Harry Potter thoughts
Jul. 28th, 2007 10:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
scottahillOK, I've just finished. (Yeah, I know, HP is old news by now. :) Just a few thoughts.
I was surprised by how dangerous everything was, so early in the game. The previous books tend to be relatively calm for the first half, but as soon as they left the house with the decoys…BAM, Death Eaters right on top of them, Hedwig dies, Mad-Eye dies, George loses his ear. It really sets the tone for the book, that life with Voldemort around is bloody dangerous. And Voldemort's team, while greedy and evil and whatnot, never struck me as being particularly stupid, as bad guys sometimes are.
The middle of the book also does a good job at cultivating a sense of desperation and hopelessness. For most of it, they only had a vague idea as to what they had to do, no idea how they were going to find the Horcruxes, and no thought as to how they would kill Voldemort even if they did destroy all the Horcruxes. One remarkable thing to me was how easily they were able to hide from Voldemort and his buddies. You'd imagine that such a powerful Wizard would be able to find them more easily, so the fact that he couldn't (or that they couldn't see through the Polyjuice Potion or the Invisibility Cloak) pointed out the limitations of magic even at Voldemort's level, and that actually made things seem a little more realistic to me, don't know why.
The final solution was satisfying enough: Harry's ability to accept death as being one other skill that Voldemort did not possess, is a sensible idea. I suppose the whole business about "who properly owns a wand" was a little tricky, and I don't think it was ever mentioned before this book; you can imagine one of the onlookers (Hagrid?) trying vainly to follow Harry's logic, as he explains why the Elder Wand won't hurt him. (I wonder how that will get into the movie.)
I'm very glad that the Six all survived; I would have been pissed if Ron or Hermione or Ginny had bought it, and while Neville certainly could have been a tragic hero, I'm glad he wasn't. I also really like Luna (particularly in the movie). I was also irrationally pleased that Ollivander survived. Of those who died, I'd guess I was most saddened by Lupin and Tonks, because of their newborn (personal bias?), and because I either missed when it happened, or it didn't happen "on screen" at all. Fred was also tragic for several reasons (death of a clown, and George's abandonment.) I wonder how George will cope. Speaking of George, I wonder if Muggle plastic surgery would help restore his ear? (Mr. Weasley would love that.)
Mrs. Weasley's killing Bellatrix feels so right that I would swear, right now, that I'd read that scene before.
Note how Aunt Petunia tried to get into Hogwarts. When I read that bit, I thought it was saying that Petunia WAS a witch, but was refusing to go to Hogwarts; but now that I think about it, I realize that she was turned down and was sour-grapes about it.
I wonder how the Dursleys made out. Dudley's reaction to Harry was completely surprising and rather touching. I kinda hope Harry's kids know their Uncle Dudley (and that Dudley is a relatively decent sort...I don't expect miracles).
There was a reprise of one of my favorite HP moments; way back in Book 1 or 2, Hermione is trying to figure out how to light a fire without matches, and Ron shouts at her "Are you a witch or not?" I always liked that line because, if I were Hermione, I might never have considered the fact that I was a witch until that point. Sure, here I am, I'm doing well in school, I can do magic, but she might not have really identified herself as a "witch" (particularly given the connotations associated with that word). Hermione asking Ron "Are you a wizard or not?" isn't quite as deep, but it was fun.
Did Dumbledore use the Elder Wand as his day-to-day wand, or did he just hide it away for safekeeping?
I always believed Snape was Dumbledore's man to the end, and that Dumbledore had either told Snape to kill him, or told him to kill him RATHER than expose himself. I hadn't thought of the wizened hand as a potentially fatal illness, though. And I never pictured that THIS was how he was going to save the day.
I like how the Malfoys ended up: not quite redeemed, but not quite damned either. Interesting that Hogwarts still has a Slytherin house.
The one time I wanted to shout at Harry "NO DON'T DO IT" was when he lied to the goblin about the sword. Surely, I thought, he could have told the goblin "Look, I need to borrow the sword for the next six months, but after that it's yours". I also wondered whether they might offer to teach him wand magic instead, but I'm not sure that would have been a good idea: the goblin wasn't entirely a "good guy".
And lastly, I guess I like how she has tied so many things together throughout the series: objects and people and places brought up in one book will make a sudden reappearance in later books, where they gain whole new significance. Riddle's diary becoming a Horcrux, the locket in Sirius's house, Godric's sword coming out of the sorting hat and being infused with basilisk blood, various spells showing up again and again (wingardium leviosa eg). I don't know how much detail she planned in advance, but it was all very nicely done.
OK, if I think of more things, I'll tack them on here later.
The middle of the book also does a good job at cultivating a sense of desperation and hopelessness. For most of it, they only had a vague idea as to what they had to do, no idea how they were going to find the Horcruxes, and no thought as to how they would kill Voldemort even if they did destroy all the Horcruxes. One remarkable thing to me was how easily they were able to hide from Voldemort and his buddies. You'd imagine that such a powerful Wizard would be able to find them more easily, so the fact that he couldn't (or that they couldn't see through the Polyjuice Potion or the Invisibility Cloak) pointed out the limitations of magic even at Voldemort's level, and that actually made things seem a little more realistic to me, don't know why.
The final solution was satisfying enough: Harry's ability to accept death as being one other skill that Voldemort did not possess, is a sensible idea. I suppose the whole business about "who properly owns a wand" was a little tricky, and I don't think it was ever mentioned before this book; you can imagine one of the onlookers (Hagrid?) trying vainly to follow Harry's logic, as he explains why the Elder Wand won't hurt him. (I wonder how that will get into the movie.)
I'm very glad that the Six all survived; I would have been pissed if Ron or Hermione or Ginny had bought it, and while Neville certainly could have been a tragic hero, I'm glad he wasn't. I also really like Luna (particularly in the movie). I was also irrationally pleased that Ollivander survived. Of those who died, I'd guess I was most saddened by Lupin and Tonks, because of their newborn (personal bias?), and because I either missed when it happened, or it didn't happen "on screen" at all. Fred was also tragic for several reasons (death of a clown, and George's abandonment.) I wonder how George will cope. Speaking of George, I wonder if Muggle plastic surgery would help restore his ear? (Mr. Weasley would love that.)
Mrs. Weasley's killing Bellatrix feels so right that I would swear, right now, that I'd read that scene before.
Note how Aunt Petunia tried to get into Hogwarts. When I read that bit, I thought it was saying that Petunia WAS a witch, but was refusing to go to Hogwarts; but now that I think about it, I realize that she was turned down and was sour-grapes about it.
I wonder how the Dursleys made out. Dudley's reaction to Harry was completely surprising and rather touching. I kinda hope Harry's kids know their Uncle Dudley (and that Dudley is a relatively decent sort...I don't expect miracles).
There was a reprise of one of my favorite HP moments; way back in Book 1 or 2, Hermione is trying to figure out how to light a fire without matches, and Ron shouts at her "Are you a witch or not?" I always liked that line because, if I were Hermione, I might never have considered the fact that I was a witch until that point. Sure, here I am, I'm doing well in school, I can do magic, but she might not have really identified herself as a "witch" (particularly given the connotations associated with that word). Hermione asking Ron "Are you a wizard or not?" isn't quite as deep, but it was fun.
Did Dumbledore use the Elder Wand as his day-to-day wand, or did he just hide it away for safekeeping?
I always believed Snape was Dumbledore's man to the end, and that Dumbledore had either told Snape to kill him, or told him to kill him RATHER than expose himself. I hadn't thought of the wizened hand as a potentially fatal illness, though. And I never pictured that THIS was how he was going to save the day.
I like how the Malfoys ended up: not quite redeemed, but not quite damned either. Interesting that Hogwarts still has a Slytherin house.
The one time I wanted to shout at Harry "NO DON'T DO IT" was when he lied to the goblin about the sword. Surely, I thought, he could have told the goblin "Look, I need to borrow the sword for the next six months, but after that it's yours". I also wondered whether they might offer to teach him wand magic instead, but I'm not sure that would have been a good idea: the goblin wasn't entirely a "good guy".
And lastly, I guess I like how she has tied so many things together throughout the series: objects and people and places brought up in one book will make a sudden reappearance in later books, where they gain whole new significance. Riddle's diary becoming a Horcrux, the locket in Sirius's house, Godric's sword coming out of the sorting hat and being infused with basilisk blood, various spells showing up again and again (wingardium leviosa eg). I don't know how much detail she planned in advance, but it was all very nicely done.
OK, if I think of more things, I'll tack them on here later.
