[QUOTE=merrily]
The ethnic cleansing angle was not only heavy-handed (esp. with the last great evil wizard being defeated in 1945) but as soon as it came up, essentially all the other prejudice against non-wizard beings took a back seat.
[/quote]
Weren’t there references to muggles being killed?
Buckbeak is explicitly mentioned.
Who said they didn’t?
It was Victoire, which is French for Victory
Isn’t this a borrow from a horror story?
Hear hear.
[QUOTE=Bites When Provoked]
And now I feel mischievously gleeful that someone, somewhere, is probably naming a child Nymphadora. 
It’s a *pretty *name!
[/QUOTE]
HP is actually the main reason that our daughter’s middle name isn’t Bellatrix. We had decided to use the name of a star, and we really liked that one, but didn’t want to give her a name that was “evil”. (We went with Maia instead, if anyone cares.)
I also predict a small surge of real-life Albuses. Probably not Severuses, though.
[QUOTE=merrily]
–The ethnic cleansing angle was not only heavy-handed
[/QUOTE]
I didn’t find it heavy handed, but it really creeped me out, much more so than anything else Voldemort did. All through the series he acted like a safely fictional supervillian, but this logical consequence of his racial supremacist agenda was disturbingly real. And then I was just confused, because I realized I was feeling outraged and horrified at an atrocity committed against a fictional class of a fictional people.
I would have liked to have seen Umbridge fall victim to the bureaucracy she had committed herself to. In all likelihood, she probably wrangled her way back into a Ministry position after the war and continued her odious ways right until she reached retirement age.
[QUOTE=Brain Wreck]
(snipped)
That’s all I can think of for now…
[/QUOTE]
Big ditto over here. For all intents and purposes they might just as well have set up a system where anyone who gets sorted into Slytherin is summarily rejected (hell, we even got a “Slytherin’s Monster” that kills STUDENTS!)
And it goes for the politicians as well. They have no function but to stand in the way of the truly important people (Good/Evil) who have to divert their attention briefly to control the Government. I mean… would it have killed her to give the last Minister a brief moment of unselfishness, even as he gets killed?
[QUOTE=NajaNivea]
First, I’m not reading a single word of this thread yet, as I’m only a couple hundred pages in. I just wanted to say that I’m surprised and tickled by how funny this book is. I just had to set the book down and stop reading because I was completely overcome with a fit of the giggles over Hermione’s “Merlin’s pants!” and the subsequent “and what in the name of Merlin’s most baggy Y fronts was that about?”
[/QUOTE]
And the tender reunion between Ron and Hermione, where they are about (you think) to rush together and embrace -
And she starts punching him. Perfect!
But overall -
I am completely, utterly blown away. Got the book about 3:00am, slept until about 9:00, finished it last night about 10:00. My legs are sore, because I took the book to the gym with me to read on the Stairmaster, and I kept hitting the timer to get five more minutes to finish a chapter. Between that, and the walk to and from the book store, ouch!
But what a spectacular book!
But, as I said, I read it straight thru, rather fast, but I missed something. If Dopers can help me out (my wife and daughter are currently reading all available copies) -
Why did Dumbledore see himself with thick, woolen socks, in the Mirror of Erised? What was the reference?
Regards,
Shodan
[QUOTE=DiggitCamara]
I mean… would it have killed her to give the last Minister a brief moment of unselfishness, even as he gets killed?
[/QUOTE]
Didn’t she? I thought he was tortured to give up Harry’s location and died without doing so.
Generally quite enjoyable, even with its various problems. I had the opportunity to discuss the series with some high schoolers while in line the other night, which reminded me that I’m not the target audience for the book (yes, I’m “12 and up”, but still), and while I think “Harry, you dumbass!,” that’s from a middle-aged person’s perspective. Yes, I’d stay at a Motel 6 (though that’s too expensive for teens) and possibly be more clever. However, JKR nicely captured the tension between “we’ve got to do something, guys!!” and “oh, shit, we’re teenagers.” In addition, I figured out much of the action easily and early, and that’s true for most young adult literature I read. My teenaged acquaintances, however, were generally as narrowly fixated on their ideas, even in the face of contradiicting evidence, as Harry et al. were.
I admit, I didn’t enjoy it all that much. To be honest, reading it was kinda boring - evey five minutes, some completely random event happened which had never been foreshadowed so that she could “dramatically reveal!” the secret later. Which she crammed intpo the ending, which bored me considerably. Magic coming from nowhere and nothing. The book is a walking array of deus ex machine.
Plus, I have to say that Voldemort just plain sucks. He’s an idiot and his followers are none too bright either. How in the world did this moron take over the place, ever?
[QUOTE=Mr. Goob]
The Peverell brothers created the ring, wand and cloak. The line from one brother that Harry decended from passed along the cloak. Another brother begat the the Riddle family who passed along the ring.
[/QUOTE]
Not the Riddle family. That was Voldemort’s muggle side. The family descended from the Peverells were the Gaunts.
[QUOTE=Shodan]
Why did Dumbledore see himself with thick, woolen socks, in the Mirror of Erised? What was the reference?
[/QUOTE]
Dumbledore lied. The answer to what Dumbledore really sees is in the King’s Cross chapter:
[QUOTE=eleanorigby]
(snip)
I still don’t get how the sword got from the LeStrange’s vault into the Sorting Hat for Neville. Anyone have any ideas? (I may have missed that bit).
[/QUOTE]
Even that had a precedent, didn’t it? In “Chamber of Secrets” the phoenix drops the Hat next to Harry and he pulls the Sword out of it. Something to do with true need and all that jazz…
another subtle note–how much Harry resembles Dumbledore. I really liked the mirror of erised touch. All AD and HP wanted was to belong to a family of loving people.
#1 son finished my book last night-he went to bed around 6 am, so I am free to read it again, but I won’t just yet. I have too much to do and am afraid that I’ll get sucked back into HP world. I’ll take it with me on my weekend vaca next week.
I know this was probably obvious to everyone but me, but I realized last night that Harry and Voldemort both returned from the dead and both had phoenix feathers in their wands.
Harry was worried when he got that wand that it was because he was intrinsically *like *Voldemort. But maybe it was just because he was destined, like Voldemort, for resurrection.
Thanks - I assume this means Dumbledore would have seen his sister alive in the Mirror.
Regards,
Shodan
[QUOTE=eleanorigby]
The sword/hat thing makes sense and since it’s Neville, I’ll let it go.
[/quote]
I was thinking that this is why the goblins think the sword was stolen. They probably keep seeking it out and getting it back, only to have it disappear and show up at Hogwarts every couple of centuries.
Also, the kids would have a trace on them, which means any time their parents did magic, the Ministry could find them.
I thought the Room of Requirement was a brilliant idea. When it’s introduced in Book 5, everyone seems to think that they’re the only one who knows about it, so it would make sense for Voldemort to think that as well.
[QUOTE=Weirddave]
Oh, I agree totally, and I have thought this for the entire series. Curses are scary and deadly and all, but they are essentially single shot weapons. The SAS could clear out the Death Eaters in a weekend without breaking a sweat.
Death Eater: "Avada…BOOM!
SAS: “grenade”
Kill lots of Death Eaters real fast that way.
(snip)
[/QUOTE]
Well… don’t know about that. Seems to me that it would be relatively easy to transfigure all powder in the vicinity into… dunno, H20?
Or confound the holder of the weapon?
Or Imperius one of them? Or, maybe, use a Shield Charm?
Something I forgot to mention yesterday, and which I’ve noticed that nobody else has mentioned – now we know why Molly is so overprotective. Her brothers were Gideon and Fabian Prewett, who were both killed by Death Eaters – they fought ‘like heroes,’ acording to Moody.
I’m still not over Fred’s death myself. I’m glad Rowling never showed us George’s reaction more explicitly – it nearly did me in just to read about the Weasley’s grouped around Fred’s body, with George kneeling at his head… I’m tearing up again just thinking about it.
[QUOTE=Shodan]
Thanks - I assume this means Dumbledore would have seen his sister alive in the Mirror.
Regards,
Shodan
[/QUOTE]
:smack:
I had assumed that Dumbledore would have seen that he hadn’ been the one to cast the curse that killed Ariana, but your way makes way more sense.
[QUOTE=DiggitCamara]
Well… don’t know about that. Seems to me that it would be relatively easy to transfigure all powder in the vicinity into… dunno, H20?
Or confound the holder of the weapon?
Or Imperius one of them? Or, maybe, use a Shield Charm?
[/QUOTE]
Guns are faster. And automatic. Let’s face it - the wizards in Harry Potter aren’t exactly top-notch aims. Their battles regularly come down to short range wand-waving; and they have no equivelant to a highly-trained elite special ops teams prepared for instant action with knowledge of room-clearing techniaues. They’d need two or three wizards along to watch out for invisible peeps or something, but thermographic sights and snipers would take care of most threats.
I noticed that nobody’s mentioned Trelawney. She was marvelous taking out Fenrir! And with a crystal ball, no less! Guess she wasn’t hiding in her tower drinking cooking sherry that night!