| Find, explore and network a cause. |
|
Go  |
New |
Find |
Notify |
|
Reply |
|
Admin |
New PM! |
Registered: May 07, 2003
Posts: 7512
|
Here is a place to discuss one of the biggest events of the year...the seventh and final Harry Potter book. Please note: I am sure this thread will be crawling with spoilers before long...if you haven't read the entirity of the Harry Potter series, it would not be advised for you to proceed in this thread farther than this original post. You have been warned...
"Never doubt that a small group of committed people can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has." --Margaret Mead
|
Registered: August 13, 2007
Posts: 216
|
Don't blame me. I like it. Blame JKR!
"Peculiar travel suggestions are dancing lessons from God."
|
Registered: December 27, 2006
Posts: 3919
|
Well it was worth a shot. I figured all the Potter freaks would get me in the end. 
...a Wandering Star for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever...
|
Registered: August 13, 2007
Posts: 216
|
quote: But i guess she did a good job ending the series to where she doesn't have to worry about anyone trying to steal anything to continue her legacy.
I would just like to point out the ending was horrible and is not going to stop anyone from continuing to write about it. quote: Remember the prophesy? How it was disputed whether it meant Harry or Neville? What if it meant both of them? Remember Neville cutting the head off of Nagini? Hm? Hm?
I like this idea. I always liked Neville. The problem though is that the prophecy definately makes it sound like it's only one and it said that Voldemort would mark the other as his equal. Neville was never marked. It is curious that he was so helpful in the end
"Peculiar travel suggestions are dancing lessons from God."
|
Registered: December 27, 2006
Posts: 3919
|
Remember the prophesy? How it was disputed whether it meant Harry or Neville? What if it meant both of them? Remember Neville cutting the head off of Nagini? Hm? Hm?
...a Wandering Star for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever...
|
Registered: August 25, 2007
Posts: 48
|
I thought it was okay, I mean def. not my favorite of the series by any means. I mean what was with all the killings? Some were like really random. But i guess she did a good job ending the series to where she doesn't have to worry about anyone trying to steal anything to continue her legacy.
Do what your heart desires...
|
Registered: December 27, 2006
Posts: 3919
|
I haven't. And I wasn't aware that people tried to make those correlations. (If Ginny is Mary, how can Harry be Jesus) I got really mad when they did it for Lord of the Rings. The only thing that was based on the bible or religon was the Simarillion (the history of Middle-earth for those non-ringers), and that was loosely at best. The bible is the bible. It cannot be replaced or duplicated. I wish people would stop trying. Anger.
...a Wandering Star for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever...
|
Registered: June 12, 2007
Posts: 941
|
quote: Invisiblegirl, I seriously hope you're not serious when you compare harry potter with Christianity. Harry is not a saviour, not like christ, so I suggest you don't even go there.
Shade, don't worry. I hate that stuff. But haven't you seen those books? It's ridiculous - like, Ginny is the Virgin Mary and stuff. But the end just gave those people a heck of a lot more to write about.
Li sempre essera le domande, non importa cio che la lingua.
|
Registered: March 08, 2004
Posts: 1685
|
quote: Originally posted by Sphinx:
You know, about the whole coming back from the dead thing, I know Dumbledore said it was because of his blood but Harry actually was in posession of all of the hallows when Voldemort's spell hit him. The stone was at his feet, the cloak was in his arms, and he was the Elder Wand's true master. So maybe that had it's affect as well.
I never thought of this. I like it a lot. If Rowling had included an explanation of this in that part, I would have been a lot happier with the ending.
As for the whole Christianity parallel, I don't think it's what Rowling set out to do, but there were definitely religious undertones in the story. Harry was willing to sacrifice himself so nobody else would have to die, and a huge theme in the book was Harry struggling to maintain faith in Dumbledore, whose vision Harry could not always see or feel and did not always make perfect sense, but gosh darnit, he did just had to keep on believing. Rowling even admitted in an interview that the books somewhat conveyed her own religious struggles to keep believing. It got to the point where I was actually really, really glad Dumbledore had some flaws and was not an omnipotent being.
But in the end, Harry was no more Jesus than Voldemort was Hitler. Rowling is just far too cool to write didactic drivel.
And then, as the books were told, Fina replied: "A can of worms, my dear friend? What has this to do with reason?"
|
Registered: December 27, 2006
Posts: 3919
|
Invisiblegirl, I seriously hope you're not serious when you compare harry potter with Christianity. Harry is not a saviour, not like christ, so I suggest you don't even go there.
...a Wandering Star for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever...
|
Registered: August 17, 2001
Posts: 5803
|
quote: A lot of the questions you guys mentioned are explained in an interview on Mugglenet. George keeps the joke shop open, with the help of Ron. I'm assuming Andromeda raised Teddy since he didn't live with Harry, but Teddy was also 19 at the end of that epilogue so he may have been living alone by then. And Dudley sees himself as he truly as for the first time when he meets the dementors. She phrases it all so eloquently though, so check it out.
I read the interview and was glad it answered a lot of my questions. Some are still left unanswered, but she's potentially writing an encyclopedia, so I can wait.
Created through a masterful combination of Power Rangers, Rescue Rangers, Peter Pan, and two cute boys from Barney fifteen years ago, Awkward Ikki is sure to please and aggravate anyone she comes into contact with! Be sure to find your own Awkward Ikki today! (Only Available in 3-D).
|
Registered: January 15, 2006
Posts: 483
|
Finally finished reading. I loved it, probably my favorite book of the series. The way everything came together was just incredible. It was the best writing of the entire series, excluding the epilogue, which makes sense since she said she had written that one ages ago.
A lot of the questions you guys mentioned are explained in an interview on Mugglenet. George keeps the joke shop open, with the help of Ron. I'm assuming Andromeda raised Teddy since he didn't live with Harry, but Teddy was also 19 at the end of that epilogue so he may have been living alone by then. And Dudley sees himself as he truly as for the first time when he meets the dementors. She phrases it all so eloquently though, so check it out.
You know, about the whole coming back from the dead thing, I know Dumbledore said it was because of his blood but Harry actually was in posession of all of the hallows when Voldemort's spell hit him. The stone was at his feet, the cloak was in his arms, and he was the Elder Wand's true master. So maybe that had it's affect as well.
Dobby dying destroyed me. Poor Dobby, he was such a loyal friend. I had hoped Neville would be the one to kill Bellatrix, but at least someone finally told her she was a bitch before she died. Mrs Weasley is the SHIT. Period. I was reading this to my sister (that's why I took so long to finish the book!) and we both just started giggling, it was so out of place. Loved it. Oh, and Ron and Hermione's kiss couldn't have been better... except if they had remembered to ACTUALLY go and warn the house elves lol
~*The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds; and the pessimist fears this is true.
|
Registered: June 12, 2007
Posts: 941
|
I'm just sad that now it's over. And I'm glad Harry didn't die, although his not-quite-dying will give the "Harry Potter is parallel to Christian beliefs" authors a lot more books to write...how exciting. My grandmother sends me like every single one.
Li sempre essera le domande, non importa cio che la lingua.
|
Registered: February 05, 2005
Posts: 920
|
I felt a little let down by the ending. Harry should have stayed dead, him coming back to life seemed more a need than the natural course the storyline should have taken.
Aside from that, the ammount of deaths is a little overkill, if she wanted to make it grim and dark she should have killed ron, hermione, harry, or ginny. Killing of tons of secondary characters to give it that feeling doesn't quite cut it in my view.
Also, the sugarcoated epilogue wasn't necessary, if she wanted to show the future she could have shown us how their lives ended up. Like what jobs they had, what relationships they went through(sorry, 17 year olds don't make couples for life, it's not realistic), and finally how the magical world was reorganized after the death of voldemort and the destruction of the ministery and hogwarts.
From my point of view it would have been much more interesting.
It was a decent ending but it could have been much better.
If god existed he'd be right winged
|
Registered: August 17, 2001
Posts: 5803
|
No, we're just not spoiling it for anyone who stumbles across this and hasn't read the book yet.
Created through a masterful combination of Power Rangers, Rescue Rangers, Peter Pan, and two cute boys from Barney fifteen years ago, Awkward Ikki is sure to please and aggravate anyone she comes into contact with! Be sure to find your own Awkward Ikki today! (Only Available in 3-D).
|
Peer Mod
Registered: February 05, 2007
Posts: 141
|
Are you guys trying to make my mod day more interesting? :P
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere" Martin Luther King Jr.
|
Registered: March 08, 2004
Posts: 1685
|
R.A.B., the Deathly Hallows, Harry being a Horcrux, and the entire Snape storyline were all just beautiful. The buildup to the end was also phenomenal. For a second there, she really had me believing Harry was going to meet his end.
The actual ending wasn't bad at all, but left a little something to be desired. Exactly how the blood transfusion screwed over Voldemort was never properly explained (was it just the power of love and sacrifice and protection? Again?) And what was up with that saccharine sweet epilogue? It seemed horribly out of place following a book where beloved characters had been dropping like flies. Albus Severus Potter? What was she thinking? I would have much preferred a final chapter that stuck in the present time. At the risk of sounding like a giggling schoolgirl, I really, really, REALLY wanted to see Harry and Ginny's first meeting after Voldemort's fall. I wanted everyone to get past the cheering and get to how they really felt about everything that had gone on. I feel like I got plot closure, but not emotional closure.
I think I kinda wish Harry had died. It would have been for a noble cause, and Harry wouldn't have had to have been saved by freaking concepts (love, courage, etc.).
I formulated a theory right when Harry saw what he thought was Dumbledore's eye in his sliver of mirror in the Malfoys' dungeon. I was so sure of myself, positive that I really had the ending figured out. It clicked in my head that Hermione had compared the Stone of Resurrection to the Sorcerer's Stone, and my mind took off: the two-way mirrors Harry and Sirius shared were really, unbeknownst to either of them, pieces of the Mirror of Erised. Harry was seeing Dumbledore because he wanted straight answers out of Dumbledore more than anything else on earth. Thanks to Dumbledore's enchantment, which was still on the mirror, Harry would only be able to get the Stone of Resurrection when he had resolved to never use it. Of course, before he could do this, he would have to come to grips with the deaths of his loved ones and accept the finality and inevitability of death. Then, somehow (maybe with a little help from Snape, who I'm pleased to say I never doubted for a second), he would get the Elder Wand, have all three Hallows, be invincible, and defeat Voldemort. There, my alternate ending.
Finally: I know we all want more backstory, but JKR writing a book of backstory absolutely terrifies me. What if she gets a little too into it and delves into the world of Harry Potter again? Whatever its faults, HP was a brilliant series of books, and I'm praying that JKR knows to leave well enough alone.
And then, as the books were told, Fina replied: "A can of worms, my dear friend? What has this to do with reason?"
|
Registered: August 17, 2001
Posts: 5803
|
quote: and I say we petion JKR till she agrees to put out that backstory book
I think I know a couple thousand people who will sign it... Actually, make that at least 5,000...
Created through a masterful combination of Power Rangers, Rescue Rangers, Peter Pan, and two cute boys from Barney fifteen years ago, Awkward Ikki is sure to please and aggravate anyone she comes into contact with! Be sure to find your own Awkward Ikki today! (Only Available in 3-D).
|
Registered: February 22, 2004
Posts: 13926
|
quote:
What about why some people don't become ghosts and others do?
It's a choice, you can only become one if you want too
I liked the wrap up though I had to read it a few times (Lily, James and Albus confused me for a second) so call me a sap but I actually liked the happy ending
and I say we petion JKR till she agrees to put out that backstory book
"The very existence of flamethrowers proves that sometime, somewhere, someone said to themselves, "You know, I want to set those people over there on fire, but I'm just not close enough to get the job done"."
|
Registered: August 17, 2001
Posts: 5803
|
Brehon-
I'm assuming it's McGonnagall, though everyone thought she'd be headmistress in book 7, and everyone was wrong. After Snape and Dumbledore, though, she does appear to be the prof with the most power.
And I agree with you about Dudley's worst thought. That'd be an interesting thing to hear.
There's a rumor-- via mugglenet-- that JKR may put out a book full of backstory. I think she should because that may answer questions we're all wondering.
Created through a masterful combination of Power Rangers, Rescue Rangers, Peter Pan, and two cute boys from Barney fifteen years ago, Awkward Ikki is sure to please and aggravate anyone she comes into contact with! Be sure to find your own Awkward Ikki today! (Only Available in 3-D).
|
 | Please Wait. Your request is being processed... |
|
