I would have to go back to book 2 to see what you are referring to re: the rebounding curse, but Dumbledore does not try to kill Tom Riddle/Voldemort because Dumbledore knows the prophecy, which indicates that Harry is the only one who can kill Tom Riddle. (Just think, if things had been different, it might’ve been Neville instead.) Voldemort does not know the prophecy, and so does not realize that Dumbledore cannot kill him; he knows (as everyone does) that Dumbledore is a very pwerful wizard, and so is convinced of Dumbledore’s prowess. Furthermore, Dumbledore appears convinced that Harry’s mother’s love, which Voldemort took into himself when he was “reborn” using some of Harry’s blood, is the key to defeating Voldemort.
Peter’s role has to be more complicated than that, especially given that he seemed more than happy to help off Harry in Book4, with no hesitation.
I didn’t get the impression that Peter was happy to do anything Voldie told him to do in Book 4; it’s just that he was even less happy about dying.
My take on him is that it would take just one more push for him to turn against Voldemort, provided he thinks he can get away with his skin in one piece afterward.
Add me to the list of those who think Snape will die in defence of Harry, although probably not until book 7. And I’m dying to see Neville take down Bellatrix LeStrange.
I’m wondering if Harry might get a little bit of a crush on Parvati (or is it Padma I’m thinking of?) Patil. I know things didn’t go so well for them at the Yule Ball, but in OOTP, when he’s sitting for one of his exams, he’s staring at the back of her head and seeing the glints of gold in her hair. And she is in Dumbledore’s Army–even though she and Lavender seem a little silly, they’re in Gryffindor for a reason. Maybe we’ll find out a little more about it.
I’ve been wondering if Snape really is a good guy or not. I know this is extremely far-fetched, but maybe he’s a double agent, and maybe he really is working for Voldemort. If he is, Dumbledore knows it, and is using it for his own purposes.
I forsee Wormtail doing a Wormtongue and turning on Voldemort. Not that it will do any good, but it could happen.
And what about Bill and that long hair Mrs. Weasley’s always nagging him about? There’s no Delilah around, but Fleur (de lis–delilah? maybe?) could turn out maybe to be not so good. She is part veela, after all. Of course, she does owe Harry a debt of gratitude, so maybe I’m getting too carried away here.
My sister (hi Izzybella) got me hooked on the clues and theories books, and one theory that I really like is that Neville is the victim of either strong memory charms or broken memory charms. It could explain a lot.
Y’know, it’s pretty pathetic. I have reread the books repeatedly, and I tend to play the DVDs at night when I’m having trouble falling asleep. I’ve read all the clues books and every other Harry Potter type thing I’ve been able to find. So HBP comes out in 105 days, and I’ll be happy for a while, and then book 7 will make its appearance within the next 3 or 4 years. But then it’ll be over! Yowly yow yow!
I’m sure I’m not saying anything original, every idea I’ve had about Harry Potter has been mentioned either at the SDMB or at one of the other Harry Potter online discussion groups, but here are my predictions:
[ol]I agree with Chronos - Dumbledore will die, but not before Book Seven - the story line demands that it be so. This admits of no discussion.
[li]I used to think Neville / Luna would be a couple until J. K. Rowling discounted it. My second thought was Harry / Luna being a couple, but J. K. Rowling has mentioned how Luna’s strange beliefs are totally off the wall, and Harry Potter, being the hero, can only be matched with someone of sterling character, so it’s back to Harry and Ginny.[/li][li]Severus Snape quit the Death Eaters after the love of his life, Lily Potter, was murdered by Voldemort. We will not find this out until book seven, but we will definitely learn more about Snape in book six.[/li][li]The Defense against the Dark Arts teacher will be a brand-new character in books six and seven, as it was in all the other books. This is also a given. Severus Snape will never get to live his dream (unless maybe it happens after Voldemort’s final defeat in book seven.)[/li][li]The Half-Blood Prince is a descendant of Godric Gryffindor who will be Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher in book six.[/li][li]Hermione and Ron are obviously destined for each other. Their destinies are: Hermione to become teacher at Hogwarts (and eventually headmistress one day); Ron to become Minister of Magic. Harry (if he lives) will be an Auror - I seem to remember J.K. Rowling stating that teaching would not be a satisfying career for him.[/li][li]The major character that dies in this book will be Peter Pettigrew, being punished by Lord Voldemort for having paid his (Peter’s) debt to Harry, since Harry spared Peter’s life in Prisoner of Azkaban.[/li][li]J. K. Rowling will send me an advance copy of book six to proofread because she knows I would be a big help in picking out punctuation and continuity errors. I will not betray her trust and will keep the happenings in that book a secret until it is officially released.[/li][/ol]
Thank you to Hamish for the MoM / DaDa theory which I’d never heard before, though it sounds to me like it’s too much of a stretch to be valid.
On the other hand I am 100% behind Diceman’s correlation between poisons in book 1 and Defense against the Dark Arts teachers. It’s so obvious now!
P.S. After Dumbledore dies in book seven Minerva McGonagall will become headmistress of Hogwarts.
Oh, and one last thing - due to a combination of metamorphmagus abilities, injudicious use of the Polyjuice Potion, and over-enthusiastic Time-turning, we will find out at the end of book seven that Harry Potter is his own mother and father (hence the clue that Harry has Lily’s eyes.) Voldemort’s mind will be so blown by this revelation that he will be distracted in the climactic battle and Harry will dispose of him easily.
What?!!! You mean Berman and Braga are collaborating on Book 7?!! :eek:
More than that – every character in the series is secretly Harry, thanks to the Timeturner and Polyjuice potion. Wait’ll he becomes Voldemort.
And Voldemort is a puppet, as we all know, of Dark Lord Crookshanks. As the Half-Blood Prince is a pile of change Dumbledore found under his couch cushions. And Ron will marry with the Whomping Willow.
Although, given the plot twists Rowling comes up with, none of this would actually surprise me much.
I like the potions theory, though. But that would mean that the next DADA teacher would be incompetent. And what would a “backwards” DADA teacher be?
Well, I think Quirrell would qualify, seeing as how he had Lord Voldemort sticking out of the back of his head Of course, since he was the first DADA teacher instead of the last, that means you’d have to read the bottles in reverse order.
I’m still voting for somebody new in HBP and Snape in Book Seven, but gaining the DADA job will cost Snape his life in some grand stroke of dramatic irony. And then after the war is over, I think there will be some Major Social Reforms that do away with the werewolf laws, and Lupin will get (and keep) the position again.
I just had a weird thought–maybe Lupin will get the position again in book 7? I mean, it would be kind of backwards since he’s already been a DADA teacher. I suspect some of the issues with the MoM will be resolved by then, to make it easier for him to teach, and everyone will finally be (somewhat) working together to get rid of Voldy once and for all.
Snape is never going to get the DADA job. But somehow Harry will end up in NEWT potions (I like the idea of McGonnagal blackmailing him–“Let Harry into the class or I’ll shred your curtains”) and they’ll end up working together to save the school and all the wizarding world in one of the last two books. Or Harry will put what he learned to good use behind Snape’s back. Something like that. I see a blossoming friendship, or at least a little respect between them, by the last book.
And am I the only person who thinks Harry/Ginny would be a horrible pairing? I’m glad that she outgrew her crush, and personally I hope it stays that way. I think they could be good friends though. Somehow, I don’t see Harry ever in a major relationship before the end of the series.
JKR also writes about social issues, and I think that SPEW will play an important role in the next book–as will the Mudblood issue.
I see Harry and crap-have forgotten her name! Weasley together, and Hermione and Ron finally kissing and making it official–they are meant to be together.
I would like to see more of Lupin–really, really like him. Also would like to learn more about Lily and James–I liked the way that Harry had a small taste of reality about his Dad in the last book.
Can’t wait! Book ordered.
It doesn’t sit very well with me either – I’d rather see Harry / Luna or Harry / nobody. Ginny is a much more fun and interesting character when she’s not crushing on Harry, and since Ron and Hermione are bound to end up together, it would seem a shade too pat for everybody to end up neatly paired with a Weasley.
Um, no. The term’s definitely older than Pokemon. I’m not sure when it started–I know it was in common usage when X-Files was on, because I read articles that talked about that show’s various 'shipper factions. It may well have started back in Star Trek with the other Pillars of Fandom.
To keep this post somewhat on topic, I think Percy will be important.
You are correct, sir!
A common belief is that the term originated in the fandom for the anime series Pokémon, with two American fans who, in discussing their belief in a romance between series villains Jessie and James (known as Team Rocket), hit upon the pun RocketShipper as a way to combine Rocket Ship and relationship.
However, the archives of the newsgroup alt.tv.xfiles show that the word shipper was already in established use among fans of The X-Files as early as May of 1996 [1] (http://www.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&c2coff=1&safe=off&threadm=31ABB0E1.169B%40mail.multiverse.com&rnum=1&prev=/groups%3Fq%3Dg:thl505855287d%26dq%3D%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26c2coff%3D1%26safe%3Doff%26selm%3D31ABB0E1.169B%40mail.multiverse.com)—just three months after the first Pokémon games were released in Japan. It would not be until 1998 that any of the Pokémon games, manga, or anime would be translated to English, where the relationship/rocket ship pun would exist. It seems clear that the Pokémon fandom was not the first and sole inventor of shipping, as is sometimes claimed; but regardless of that, it may have well played a larger role in the etymology of the term as is known today by separately developing and popularising it (a firm date for the first use of the term in the Pokémon fandom, mentioned above has long been established with the coining of the name RocketShipper by RocketJessie on the Team Rocket Headquarters (TRHQ) forum, some time in mid-to-late 1999).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shipping_(fandom)
And to keep this thread on topic, I believe that a new romantice interest for Harry will turn up, a heterosexual girl unfortunatly.
I don’t know about that. It seems to me like Lupin has an air of tragedy around him.
I have a hard time seeing him get some sort of “happily ever after” type ending. I think he’s going to die before the end of the series.
Well, we’ll see in (checking) 103 days, 16 hours, and 44 minutes. I still think it would be too predictable to kill him off, especially this early. He is one of her favourite characters, so I suspect she’ll want to develop him a lot more. This is why I could much more easily buy Dumbledore or Hagrid going – they’re also favourites, but they’ve had a lot more screentime.
I’ve said it before, I’ve always found it surprising that no one can imagine a future for Lupin in the story besides dying or marrying Tonks. If I had written Lupin into a story, I wouldn’t hesitate to develop his character. He’s a goldmine for a writer – interesting and three-dimensional – and the fact that Rowling seems to be holding back on him suggests he’s in for something larger, regardless of the state of his health.
She’s also talked about Lupin representing people who are sick or who have disabilities. It seems like an un-Rowling-like theme to say, “These people are frail, and will die with the slightest breeze.”
That’s just my take on it. YMMV, of course.
Does Frank Herbert get no credit for this? At the end of Destination Void, written in 1965, after the astronauts succeed in creating artificial intelligence in the computer of their space ship, the book ends with the ship becoming conscious and telling the astronauts to decide “how you are going to worship me.” - emphasis added by Frank Herbert, not me. This became the backdrop for several more Herbert novels (The Jesus Incident, The Lazarus Effect, The Ascension Factor) in which the ship (now “Ship”) is the supreme being. I don’t pretend to have any knowledge whatsoever of the Pokemon stuff referenced here, but the play on “Ship” is a lot older than 1999.
To get back on topic, is the Harry/Hermoine pairing just so easy that nobody thinks it could happen? Surely their child (to mention Herbert again) would be the Kwisatz Haderach of the wizarding world…
QUOTE=Kilvert’s Pagan]Does Frank Herbert get no credit for this? <snip>
[/QUOTE]
He gets enough credit as it is. I may admire good fanfiction authors and artists but I certainly don’t worship them or their works. Also, am I the only one who uses <snip> to isolate the main point when quoting? Not trying to be a jerk, just a bit of constructive criticism.
IMO, Ginny is growing in depth as a character. I don’t see her “crushing” on Harry anymore–she is growing up and realizing her potential as a wizard and also as a a woman (she reminds me of a less intense Hermione–more nurturing and kind, not as intellectual and impatient).
She and Harry would be a good fit–hell, it’s all teenage romance, it’s not like they’re gonna live happily ever after!
That said, I am grateful to JKKR for her strong female characters–from MacGonagall on down.
I also want Lupin developed–he acts almost as a sage in these books–I am interested in how he lives, and what he thinks of both worlds, having to live on the margin as he does.
And I never want anyone but Alan Rickman playing Snape–he is SOOO good!