On Sep 1, 1:25 pm, RC Freya wrote:
>
> Sorry for the late posting on this topic.
>
No problemo. Glad to have you join in the conversation.
>
> I agree that the camping trip went on *way* too long.
> After awhile, it felt like Rowling was just trying to fill
> out space to make the book longer.
>
This was my impression as well. It was as though she had written
herself into a corner by moving away from the school year format that
she had used in the previous volumes. She didn't seem to know how to
move the story forward from this new format that she had self-
imposed. It really wrecked the pacing.
>
> I felt all the Dumbledore backstory took up too much
> space as well, and could have been resolved faster.
>
Honestly, I didn't care for this backstory at all. I understand that,
for Rowling, the whole Harry Potter franchise has been an exercise in
presenting an initial scenario and its underlying character
situations, then constantly refracting the lens a little bit to change
the picture and sharpen the view of what transpired before. But she
already had so many loose ends to try to tie up that I thought this
added some unnecessary complications to the main storyline.
>
> It would have been nice to see how the students
> at Hogwarts were handling things, and more of
> everyone interacting besides Harry, Ron and
> Hermione. The three of them are incredibly
> boring by themselves.
>
Yeah, I was kinda surprised by that. I couldn't wait for someone else
to step into the picture and liven the story up a bit. Plus, Ron was
such a huge git this time around. I mean, I know he was supposed to
be acting under the influence of a Horcrux and all, but still - he
aggravated me no end because I thought that he had already worked
through a lot of the issues that the Horcrux raised.
>
> I also was very irritated by the fact that Rowling
> had Harry do Something Really Stupid (Bathilda
> Bagshot, saying Voldemort's name aloud when
> he knows it will reveal their location instantly,
> etc.) in order to advance the plot.
>
I really hated that moment. That was so incredibly stupid.
>
> Part of the reason I disliked Order of the Phoenix
> so much was because Harry was so extremely
> and frustratingly stupid, especially at the end.
> Same problem here.
>
I mostly liked Order of the Phoenix. Yes, Harry was annoyingly
argumentative in the beginning and he made a huge mistake near the end
that cost him his godfather's life but he realized the mistake he made
and deeply regretted it. I do agree, though, that it's a pity he
didn't learn to curb his headstrong and self-righteous ways earlier.
>
> I also have a lot of unanswered questions. I
> purposefully avoided finding out anything about
> this book ahead of time because I wanted to
> be surprised and have no idea of what would
> happen. I'm sure much of this has been
> debated elsewhere. If there are other places I
> should look for the answers, I'd appreciate any
> links.
>
There are several places you could go to look for further discussion
and information. One place you might try is the Barnes and Noble book
groups website:
http://bookclubs.barnesandnoble.com/bn/board?board.id=HarryPotter
Or the Leaky Cauldron:
http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/
Or the Harry Potter Lexicon:
http://www.hp-lexicon.org/index-2.html
>
> 1. How in the hell is it that none of the people
> who *really* deserved to die (Umbridge,
> Greyback, the Malfoys, Cornelius Fudge to
> name just a few) didn't? WTF? By the end,
> the Order of the Phoenix was reduced to just
> the Weasleys (and a few future Weasleys).
> Both sides would have incurred heavy losses,
> yet we only hear about one, and no one cares
> if one of Malfoy's toadies dies. At least she
> could have had Umbridge trampled to death by
> a Centaur or two.
>
Here is a list of the dead that one of the folks from the Barnes and
Noble bookgroups website came up with:
Charity Burbage
Hedwig
Mad Eye Moody
Rufus Scrimgeor
Gregorovitch (the wandmaker)
Bathilda Bagshot
Ted Tonks
Dirk Cresswell
Gornuk (the goblin)
Peter Pettigrew
Gellert Grindelwald
Dobby
Vincent Crabbe
Fred Weasly
Severus Snape
Remus Lupin
Nymphadora (Tonks) Lupin
Colin Creevey
(Harry)
Bellatrix Lestrange
Tom Riddle
numerous goblins
numerous Death Eaters
woman
2 children
Plus, I believe there were about 50 others who died but were not named
in the Battle of Hogwarts.
>
> 2. Why is Draco alive and out on the street at the
> end? Shouldn't he have been in Azkaban for 2 counts
> of attempted murder on Dumbledore, leading the
> insurgence in book 6 into Hogwarts, and all the other
> stuff he did? The whole family is scum, yet he's out
> on the street.
>
In one of the interviews that Rowling gave after the release of Book
7, she said that the Malfoys were able to use their money and
influence to have any charges against them dropped. Also, remember
that Narcissa helped Harry trick Voldemort into thinking that Harry
was still dead. That had to count for something, I suppose.
>
> 3. The Deluminator could transport you in certain
> circumstances. So why didn't HRH use it when
> they were about to be captured by Greyback's
> crew? If it's of such limited usefulness, why was
> it never replicated by any other wizard?
>
Beats me.
>
> 4. Who *didn't* know Snape was in love with Lily?
> I figured that out in book 3 or 4.
>
I think that this information should've actually come out in the open
in Book 6, rather than wait until Book 7. This is information that
has long been suspected by the fans. Besides, it was so annoying to
hear Rowling constantly state that Lily was a popular girl while in
school yet none of her other friends came forth to mention this little
fact to Harry that she had once been very close to Snape? Arrgghh!
>
> 5. What was the point of having Bill get bit by
> Greyback? Aside from liking rare steaks, no side
> effects/problems are ever mentioned again. So
> why bother bringing it up if you're not going to do
> anything with it?
>
I would also liked to have known what the other werewolves thought
about this new war of Voldemort's. After all, Voldemort has promised
Greyback that he will have human prey in exchange for his services.
Yet the Ministry over which Voldemort has taken control had previously
issued anti-werewolf legislation that would be harmful to a werewolf's
future job opportunities. Did Voldemort see to it that this
legislation was repealed thereby aiding his ability to recruit
additonal werewolves to his cause? And why set Bellatrix against
Tonks for marrying a werewolf?
>
> 6. What was the point of Gwarp? Did Hagrid
> having a half brother really matter? Did Gwarp
> improve the story (or Hagrid) much?
>
And what about Madame Maxim?
>
> 7. In book 2, Dobby is freed from the evil Malfoys
> because Lucius throws a yucky sock at him. Here,
> Kreacher mentions that Regulus gave him a locket.
> So wouldn't that have freed him from service to the
> Blacks or anyone else? This blows a big hole into
> the plot of Book 5, doesn't it? At the very least,
> Kreacher would have been free when Harry gave
> him a gift in this book, yet he still serves Harry.
> Tripping over the backstory again, I think.
>
Here I cut Rowling some slack since I don't consider a locket to be
the same as clothes, which is the gift that would've actually freed
Kreacher.
>
> 8. Is Griphook going to show up somewhere and
> demand the Griffindor sword back from the humans
> that "stole" it from him again?
>
I think that Griphook will find that the goblins' notion of ownership
are wrong, in this case. He and the other goblins will have to get
over it.
>
> 9. Despite all that Harry did, what really changed
> in the Wizarding world? Is there more equality for
> all magic races? Do houselves get more rights?
> We can't really tell at the end. I think not.
>
Good questions. I would dearly love to know the answers to them,
too. I suppose it's possible that Rowling will answer some of them if
she ever gets around to writing the Harry Potter Encyclopedia that
she's mentioned in a couple of her recent interviews.
>
> That got really long, thanks for reading my 11 cents on all things
> Harry Potter.
>
You raised some interesting points. I'm still mulling a few more
issues still, myself.
La Binsk
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