The Deathly Hallows SPOILER THREAD OF DOOM™

[Magmar]

GO AWAY IF YOU HAVENT READ IT YET!
seriously, bug off! you've been warned!

Just because probably half the members here have or plan on reading it.
But not all of you are done yet!
And we're all soooo eager to discuss the end of Potter.

So!

Who was it who used magic late in life, again? Was it Mrs. Weasley? She opened up a can of whoop-ass on Bellatrix. Now she can see thestrals!

I thought only two characters were going to die??? But Dobby, Fred, Lupin and Tonks all died! And Hedwig! I hate birds anyway.

How badass was Neville?? Seriously he's a champ. Lobbing off the head of Nagini with the sword, and since he pulled it out of the sorting hat, that makes him some sort of true Gryffindor, right?? Yuck, Harry, such awful baby names!

Soooo muuuch to discuss! Wish Harry could've gotten his NEWTs so he could become an Auror!

Snape wasn't evil in the end! YAY! I never thought he was.

I was also dead-on with what I thought the deathly hallows were. I was joking when I saw the British cover art and said "How funny would it be if they needed three talismans to create some sort of ultimate weapon?" You know, like in Sailor Moon S. Although I did say they'd be sword, mirror and jewel... I guess wand, invisibility cloak and stone were rather close.

I would've liked to see what happens when they combine...

And I wish Harry could've recognized that he didn't have the scar when he was dead...

But nevertheless let's start the intelligent debating now. Love it, hate it? Did you cry your eyes out at Dobby's funeral? Did you wish Neville and Luna would hook up instead of Dean and Luna? Were you not surprised that Neville became Herbology professor?

let's talk.

[ssj4supernerd]

Harry was dead


But survived. And Dumbledore was greedy, so he's badasssss!!!!!

[The_Missing_Link]

Book was pretty good, not as dark as the fifth and sixth, which made me happy. I thought the death of Fred, Tonks, and Lupin was sort of unnecessary but that's shock value for you. Only time I teared up was when Harry confronted the ghosts in the forest and apologized to Lupin. That was almost on par as when Sirius died

Knew Snape would die - that was pretty much a given. I also knew that he was on the side of good and his whole history came out nicely. You finally see his human side and start to sympathize with his cause


If there's one part of the book that I could change around a little, it would be the epilogue. Knowing who ends up with who is nice and all but names are thrown around everywhere and it seems so rushed. What happened to Luna, Dean, Kingsley, and the others? The only thing that's said about Ted Lupin is that he's kissing Victorie, who I'm assuming is Bill and Fleur's daughter. Does he live with them or with someone else, such as Tonks's mother?

The rest of the book was written perfectly but it seems like the epilogue was tacked on to please the majority of the readers. While it is pleasing, it just leaves you slightly frustrated and wanting to know more

[mistysakura]

Mm... delicious... Actually, Magmar, JKR said two characters who she didn't intend to die ended up dying, but has been misquoted since as saying only two characters die. With that out of the way...

I agree that the epilogue was really rushed. If, as she said, she wrote it ages ago, it shows. Going right back to Philosopher's Stone sophistication there, man. Actually, I thought that with the exception of Draco, all the main characters in the epilogue were a bit bland and indistinct, like they didn't need personalities any more. I think that the last chapter was the perfect ending.

I absolutely loved how everything fitted together, how everything from previous books came back and all teh little details we forgot about contributed to the eventual outcome. Makes you astounded at the intricacy of it all. And all the characters coming back: Griphook, Dobby... Kreacher's turning point was one of the highlights for me.

I thought JKR did a really good job with the emotions in this one. My favourite chapter was The Forest Again, the one where Harry prepares to die. Very beautifully done, although it probably won't be as good upon rereading because, well, we know he doesn't die. On the other hand, reading all Dumbledore said about it made the significance of what Harry dig deeper into me, so I guess I'll never know. The tension building up in the trio's journey was done well too.

The Deathly Hallows were actualyl a pretty cool concept. Usually that sort of myth thing wouldn't appeal to me because I'd just be thinking 'random artefacts that exist for the plot's sake', but the concept of knowing them and not seeking them leading Harry to be the true master was great.

I seriously didn't think Harry would be a Horcrux. At least not because Voldemort accidentally making him into one, because that's way complex magic. But his soul being so mutiliated it split of his own accord I can understand.

Some of the happenins at the end seemed a bit forced though, especially why Harry didn't die, and all teh stuff about a bit of Voldemort going into Harry's wand. I thought Lily's protection faded when Harry came of age anyway? I don't know, it seemed like a lot of things explained by Dumbledore were just due to little loopholes, which wasn't satisfying.

Yeah, it wasn't as dark, strangely despite having a lot more deaths. But that could be because there were so many deaths we grew a bit numb, especially at the end when not a lot of time was given to each death. But that's how it is in war, I guess. I still wish JKR had written about George living on without Fred though; that would really have hit home. And I knew Snape was good, yay! I like how he still fitted the Slytherin mould, how he was still self-serving, how he did everything not for 'good' but for Lily.

That felt like a really messed-up FFRO review. I should do the work I've been neglecting for days now.

[Andrew]

I flicked to the last page so I could see what the last word was... it wasn't scar...

I only saw the last sentence, and from there HARRY DIDN'T DIE!

I also KNEW Harry had a Horacrux in him! KNEW IT!

But, I was a bit confused as to what all the other Horacruxes were... Cup, Locket, Ravenclaw headdress, diary, Harry, snake and...?

But, failing that, dear Luna was awesome. Poor Dobby. Neville really came of age, poor fellow.

But overall, I felt I was dragged along with 3 bickering teenagers and it was PAINFUL. Up until the whole Hogwarts battles. Loved it. Plus, putting Dumbledore on a FUCKING PEDISTAL. One of my least favourite characters, and they really really put a lot of time into him and built him up. Ugh.

Failing that, the Mrs Weasley Smackdown = AWESOME.

Harry's Kids Names - AWFUL.

Ron+Hermonie - Okay. THeir kids?

Also, I'll miss dear Fred, Tonks and... George's ear.

[Magmar]

The other Horcrux was Marvolo's ring. =P

Dobby T_______________T;;;

[Chris 2.1]

It was an awesome book. I loved it. The Hogwarts battle really stuck out to me - everything from McGonagall sending a pack of tables tearing down the corridor to Trelawney hurling Crystal Balls made me smile.

The adventure was odd. So much time was spent getting the Locket, and the other Horcruxes seemed to require little problem solving but it was a minor flaw. The assumption a Horcrux was in Gringotts [well it was more than an assumption, but you know] seemed a bit silly, and while the diadem had been seen in HP6, and it was quite easily found, I thought it was clever where it was hidden.

Some scenes (particularly the death scenes in the Hogwarts battle) required me to read them back a few times. I didn't comprehend Crabbe had died until I re-read it a few times. Same with Fred. But I can honestly say I didnt expect ANY of the deaths in the entire book. I thought Hagrid and McGonagall were definite. Or Molly/Arthur.

Other things like Dudley, Kreacher and Malfoy's change in character culminated in this book. Dudley's goodbye was fantastic, it really really touched me. And Malfoy seemed somewhat changed, too. Kreacher's attitude seemed to stretch a bit too much but it was fantastic seeing these stereotypical dicks become quite different.


So Petunia WANTED to be a witch? Is that the big thing we were gonna learn about her?


And Harry having his mothers eyes, how was that important? Did they remind Snape that Harry was Lily's son as much as Jameses or something?


Dumbledore being revealled to ALREADY be dying made everything fit into place. I thought Snape's memories were a bit shoved down my throat, fitting them together in a single chapter all next to each other but it was the only way we could learn it all. Snape's love for Lily was interesting.

I didn't care about Dumbledore's back story to be perfectly honest, it seemed irrelevant although it carry some importance. The Deathly Hallows too, in retrospect, seemed like they didn't need to feature in the story for everything to be resolved. Does anyone agree? Especially since they didn't come into effect as much as I expected...

...but seeing Luna's dad made me laugh. And allt he characters patronuses. For some reason that always intrigues me.

A great book, although a lot of it was arduous what with it being about the trio spending a lot of time doing nothing. Overall a fantastic end to the trilogy, I just wish Harry thought of some original names instead of naming his kids after various dead people. I know its supposed to be.....meaningful, and a metaphor, but Albus Severus Potter!?

I'd also like to know what happened to Hogwarts (it got THRASHED in that battle), the various staff members, the weasleys, etc etc. We didn't see anything of George when Fred died, which was sad.

And to be honest, did Lupin and Tonks need to die? I mean having an orphaned kid of two wizards is a nice throwback to Harry but he seemed pretty emotionally stable, kissing that french ginger girl.

[woz]

i honestly thought it was pretty poor. their "adventure" consisted of staying in a tent, using polyjuice potion and the invisibility cloak (how original), then getting caught and miraculously escaping many times. the battle wasn't that bad, but overall i didn't like the book and the future epilogue seemed like it was plucked straight from internet fanfiction. :(

[Magmar]

I felt sooo bad for the Weasleys. Too much shit happened to that family in this war. I would've liked to see, perhaps, a final, final chapter, you know, after the "last" (but not epilogue) chapter, or perhaps a little more detail about what happened with the Weasleys. Mama Weasley opened up a can of whooooop-ass on that Bellatrix bitch though. Why did it have to be George's ear? Why not Lupin? Or Mundungus, the git. Too much happened that one family.

[Gavin Luper]

Well, I absolutely loved the book, it was awesome. Would've been hard to finish all of that off in the space she gave herself, so well done to JK Rowling, it was a brilliant read.

I particularly loved Dudley's goodbye, the initial chase scene (I didn't anticipate that kind of action so early in the book), and the suddenness of the Ministry's fall, just like that. That actually caught me off guard.

Did anyone else get freaked out when Hermione claimed never to have performed a Memory Charm? She said that in that cafe on Tottenham Court Road, but back at the Burrow she said she modified her parents' memory and made them move to Australia! That had me thinking she'd been imperiused for the next hundred pages...

I thought the middle section of the book, the search for Horcruxes, was actually done well. I disagree that this book wasn't as dark as the last two: I actually felt it was darker, purely because the situation looked entirely bleak. The lethargy of moving around in that tent was quite depressing, too, so it really felt like a dark, moody kind of book.

At least, until the whole Battle of Hogwarts thing. What an ending. I was really impressed by that battle sequence - and you can kind of tell they won't get anywhere near as good at depicting it in the film. The DA's resistance was awesome, I knew they would keep going; McGonagall's charms were cool. But the House Elves with knives and Trelawney dropping crystal balls on Greyback's head - that's brilliant.

Mrs Weasley's duel against Bellatrix was just about the best thing in the book, too. Other than Harry's walk to the death - though I couldn't believe he wouldn't say SOMETHING to Ron and Hermione. And the final scene ... wow.

I feel sorry for Snape though. Kinda thought he would be good at the end, but I was never sure.

The last chapter was perfect, I thought another short chapter to finish it off would've been maybe better than the epilogue, because it does still leave you with a lot of questions. But given the way Rowling chose to write the epilogue, I really like it. It would've been totally contrived if they'd namedropped every survivor in one scene, nineteen years later. I liked how it was simply a little snapshot of Harry, Ginny, Ron, Hermione and their kids living a normal, peaceful life well after the war.

All in all - (how many more times can I say this?) - I really loved this book. One of the best I've read. Congrats and thanks to Jo Rowling for the whole series; I've got so much enjoyment and thought out of it.

[Shuppet Master]

Well, I read it in one night. (snore) But I can't put down a book that is really gripping, especially this one. I wanted to know the ending.

I knew the last book would only include Hogwarts in a few chapters. Harry's quest was to travel the country and find the Horcruxes, not to attend classes. He's a man now, he can decide not to take the last year of schooling if he so chooses. (He probably made it up later, anyways. :D)

I felt sorry for Xenophilius(tran: "alien lover") Lovegood. The Death Eater are as bad as you can get - holding hostages to force dissedents to obey them, oppressing the masses, taking over the government a la Hitler. It reminded me of the Third Reich.

I also felt sorry for Kreacher - he had been mean in the fifth book, but then Harry befriended him and he became nice...but I was glad to see him show up in Hogwarts and kick ass with the other elves. Poor Dobby, his final act was to save Harry with his own body from the knife.

Wicked wicked Griphook, stealing the sword like that! But it came back to the Sorting Hat, showing that it truely belonged to Godric and not the goblins.

I knew Harry was okay when he was hit at the end and he had to feign death long enough to strike, and I felt angry too when Neville almost became a candle, but then "we're mad and we're not taking it anymore!" and everyone lurched forward and showed they were not surrendering even though they thought Harry was dead. Shows their loyalty, and the centaurs joined in too.

I was stunned to hear an actual cuss word from Mrs. Weasly in the final fights. There goes the "Kids" rating for the series. (Laughs)

Overall, the book was awesome and I liked Voldy's death scene. He made the same stupid mistake he made in his rebirth and first fight with Harry, and he paid for it with his life, again. Go to Hell, snake-face. :p

[Mega Horny]

Bellatrix Lestrange got WTFPwned.
I found a lot of parts of the book pretty predictable, such as mad eyes death (the chapter was titled fallen warrior, so it couldn't have been Mundungus) as well as Harry being a Horcrux and Snape having the doe as his Patronus. Also, i thought Voldemorts death was a bit anti-climactic. Otherwise, I LOVED THE BOOK. IT WAS AWESOME. Too bad Yaxley died, though. He should have been minister of magic.

I was so surprised that Dumbledore died, though. And Snape is a half-blood...who would have guessed?

All in all, i think the book needed a bit more swordfish, but it was great.

[Weasel Overlord]

You predicted Snape having the doe patronus?! Impressive.

But oh my word. I started it at like, 6am this morning. (due to my extended stay at the house of one Vulpix.ck, we had a pact to not read the book until I left for home, which happened to be at about 6am today)

Bad experiences with plane-airsickness caused lots of pauses in my reading experience, and then various other necessary transport-switchings lead to me actually finishing it about 12 hours after starting, which is certainly a horrendously poor record for me. (although I went for my hair cutting in between as well as being dragged shopping with mum ><)

I was very satisfied with how JK ended it all. And YAY! I KNEW Snapey was good! :D This makes me happy. And I've read a bit of Snape being in love with Lily in my fanfic lately anyway, so that concept wasn't all too alien. I really loved the way we got some backstory on poor Severus too. It was lovely finally seeing those secret meetings with Dumbledore, and especially sweet having all my theories on WHY he was good being proved. XD

I loved the way that it all just dived into the action, as well. Poor Hedwig's death was the first time I cried, I was more in shock for Mad-Eye, Dobby hit me SO hard, then Fred, Remus and Tonks ARGH! (short pause to grumble for the lack of Remus/Sirius shippage in the canon) Poor Remoo. *sob*

Thing was though, I thought that after a while, all the deaths just kinda... lost their import. They stopped having such a HUGE effect on me after so many. And hah, I saw an interview with her on Jonathon Ross and she mentioned how everyone presumed that only two people would die. She said it was a bloodbath. And how right she was. (since, you know, she's the author and all, heh)

Urm, lemme see. I'm with Chris on liking all the Patronuses too. I love seeing what each persons' will be.

Molly totally kicked arse, the house elves kicked arse at the end, (I LOVED seeing them knifing Death Eaters in the knees :D :D :D)...

And now... now I have to come to terms with the fact that it's all over. No more Potter. *cries*

I reckon I'm gonna read it again when I go to bed tonight. Or at least, the ending few chapters, so it really absorbs. Cos I got made to put shopping in the cupboards when I was in the middle of reading the big Hogwarts battle. I swear, my parents are EVIL!

[Mega Horny]

You predicted Snape having the doe patronus?! Impressive.

Snape was the character with easiest acess to the sword, and I imagined he'd end up being a big softie at the books finish, so that made sense. Plus, he was the only character 'in the loop' (i.e. Not Hagrid or Minerva) whose patronus hand't been seen yet. And if it were any other character, they'd likely have their patronus talk to Harry as well as lead it to the sword.

[Magmar]

But can Patronuses (Patroni?) really talk?

[Phoenixsong]

I already ranted about this on another forum, so I'll just be conceited and quote meself, shall I?


Read the whole thing on Saturday, took me maybe a total of twelve hours. Yay. Started in the morning after we got back from Borders, couldn't sleep so I read from about 1 to 6:30 AM, and then intermittently the rest of the day. Hooray for sleep deprivation.

I liked it, yeah, but... eh, I think the sixth was the best, personally. The first books just had something... fresher and more original about them; this one was the same "OMG let's send a couple of kids traipsing through the woods on a quest for the magical sword and the magical items that will kill the Giant Scary Evil Dark Man" that's in EVERY OTHER FANTASY BOOK OUT THERE. Awfully cliché, a lot of it was. Now, the individual moments of the story were entertaining... except the action scenes (like when the seven Harrys (nice touch, btw, that was) get ambushed by the Death Eaters and Moody and Hedwig died and everything was all BANG FLASH POW EVERYTHING'S MOVING SO FAST I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT'S GOING ON OMG HEDWIG DIED WHEN DID THAT HAPPEN DIDN'T THEY JUST TAKE OFF?)... I hate action that moves so fast it's confusing. That kind of thing is brain-murder to a speed-reader like me. I reread that chapter about three times before I could figure anything out. Yeah.

I'm really upset that Moody, Tonks, Lupin and Fred had to die... I mean, she could have at least killed George and left the not-disfigured one alive. But Lupin just got so cute towards the end... that was evil, killing him RIGHT after that scene where he got all hyper about the baby picture. I mean, c'mon... it was so cute and so hilarious when they're all about to march off to the war of the century and he randomly says "Here--I've got a picture!" and shows all these people about to go out and probably get killed his color-changing baby. That made him WAY too cute to kill ;_; I am now compelled to draw a picture of this fuzzy-looking wolf with a cute baby picture in his mouth. Because that was ADORABLE and it needs (slightly illogical but who cares) FANART It's sad that Hedwig died, too, but I can see why she did it; what use would Hedwig have been in this story? It was far too dangerous for Harry, Ron and Hermione to communicate by owl; the only other alternatives would have been to keep her locked up, which would have been cruel, or for Harry to let her go. Okay, she could have done that, but oh, well, she didn't. At any rate, Hedwig couldn't stay around.

The epilogue... was smarmy and amateur fanfic-ish beyond all reasoning. I did like it, though, because Harry and Ginny have some cute kids. Their names are kind of retarded--Albus Severus because who names their kid that, and Lily and James because that's really cliché and James's name isn't Fred like it was supposed to be--but they're still adorable.

Didn't care for the ending, either. Again, too cliché. Even the part before the final confrontation was all full of quick descriptions of OMG let's all suddenly be able to overpower the Death Eaters in an amusing manner that, again, is in EVERY fantasy book that involves a ragtag, good-guy army. I was seriously all like, "Matthias's battle with Cluny all over again, wtf?" (Redwall reference, ignore it) And maybe I'm the only one who thinks this, but I was REALLY annoyed by the fact that everything went almost perfectly according to Dumbledore's plans. It was like Dumbledore sat down and wrote the script on day one, and it pretty much all panned out exactly that way. That's waaaay too controlled... it was almost like Harry had nothing to do with it. I mean, granted, he had to find the courage and love and blah within himself to do all of that stuff, but Dumbledore knew he would. Harry, who was supposed to be the big hero, had absolutely no control over it; he was Dumbledore's pawn. And... ugh. I really didn't appreciate that, personally.

The final confrontation did have one redeeming point, however, and that point also happens to be the BEST line in the entire series, even better than "Here--I've got a picture!" out of nowhere. This line will remain with me for the rest of my life. I am pleased to announce that Molly Weasley is now officially my favorite Harry Potter character. She is a sweet, loving mother, concerned about children who aren't even her own, a staunch supporter of all that is good, and she screams, "NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!" out loud in front of a whole bunch of people. Yes. I died when I read that. Best. Line. Ever. Seriously. And then she subsequently beats the living bejeezus out of Bellatrix Lestrange, which is pretty much just as pwnful. Makes me want a hand-knitted sweater, that does.

My two cents, there you go.

And yes, I agree with everyone who said the middle dragged like hell. Throwing in one confusing action scene in the middle of "tramp, tramp, boring, tramp" does not break up the monotony. It only serves to make my brain hurt, especially when you go straight back to the boring. I know that it really shows Harry, Ron and Hermione as "real teenagers" or whatever, and that's true and all, but I don't like angsty people and the constant bitch-bitch-bitch got on my nerves. Then again, if they'd all been completely together and happy the entire time, it would have been even worse. The lesser of two evils, I suppose.

By the way, I think that Molly Weasley's beauteous pwnage of Bellatrix is the favorite moment of absolutely every Potter reader on the internet. Which it should be. WIN.

[mistysakura]

I actually really liked the middle which people found so boring. I thought it really showed that in war, action doesn't happen every day (well meaningful action doesn't happen every day), and a lot of it's pointless waiting, waiting, bonding, bickering... it reminded me a lot of the Tomorrow Series by John Marsden, which I love. About the epilogue:


“But it didn’t work very well as a piece of writing,” Rowling said. “It felt very much that I had crowbarred in every bit of information I could … In a novel you have to resist the urge to tell everything.”

Couldn't have put it better myself. But if it didn't work well, why didn't you rewrite it? Fanfic writers have had more effort than that.

Oh yeah, and the moment Remus brought out the picture of Ted I knew he was dead. I've read too many war stories.

Also, yeah perhaps it was a bit cliche that they had to go and find the magical objects to kill teh Drak Lord. But I still thought it more original and plausible than heaps of other fantasy quests where the artefacts to defeat the bad guys exist for absolutely no reason. They're just sitting there waiting for the protagonists to put them to use. At least we knew Voldemort himself had created the Horcruxes, contributing to his own downfall. But the other reason I didn't mind the searching for objects quest was that the 'plots' of the other books were fresh, all right, but really random. In this one the trio actually had a goal.

[Magmar]

I still want to know who it was that used magic late in life. I'm very confused about that. Does anyone want to shed some light on the area?

[Phoenixsong]

I'm not entirely convinced that that happened, personally. Stuff did get changed around and misinterpreted, after all.

[Mega Horny]

By the way, I think that Molly Weasley's beauteous pwnage of Bellatrix is the favorite moment of absolutely every Potter reader on the internet. Which it should be. WIN.

Well, that was an awesome moment, but I gotta say, my favorite Harry Potter moment was probably one of the following:

Harry calling Voldemort Tom Riddle.
Neville cutting off Nagini's head.
Ron punching Malfoy from under the cloak and calling him a two-faced bastard.
Anytime Ron says 'Oi!'

[Chris 2.1]

I read an interesting post-Book 7 article on www.mugglenet.something from J.K. She mentioned the following:

-The character who got a reprieve was Arthur Weasley; he was originally going to die in Book 5
"Lupin and Tonks were two who were killed who I had intended to keep alive. … It's like an exchange of hostages, isn't it? And I kept Mr. Weasley (Ron's father) alive. He was slated to die in the very, very original draft of the story."

-The headteacher of Hogwarts is an entirely new person (ie a current staff member didnt get a promotion or anything)

-Re: the last chapter
The author was shooting for “nebulous,” something “poetic.” She wanted the readers to feel as if they were looking at Platform 9¾ through the mist, unable to make out exactly who was there and who was not.

-Rowling said her original epilogue was “a lot more detailed,” including the name of every child born to the Weasley clan in the past 19 years. (Victoire is Bill and Fleur’s eldest.)

As for his occupation, Harry, along with Ron, is working at the Auror Department at the Ministry of Magic. After all these years, Harry is now the department head.

“Harry and Ron utterly revolutionized the Auror Department,” Rowling said. “They are now the experts. It doesn’t matter how old they are or what else they’ve done.”

Meanwhile, Hermione, Ron’s wife, is “pretty high up” in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, despite laughing at the idea of becoming a lawyer in “Deathly Hallows.”

“I would imagine that her brainpower and her knowledge of how the Dark Arts operate would really give her a sound grounding,” Rowling said.

Harry, Ron and Hermione don’t join the same Ministry of Magic they had been at odds with for years; they revolutionize it and the ministry evolves into a “really good place to be.”

“They made a new world,” Rowling said.



-Luna Lovegood, the eccentric Ravenclaw who was fascinated with Crumple-Horned Snorkacks and Umgubular Slashkilters, continues to march to the beat of her own drum.

“I think that Luna is now traveling the world looking for various mad creatures,” Rowling said.

-About DADA: That position is now as safe as the other teaching posts at Hogwarts, since Voldemort’s death broke the jinx that kept a Defense Against the Dark Arts professor from remaining for more than a year.



Thought you might like to see :)


What I don't get:
-Who performed essential desperate life-saving magic? Was it the thing Harry did to Voldemort in the chase at the start?

-Why was Harry's eyes being like Lily's important? (I see Albus Severus has those same bloody eyes, too)

-I FINALLY understand the secret of Petunia: she wanted to go to Hogwarts but wasn't allowed, which is why she despises wizards. And in HP5, "that awful boy" she mentioned was Severus, not James.

[Mew2-formally known as Evee67-]

-Why was Harry's eyes being like Lily's important? (I see Albus Severus has those same bloody eyes, too)



It probably has something to do with Snape.

[Katie]

Snape is a half-blood...who would have guessed?

HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF BLOOD PRINCE http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z62/katie1899938/emot-psyduck.gif


Why was Harry's eyes being like Lily's important?
To build up to the whole "Look.. at.. me.." thing.



I wasn't entirely impressed with the book. For a good portion of it I was wondering why she didn't title the book "Harry Potter and the Teleporting Campsite"

I have to admit I was an absolute sucker for the action scenes though. Rowling's awesome character development really showed during those; it was easy to put together a really clear picture of the battles, which were epic.

I didn't like how a lot of it was 100% predictable. Most all fans predicted all the MAJOR TWIST!! plot points: Snape killed Dumbledore on his orders, Snape loves Lily, Harry is a horcrux, RAB is Regulus Black, the locket at Sirius's is a horcrux, etc etc etc... I was kind of hoping she would put in a big twist that tied everything together, but still surprised everyone. Oh well.

Most of the death I could have gone without. I teared up for Hedwig and Fred, killing them was just cold blooded you stupid bitch :swear:. Lupin/Tonks was pointless, but I was never very attached. Moody went just as I'd imagine most militaryish hard-asses would - fighting the bad guys. Dobby's death rounded out his character real well: eager to please no matter what it takes, and Colin Creevey's was as well: annoyingly hyper and intrusive, but with his heart in the right place.

Also, it needed a final chapter. You don't just kill the bad guy then roll credits. What would've been cool was the last chapter being the next issue of the Daily Prophet, detailing the rebuilding of Hogwarts, making everyone repeat their last year at Hogwarts because it didn't count (and H/R/H could get their NEWTS to become lawyers and aurors), complete revamp of the ministry, new minister, Umbridge being sacked, Rita Skeeter being found out about being an unregistered animagus and thrown in jail, same with the theif and as-good-as-murderer Mundungus, new guards for Azkaban, obituaries for all who died on both sides (Did every last death eater except the Malfoys die?) etc etc. That way she could tie up her loose ends, please all her fans, and still be a respectable author or whatever she was bitching about.

Sometime when I have time I'm going to have to go back and read every book in a row, I'd like to see all the little planted hints and stuff. :)

[Zak]

Harry's eyes were important, because Snape probably couldn't stand looking at someone with James' features stealing Lily's eyes, though most people would be capable of getting over something like that.

Also, the person performing magic late in life, according to JKR she changed her mind about that by the time she finished writing PoA.

My take on the book... granted it was fun, and I enjoyed the whole adventure aspect of it. However, the very end ruined it for me, and as much as I enjoyed reading it, it sorta made me look at the whole book and the whole series in a different way for having lead up to it.


With everyone's wild theories and raves over how everything would unfold, that last bit of the last chapter and the epilogue sorta made it seem like a children's series all over again. It seemed like it was ripped out of internet fanfiction like someone above said. And the names... ugh. At least Ron came up with some original names that were never used.
One quote that I found a bit stupid was after they say "Send Longbottom our love" one of the kids goes "But he's a Hogwarts professor, I can't just go up and give a professor love". I mean come on, any seven-year-old would know what they mean, I'm pretty sure that quote was put there just as a way to tell us that ZOMG GASP NEVILLE IS A PROFESSOR. She could have used plenty of other ways to reveal that information.


Also, I know the Dursleys aren't that close, with chapter 3 being the last we see of them before they are temporarily going into hiding with two other wizards... and thats it? I mean, we know they didn't stay there forever, and despite the fact that they're Muggles and not Harry's biggest fan, shouldn't they at least have some sort of take on what's going on after the "Lord Voldything" is defeated? We were JUST starting to see some character devlopment in Dudley, as well as the others, showing respect to Kingsley and all, and because of that I was expecting there to be at least one other mention of what the Dursleys were up to, but that's the last we see of them... how sad. That's a loose end if I ever saw one. I find it a little hard to believe that between the last chapter and the epilogue, Harry had no interaction with them after he went out of the way to make sure they were safe. IMO she might have planned to have something with them but forgot or decided to leave it out, or, she could have given them a scene without Harry just to show what they were up to, hell, they got that at the very beginning and Voldemort did as well a couple times.

But if the series is left with any loose ends, that's definitely the biggest one.

[Gavin Luper]

I think JK Rowling left out anything about the Dursleys intentionally. It would've been seriously contrived to tie up every loose end at once, wouldn't it? It wouldn't read very well, just like being bombarded with information. Besides, let's face it, Harry didn't like any of them very much. I like how Rowling ended it all, with no loose ends really in the plot but with plenty left to the imagination in terms of the fate of the characters, etc.

Also, I'm fairly sure James was being sarcastic with that quote. That's the impression you get of him, that he's kind of a smart alec trouble-maker type, like his grandfather or something. I don't imagine for a second that James was baffled by the terminology of 'giving someone love' - it seemed like an obvious joke.

[Mega Horny]

HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF BLOOD PRINCE http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z62/katie1899938/emot-psyduck.gif

You do realize I was kidding...?

Chris, good find there. And I'd completetly forgotten about 'that awful boy' from book 5, but I remember now. Maybe it was in the movie, which I didn't see?

And I also just realized that if you switch around the last two letters in Gavin's name, it's Gaver Lupin. :O

[Gavin Luper]

And I also just realized that if you switch around the last two letters in Gavin's name, it's Gaver Lupin. :O

You found out my secret! Hehe ... 'Luper' was actually inspired by Lupin in the first place, all those years ago now.

[Chris 2.1]

Good point about the eyes. I didn't realize JK scrapped the idea of magic in desperate circumstances, thanks for letting me know!

I quite liked the resolution of the gleam of triumph in Dumbledore's eyes. Why didn't I think of that?

(I'm re-reading Book 7 - just finished the escape from the Ministry. Ahh memories!)


Edit: More from J.K:

“I wanted to kill parents,” she said, quickly adding that sounded “terrible” to say. “I wanted there to be an echo of what happened to Harry just to show the absolute evil of what Voldemort's doing.”

The theme resonates throughout the books with the deaths of Sirius Black and Albus Dumbledore, Harry’s flawed father figures. And that’s why, in the Battle of Hogwarts, Remus Lupin, Harry’s only remaining father figure, and Nymphadora Tonks die, in the process creating another orphan in their son, Teddy.

“I think one of the most devastating things about war is the children left behind,” Rowling said. “As happened in the first war when Harry's left behind, I wanted us to see another child left behind. And it made it very poignant that it was their newborn son.”

Why Fred and not George?
Lupin and Tonks may have taken the fall for Arthur Weasley, but the entire Weasley clan could not be saved. Fred Weasley, one half of the fun-loving twins, was another casualty in the Battle of Hogwarts.

But why Fred and not his brother George?

“I always knew it was going to be Fred, and I couldn't honestly tell you why,” Rowling said.

Rowling guessed most people would have expected George to die before Fred because Fred was the ringleader, George the “gentler” twin.

“Fred is normally the funnier but also the crueler of the two. So they might have thought that George would be the more vulnerable one and, therefore, the one to die.”

She didn’t make her decision because it was easier to kill one twin over the other, however.

“Either one of them would have been terrible to kill,” she said. “It was awful killing Fred. I hated that.”

She hated it, but doesn’t regret it.

“The deaths were all very, very considered,” said Rowling. “I don't kill even fictional characters lightly”

*

Many fans feared for Hagrid’s safety in the run up to “The Deathly Hallows.”

Hagrid, actually, had been safe in Rowling’s mind from the very beginning. Before her first book, “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” was even published, Rowling planned for Hagrid to carry Harry out of the forest at the end of “Deathly Hallows,” believing that Harry was dead.

“It was very significant,” Rowling said. “Hagrid brings Harry from the Dursleys. He takes him into the wizarding world … He was sort of his guardian and his guide ... And now I wanted Hagrid to be the one to lead Harry out of the forest.”



I agree with the Teddy Tonks thing...I can't remember off the top of my head but did Tonks parents both die, too? I know they were tortured. It does reflect in a way; harry is in a happy family and sees Teddy, orphaned at a young age. It's sad really :(

[Katie]

You do realize I was kidding...?
Guess I missed the joke, as the previous sentence is something practically half of all HP fans were assuming was just a trick of the light or something. :)

Not plot related, but this (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter_and_the_Deathly_Hallows#Sales) portion of the book's wiki is just completely blowing me away. Incredible.

[AdventureSerum]

I feel like the epilogue was tagged onto the end so the rabid fanfitioners wouldn't have to make up names. JK knows as well as we do that hordes of crazy preteen wannabe writers are going to write whole series... serieses (what's the plural of series? Anyone?) about those ridiculously-named children in their whole seven-year school experience... And I know for a fact that about fifty thousand of those crazy people are going to hook up Scorpius and Albus Severus. Or at least make them have a duel to decide who has the more ridiculous name. Fanfics are weird.