ever find out that Neville's name wasn't in the Book?

P.S. The Pottermore website has been completely redesigned, and you no longer need an account to view the content.

P.P.S. But good luck finding anything in particular because the site is completely disorganized right now. There's a search tool in the upper-left corner that's somewhat helpful.

P.P.P.S. I want to add that some of the issues being raised here are also addressed in terri_testing's essay, Parenting in Pureblood Culture, especially in Part IV.

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Harry Potter Abridged! DH Chapter 36

2015-08-30T22:23:00Z

Posted by: sweettalkeress.livejournal.com

LAST CHAPTER OF THE BOOK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11

( The end is nigh! )

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Harry Potter Abridged! DH Chapter 35

2015-08-29T22:41:00Z

Posted by: sweettalkeress.livejournal.com

Might as well continue this sequence.

( Read Chapter 35 )

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Harry Potter Abridged! DH Chapter 32

2015-08-25T10:57:00Z

Posted by: sweettalkeress.livejournal.com

( Snape! *Sob* )

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Harry Potter Abridged! DH Chapter 31

2015-08-23T13:10:00Z

Posted by: sweettalkeress.livejournal.com

[Everyone meets up for a briefing in the Great Hall]

McGonagall: So, anyway, we’re going to help you evacuate this castle so you’re not harmed in the upcoming battle for the fate of the Wizarding World.

( Read Chapter 31 )

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Musings on the Silver Doe scene

2015-08-22T23:34:00Z

Posted by: condwiramurs.livejournal.com

I'm re-reading "The Silver Doe" again, and I'm more convinced than ever that Snape deliberately arranged for Ron to be there at the time.

Half the point of that whole scene was to heal Harry and Ron's friendship - Harry's friendship with his first-ever and best wizarding friend.

Remind me, what did Severus say Harry's real strengths against the Dark Lord were?

"a simple combination of sheer luck and more talented friends."

Albus focuses on Harry's supposed purity. Severus notes his friendships.

And the "need and valor" condition on the Sword, if it was real or at least if Severus believed it was real...

Harry's need, and Ron's valor. Answering Harry's call for help.

( Read more... )

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Harry Potter Abridged! DH Chapter 29

2015-08-21T17:25:00Z

Posted by: sweettalkeress.livejournal.com

Harry: Navel! It’s you! It’s really you!

Neville: FOR THE LAST TIME MY NAME IS NOT NAVEL! Seriously! Everyone at Hogwarts calls me by my proper name now!

( Read Chapter 29 )

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Harry Potter Abridged! DH Chapter 26

2015-08-16T10:46:00Z

Posted by: sweettalkeress.livejournal.com

[For the attempted break-in of Gringotts, they decide Hermione will be Polyjuiced to look like Bellatrix]

Hermione: I really hate that I have to go as the woman who tortured me.

Harry: Well, look on the bright side—it’s only for one chapter.

Hermione: I can already tell it’s going to be a long chapter.

( Read Chapter 26 )

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Questions on the Sword

2015-08-10T20:18:00Z

Posted by: condwiramurs.livejournal.com

I'm working on a couple more essays for my "Indestructible" series, and a separate essay on Harry's moral education. But I thought I'd toss out here a couple of questions that have been nagging me on a mostly-unrelated topic.

The fabled Sword of Gryffindor.

Because as I was considering Severus' moral arc in DH I found myself asking questions about that little scene by the pond, and what he's doing with the sword there and why. And from there I started asking myself about the sword itself. And suddenly things that I had unreflectively accepted as making sense started to seem less so.

By which I mean: the Sword of Gryffindor?

The Sword of Gryffindor?

Godric Gryffindor, legendary wizard and co-founder of a magical school in which wands are the fundamental required tool for functionally any life skill, including combat, left behind as his most powerful and revered artifact a sword?

Blink.

Something feels just a little off, here. Help me unravel it?

( Read more... )

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Harry Potter Abridged! DH Chapter 24

2015-08-04T12:34:00Z

Posted by: sweettalkeress.livejournal.com

Hey, it's my birthday! Have another one of these!

( Read Chapter 24 )

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Harry Potter Abridged! DH Chapter 23

2015-08-02T16:09:00Z

Posted by: sweettalkeress.livejournal.com

Hermione: Alright, we’ll be fine, just do exactly as I say.

( Read Chapter 23 )

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Harry Potter Abridged! DH Chapter 21

2015-07-30T22:02:00Z

Posted by: sweettalkeress.livejournal.com

Lovegood: So, as I was saying, before I was so rudely interrupted, the Deathly Hallows are an old legend that not everyone believes is true—but I’m one of those people who does believe it.

( Read Chapter 21 )

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Harry Potter Abridged! DH Chapter 20

2015-07-29T14:36:00Z

Posted by: sweettalkeress.livejournal.com

( Read Chapter 20 )

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Harry Potter Abridged! DH Chapter 13

2015-07-07T22:57:00Z

Posted by: sweettalkeress.livejournal.com

Umbridge: What are you two looking so surprised about? This is where my office is—of course I would be up here!

( Read Chapter 13 )

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Harry Potter Abridged! DH Chapter 7

2015-06-29T10:32:00Z

Posted by: sweettalkeress.livejournal.com

[The next morning, Harry wakes up from a strange dream]

( Read Chapter 7 )

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Harry Potter Abridged! HBP Chapter 26

2015-06-16T18:11:00Z

Posted by: sweettalkeress.livejournal.com

( It's the Birdbath of DOOM )

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A response to Terri_Testing and Swythyv: Just how much DID Voldemort change...

2015-06-07T22:24:00Z

Posted by: sweettalkeress.livejournal.com

...about the Birdbath of Doom?

I remember a little while ago, Terri_Testing wrote an article about the true nature of the Birdbath, building on another article written by Swythyv, where they theorized that it was initially put there as a test by Merlin, in the hopes of weeding out those unworthy of attaining his level of wisdom and skill. Having just finished the Abridged version of the chapter in which it appears, I have to wonder just how much Voldemort changed when he commandeered the setup to hide his Horcrux.

Think about it: if the ritual Merlin created involved an initiate sailing to the island on a magical boat (often accompanied by a squire or servant to administer the potion) and drinking the potion in the Birdbath, that's pretty much what Harry and Dumbledore do anyway. The only components Voldemort seems to have added are the Horcrux and, possibly, the Inferi. However, we don't actually know Voldemort put the Inferi there. It's entirely possible that they've always been there, and are the bodies of those who failed the test set for them in the Birdbath. Terri_Testing, and maybe also Swythyv, seem to be under the impression that failing the test results in death--but, per Terri_Testing, both Dumbledore and Kreacher failed the test, and they didn't die automatically (Kreacher doesn't even die by the end of the series). What they did do, was attempt to get a drink of water and disturb the surface, causing the Inferi to emerge and try to grab them. Maybe everyone who attempts the ritual must drink from the water, and those who have failed arouse the Inferi, which drag them under water to their deaths.

So really, the Horcrux is the only thing we KNOW Voldemort added. The big question is, is this an act of sacrilege, and does it merit punishment? On the one hand, tampering with ancient magic, especially by incorporating an evil object, seems like the sort of thing that would be taboo--but on the other, Merlin was a Slytherin, and so he might have been perfectly okay with the locket being returned to his personal Birdbath. There is the fact that the locket was a Horcrux, of course--but here's the thing: most of the characters we meet in the series think Horcruxes are ultimate evil, but there's no reason to think the same thing would have been true in Merlin's time. It's hard to say how a Horcrux could ever be "good" per se, but in the past it might have simply been another bad thing people did, rather than the most awful thing in the history of ever. The days of King Arthur would have most likely been a lot more violent than modern times, after all, and so killing someone without remorse to save yourself, the essential component of a Horcrux, might not have looked quite as bad back then as it does today.

If, on the other hand, it is sarcilegious to tamper with the Birdbath in this way, what might a suitable punishment be? Do we ever see Voldemort suffer any such punishment?

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Ignotus and the Mirror: a Response to Terri_Testing and Jodel

2015-05-15T21:50:00Z

Posted by: sweettalkeress.livejournal.com

So I have a theory about Ignotus’s connection to the Mirror of Erised, inspired by the recent essay by Terri_Testing, and particularly one of Jodel’s comments. This theory assumes that at least some of the information in the legend of the three brothers is true, but doesn’t require that it be completely true (though it can be). Essentially, Ignotus built the Mirror in an (unsuccessful) attempt to communicate with his dead brothers.

( Read more... )

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Dark Devices: The Mirror of Eris

2015-05-14T10:10:00Z

Posted by: terri-testing.livejournal.com

Dark Devices: the Mirror of Eris.

Excuse me, that was Erised. How silly of me. Eris was the goddess of discord, and according to Hesiod (Works and Days), she sometimes worked by planting unsatisfiable desires in men’s hearts:

She stirs up even the shiftless to toil; for a man grows eager to work when he considers his neighbour, a rich man who hastens to plough and plant and put his house in good order; and neighbour vies with his neighbour as he hurries after wealth. But Strife is unwholesome for men. And potter is angry with potter and craftsman with craftsman, and beggar is jealous of beggar….

Completely different thing from what that mirror does, got it.

Jodel suggested in “The Quirrell Debacle” that Dumbledore had set up Harry to look into that mirror. She argued that the headmaster had first moved that Mirror away from the heart of the labyrinth, and then had had Filch and Snape herd Harry to the appropriate room, primarily because Albus wanted to learn Harry’s heart’s deepest desires. Letting Harry gaze into that mirror, in that view, was Dumbledore’s test to make sure Harry wasn’t another future Dark Lord in training.

I think that there was something more going on than merely Albus’s test of Harry. If I am correct, I earnestly hope that Severus and Argus were not implicated in Twinkles’ plots.

( Read more... )

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Albus and the Birdbath

2014-11-20T09:06:00Z

Posted by: terri-testing.livejournal.com

Thank you, oryx_leucoryx, for this one.

We don’t need to posit mysterious antidotes. We don’t need to posit anything. To understand what was going on in that cave, we just need to read more closely—and to remember Kreacher’s experience.

Kreacher is the key to understanding Albus’s unsuccessful encounter with the Birdbath of Doom.

*( Read more... )

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Noble and Most Ancient: The Black Family Tapestry

2014-10-22T21:28:00Z

Posted by: terri-testing.livejournal.com

Let’s think about the Black Family Tree for a moment—not the data in the possibly non-canonical display of Phineas’s branch that was created by JKR for a charity auction, but the hanging itself, that Sirius showed off to Harry, with commentary. What does canon say, and what can we deduce, about the Black Family Tapestry?

It’s not a prepossessing object, to Harry’s eyes. It’s a downright disgusting one, to Sirius. But Kreacher regards it with all of his late mistress’s utter veneration. Here they all are in OotP 6:
( Read more... )

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Death's own cloak

2013-12-17T20:22:00Z

Posted by: sunnyskywalker

The cloak has always seemed the odd Hallow out. It makes you invisible, but no more invisible than any other invisibility cloak. Dumbledore said vaguely that the cloak could "protect" anyone under it, but we see that you can easily be Petrified while under the cloak, and so presumably other curses won't have any trouble getting through either. Its only other special power seems to be not getting weaker over time. How can that measure up next to a super-powerful, semi-sapient want and a stone that (seemingly) lets you talk to dead people?

I finally realized that there's one power the cloak might well have, which would fit in seamlessly with everything JKR set up for it. It's just that the characters never had occasion to test it.( Read more... )

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Product of the Department of Mysteries

2013-11-19T18:49:00Z

Posted by: sunnyskywalker

On oneandthetruth's last DH chapter commentary, an interesting thread compared the Mirror of Erised to the Resurrection Stone in its seductive (and potentially deadly) powers of showing something/someone you want.

There's another object somewhat like that: the Veil in the Department of Mysteries. There are voices coming from behind the Veil - voices Luna believes to be those of the dead - and Harry feels tempted to walk through it.

Well, okay, Harry is being trained to have a death wish. But maybe that just means he's more susceptible.

The Department of Mysteries is a research facility. One which we know has produced tangible items now available for (restricted) public use, such as Time-Turners. (Whether they invented them or improved on an existing idea, we don't know.) I seriously doubt they've only produced one artifact ever. So what else might they have made?

They also have the locked room full of either love or Amortensia, depending whom you ask. The Mirror's ability to reflect your heart's desire is suggestively similar to the potion's ability to reflect the scent of what you desire.

A big glass mirror sounds like a relatively recent invention (unless you posit a long history of magical glassmaking, but wizards seem to adapt Muggle technology more often than the other way around). I propose that the Mirror of Erised is a product of the Department of Mysteries, combining attributes of Amortensia and the Veil which the DoM was able to partially replicate/adapt after long study.

Next question: are the Stone and the Veil related? Maybe Mr. Death, whoever he was, created both, and the DoM only got ahold of one of them. Whether this makes the Veil a fourth Hallow, left out of Beedle's version for numerical reasons, is not clear. Possibly it's a super-Hallow, and you can be Master of Death^TM with it alone? Or it's a death-related magical... thing... which shares some properties with the Hallows, but it isn't the same class of artifact and mastery isn't an issue in its case.

Or maybe the Veil is more ancient and the Stone is a portable adaptation created centuries ago by the DoM's first head researcher, Johannus Mors, along with a couple of other powerful items which also escaped the premises and have not been replicated. (And Death took the second lab assistant for his own...)

Thoughts? Fanfic links?

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Feral Cars

2012-02-12T09:23:00Z

Posted by: terri-testing.livejournal.com

In CoS, Harry and Ron assume that the Ford Anglia enchanted by Mr. Weasley came and rescued them of its own iniative. But the last they had seen of it previously was when it had dumped them and run off "dented, scratched, and steaming... its rear lights blazing angrily."

Why would it want to save the lives of the kids who had smashed it up, damaged it, almost destroyed it? Granted, it didn't hold enough of a grudge to try to hurt them--it even gave them their luggage--but it had no reason to be in charity with them.

And how did it even know where they were, and that they needed help? Surely it hadn't been silently monitoring them, stealthily tracking them through the Forest?

So--who had?

A final note: Mr. Weasley's enchantments on the car clearly included making it able "to think for itself" though "you can't see where it keeps its brain".

Arthur wasn't just almost-breaking Ministry law when he played with that car (escaping by the loophole he'd carefully written in). He was dabbling in the Dark Arts. Which he professes to consider Evil.

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