Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

[dazie]

  It will!

What do you think about it?

[Beefy]

I th ink this will be like last time, where I wait a few months to get through it.

[Gamplayerx]

I'm on page 16.  So far, I think that they really did a super job casting Hagrid and Dumbledore for the movies based on their descriptions in the book.

[dazie]

Most of the casting was really well done.  There's a few in the later movies that make me scratch my head though.

[BigDun]

Okay, I'll discuss some of the book's plot points. I'll try to be obscure, but will make it in tiny print because it is a little spoilerific.

I thought that the characters of Dobbie and Kreature could have been reversed for scenes in the Malfoy house and in the final battle. Kreature turned into a positive character so could have done what Dobbie did in the Malfoy house and what followed. It wouldn't have been as emotional as she wrote it, but it would have been plausible. And Dobbie issuing a war cry at the end would have been much better than Kreature.

[dazie]

Okay, I'll discuss some of the book's plot points. I'll try to be obscure, but will make it in tiny print because it is a little spoilerific.

I thought that the characters of Dobbie and Kreature could have been reversed for scenes in the Malfoy house and in the final battle. Kreature turned into a positive character so could have done what Dobbie did in the Malfoy house and what followed. It wouldn't have been as emotional as she wrote it, but it would have been plausible. And Dobbie issuing a war cry at the end would have been much better than Kreature.

OOO- good idea.  But would Abe have known to send Kreacher instead of Dobby?

Also- do you think Neville had the real sword?  I think he did, because of the whole "The sword of Gryffindor goes to a true Gryffindor who needs it" (paraphrasing)

Did we know that Lily's patronus was a doe? 

[Bennyhana]

Okay, I'll discuss some of the book's plot points. I'll try to be obscure, but will make it in tiny print because it is a little spoilerific.

I thought that the characters of Dobbie and Kreature could have been reversed for scenes in the Malfoy house and in the final battle. Kreature turned into a positive character so could have done what Dobbie did in the Malfoy house and what followed. It wouldn't have been as emotional as she wrote it, but it would have been plausible. And Dobbie issuing a war cry at the end would have been much better than Kreature.

OOO- good idea.  But would Abe have known to send Kreacher instead of Dobby?

Also- do you think Neville had the real sword?  I think he did, because of the whole "The sword of Gryffindor goes to a true Gryffindor who needs it" (paraphrasing)

Did we know that Lily's patronus was a doe? 

Mrs Peacock was a man?!?

[dazie]

Interesting- I'm reading that pdf I sent Swolt and it is definitely fanfiction, the author even puts notes into it here and there.  But what surprises me is how the author got some of the things almost exactly as Rowling did in the real book.

For example, 1) in the fanfic, the wedding reception is attacked, as in the real book.  2) The fanfic has Narcissa and Draco hiding from Voldemort in Grimmauld Place, and the real book has Narcissa betraying Voldemort to save Draco.  3) Both stories have Harry as the 7th horcrux.

Interesting.  Someone had a LOT of time on their hands.  The language is coarser, but the story line is ok so far.  I'm about 100 pages in.  I can't read it as fast because I'm reading on the computer screen.

[Alice]

Interesting- I'm reading that pdf I sent Swolt and it is definitely fanfiction, the author even puts notes into it here and there.  But what surprises me is how the author got some of the things almost exactly as Rowling did in the real book.

For example, 1) in the fanfic, the wedding reception is attacked, as in the real book.  2) The fanfic has Narcissa and Draco hiding from Voldemort in Grimmauld Place, and the real book has Narcissa betraying Voldemort to save Draco.  3) Both stories have Harry as the 7th horcrux.

Interesting.  Someone had a LOT of time on their hands.  The language is coarser, but the story line is ok so far.  I'm about 100 pages in.  I can't read it as fast because I'm reading on the computer screen.

From reading the first book, unless her style has changed, her stories aren't exactly unpredictable.  I'd imagine if this fan has read all of them, getting some stuff dead on wouldn't be too terribly difficult.

[Beefy]

Interesting- I'm reading that pdf I sent Swolt and it is definitely fanfiction, the author even puts notes into it here and there.  But what surprises me is how the author got some of the things almost exactly as Rowling did in the real book.

For example, 1) in the fanfic, the wedding reception is attacked, as in the real book.  2) The fanfic has Narcissa and Draco hiding from Voldemort in Grimmauld Place, and the real book has Narcissa betraying Voldemort to save Draco.  3) Both stories have Harry as the 7th horcrux.

Interesting.  Someone had a LOT of time on their hands.  The language is coarser, but the story line is ok so far.  I'm about 100 pages in.  I can't read it as fast because I'm reading on the computer screen.

From reading the first book, unless her style has changed, her stories aren't exactly unpredictable.  I'd imagine if this fan has read all of them, getting some stuff dead on wouldn't be too terribly difficult.

That I have to agree with.

[Alice]

And I don't mean that as a slam, but more of an explanation.  If it weren't slightly predictable, it wouldn't make as good of a children's series.

[Beefy]

And I don't mean that as a slam, but more of an explanation.  If it weren't slightly predictable, it wouldn't make as good of a children's series.

Also agreed.  I think the audience takes comfort in the familiar, though I'm of the opinion that her prose actually undermined the suspense and intended poignancy of several bigs scenes in books 5 and 6.

[dazie]

I'm just sayin.

[nishi]

 i stayed off the internet for the entire week proceeding the release of the book so no one would fuck it up for me.

SPOILERS

re: dobby/kreacher: i liked it the way that it was - i liked the change in kreacher because harry worked so hard to treat him well and respect him as a being with feelings and a history. i also think that kreacher sacrificing himself for harry - well, for hermione, actually - wouldn't have had the same effect

then, this part drove me crazy: 50 pages of hermione, harry and ron arguing. THAT pissed me off.

also: i am still totally confused as to how dumbledore could have won the elder wand in a duel. isn't the thing about the elder wand that you can't lose? someone i was talking to suggested that perhaps grindelwald hadn't been it's "true" owner, since he stole the wand rather than winning it in some other way - like killing its previous owner - whether that was gregorovich or someone else. anyway, going off on the hallows instead of the horcruxes was kind of weird. the only thing that i liked about it was seeing dumbledore in such a different way, especially in his rash response of putting on the ring after finding it.

but: snape's death becoming so.... pointless was to me, totally heartbreaking. i also wish that she had thought to have his portrait in the headmaster's office when harry goes there later - as dumbledore's portrait had immediately appeared in HBP after his death. seeing snape there, sleeping peacefully in his portrait, would have gone a long way with me. i did think that part of the scene where his memories pour from his eyes and mouth and ears was astounding and i cried so hard that i had to put the book down during the memory of his last conversation with dumbledore, when he makes his patronus and dumblestore says "even after all this time" and snape says "always".

i also wept when harry put on the ring in order to call his family and friends to him when he went to face voldemort and his death.

on the whole, i was both pleased and frustrated. the parts that were powerful were that. and while i have always loved the surprises that she manages to pull out, there were plot devices that i thought were kind of far-reaching this time.

however, much is forgiven because of "pitiful. you have the entire world of ear humor available to you and you choose 'holey'?", and kreacher clanging mundungus up side the head with the copper saucepan.

[meredith]

honestly, i am in contact with some of the biggest douchebags in the world - fark, somethingawful, WoW PVPers, beefy - and nobody spoiled it for me. *shrug*

[nishi]

there were spoilers all over the other site where i moderate. in fact, there was apparently a huge fight between two moderators, because one of them started posting a spoiler in every single thread on the site and the other one was following him around deleting them. the one doing the following is another fan of the books. i'm not sure how it was resolved - i notice that the one doing the spoiler posting is still a mod. he even gave the following mod a time out for "harassing" him. ridiculous.

so. as far as the sites i visit, i made the right decision. and even beyond that, it wasn't something that i was going to risk. i have never been the kind of person that enjoys looking at the last page of anything - i like discovering what is going on as it happens in a book. and since this was something that i'd been looking forward to for a while, i wasn't going to let someone spoil it for me. i mean - i wasn't late to work and i still checked my email and i still got all the rest of my internet based work done. i just took time away from social sites on the internet as a precaution and i'm glad i did. i would have been sad to lose the opportunity to simply read the book and the anticipation that went along with that.

[dazie]

i stayed off the internet for the entire week proceeding the release of the book so no one would fuck it up for me.

SPOILERS

re: dobby/kreacher: i liked it the way that it was - i liked the change in kreacher because harry worked so hard to treat him well and respect him as a being with feelings and a history. i also think that kreacher sacrificing himself for harry - well, for hermione, actually - wouldn't have had the same effect

then, this part drove me crazy: 50 pages of hermione, harry and ron arguing. THAT pissed me off.

also: i am still totally confused as to how dumbledore could have won the elder wand in a duel. isn't the thing about the elder wand that you can't lose? someone i was talking to suggested that perhaps grindelwald hadn't been it's "true" owner, since he stole the wand rather than winning it in some other way - like killing its previous owner - whether that was gregorovich or someone else. anyway, going off on the hallows instead of the horcruxes was kind of weird. the only thing that i liked about it was seeing dumbledore in such a different way, especially in his rash response of putting on the ring after finding it.

but: snape's death becoming so.... pointless was to me, totally heartbreaking. i also wish that she had thought to have his portrait in the headmaster's office when harry goes there later - as dumbledore's portrait had immediately appeared in HBP after his death. seeing snape there, sleeping peacefully in his portrait, would have gone a long way with me. i did think that part of the scene where his memories pour from his eyes and mouth and ears was astounding and i cried so hard that i had to put the book down during the memory of his last conversation with dumbledore, when he makes his patronus and dumblestore says "even after all this time" and snape says "always".

i also wept when harry put on the ring in order to call his family and friends to him when he went to face voldemort and his death.

on the whole, i was both pleased and frustrated. the parts that were powerful were that. and while i have always loved the surprises that she manages to pull out, there were plot devices that i thought were kind of far-reaching this time.

however, much is forgiven because of "pitiful. you have the entire world of ear humor available to you and you choose 'holey'?", and kreacher clanging mundungus up side the head with the copper saucepan.

1.  I concur about the Dobby/Kreacher thing.  I hadn't thought of it that way- that Dobby also saved Hermione, which Kreacher wouldn't have done unless ordered to by Harry, and then begrudgingly.That was the first time I cried- when Harry was burying Dobby.

2.  I also concur about the arguing teenagers.  Yes.  We get it.  Times are rough.  The locket acts as the Ring did.  It makes people cranky.  We get it.

3.  I will ponder the 3rd point and see if I have an answer.

4.  Snape.  Ohhhh that made me cry.  I thought the memories coming out of his eyes etc. was a little gross, but I guess he was just trying really hard to make sure Harry got it.  And the whole doe thing.    If there's a wizard afterlife, I hope he's found some peace.  I was really annoyed at how Dumbledore used him so much, as he used Harry so much.  Do the ends justify the means? 

5.  I wasn't sure what calling the dead people had to do with the plot.  Was it just to show that Harry had so many people close to him die?

6.  I will have to read it again- I'm sure there are things I missed with going through it as quickly as I did.

[nishi]

i stayed off the internet for the entire week proceeding the release of the book so no one would fuck it up for me.

SPOILERS

re: dobby/kreacher: i liked it the way that it was - i liked the change in kreacher because harry worked so hard to treat him well and respect him as a being with feelings and a history. i also think that kreacher sacrificing himself for harry - well, for hermione, actually - wouldn't have had the same effect

then, this part drove me crazy: 50 pages of hermione, harry and ron arguing. THAT pissed me off.

also: i am still totally confused as to how dumbledore could have won the elder wand in a duel. isn't the thing about the elder wand that you can't lose? someone i was talking to suggested that perhaps grindelwald hadn't been it's "true" owner, since he stole the wand rather than winning it in some other way - like killing its previous owner - whether that was gregorovich or someone else. anyway, going off on the hallows instead of the horcruxes was kind of weird. the only thing that i liked about it was seeing dumbledore in such a different way, especially in his rash response of putting on the ring after finding it.

but: snape's death becoming so.... pointless was to me, totally heartbreaking. i also wish that she had thought to have his portrait in the headmaster's office when harry goes there later - as dumbledore's portrait had immediately appeared in HBP after his death. seeing snape there, sleeping peacefully in his portrait, would have gone a long way with me. i did think that part of the scene where his memories pour from his eyes and mouth and ears was astounding and i cried so hard that i had to put the book down during the memory of his last conversation with dumbledore, when he makes his patronus and dumblestore says "even after all this time" and snape says "always".

i also wept when harry put on the ring in order to call his family and friends to him when he went to face voldemort and his death.

on the whole, i was both pleased and frustrated. the parts that were powerful were that. and while i have always loved the surprises that she manages to pull out, there were plot devices that i thought were kind of far-reaching this time.

however, much is forgiven because of "pitiful. you have the entire world of ear humor available to you and you choose 'holey'?", and kreacher clanging mundungus up side the head with the copper saucepan.

1.  I concur about the Dobby/Kreacher thing.  I hadn't thought of it that way- that Dobby also saved Hermione, which Kreacher wouldn't have done unless ordered to by Harry, and then begrudgingly.That was the first time I cried- when Harry was burying Dobby.

2.  I also concur about the arguing teenagers.  Yes.  We get it.  Times are rough.  The locket acts as the Ring did.  It makes people cranky.  We get it.

3.  I will ponder the 3rd point and see if I have an answer.

4.  Snape.  Ohhhh that made me cry.  I thought the memories coming out of his eyes etc. was a little gross, but I guess he was just trying really hard to make sure Harry got it.  And the whole doe thing.    If there's a wizard afterlife, I hope he's found some peace.  I was really annoyed at how Dumbledore used him so much, as he used Harry so much.  Do the ends justify the means? 

5.  I wasn't sure what calling the dead people had to do with the plot.  Was it just to show that Harry had so many people close to him die?

6.  I will have to read it again- I'm sure there are things I missed with going through it as quickly as I did.

[nishi]

i stayed off the internet for the entire week proceeding the release of the book so no one would fuck it up for me.

SPOILERS

re: dobby/kreacher: i liked it the way that it was - i liked the change in kreacher because harry worked so hard to treat him well and respect him as a being with feelings and a history. i also think that kreacher sacrificing himself for harry - well, for hermione, actually - wouldn't have had the same effect

then, this part drove me crazy: 50 pages of hermione, harry and ron arguing. THAT pissed me off.

also: i am still totally confused as to how dumbledore could have won the elder wand in a duel. isn't the thing about the elder wand that you can't lose? someone i was talking to suggested that perhaps grindelwald hadn't been it's "true" owner, since he stole the wand rather than winning it in some other way - like killing its previous owner - whether that was gregorovich or someone else. anyway, going off on the hallows instead of the horcruxes was kind of weird. the only thing that i liked about it was seeing dumbledore in such a different way, especially in his rash response of putting on the ring after finding it.

but: snape's death becoming so.... pointless was to me, totally heartbreaking. i also wish that she had thought to have his portrait in the headmaster's office when harry goes there later - as dumbledore's portrait had immediately appeared in HBP after his death. seeing snape there, sleeping peacefully in his portrait, would have gone a long way with me. i did think that part of the scene where his memories pour from his eyes and mouth and ears was astounding and i cried so hard that i had to put the book down during the memory of his last conversation with dumbledore, when he makes his patronus and dumblestore says "even after all this time" and snape says "always".

i also wept when harry put on the ring in order to call his family and friends to him when he went to face voldemort and his death.

on the whole, i was both pleased and frustrated. the parts that were powerful were that. and while i have always loved the surprises that she manages to pull out, there were plot devices that i thought were kind of far-reaching this time.

however, much is forgiven because of "pitiful. you have the entire world of ear humor available to you and you choose 'holey'?", and kreacher clanging mundungus up side the head with the copper saucepan.

1.  I concur about the Dobby/Kreacher thing.  I hadn't thought of it that way- that Dobby also saved Hermione, which Kreacher wouldn't have done unless ordered to by Harry, and then begrudgingly.That was the first time I cried- when Harry was burying Dobby.

2.  I also concur about the arguing teenagers.  Yes.  We get it.  Times are rough.  The locket acts as the Ring did.  It makes people cranky.  We get it.

3.  I will ponder the 3rd point and see if I have an answer.

4.  Snape.  Ohhhh that made me cry.  I thought the memories coming out of his eyes etc. was a little gross, but I guess he was just trying really hard to make sure Harry got it.  And the whole doe thing.    If there's a wizard afterlife, I hope he's found some peace.  I was really annoyed at how Dumbledore used him so much, as he used Harry so much.  Do the ends justify the means? 

5.  I wasn't sure what calling the dead people had to do with the plot.  Was it just to show that Harry had so many people close to him die?

6.  I will have to read it again- I'm sure there are things I missed with going through it as quickly as I did.

i think harry's turning the ring and calling his parents and sirius and lupin to his side was simply a way of having some kind of support for what he was trying to do. he had walked by the living people he loved and knew that they would try to prevent him from going. the only people that wouldn't try to keep him from going were the dead. i thought there was a kind of nice parallel between the reasons that harry called them to him - for support to do a selfless thing - and the reason that dumbledore tried to call the dead to him before the curse of the ring was destroyed - to assuage his guilt.

on the other hand , the whole 'harry is the most selfless person ever' thing got a little old. i liked the plot twist of knowing that dumbledore was much less benign and kind and much more 'regular guy' than we - and harry - had thought. but she never really got back to the idea that 'our choices make us who we are' - and that dumbledore had chosen repeatedly throughout most of his life to help people.

i guess that's the thing - i thought there were a lot of important themes, rather than just plot lines, that she kind of set aside in this book. i was hoping that we'd really see why love was so powerful that it required its own sealed room at the ministry, things like that.

[dazie]

Maybe she'll answer that in the Potter Encyclopedia she's going to release. 

[sapphirehart]

Maybe she'll answer that in the Potter Encyclopedia she's going to release. 

I thought this was an interesting article about life AFTER the Deathly Hallows

SPOILER ALERT: Read this ONLY if you have finished reading the last book.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/books/07/30/potters.afterlife.ap/index.html

[swolt]

I just finished chapter 5. holy fuck this is a good book

[BigDun]

Maybe she'll answer that in the Potter Encyclopedia she's going to release. 

I thought this was an interesting article about life AFTER the Deathly Hallows

SPOILER ALERT: Read this ONLY if you have finished reading the last book.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/books/07/30/potters.afterlife.ap/index.html

Cool. I liked the additional details.

[dazie]

Maybe she'll answer that in the Potter Encyclopedia she's going to release. 

I thought this was an interesting article about life AFTER the Deathly Hallows

SPOILER ALERT: Read this ONLY if you have finished reading the last book.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/books/07/30/potters.afterlife.ap/index.html

Cool. I liked the additional details.

Me too, but I still have a question!

What about Hermione's parents??  Are they still in Australia?  Was that answered in the book and I just missed it?

[nishi]

Maybe she'll answer that in the Potter Encyclopedia she's going to release. 

I thought this was an interesting article about life AFTER the Deathly Hallows

SPOILER ALERT: Read this ONLY if you have finished reading the last book.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/books/07/30/potters.afterlife.ap/index.html

Cool. I liked the additional details.

Me too, but I still have a question!

What about Hermione's parents??  Are they still in Australia?  Was that answered in the book and I just missed it?

that wasn't answered in the book.

although now i'm wondering if their names are rose and hugo. not that anything sinister happened to them post hallows; i was just curious as to where the names came from, because rowling is always so deliberate about naming people.