The Deathly Hallows SPOILER THREAD OF DOOM™

[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.

[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.



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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.