Just a few queries..

[AlexM]

Alright I know some like her, I do to but I also have a few problems which are:


Alright the ending It could of been more dramatic, perhaps in Harry's and Voldermort's final duel they both die? Like Harry's or Voldemort's spell rebounds? and Ginny's last words to Harry is that she is pregnant?

Harry Vs Voldemort WHY THE HELL DIDN'T VOLDEMORT BEAT HIM? He is definitely more powerful then him (even though J.K Rowling tries to persuade us from that point) He had numerous chances, I know she wanted more books but if it came down to it, Voldy would win fo' sure!

The Covers I mean honestly have you looked at the Half Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows? the Harry's are completely different!


Thats all I got.

Cheers,

Alex

 

[PTeppic]

Harry Vs Voldemort WHY THE HELL DIDN'T VOLDEMORT BEAT HIM? He is definitely more powerful then him (even though J.K Rowling tries to persuade us from that point) He had numerous chances, I know she wanted more books but if it came down to it, Voldy would win fo' sure!

Strictly speaking, yes: Voldemort was much more powerful and in a straight magical fight should have won. BUT, he believed he needed the Elder Wand, and as such insisted on using it to fight Harry. And because of that, lost.

 

[AlexM]

Oh i did not just mean Deathly Hallows though it looks like i implied it. But i've only read two books in the harry potter series (I don't count the first three as that was AGES ago)

 

[Boaz]

More dramatic? Dumbledore died. Harry died. Harry was resurrected. Voldemort died. I think that a big part of the story is that Harry must learn to live as a continual master of his ambitions and the lure of power. Yes, Harry saved the Wizarding community, but so did Dumbledore... and we saw how close Dumbledore came to taking power for himself.

Hermione once remarked how similar Snape and Harry seemed in their reverence for the Dark Arts even though both were good guys. I think that the callings of political power (the desire to ensure that another Dark Lord did not arise), personal achievement (to see how far he could progress as a wizard, i.e. if he could equal Dumbledore), and the desire to remain undefeated (this ensures that the Elder Wand would become inert) were very heavy upon Harry after Voldemort's death. I don't picture him riding off into the sunset. I believe he continually had to reassess his motivations and his actions. He, of all people, knew what he could do and what power could do to him.

Harry's Expelliarmus spell did not rebound because Voldemort was not the master of his wand... Harry was the master of both wands in that duel.

Ginny did not tell Harry that she was pregnant (assuming you mean this to take place during the final battle at Hogwarts) because it was not true. Ginny and Harry were not sexually active. Purity of spirit was essential (as Dumbledore told Harry) for Harry to face Voldemort... simply being less evil than Voldemort was not enough. Intercourse with Ginny would have meant that Harry was having sex with a minor and had betrayed the trust that Ron, Arthur, Molly, and the rest of the Weasley's had given him. Harry learned the lesson "I must not tell lies" very well.

Why didn't Voldemort beat Harry? Because Rowling was not writing a trilogy.

But I disagree that Rowling tries to persuade us that Harry is more powerful than Voldemort. Dumbledore, Snape, Lupin, Bellatrix, Moody, Arthur, Molly, McGonagall, and Sirius are all much more accomplished magicians than Harry and they all agree that Potter is no match skill for skill with Voldemort. It is by continually turning the tables on Voldemort by using aspects of magic that he does not understand that Dumbledore orchestrates Voldemort's undoing.

Love, trust, fellowship, fidelity, and courage are the tools that defeated Voldemort. Brute force, the number of spells known, nor hate were essential in defeating Voldemort.

if it came down to it, Voldy would win fo' sure!

It did come down to it in the Goblet, the Order and finally the Hallows... and Voldemort never won. Voldemort never was able to arrange the situation so that he could win... in fact, Voldemort himself set up Harry's protective wards, Harry as a horcrux and the destruction of this horcrux, Snape's treachery, Regulus' treachery, Slughorn's memory, Hagrid's presence at Hogwarts, Harry's loyal friends, and even the very fact that it was Harry and not Neville who was the Chosen One.

The point is that in Riddle's rush for power that he neglected to look at the repercussions of his actions. His major mistakes were numerous... not getting the full prophecy, killing Lily, giving a horcrux to Lucius, not understnding the twin cores, using Harry's blood, trying to posess Harry, killing Snape, killing Harry, and generally assuming that he was more intelligent and wiser than anyone else. He built Harry. He created the engine of his own destruction.

...which brings up the theme of destiny.

Harry was destined to win. Maybe Riddle was destined to rise up and terrorize Britain... I dunno. But Rowling's theme of Providence/Destiny/The Will of God does not work if Harry loses early in the series... or even at the end. How can we know Providence? Is it possible for us to positively know what our Destiny will be? Is the Will of God more than a flow chart? If the outcomes of football games and elections were already known to us, then we'd never hold them. If people knew their marriages would end in divorce, they'd never get married in the first place. If Voldemort would win, then either Rowling would not bother writing the story or she'd have written it as an adult horror novel.

The depictions of Harry are different on the covers? If you look at the art from the first book to the seventh, you'll see a progression from definite children's art to something more realistic. This is true regarding the covers (I've only seen the American covers) and the interior art. The artist, I believe, is trying to mirror the author's maturing of the story from a child's perspective to an adolescent's angle to an adult's outlook. The art is in the same basic form, but the blatant childlike aspects are almost entirely gone from the seventh book.

For me, none of the above are problems.

Problematic parts to me are when the Potterwatch program uses infantile attempts at disguising the names of the show contributors... Jordan aka River, Kingsley aka Royal, Weasely aka Rodent, and Remus aka Romulus. As adults on the run from Voldemort and the Ministry of Magic, I think the people on the show should've been smarter. Really, those hunting Shacklebolt, Lupin, and others would have knows immediately who those people really were. The only people they would have confused would have been those who were unconnected to the Order, the Ministry, or the Death Eaters, i.e. the very people who needed to be assurred that real people were really resisting Voldemort.

Other problematic areas for me are the Quidditch matches and the House Championship. I understand that the series is for children, but the scoring of the matches seems overly simplistic and the winning of the championship by Griffyndor by miraculous means bothers me. I understand how the series changes tone and how Quidditch and the House Championship are non-existent by the Hallows.

I think there are a number of little glitches in the piecing together of the Potterworld, but none of them go to the heart of the story... they're just minor compostitional issues than any author has with a story of this length.

 

[Cayal]

My god, that is an amazing response.

 

[Boaz]

Amazing? No. Verbose? Yes. I play to my strengths.

 

[Pyan]

Other problematic areas for me are the Quidditch matches and the House Championship. I understand that the series is for children, but the scoring of the matches seems overly simplistic

Not to mention spectator unfriendly...

Big match - you've saved up to pay for the ticket, maybe travelled hundreds of miles to get there. You sit through all the preliminaries, the starting time gets closer and closer...the big moment arrives, the balls are released...and the Seeker swoops in, and grabs the Snitch.

That's it. Game over.

I don't know about you, but I'd be seriously p****d off....

 

[Grimward]

The point of resistance radio (as I've always understood it) is to make your enemies look bad, your friends take heart, and your identity to be ambiguous. It doesn't hurt to be identifiable to those who know (for good or for ill) you, so long as your broadcast does not contain enough identification (like your real name) to condemn you if you're captured. To that end, I found nothing wrong with Potterwatch. Indeed, I imagine the Weasley twins would like nothing better than for the Death Eaters to know it was them doing the nose-tweaking, but be unable to prove it.

Regarding the Quidditch, however, I have to agree; the games were strong sub-themes within the first several books, and I would have liked to have seen them remain relative at the School (the World Cup wasn't the same thing). I also agree with Py; who'd bother if they knew the game could be over in 13 seconds?

 

[kythe]

The point of resistance radio (as I've always understood it) is to make your enemies look bad, your friends take heart, and your identity to be ambiguous. It doesn't hurt to be identifiable to those who know (for good or for ill) you, so long as your broadcast does not contain enough identification (like your real name) to condemn you if you're captured. To that end, I found nothing wrong with Potterwatch. Indeed, I imagine the Weasley twins would like nothing better than for the Death Eaters to know it was them doing the nose-tweaking, but be unable to prove it.

I'm not sure proof was really something the Death Eaters were concerned with. It's not like they were taking evidence to court, where they would need to provide substantial evidence of their claims. They had rather underhanded dealings and I'm sure would have been motivated to do away with anyone whom they even suspected might be in their way.

I believe the main reason the Potterwatch broadcast continued was because they were well hidden. As long as they made it too difficult for the Death Eaters to get to them, it wouldn't be worth the trouble to try and stop them. The DE's were not innumerable and they could be distracted or delayed enough that they lacked the resources to take down Potterwatch.

At least that's my take on it.

I tend to agree about Quidditch, but I'm not a sports fan anyway and wouldn't understand the hype about it. Quidditch is a good opportunity for readers to enjoy some reprieve from the darker storylines and also to visualize the cool stunts that can be done while flying on broomsticks. Besides, there are references to games that lasted for days. It really could be quite the event.

 

[Grimward]

Ah, but the Weasley's were already "blood traitors", and filed (at least, Mr. Weasley was) in Dolores Umbridge's records as "Strong likelihood Undesirable #1 will contact", referring to Harry, of course. And yet, the Ministry knew where the Weasley's lived, so the Death Eaters did too. They could have just grabbed the lot of them at any time after the protections in place early in Deathly Hallows were broken if SOME kind of phony excuse wasn't necessary....

 

[dooley]

there was the whole part about needing to know the password to even listen to potterwatch in the first place. this whole radio broadcast could've been going on unbeknownst to the death eaters entirely, therefore making more clever knicknames unnecesarry

 

[A.Ryan]

Wow Boaz, I am impressed, thank you!

 

[Boaz]

You're welcome and thank you.

As to the use of psuedonyms on Potterwatch, I felt that the Ministry, i.e. the Deatheaters, could have easily gone after the families of those involved.

It was a really dangerous time. Hannah Abbott's mother was murdered by Deatheaters and she left Hogwarts in her sixth year... I assume to protect the rest of her family. Neville's grandmother was attacked and driven into hiding for his marshalling of Dumbledore's Army. Harry's and Hermione's families went into hiding as precautionary measures.

Yes, the Ministry knew all about the Weasely's association with Harry. They could have gone after any of the kids at any time. Percy practically lived at the Ministry and the Deatheaters could have captured him at any time. Arthur also could have been taken at any time. But Arthur had already been attacked by Nagini... and I suspect that Voldemort knew that all Arthur, Molly, and the rest of the Weaselys would never give in to kidnappings and coercion. Nothing had deterred them from actively supporting the Order and Harry. They knew exactly what had happened to the Potters, the Longbottoms, Dumbledore, and Sirius. They'd honor their friends' sacrifices and simultaneously teach their children by never acceding to Voldemort's wishes.

I suspect that Voldemort knew that Harry's close association with the Weaselys would be better exploited by leaving the Weaselys free to contact or be contacted by them rather than rounding them up.

And I don't really know that the Deatheaters/Ministry would have really needed proof to capture, try, and punish (i.e. murder) Potterwatch members. Dolores Umbridge did not seem to need any evidence to convict Mary Cattermole (I think that's her name) in DH... and her husband was an obedient Ministry worker.

 

[Kimbo]

I think you'll find that Rowlings was just writing a book and didn't have to much underlying thought as to the meaning of Harry's life etc...

 

[Boaz]

I know it's been over eleven years, but after reading the last post, I beg to differ.

Warning... major spoilers ahead.

The titles of the books are formulaic... Harry Potter and the (fill in the blank). Since the titular character name "Harry Potter" and the linking words "and the" are always the same, the significance of the remaining words of the title reveal to us the intent of each book.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. We find out that the philosopher's stone is a magical item that allows a wizard/witch to continue to live without aging, e.g. a fountain of youth. The book might just have as well been titled Harry Potter and the Life.

The book opens with muggle life and Harry's appearance upon the Dursley's doorstep... a fundamental life change. We see Harry's neglect and abuse by the Dursley's... a poor quality of life. We see the revelation of his abilities and his place at Hogwart's... a new life. He makes friends... a hopeful life. He makes enemies... a dangerous life. He gets nourished, not only in body, but in mind and spirit... a fulfilled life. Snape hates Harry because of James and Sirius... a frustrated life. Voldemort is stuck to Quirell... a half life.

The Mirror of Erised is not just a fanciful invention. It clearly expresses Harry's heart's desire... a father and a mother, love, encouragement, understanding, and a sense of belonging.

The questions regarding quantity and quality of life abound. Is one more important than the other? Physical survival must be continually secured, but success and significance must be consistently pursued. Faithfulness, family, and friends are all necessary to a high quality of life... and Harry lacked these at the Cupboard Under the Stairs, Number Four, Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey.

As for the other books...
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. The Chamber of Secrets is hidden in the heart of Hogwarts with the purpose of revenge. Everyone in this book has a secret... the Dursley's, Harry, Mr. Weasley, Percy, Lockhart, Hagrid, et al. and they don't want to be found out. They bury their secrets in their hearts... the chamber of secrets. What effect do secrets have? Major impacts upon our quality of life. The book could have been titled Harry Potter and the Heart.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Sirius is the prisoner, but he's more a prisoner to his hatred and lust for revenge than Azkaban. Buckbeak is a prisoner. Harry, Snape, and Lupin find themselves caught up in James' and Snape's rivalry for Lily's affections even though close to twenty years have passed. Dudley and Draco are practically hostages to their family's values. Lupin is a prisoner to his affliction. Pettigrew is a prisoner in his chosen form. Psychological prisons can be just as restricting as prisons from life choices. Book three could have been called Harry Potter and the Captive Spirit.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. The goblet of fire signifies a passionate high stakes competition. The House Cup is put on hold while the tri-wizard tourney, the Quidditch Cup, death eaters versus muggles, Voldemort's and Crouch Jr.'s versus Dumbledore's plans, Harry's and Ron's friendship, Hermione's and Ron's friendship, Hermione versus Rita Skeeter, and Harry's duel with Voldemort are plainly more important and relevant life issues. Could have been Harry Potter and the Far-Reaching Struggles.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix could have been titled Harry Potter and the Life Partnerships. The Order of the Phoenix is a dedicated club to never rest against Voldemort's terror. Various organizations exist throughout the book. Dudley's gang, the Ministry of Magic, the Dementors, the Death Eaters, the Order of the Phoenix, the quidditch teams, the prefects, Dumbledore's Army, the Inquisitorial Squad, St. Mungo's, the Giants, the House Elves, the Centaurs, Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Slytherin, the Daily Prophet, the Quibbler, the Dursleys, the Malfoys, the Blacks, and the Weasleys are all groups, clubs, businesses, schools, associations, ethnicities and governments to which characters can belong. JKR, in no uncertain terms, writes that who we align ourselves with matters a great deal. This is most strongly represented by the six who go on the rescue mission.... Harry, Hermione, Ginny, Luna, Neville and Ron. And the inclusion of the phoenix, a symbol of rebirth and new life, in the battle of good versus evil is surely more than coincidence.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. The Half Blood Prince is a secret childhood identity for Snape and the theme of the book is identity. The book opens with Snape's revelation of his involvement with both sides up to his neck. Harry is captain. Draco is a death eater. Fred and George are brilliant at odd ball magic and business. Harry's connection to his father has always been strong, but here he's constantly compared to his mother. Harry and Ron discover girls. Harry has always been the Boy Who Lived, but now he's the Chosen One. Harry gets a reputation as a potions genius. Harry gets special lessons with Dumbledore. Ron gains more of a reputation as a quidditch player. Twice, Harry claims to be "Dumbledore's man." Harry becomes a searcher for horcruxes. At the end of the book, Harry has decided to quit school, embrace his identity, and pursue Voldemort's demise. Ron and, to my great surprise, Hermione also quit school and join Harry.

And what we ultimately learn in the seventh book makes Harry reconsider Snape's identity to such an extent that he names his second son after Snape!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Revered objects associated with death. Just as the theme of the first book was life, the theme of the last is death. But life and death are linked. You cannot have death without life. You can have life without death.... but that is beyond this mortal plane in which we now live.

The wand. The stone. The cloak. Individually, they provide a boost to the quality of life. Ron would choose the wand, Hermione the cloak, and Harry the stone. Collectively, they make the owner the master of death... i.e. they give life. But is life for life's sake to be more highly prized than the love found in life? This is the very difference that Dumbledore tries so hard to impart to Harry. Voldemort want's life so he'll never have to die. Dumbledore wants a life of love. Harry sees this consistently in his friendships with Ron, Hermione, Luna, Neville, Hagrid, Sirius, Lupin, Ginny, Fred, and George. The Weasley family imprints such love of each other and their love for truth upon Harry so much that he marries into the family.

(I think JKR should remember this before saying Harry and Hermione should've ended up married. Harry's desire was not for a witch with equal abilities, nor a brainiac, nor a great heroine... but for a loving family. Now, he got an outstanding witch [the only two non-well connected students to be included in the Slug Club were Ginny and Hermione, both chosen for their outstanding wandwork and character] in Ginny... brave, heroic, intelligent, humorous, and loving. And I feel the entire Weasley clan was attractive to Harry.)

Anyway, back to the point... Harry is faced with the decision to pursue Hallows of Horcruxes. His own power, his own life versus the destruction of Voldemort and the betterment of society. Harry finds out there are things worth dying for... and he embraces this philosophy. And he honors those who died in the struggle to defeat Voldemort in the very names of his children.

James (three times foiled Voldemort, willingly laid down his life for his wife and child, murdered by Voldemort) Sirius (renounced Slytherin, the Blacks, and Voldemort, murdered by Bellatrix) Potter

Albus (resisted Voldemort's power for fifty years, terminally ill from a Voldemort curse, perished after preparing Harry to defeat Voldemort) Severus (repented of serving Voldemort, served seventeen years as a triple agent, murdered by Voldemort, but never suspected by Voldemort of being committed to Voldemort's defeat) Potter

Lily (three times foiled Voldemort, honored her husband's sacrifice and refused to give up her baby to Voldemort, murdered by Voldemort) Luna (the only name given to any of Harry's children which did not honor someone deceased before Voldemort's final death, Luna Lovegood was Harry's stalwart ally against Voldemort) Potter

In effect James, Sirius, Albus, Severus, and Lily all lived on through the people named for them because of Harry's and Ginny's love for them. Voldemort, the man who thirsted for immortality, never achieved this.

This I think is Dumbledore's (JKR's also) main point... Life without love is worthless... therefore, Love is worth living for. Love is worth dying for. Love is sacred. Love is Magic.

I think you'll find that Rowlings was just writing a book and didn't have to much underlying thought as to the meaning of Harry's life etc...

My titles for the books would be Harry Potter and the Life, the Heart, the Captive Spirit, the Far-Reaching Struggles, the Life Partnerships, the Identity, and the Love Worth Dying For. (I know I sometimes end sentences with prepositions, sorry.)

I do not know JKR. I do not possess a degree in literature nor writing... nor do I write... I am merely a fan of stories. But when I observe these commonalities, connections, parallels, comparisons, and repetitions in a series, I suspect their inclusion was much more intentional than arbitrary.

 

[paranoid marvin]

Some great answers by Boaz.

The reason I don't think that Voldemort doesn't simply kill Harry, is the same reason that the big bad boss doesn't just shoot Bond or the arch-villain make a concerted effort to kill the superhero.

The 'baddie' assumes that they are easily the better, and choosing to let the good guy live -for now - only helps to confirm their superiority. They also realise that it isn't all about the money, the fame and the power - that it's part of the game. And when their nemesis is gone, their lives will be much poorer for it. So they let them live and gain their little victories, knowing that their failure in the end will be all the more sweeter.

I think it was the Joker who said that he and Batman were two sides of the same coin; you cannot kill one without destroying the other.

There were a few things I did find a little disappoint with the Harry Potter novels though; I thought that the 'Avada Kedavra' curse was a bit of a 'cheap' way of killing people off quickly and too easily (there should surely be a way of arming yourself against it?) And the most disappointing ending of a character was Sirius Black who fell through a veiled archway; something that was never really explained. Surely a character so important to Harry would have had him asking some serious questions as to what had happened and if there was any way to reverse it?

 

[Harpo]

I think you'll find that Rowlings was just writing a book and didn't have to much underlying thought as to the meaning of Harry's life etc...

 

[Wayne Mack]

I never really understood the conclusion to the Harry Potter series, but I thought that Voldemort did kill Harry and then Harry was resurrected. As Harry was the final horcrux, he had to die for Voldemort to die. I get that the ending was supposed to replicate the beginning where Harry is saved by his mother's love, I just felt confused reading the final chapters. I also wonder why Harry is the only character loved enough to get resurrected.

 

[paranoid marvin]

I never really understood the conclusion to the Harry Potter series, but I thought that Voldemort did kill Harry and then Harry was resurrected. As Harry was the final horcrux, he had to die for Voldemort to die. I get that the ending was supposed to replicate the beginning where Harry is saved by his mother's love, I just felt confused reading the final chapters. I also wonder why Harry is the only character loved enough to get resurrected.

There's lots of things in HP that don't make much sense, from time turners to the veil in the Death Chamber, to building characters up through the series of books and then killing them off with barely a mention in the final instalments.

As I think I've mentioned previously, a writer like Roald Dahl would have had the whole story done and dusted within one - or a maximum of two - stories, with all the baddies getting far more satisfying ends than they got.