Oh my god I finally finished the thread! I’ve been reading this for…weeks??
Just finished the book last night, having read it aloud with my wife and our 10-year-old son virtually every night, a chapter or so at a time before his bedtime, since it was released. We were blown away, despite a few quibbles. And it’s going to lend itself very well to the big screen, I think.
More comments to follow, with luck.
Large flaw in this logic: Nobody but the Potters, Black and Wormtail knew that the secret keeper duties had been transfered to Wormtail (one of the big reasons that Black was implicated). Wormtail would never have told Dumbledore since that would have given away his treason.
The question was answered in Deathly Hallows (page 332-American Edition).
The question I still have is: How did anyone know how the attack had come about, James and Lilly were dead, Voldemort had ‘gone away’ and Harry was too young, was anyone else there?
True. But notice that neither he nor McGonagall are shocked by it. They shrug it off as no big deal, Harry even tossing off a comment about how you really need to mean it for it to work.
It’s not the fact that he did it that seems wrong, it’s the fact that they seem so blase about it. I would expect at least some expression of shock and regret.
How much of the attack is actually known by others? Dumbledore apparently understands the specifics of how Harry became a Horcrux and the charm that Lily placed on him through her sacrifice, but does anyone other than Voldemort ever know what truly happened that night? IIRC, all mention of the events is either through a third person omniscient perspective or third person limited through Voldemort. Dumbledore having studied much magical history and knowing that Snape wanted Lily spared, probably put two and two together and was able to surmise how Harry was saved.
I bet in the course of Dumbledore’s investigation of the incident, he spoke with The Third Person, who told him everything.
Dumbledore doesn’t tell Harry the secret of the location of Order Headquarters – he writes it down, gives the note to Moody and Moody gives it to Harry to read – and that suffices for Harry to see Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place.
Wormtail could have done the same thing to let people like Dumbledore in on the secret.
Given that Lily’s sacrifice left a lasting magical protection in Harry, I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that Dumbledore was able to detect the magic and trace its origin.
Woo hoo! I think I get the Slowest Reader award! My copy came in the mail on the release date, and I just finished it 10 minutes ago.
I had been reading 10-12 pages a night before bed, but had to kick it into high gear once we got to The Battle For Hogwarts.
To sum up – yeah, I liked it quite a bit. I’m sure there are still a ton of people wailing about Snape’s exposition and some of the more simplistic plotlines, all the while ignoring that these are supposed to be kid’s books. For what they are, they’re fricking terrific.
And now to read 820+ posts on the topic. Yeesh…
Finally finished reading this thread. Whew - took me almost as much time as reading the book itself!
Loved the book and thought it was a fitting end to the series. Some of my observations below have been made by others upthread, but here goes…
Good stuff: Dudley finally showing a shred of humanity and gratitude to Harry, and Harry embarrassedly bidding him farewell by calling him “Big D”… Harry, Ron and Hermione sneaking in and robbing the goblin bank - I almost thought that chapter could be titled “The Gringott’s Caper” or the like; gonna be great to see the dragon bust out of there in the movie!.. Snape and his Pensieve memories; purely expository, sure, but I found it very fulfilling and rewarding to have so many questions answered so succinctly… Harry encouraging those in the Ministry dungeon to flee after he’s conked out Umbridge… Ron’s return to the tent in the wilderness and Hermione’s mix of relief, love, fury and contempt; probably the funniest passage in the whole book for me… Glad to have learned, in JKR’s later remarks, that Harry will become an Auror (eventually joined by Ron) and that Ginny will become a Quidditch star (for the Harpies, an all-woman team) before becoming a Quidditch correspondent for the Daily Prophet… I liked the postscript, but would like to have seen more detail there. It occurred to me that Ron and Hermione’s kids Rose and Hugo have their parents’ initials, only reversed by gender… As has been noted elsewhere, Harry’s son’s initials are A.S.P., which of course is a kind of venomous snake… I found Dobby mostly annoying in the earlier books, but he nobly sacrificed himself here, and his burial and tombstone scenes were quite moving… Prof. McMonagall sending the suits of armor and the desks into battle - huzzah!.. I agree with those who are skeptical about a uniquely Christian interpretation of the book, but another similarity not yet (to my knowledge) remarked upon is that Harry and Neville fulfill the role of the children in the Slaughter of the Innocents, when Herod decided to kill any kids born around that time to defeat a prophecy about his own death or overthrow… I’d missed the similarity of the ruined Potter house in Godric’s Hallow to the Nazi atrocity site Oradour sur-Glane in France; very good point… Harry going to what he thought was going to be his death, with his parents and Sirius at his side. A powerful, moving passage.
Not-so-good stuff: I still think Neville should have been the one to kill Bellatrix; Mrs. Weasley’s declaration, although heartfelt, was too much like Ripley’s in Aliens, IMHO… the Deathly Hallows diversionary subplot seemed pointless and padded… I was disappointed that there wasn’t a direct linkage of Grindelwald to Hitler, given his love of the occult, esp. since Dumbledore had defeated him in 1945… Ginny was definitely underutilized, particularly since JKR had said in several interviews in recent years that Ginny was going to prove herself a powerful witch and a worthy match for Harry… Ron dawdled far too long before destroying the locket; it was just like a bad horror movie, where someone is being urged to do something quickly and just stands there like a goof while the danger grows…Some Slytherin students should have fought in the final battle, not just Prof. Slughorn (although the portrait of Phineus Nigellus [sp?] Black certainly exults over Harry’s victory in the end)… It was unrealistic, I thought, that the Weasley family would be pretty much left alone after Voldemort seized control of the Ministry; you’d think they’d be arrested on some trumped-up charges ASAP… It also strikes me that V. could have done some real mischief by announcing, through his Ministry mouthpieces, the (convincingly faked) capture of Harry Potter; would have really disheartened the Dumbledore’s Army/Order of the Phoenix stalwarts, and perhaps flushed some of them out into the open when they mounted a doomed rescue mission… V. giving the people in Hogwarts two deadlines to surrender; not his style at all… Much as I liked Snape’s memory chapter, the King’s Cross chapter with Harry and Dumbledore chatting seemed too talky and warmed-over New Agey… Someone asked a few pages upthread about JKR’s remark a few years ago about someone learning to do magic late in life; she said recently (I think in the Meredith Viera interview) that she changed her mind and did not include such a passage in HPATDH, after all.
My lingering questions:
- What did those Muggle boys do to Ariana, anyway? Was she raped, maybe?
- What became of “Mad-Eye” Moody’s body, esp. since his eye apparently ended up in Umbridge’s office door?
- Did JKR intend a pun in that the “Sorting” Hat was also a “Swording” Hat twice in the series?
- From what we know of the Potterverse, would Teddy Lupin become a werewolf or not?
- How did V. learn to fly without a broom?
- What does the cover illustration of the U.S. edition actually show? I thought it might be the moment after Harry and V. zap each other in their final battle in the Great Hall, but then wouldn’t Harry still have a wand in his hand?
Ah, what a great adventure it’s been. See you on Platform 9 3/4 in the autumn of 2016, when the Potter and Weasley kids head off to Hogwarts…
Could he have removed infant Harry’s memories and placed them in the pensive to know what had happened before turning Harry over to the Dursley’s?
I liked that too (and everything else you mentioned). No one seems to have mentioned a desire to find out what happened when the Dursleys went off with Hestia and Diggle. I realize it wouldn’t have forwarded the story at all, but I would have found it interesting.
I’d like to think that, living with magical people, they were bombarded with tales of Harry’s heroics and made to realize how important and good Harry was, the love people had for him, and how horrifyingly horrible they were to Harry (which, though, after all, did make Harry a stronger person without a big head). I’d also like to think that Hestia had a witch daughter and she and Dudley fell in love and married, making the Dursleys finally accept a magical person into their family.
That’s a wonderful bit of speculation. Well done.
In the interview (linked somewhere above) JKR said that Teddy got his mother’s talents, not his father’s curse.
I don’t see this as a big deal. After all the students are taught (or learn by themselves) how to levitate things or people so it’s not a big step for a powerful wizard (especially one who is still imortal) to learn how to fly.
Sorry to resurrect a long old thread, but it’s only a month old, so I hope that’s OK. I just re-read that chapter, and I remembered this question that at the time also bothered me. This is the explanation:
Harry says the name “Voldemort” before Ron can stop him. Ron, Harry and Hermione are captured by Snatchers and brought to the Malfoy mansion along with Dean and Griphook. Lucius/Narcissa/Draco recognize Ron, Hermione and Harry. Dobby appears in the basement, Ron tells him “bring Luna, Dean and Ollivander to Bill’s house”, daring escape follows. Harry starts digging Dobby’s grave. After a while the others join him to finish the grave and pay their respects. Then Bill Weasley says “all our family (Weasley parents, the twins, Ginny) had to go into hiding at Aunt Muriel’s, and I’ve put the Fidelius charm on our house.” They didn’t need to do it before. It is only when Ron Weasley was recognized by the Malfoys that his cover was blown - previously everyone thought that Ron was stuck at home with spattergroit. But now that the Death Eaters know that Ron Weasley is one of the companions of Harry Potter, Ron’s family is in danger.
Ron was able to tell Dobby where Bill and Fleur’s house was, because at the time it was not yet under the Fidelius charm.
Although, it took him until he was 36 to get it. :rolleyes:
Might want to check the date on that post before you make fun of people taking a long time to do something.
Ya know, I gotta say…I wasn’t a doper when the book came out so I missed this thread entirely when the book came out. So reading this thread was high entertainment for me since I was able to plow through all 17 pages in one night (only took about 4 hours) and read what everyone thought.
So partial kudos to whomever bumped this, but only partial cuz the reasoning seemed a bit…strange