So, as Harry was getting angrier, and starting to use Cruciatus and Imperius curses, was anyone else expecting Voldy’s voice to echo inside his head
“Good, I can feel your anger. It makes you stronger. Come, join the Dark Side.”
Sorry, I must have missed that the first time around. I’ll look for it in the more leisurely re-read I’m treating myself to this week.
OMG. It took me forever to read through all 11 pages, and I actually did read through most of it. Ok, my two cents, though a lot of it’s been said:
- I too hate the “Christ analogy” applied to every damn thing. Many stories both before and after Christ have people dying & coming back; oftentimes they have nothing to do with Christ at all.
- Hedwig’s death, while sad, really woke me up to the fact that this was going to be a dark, dark book, with many deaths. I mean Hedwig was only the beginning, and if Rowling was willing to off that lovely owl, then who knows what would happen?
- I hated Fred’s death. It was the only part of the story which really annoyed me. Why not Percy? But it would have been kind of trite, him coming back in time to die for his family or something.
- The slow bits of the forest did bore me a bit, and I did yell at Harry a couple of times for being so angsty. Who wants to be a teen again?
- Kreacher’s turnaround seemed pat but I liked it.
- Lupin & Tonks! Lupin was one of my favorite characters, and now it seems like they were just set up for death. I would have preferred if Tonks died and Lupin became a very responsible father.
- I agree with the people who say Voldemort was coming specifically to kill Harry and didn’t often go out just to kill children. He came because of the prophecy.
- Hagrid is sent with Harry not necessarily because he has powers but because he is 100% faithful with no doubts. A weak point, to be sure, but I can excuse it.
- I’m also tired of whenever someone uses a money-grubbing character people say “Oh, she must be talking about Jews!”
- I loved Accio Hagrid!
And whoa, did I miss something? Rowling married?!
All in all I really liked the book and it was a satisfying ending… I plan to re-read the whole series now, slowly.
She married a surgeon soon after the books became super-popular. It probably would have stunned her beyond measure if a few years before Sybil Trelawney had told her “You will soon marry a surgeon… but be sure to sign a pre-nup to protect your wealth!” She’s had two babes with him to date, and an older daughter who was born soon after she began writing Potter.
No, but I actually was afraid that Voldy was going to torture Harry and Snape would suddenly turn on and kill his master.
And I actually liked the killing off of 2nd tier characters in the final (Lupin, Fred, etc.) because it’s a lot more believable than Tolkien, who imho had far too small a body count for the good guys. I do wish she’d had a chapter between the 2nd Battle of Hogwarts and 19 Years Later that dealt with the funerals, arrests, restructuring/repair of Hogwarts and the Ministry, etc… She’ll probably get lots of questions about afterwards issues when she goes on tour in the US in a few months (though she’s only doing 4 appearances).
Yeah, Tolkien’s death count was… well, Denethor and Boromir and King Théoden… and a bunch of bad guys (Saruman, Gollum, Sauron). And a bunch of people like Ellodan and Elrohir, sons of Elrond, who had no lines. Or Prince Whoositz, who has no lines, who showed up at Minas Tirith at the last minute with a thousand horses, who also have no lines. Or a tree. Basically, either they die explicitly in service to the plot, or they were characters in whom the audience has little emotional investment.
Oddly, I wasn’t bothered at all by Hedwig’s death. I thought, “Instant untraceable communication must be really inconvenient to the story line. I’ll bet Harry is going to be cut off from the outside world for a while, on his own.” Grieving over Hedwig would be like grieving over the transporters, shields, or warp engines of the Enterprise every time they go down to demonstrate the situation is serious.
I forgot to mention how fucking funny I found this comment from Arnold:
Cracked me right up!
I would really have liked that, too. I was surprised it wasn’t in there- quite a bit of the sixth book was devoted to the aftermath of Dumbledore’s death.
You could call it “The Scouring of Ottery St. Catchpole,” and it’d be cut from the movie.
I’d agree with you and with others who have made this critical assessment were JK Rowling not Catholic and/or not Christian. If she were a Hindu, for instance, it would be appropriate to find fault with persons trotting out “Harry’s just like Jesus, only British, and a wizard, and snogging Ginny” but IIRC, in interviews while working on this book she specifically stated that she would incorporate aspects of her Christian faith into it. Ergo, the Christ analogy is appropriate.
In my humble opinion, of course. YMMV and all that and you’re welcome to disagree with me.
Oops. Make that Episcopalian, according to this article. I’ll still stand by my main point, though.
I s’pose I wasn’t really complaining so much about HP then, but the fact that every time someone dies and comes back in any kind of plot it’s a “Christ allegory”. My posts are disjointed because I actually had to make notes while I read the thread, it was so long! So I am answering people’s ongoing conversations and not so much the very first point made.
No worries. I, too, am frustrated when peoples of a certain faith attempt to spin literature to support their orthodoxy or religious viewpoints.
I thought she was making fun of Swiss bankers, and I was filled with righteous indignation. Thank God it was only the Jews.
Wouldn’t another reason be that the Death Eaters would dismiss Hagrid as a halfbreed blundering fool? They’d figure Harry would be sent with the baddest-ass of the Order, or anyone more competent than Hagrid.
[off to check]
Ah. Mad-Eye and his fake Harry get hit by Voldemort first, right as the seven pairs are breaking out.
Kingsley Shacklebolt reports being chased by five Death Eaters, then Voldemort shows up but suddenly breaks off pursuing him and his decoy and disappears.
Hagrid/real Harry have only four Death Eaters chasing them until Harry reveals himself with his disarming spell.
So I’d assume that Harry went with Hagrid precisely because the Order figured any Death Eaters keeping watch for an escape attempt would discount Hagrid as the Harry-carrier.
That’s how I read it too.
It is explicitly stated in the book somewhere that this is part of the plan - the most experienced aurors were expected to be attacked first, which is why Harry does not go with Mad-Eye Moody for example.
Harry Carrier? I would never have thought of Hagrid as the suicidal type. 
But seriously folks, you know that the Death Eaters are going to go after this group. Why have Harry with them at all? Send off the six Harrys as decoys, then sneak the real Harry (under cover of his cloak) off to the Burrow while the DE are chasing everyone on their brooms?
I really thought Mad-Eye and/or Kingsley would have been smart enough to think of something better.
Also because they know Hagrid isn’t an impostor. No true pureblood Death Eater would want to impersonate one, and Polyjuice doesn’t work for giant forms.
Because any opponent worth their salt is going to leave a few people watching the house until they’re sure it’s empty?