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leia131I have ABSOLUTELY no idea where to begin with this, so I'm going to just start typing and see where that takes me. What is under the cut is going to be a stream of consciousness, organized by subject. Cause I'm dorky like that.
If you don't want to read it all, I don't blame you. If you just want to read my thoughts on certain bits, scan the bolded words. :)
Clearly, spoilers lie behind this cut.
Yeah. That really was epic. And I already want to do another post with all the moments, characters, and lines that I loved. But that'll have to wait.
Feel free to ask me questions/open a discussion about any of my thoughts!
If you don't want to read it all, I don't blame you. If you just want to read my thoughts on certain bits, scan the bolded words. :)
Clearly, spoilers lie behind this cut.
Ok. Let's start with my predictions.
Before I read DH, I made a list of predictions, as follows:
1. Harry will kill Voldemort.
2. R.A.B. is Regulus A. Black. (The A. is for Arcturus)
3. Snape is good.
4. Snape is going to bite it.
5. We'll find out that Dumbledore and Snape had that whole AK thing on the Astronomy Tower totally planned.
6. Sirius Black will return from beyond the veil, sweep Remus off his feet, and the two of them will live in homosexual bliss, being the "uncles" to Harry's children, until they peacefully pass on. Together. (Tonks can come along too. If she wants. I'm all for threesome love.)
I was right on all counts except six (but that one wasn't serious.) Well... Harry didn't actually kill Voldemort. No, really. Voldemort's own killing curse rebounded on him, AGAIN, only this time Harry had destroyed all the horcruxes so he died for real. So that one was only sort of right.
True Theories:
I'm really amazed at how many things people had figured out. Besides RAB (cause that one was really obvious) I had also heard that Harry was a horcrux and that Snape loved Lily, which led to her being given the choice to die, and Snape's repentence, and Dumbledore's trust. And the locket was the same one mentioned in passing in OotP. So yay for theorists!
Plot Contrived-ness:
There were a lot of things in the plot that I felt were just waaaaaaaaay too convenient. For instance, Harry wonders why the name Gregorovitch rings a bell, and like, two pages later Krum conveniently shows up at the wedding. I mean, was he even friends with Fleur? It was just... too convenient. It felt like JKR had so many mysteries to wrap up that she didn't have very much time to spend on new ones, so a bunch of new stuff got introduced and then sorted out really quickly.
Also, of all the thousands of things in the Room of Hidden Shit, Harry happens to have used Ravenclaw's diadem to mark the hiding place of his book? COME ON. (But at that point you're so into the story that I guess it's ok.)
There was just a bunch of stuff that stretched even my suspension of disbelief to the breaking point.
Character Deaths:
Oh, I so made a list of all the characters who died. In order, no less: Charity Burbage, Hedwig, Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody, Rufus Scrimgeour, Ted Tonks, Dirk Cresswell, Gornuk the goblin, Peter Pettigrew, Dobby, Vincent Crabbe, Fred Weasley, Severus Snape, Remus John Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks Lupin, Colin Creevey, Nagini, Bellatrix Black Lestrange, and Tom Marvolo Riddle, also known as Lord Voldemort. (And no, Harry DID NOT DIE. JKR has been very clear on the point that you cannot die and come back to life. He went to Limbo, or something. But he wasn't actually dead.)
Now, I understand that this is a war. And I applaud JKR for having casualties, for showing us, and realistically, that this is a war, and in war people die, and you have no way of knowing who.
However, I felt like she made a list of all the characters whose living or dying wasn't key to the plot (ie: not Snape, Voldemort, Harry etc.), put it on a wall, and threw darts at it to decide who to kill. I mean, Hedwig? WTF? WHY HEDWIG!? I think JKR just didn't know what to do with Hedwig while Harry was out hocrux hunting, so she killed her. Or she just wanted to torture Harry. Or both.
I understand that Lupin and Tonks both had to die, had to leave their son an orphan, so the story could come full crcle. I get that, and I actually like that a great deal. But she could have GIVEN REMUS A DEATH SCENE. I mean, how did it happen? Sure Dolohov did him in, but how? A nice clean AK, or something worse? Did Dolohov cheat? Did Remus fight to the bitter end? WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?
The first time I've ever really cried, like full on had to put down the book and cry for a bit, was when Dobby died. Not even that he died, but that Harry dug his grave. And then when Ron took off his own socks to give to Dobby... I totally lost it. That's how you write a death scene. It was beautiful and perfect. Remus should have gotten one too.
Bellatrix's killer? Should have been Neville. But I am not, now or ever, going to deny the sheer awesomeness of Molly's "NOT MY DAUGHTER YOU BITCH!" I love Molly Weasley. I really do.
Fred Weasley:
Yes, Fred gets his own heading, because his death killed me a little inside. When I was first spoiled (by myself) to this death, no joke, I could not stop thinking about it for days. It upset me more than anything else in the book.
Realistically, if all nine Weasleys had lived... It would have been too much. Someone had to go. But did it have to be Fred?
A lot of my problem is that I saw Fred and George as one single entitiy. I had trouble seeing them as two, and I don't know how George is going to live without his twin. I really don't.
Fred however, is up in The Great Beyond with the Marauders, his idols, playing tricks on everyone they possibly can. Putting salt in the sugar shakers, turning people into canaries, you know. That sort of thing.
Peter Pettigrew:
He gets his own heading too, cause I like him Goddamn it, traitorous little rat that he is. He's such an interesting character.
Peter's death was perfect. PERFECT. Voldemort knew that he was a traitor, that he couldn't be trusted, and that he had that life-debt thing with Harry. So Voldemort built a little fail-safe into that lovely silver hand, so that when Peter showed any mercy, he'd be BETRAYED BY HIS OWN FREAKING HAND. It was SO PERFECT. I actually said "That's what you get for being untrustworthy!" Voldemort didn't trust him, so he died. Simple as that.
Let's move on to some ships, shall we?
Ron/Hermione:
The best parts in the whole book are the interactions between Ron and Hermione. They make my life happy. Case in point: in the middle of all the death and destruction, Ron cares about house elves, Hermione snogs him, Harry souts "OI! There's a war going on here!" Ron doesn't even care, and I start dying of happiness. (Also, my life is complete cause Ron and Hermione FINALLY kissed.)
When Ron left, I almost died. I love him SO MUCH and he was being SO AWFUL. I nearly cried at that part too. And Hermione's reaction... Oh Hermione.
Then, when he comes back... The things the horcrux said... I wanted to hug him so bad. He thought Hermione liked Harry. Stupid silly Ron. And Hermione's reaction to his reappearance? Does she hug him and cry more, and welcome him back? NO. She punches him unmercifully and mocks him. Because that's who Hermione is. And that's what makes their relationship so fantastic.
Remus/Tonks vs. Remus/Sirius:
You knew this was coming.
First of all, Remus marrying and knocking up Tonks does not sink my ship. Sirius has died. Remus is free to do as he pleases. However, he doesn't seem to be very happy with Tonks, does he? He says he made a grave mistake marrying her and all. (And his fight with Harry? Broke my heart.) The one time he's really happy all book is when Teddy is born. Hmmm... I think he misses Sirius.
It's all irrelevant now though, cause they're all dead. Remus and Sirius are reunited. So let the giant threeway in the sky commence! Or, go look at this picture and laugh at its utter perfection, as I did: http://bonnieslashfiend.deviantart.com/art/HP-Welcome-to-the-Afterlife-60716708
Also, notice Tonks didn't come to help Harry go face his destiny, and Remus and Sirius did... I'm sorry, I really tried, I like Tonks as a person, but I just don't like her with Remus. It feels really forced and weird... And she's quite a few years younger than him (not that that really matters...) It just doesn't feel right to me.
I like my puppies together. So shoot me.
Harry/Ginny:
I, unlike many people I know, like this ship. I like it even better with Luna involved, but that's neither here nor there.
I didn't however like how Ginny didn't really get to do anything all book. Harry keeps trying to protect her, as though he's under the (false) impression that she's helpless or stupid or inept. SHE CAN TAKE CARE OF HERSELF HARRY!
I did like how Harry's last thought before he "died" was of Ginny though. That was a nice touch. And how Cho was going to show Harry the Ravenclaw common room, and Ginny was like "LUNA. LUNA WILL SHOW YOU. *sucker punches Cho* GO SHOW HIM LUNA. *pushes them out the door, while holding Cho back with her foot*
As long as we're on Ginny/Harry...
The Epilogue:
Yeah, yeah, I read it before the book, but now I've read the whole story, so I have it in better context.
I liked the epilogue. I am however, as you all know, a sap. I like my happy endings. And it did read an awful lot like a fanfic.
What I didn't like was what Harry named his kids. Yeah, honoring the dead is great and all, but Lily AND James? That creeped me out. Them being siblings is just weird. Sorry Harry, but that's how I feel.
Also, it wasn't a very satisfying epilugue, was it? What happened to George? Luna? Who the hell is Victorie? Who raised Teddy? Those questions (and others) are why I went and looked up all the stuff JKR said that she couldn't fit into the epilogue. I highly recommend you do the same.
Harry = Jesus.
There, I said it. You were all thinking it.
I can't remember all the requirements for being a literary Christ figure, but I know they include coming from humble beginnings (cupboard under the stairs anyone?) and dying only to return. (I know, he didn't die, but work with me here.)
Harry's been (in my mind) working his was along this path for a while now, but when he went knowingly to his enemy, to die so that others could live (another heart-breaking part at which I cried, btw), didn't really die, and then said he knew his body had to be humiliated... Well, at that point he was Aslan. (If you don't believe me, read The Lion , the Witch and the Wardrobe. Then we'll talk.) And since Aslan = Jesus, so does Harry. It's the transitive property of addition. Look it up.
So, yeah. Harry is Jesus. He delivered himself into the hands of his enemies. Then he came back and saved everyone. It was beautiful, and it was AWESOME.
Another Literary Allusion:
Wearing the horcrux locket, around their necks no less, makes the trio angsty and bitchy. This is because the locketcrux = The One Ring.
Just sayin'.
Minerva McGonagall and Neville Longbottom:
I've already expressed my undying love for these two, but I'm doing it again.
When McGonagall is the first to shout "No!" at Harry's "dead" body, and when Neville says he'll join Voldemort when Hell freezes over... Those are some of the best moments ever. (Not to mention the Nagini killing. OMG NEVILLE IS AWESOME.)
And I wanna know what McGonagall was doing with that herd of desks.
Things That Made Me Go "You Can't Be Serious. Oh Wait, You Are. Really? Ok."
- Lucius' albino peacocks.
- Ron and that whole thing with the ball of light from the Deluminator going inside him and bringing him back to Harry and Hermione. WTF was that?
- Tuney = Worst. Nickname. Ever.
- Albus Severus.
- Remus' code name is ROMULUS. (Though that one made my geeky heart happy. It was still a bit "really? REALLY? Ok."
Things That Made Me Think Of Star Wars:
- Ron loves Hermione. Hermione loves Ron. But he thinks she loves Harry. Then it's revealed that she does, but as a brother. (Ron = Han, Harry = Luke, Hermione = Leia. I think that's all I have to say.)
-Xenophilus Lovegood (Best. First. Name. Ever. BTW) is so totally Lando. Sells out the heroes, but isn't really evil. Or even selfish.
Harry's Indiana Jones Moment:
Freeing all the muggle-borns from the Ministry, instead of just collecting Ron and Hermione and making a break for it. If you don't know what I'm talking about, watch Temple of Doom and listen for the following:
Willie: Indy, let's get out of here.
Indy: Right. All of us.
Old Characters:
At the end, JKR apparantly decided to pull out every character from the last six books that we hadn't heard from in a while, including Oliver Wood, Charlie Weasley, and Sir Cadogan. This made me happy.
Character Development:
I never thought I'd like Dudley Dursley. But he left Harry tea. He was grateful. And I liked him there, at the end of Harry's time with him. I want to know what happened to the Dursleys. I like to think Harry and Dudley became friends (ish) as adults.
I never thought I'd like Kreacher either, but it turns out Hermione was right. Treating elves properly really does work miracles. I now officially forgive Kreacher for betraying Sirius.
Percy's return was so very perfect. The dialogue was spectacular, and Fred was first to forgive him, and then he made a joke, and tried to stay with Fred's body, and oh Percy!
I so so SO had the Malfoys pegged. Draco wasn't evil, Narcissa actually helped Harry, even Lucius wasn't a real bastard. They're just selfish and spoiled, really, not so much evil. Not like Bella. And Draco actually CARED about Crabbe and Goyle! Awwww...
Times Harry Was Going For His Saint Award (And Ron Wasn't, So Much):
-Trying to stop Peter's hand from strangling him.
-Saving Draco and Goyle from the fire. (If we die for them, I'll kill you!)
-Saving Draco again (and then Ron punches and insults him.)
Other:
I should have known the Gray Lady was going to be important. She's the only house ghost without an alliterative name.
See my icon? Remember when Harry went upstairs with "Bathilda" alone? And HERMIONE LET HIM? Yeah. That's when Harry was MONUMENTALLY stupid. And it's not the first time. I love the kid, but really.
All that stuff about cleansing the wizarding race by irradicating mudbloods? Nazis anyone? And tell me Nurmengard doesn't sound like a Nazi prison camp name.
Harry using unforgivable curses was a perfect way to show how really horrible war is, and what it makes people do, and even enjoy doing. Bravo JKR. It HURT me to see Harry using Crucio effectively. As well it should have.
I love that the Ravenclaw common room has a riddle, not a password.
I also love how JKR does dragons: not entirely evil, and not entirely victimized and sympathetic either. She treats them with respect, healthy fear, and admiration. That's how it should be done.
UMBRIDGE. I so badly wanted her to be horribly tortured, maimed, and possibly killed. I hate that woman SO MUCH. And she didn't get shit in canon. (Though JKR says she was imprisoned for "crimes against muggle-borns." Well, THAT'S NOT GOOD ENOUGH! SHE NEEDS TO SUFFER GODDAMN IT!!!!!!!!!)
Final Thoughts For Now:
I'm sure there's stuff I missed, (I didn't even touch on Snape/Lily, for example, because I don't have the strength) and I'm sure I'll be posting about it later, but overall I liked the book. All my questions were answered (though she raised some new ones and left them open) and I got such an adrenaline rush from the last 200 pages that it didn't wear off for hours. Ask the people who were here tonight.
The canon may be over, but the fandom is not. Long live Harry Potter Geekery!!!
Before I read DH, I made a list of predictions, as follows:
1. Harry will kill Voldemort.
2. R.A.B. is Regulus A. Black. (The A. is for Arcturus)
3. Snape is good.
4. Snape is going to bite it.
5. We'll find out that Dumbledore and Snape had that whole AK thing on the Astronomy Tower totally planned.
6. Sirius Black will return from beyond the veil, sweep Remus off his feet, and the two of them will live in homosexual bliss, being the "uncles" to Harry's children, until they peacefully pass on. Together. (Tonks can come along too. If she wants. I'm all for threesome love.)
I was right on all counts except six (but that one wasn't serious.) Well... Harry didn't actually kill Voldemort. No, really. Voldemort's own killing curse rebounded on him, AGAIN, only this time Harry had destroyed all the horcruxes so he died for real. So that one was only sort of right.
True Theories:
I'm really amazed at how many things people had figured out. Besides RAB (cause that one was really obvious) I had also heard that Harry was a horcrux and that Snape loved Lily, which led to her being given the choice to die, and Snape's repentence, and Dumbledore's trust. And the locket was the same one mentioned in passing in OotP. So yay for theorists!
Plot Contrived-ness:
There were a lot of things in the plot that I felt were just waaaaaaaaay too convenient. For instance, Harry wonders why the name Gregorovitch rings a bell, and like, two pages later Krum conveniently shows up at the wedding. I mean, was he even friends with Fleur? It was just... too convenient. It felt like JKR had so many mysteries to wrap up that she didn't have very much time to spend on new ones, so a bunch of new stuff got introduced and then sorted out really quickly.
Also, of all the thousands of things in the Room of Hidden Shit, Harry happens to have used Ravenclaw's diadem to mark the hiding place of his book? COME ON. (But at that point you're so into the story that I guess it's ok.)
There was just a bunch of stuff that stretched even my suspension of disbelief to the breaking point.
Character Deaths:
Oh, I so made a list of all the characters who died. In order, no less: Charity Burbage, Hedwig, Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody, Rufus Scrimgeour, Ted Tonks, Dirk Cresswell, Gornuk the goblin, Peter Pettigrew, Dobby, Vincent Crabbe, Fred Weasley, Severus Snape, Remus John Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks Lupin, Colin Creevey, Nagini, Bellatrix Black Lestrange, and Tom Marvolo Riddle, also known as Lord Voldemort. (And no, Harry DID NOT DIE. JKR has been very clear on the point that you cannot die and come back to life. He went to Limbo, or something. But he wasn't actually dead.)
Now, I understand that this is a war. And I applaud JKR for having casualties, for showing us, and realistically, that this is a war, and in war people die, and you have no way of knowing who.
However, I felt like she made a list of all the characters whose living or dying wasn't key to the plot (ie: not Snape, Voldemort, Harry etc.), put it on a wall, and threw darts at it to decide who to kill. I mean, Hedwig? WTF? WHY HEDWIG!? I think JKR just didn't know what to do with Hedwig while Harry was out hocrux hunting, so she killed her. Or she just wanted to torture Harry. Or both.
I understand that Lupin and Tonks both had to die, had to leave their son an orphan, so the story could come full crcle. I get that, and I actually like that a great deal. But she could have GIVEN REMUS A DEATH SCENE. I mean, how did it happen? Sure Dolohov did him in, but how? A nice clean AK, or something worse? Did Dolohov cheat? Did Remus fight to the bitter end? WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?
The first time I've ever really cried, like full on had to put down the book and cry for a bit, was when Dobby died. Not even that he died, but that Harry dug his grave. And then when Ron took off his own socks to give to Dobby... I totally lost it. That's how you write a death scene. It was beautiful and perfect. Remus should have gotten one too.
Bellatrix's killer? Should have been Neville. But I am not, now or ever, going to deny the sheer awesomeness of Molly's "NOT MY DAUGHTER YOU BITCH!" I love Molly Weasley. I really do.
Fred Weasley:
Yes, Fred gets his own heading, because his death killed me a little inside. When I was first spoiled (by myself) to this death, no joke, I could not stop thinking about it for days. It upset me more than anything else in the book.
Realistically, if all nine Weasleys had lived... It would have been too much. Someone had to go. But did it have to be Fred?
A lot of my problem is that I saw Fred and George as one single entitiy. I had trouble seeing them as two, and I don't know how George is going to live without his twin. I really don't.
Fred however, is up in The Great Beyond with the Marauders, his idols, playing tricks on everyone they possibly can. Putting salt in the sugar shakers, turning people into canaries, you know. That sort of thing.
Peter Pettigrew:
He gets his own heading too, cause I like him Goddamn it, traitorous little rat that he is. He's such an interesting character.
Peter's death was perfect. PERFECT. Voldemort knew that he was a traitor, that he couldn't be trusted, and that he had that life-debt thing with Harry. So Voldemort built a little fail-safe into that lovely silver hand, so that when Peter showed any mercy, he'd be BETRAYED BY HIS OWN FREAKING HAND. It was SO PERFECT. I actually said "That's what you get for being untrustworthy!" Voldemort didn't trust him, so he died. Simple as that.
Let's move on to some ships, shall we?
Ron/Hermione:
The best parts in the whole book are the interactions between Ron and Hermione. They make my life happy. Case in point: in the middle of all the death and destruction, Ron cares about house elves, Hermione snogs him, Harry souts "OI! There's a war going on here!" Ron doesn't even care, and I start dying of happiness. (Also, my life is complete cause Ron and Hermione FINALLY kissed.)
When Ron left, I almost died. I love him SO MUCH and he was being SO AWFUL. I nearly cried at that part too. And Hermione's reaction... Oh Hermione.
Then, when he comes back... The things the horcrux said... I wanted to hug him so bad. He thought Hermione liked Harry. Stupid silly Ron. And Hermione's reaction to his reappearance? Does she hug him and cry more, and welcome him back? NO. She punches him unmercifully and mocks him. Because that's who Hermione is. And that's what makes their relationship so fantastic.
Remus/Tonks vs. Remus/Sirius:
You knew this was coming.
First of all, Remus marrying and knocking up Tonks does not sink my ship. Sirius has died. Remus is free to do as he pleases. However, he doesn't seem to be very happy with Tonks, does he? He says he made a grave mistake marrying her and all. (And his fight with Harry? Broke my heart.) The one time he's really happy all book is when Teddy is born. Hmmm... I think he misses Sirius.
It's all irrelevant now though, cause they're all dead. Remus and Sirius are reunited. So let the giant threeway in the sky commence! Or, go look at this picture and laugh at its utter perfection, as I did: http://bonnieslashfiend.deviantart.com/art/HP-Welcome-to-the-Afterlife-60716708
Also, notice Tonks didn't come to help Harry go face his destiny, and Remus and Sirius did... I'm sorry, I really tried, I like Tonks as a person, but I just don't like her with Remus. It feels really forced and weird... And she's quite a few years younger than him (not that that really matters...) It just doesn't feel right to me.
I like my puppies together. So shoot me.
Harry/Ginny:
I, unlike many people I know, like this ship.
I didn't however like how Ginny didn't really get to do anything all book. Harry keeps trying to protect her, as though he's under the (false) impression that she's helpless or stupid or inept. SHE CAN TAKE CARE OF HERSELF HARRY!
I did like how Harry's last thought before he "died" was of Ginny though. That was a nice touch. And how Cho was going to show Harry the Ravenclaw common room, and Ginny was like "LUNA. LUNA WILL SHOW YOU. *sucker punches Cho* GO SHOW HIM LUNA. *pushes them out the door, while holding Cho back with her foot*
As long as we're on Ginny/Harry...
The Epilogue:
Yeah, yeah, I read it before the book, but now I've read the whole story, so I have it in better context.
I liked the epilogue. I am however, as you all know, a sap. I like my happy endings. And it did read an awful lot like a fanfic.
What I didn't like was what Harry named his kids. Yeah, honoring the dead is great and all, but Lily AND James? That creeped me out. Them being siblings is just weird. Sorry Harry, but that's how I feel.
Also, it wasn't a very satisfying epilugue, was it? What happened to George? Luna? Who the hell is Victorie? Who raised Teddy? Those questions (and others) are why I went and looked up all the stuff JKR said that she couldn't fit into the epilogue. I highly recommend you do the same.
Harry = Jesus.
There, I said it. You were all thinking it.
I can't remember all the requirements for being a literary Christ figure, but I know they include coming from humble beginnings (cupboard under the stairs anyone?) and dying only to return. (I know, he didn't die, but work with me here.)
Harry's been (in my mind) working his was along this path for a while now, but when he went knowingly to his enemy, to die so that others could live (another heart-breaking part at which I cried, btw), didn't really die, and then said he knew his body had to be humiliated... Well, at that point he was Aslan. (If you don't believe me, read The Lion , the Witch and the Wardrobe. Then we'll talk.) And since Aslan = Jesus, so does Harry. It's the transitive property of addition. Look it up.
So, yeah. Harry is Jesus. He delivered himself into the hands of his enemies. Then he came back and saved everyone. It was beautiful, and it was AWESOME.
Another Literary Allusion:
Wearing the horcrux locket, around their necks no less, makes the trio angsty and bitchy. This is because the locketcrux = The One Ring.
Just sayin'.
Minerva McGonagall and Neville Longbottom:
I've already expressed my undying love for these two, but I'm doing it again.
When McGonagall is the first to shout "No!" at Harry's "dead" body, and when Neville says he'll join Voldemort when Hell freezes over... Those are some of the best moments ever. (Not to mention the Nagini killing. OMG NEVILLE IS AWESOME.)
And I wanna know what McGonagall was doing with that herd of desks.
Things That Made Me Go "You Can't Be Serious. Oh Wait, You Are. Really? Ok."
- Lucius' albino peacocks.
- Ron and that whole thing with the ball of light from the Deluminator going inside him and bringing him back to Harry and Hermione. WTF was that?
- Tuney = Worst. Nickname. Ever.
- Albus Severus.
- Remus' code name is ROMULUS. (Though that one made my geeky heart happy. It was still a bit "really? REALLY? Ok."
Things That Made Me Think Of Star Wars:
- Ron loves Hermione. Hermione loves Ron. But he thinks she loves Harry. Then it's revealed that she does, but as a brother. (Ron = Han, Harry = Luke, Hermione = Leia. I think that's all I have to say.)
-Xenophilus Lovegood (Best. First. Name. Ever. BTW) is so totally Lando. Sells out the heroes, but isn't really evil. Or even selfish.
Harry's Indiana Jones Moment:
Freeing all the muggle-borns from the Ministry, instead of just collecting Ron and Hermione and making a break for it. If you don't know what I'm talking about, watch Temple of Doom and listen for the following:
Willie: Indy, let's get out of here.
Indy: Right. All of us.
Old Characters:
At the end, JKR apparantly decided to pull out every character from the last six books that we hadn't heard from in a while, including Oliver Wood, Charlie Weasley, and Sir Cadogan. This made me happy.
Character Development:
I never thought I'd like Dudley Dursley. But he left Harry tea. He was grateful. And I liked him there, at the end of Harry's time with him. I want to know what happened to the Dursleys. I like to think Harry and Dudley became friends (ish) as adults.
I never thought I'd like Kreacher either, but it turns out Hermione was right. Treating elves properly really does work miracles. I now officially forgive Kreacher for betraying Sirius.
Percy's return was so very perfect. The dialogue was spectacular, and Fred was first to forgive him, and then he made a joke, and tried to stay with Fred's body, and oh Percy!
I so so SO had the Malfoys pegged. Draco wasn't evil, Narcissa actually helped Harry, even Lucius wasn't a real bastard. They're just selfish and spoiled, really, not so much evil. Not like Bella. And Draco actually CARED about Crabbe and Goyle! Awwww...
Times Harry Was Going For His Saint Award (And Ron Wasn't, So Much):
-Trying to stop Peter's hand from strangling him.
-Saving Draco and Goyle from the fire. (If we die for them, I'll kill you!)
-Saving Draco again (and then Ron punches and insults him.)
Other:
I should have known the Gray Lady was going to be important. She's the only house ghost without an alliterative name.
See my icon? Remember when Harry went upstairs with "Bathilda" alone? And HERMIONE LET HIM? Yeah. That's when Harry was MONUMENTALLY stupid. And it's not the first time. I love the kid, but really.
All that stuff about cleansing the wizarding race by irradicating mudbloods? Nazis anyone? And tell me Nurmengard doesn't sound like a Nazi prison camp name.
Harry using unforgivable curses was a perfect way to show how really horrible war is, and what it makes people do, and even enjoy doing. Bravo JKR. It HURT me to see Harry using Crucio effectively. As well it should have.
I love that the Ravenclaw common room has a riddle, not a password.
I also love how JKR does dragons: not entirely evil, and not entirely victimized and sympathetic either. She treats them with respect, healthy fear, and admiration. That's how it should be done.
UMBRIDGE. I so badly wanted her to be horribly tortured, maimed, and possibly killed. I hate that woman SO MUCH. And she didn't get shit in canon. (Though JKR says she was imprisoned for "crimes against muggle-borns." Well, THAT'S NOT GOOD ENOUGH! SHE NEEDS TO SUFFER GODDAMN IT!!!!!!!!!)
Final Thoughts For Now:
I'm sure there's stuff I missed, (I didn't even touch on Snape/Lily, for example, because I don't have the strength) and I'm sure I'll be posting about it later, but overall I liked the book. All my questions were answered (though she raised some new ones and left them open) and I got such an adrenaline rush from the last 200 pages that it didn't wear off for hours. Ask the people who were here tonight.
The canon may be over, but the fandom is not. Long live Harry Potter Geekery!!!
Yeah. That really was epic. And I already want to do another post with all the moments, characters, and lines that I loved. But that'll have to wait.
Feel free to ask me questions/open a discussion about any of my thoughts!
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Date: 2007-08-28 06:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-08-28 03:40 pm (UTC)Just so you know, JKR said that Dolohov killed Remus, but that was all the info she gave. No how, or where, or anything.
And I liked Remus' codename. Heh.
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Date: 2007-08-28 06:57 pm (UTC)Did he kill Tonks too?
Oh! Did you hear that JKR is going to write an HP encyclopedia?
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Date: 2007-08-28 07:01 pm (UTC)I heard about the encyclopedia, and all I have to say is YAYOMGYAY!!! I love little facts and bits and pieces!
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Date: 2007-08-28 07:42 pm (UTC)I KNOW OMG. I hope she puts in what they're doing after the war, too, because I want more about George, hahaha :3
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Date: 2007-08-29 12:06 am (UTC)Cause they won't have enough issues, without trying to raise someone else's kid too...
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Date: 2007-08-29 02:49 pm (UTC)Sirius-lovingheart burst with joy :3But you're completely right about them having enough issues, XD