not a bad idea. I think he’s the one character that was well developed through the series.
I generally approved of the screenplay changes except for the last movie. The one thing that Rowling did well was the ending and it was completely butchered in the movie. They should have done the battle scene verbatim to the book. Neville kills the snake in front of everybody setting the whole final battle in play. Harry kills Valdemort in front of everybody in a spectacular show down.
And I agree with the poster who didn’t understand why wizards would be poor. They can make almost anything magically. Even exceptions like food can be increased if they already have it. Clearly Rowling felt it necessary to use it as social commentary but it made no sense.
I realize it’s a children’s book and the concept of magic carries a lot of plot-hole baggage. It does lend itself well as a school project. Kids can read them and list all the plot holes in them. Makes for good discussion.
No, they’re paid off in Leprechaun gold, which disappears after a day (or some short period of time). The seed money for the store comes from Harry, who gives them his Triwizard Cup prize winnings.
Thanks for correcting my memory. Of course, that means Krum’s blatant throwing of the match has even less justification for being there.
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I think it was because Bulgaria was getting their asses kicked by Ireland. He figured, let’s just end this now before we get further humiliated.
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The thing is, serious athletes just don’t think that way. Peyton Manning didn’t start taking a knee on every snap when the Broncos were getting their asses handed to them in the Superbowl, after all. There’s no way Krum could have reached the level of elite athlete we’re told he is, if that’s his reaction to being beaten.
The final score was 170-160. Bulgaria lost by one goal. There’s no way any competitive athlete catches the snitch when it’s that close. I doubt any seeker ever catches the snitch when behind my more than 150 points, but there’s no way one does this when it’s this close.
Right. Especially when it’s this close of a match.
The FINAL score. That’s after he caught the Snitch. Which means they were originally 170 - 10. Try coming back from that – which is how it was explained in the book.
Re Molly. On several occasions we hear she is on duty for the Order. In OOP, Sirius while passing on her instructions states expressly that she is so. Therefore her fighting skill should not be a surprise.
My theory is combative ability in the wizarding world is strongly influenced by one’s inborn magical powers, more than acquired skill. Seeing the way everyone is scared of Molly in her home, I’ve a feeling she’s a formidable witch.
The reason he caught the snitch is that the opposing team was about to catch it and he didn’t want the score to be 320/10. Now he could have knocked the opposing player off his stride which was legal but he didn’t for whatever reason (not explained in the book).
The thing that all but destroyed the series for me was in Book 7 (can’t remember their names anymore) when they all of a sudden decide that it’s only OK for those who are ‘of age,’ 17 or older, to fight Voldemort.
Problem 1 with this: Harry, Hermione, and Ron have been fighting Voldy since they were 11 years old. And all of a sudden 16 is too young to take him on?
Problem 2: that takes away Ginny’s agency at the beginning of Book 7, and reduces her to a bystander, at the very point where she should be finding her feet in her relationship with Harry, preferably by sharing his battles. Instead, she gets shunted off to the side.
Problem 2a: related to Problem 2, Harry breaks up with her to protect her from being used by Voldemort against him. Hahahahaha!!! Like Voldy is really gonna give a shit that they’re no longer an item, if he should have the opportunity to hold her hostage. She’s probably safer with Harry than anywhere else.
Problem 3: basically the same problem as some have mentioned with the Muggle world: like the Muggles, the 16-and-under wizards and witches have a stake in whether Voldemort succeeds in ruling the world, or not, but are excluded from the fight in a totally arbitrary manner.
I concur with a couple of things that have been mentioned along the way:
Wizards’ unfamiliarity with the Muggle world:
OK, you matriculate at Hogwarts at age 11. Where the heck were you before then? Do they have wizard day schools, or were you going to school with Muggles up to age 10?
And even then, you’re interacting with Muggles after school up to age 10, and during vacations from Hogwarts, and in your spare time as an adult. Surely the typical wizard family furnishes its house at least in part with things from Muggle stores, yet Muggle money is unfamiliar to them, judging from Book 1. The kids never buy a soda from a vending machine? And just in general, the Muggle world surrounds the places where wizards live. Surely a wizard would know about Muggles and their world almost by osmosis.
The Weasleys being poor: c’mon, any wizard family should be able to live a lifestyle that’s on the comfortable end of middle class, at a minimum.
Actually, the Weasley’s do seem to live perfectly comfortably. I do not recall them ever having to go short of anything. They live in a large house - there are lots of them but they do not seem cramped at all - and are able to throw a big party for Bill and Fleur. I’d say they live better than the (middle class, muggle) Dursley’s, for instance. Their “poverty” vi-a-vis, say, the Malfoys, is more to do with class status than with anything like economics.
Then that’s what he should have done. Who’s to say his team couldn’t have caught up? Some Quidditch matches have gone on for days, we’re told. Krum decides after an hour or so that they’re in a hopeless position?
The structure of Quidditch is such that until the snitch is caught, the game doesn’t end. Theoretically, a game could go on forever. So make Ireland catch the snitch themselves. And oppose them when they try to do it. They’re such a great team? Then let them earn their victory. Don’t just hand it to them.
Especially when, as Yookeroo notes, Bulgaria wasn’t that far behind. Sure, the score stood at 170-10. But Bulgaria doesn’t need to score 16 goals to come back. They only need to score 2, and then Krum can catch the snitch and Bulgaria wins. That’s one of the odd things about having the snitch be worth 150 points: scores that look completely lopsided really aren’t.
I’m not sure if wizards can conjure up anything out of nowhere. I don’t recall any examples of that, but please correct me if I’m wrong. The best you might be able to achieve is a transmogrification spell.
You’re referring to the “Battle of Hogwarts”, where it’s the teachers of Hogwarts who are making that announcement. As teachers in a boarding school are responsible for minor children, it makes perfect sense that they will not permit minors to engage in the battle. The fact that Harry et al have been fighting since they were young was very much against the wishes of the teachers, with the sole exception of when Dumbledore brought Harry along to the cave at the end of book 6. (and in that case, it was not certain that there would be a fight of any sort)
During the “camping” sequence in Deathly Hallows the three go hungry. Hermione says something about not being able to just magic food up out of nothing. I think she says something about being able to make more food if you’ve got some food to start with, but it isn’t very good to eat…?
Not just that. IIRC, that’s also the reason given at the beginning of Book 7 why Ginny couldn’t just go with Harry & Co.
No, it doesn’t make perfect sense. It doesn’t make any sense at all.
The reason you would keep the children out of a battle is because it is in their best interests not to be in it. This is the norm in our world. In the Battle of Hogwarts, nobody knows whether that’s the case - in fact, there is every reason to believe it isn’t.
If a typical battle is lost, it’s not the end of the world for the children. But in this one, it might as well be: the children would then be enslaved to Voldemort. To tell these kids that they have no business fighting to prevent that outcome is absurd.
That’s a problem that reoccurs throughout the series where Harry and sometimes Ron don’t know about some common wizarding thing. It makes sense at first but are you telling me that after 3 years Harry wouldn’t know what a port-key is? It makes me wonder if Harry actually learns anything at Hogwarts.
Well… one other reason we keep children out of combat is that they’re untrained and unpredictable. If a 13-year-old is expected to have your back and freezes up, you’re in worse shape than if you’d sent the kid down to the basement to wait it out. Or worse, they could attack at the wrong time and give away your position and plans. Or mistake friendlies for the enemy.
Adults also sometimes do these things on the battlefield, but children would be even less reliable. There’s a certain point in military tactics where you’re better off with 100 reliable fighters than 300 unreliable ones.
As I opined in an earlier post: the business of the wizarding folks’ unfamiliarity with and ignorance about the Muggle world, quickly becomes totally implausible and ridiculous when subjected to even a small amount of rational thought and following from A to B. I personally am ready here, to do a lot of willing suspending of disbelief, since I’m very taken with the humorous idea – in part, because of its absolute nuttiness – that in parallel with our not understanding, and being very largely oblivious to, magic; they don’t understand and are mostly oblivious to, our way of doing things. It’s a premise which patently doesn’t make sense – but I like it !
