[HPFGU-OTChatter] Estel is the Half Blood Prince

[Tim Regan]

Hi All,

Heidi pointed out:
>>> we know from Book 1 that the Norbert_egg came from quirrel <<<
Do we? Harry and Hagrid certainly assume that it was Quirrellmort under
the hood, but could it have been someone who then reported the
information to Quirrellmort?

Heidi also pointed out:
>>> we know now from jkr's talk in Edinburgh last month that the Hog's
Head informant is Dumbledore's brother Aberforth <<<
Wow. I'd missed that entirely. Thanks. There's so much new canon at the
moment <insert sound of Dumbledad's brain exploding>.

But, as TL pointed out, Estel does seem to collect names: Aragorn,
Estel, Strider, Thorongil, and Elessar, so perhaps Aberforth is his name
when he's in our lands. His mum, Gilraen, was anxious to keep his
identity a secret so that he wouldn't be killed as his father and
grandfather were. Perhaps she did an even better job of hiding his
brother Albus. She did such a good job that Albus is not mentioned in
any of Tolkien's works. Mind you, I always assumed Albus was older than
Aberforth, so Aberforth could not really claim to be king of Gondor. Do
the HP books say which Dumbledore brother is the eldest?

However, being trapped in the wrong book is a pretty insurmountable
hurdle. Have you heard the Monty Python sketch "Stake Your Claim"? I
feel like I'm in it.

Cheers,

Tim.

PS If I finish the analysis I'm working on in time to submit it as a
paper to Accio 2005, and if it is accepted, then you can hear Monty
Python's "Stake Your Claim" sketch as it forms part of my presentation
(at least it did when I gave a preliminary version of the talk at work).