Changing canon in the 7th book/Christian elements/LOL/Umbridge

[Catlady (Rita Prince Winston)]

Del wrote in
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPFGU-OTChatter/message/34068>:

<< She pandered to the wishes of those readers throughout the 7 books,
(snip) AFTER the 7 books were out, and AFTER a good deal of those
aforementioned readers had BOUGHT and read the books, she outed DD.>>

(As I said in my previous post, but am repeating lest sensible people
have deleted my previous post because of its subject matter, I
acknowledge that for some listies, it is a matter of Rowling has their
permission to write anything she chooses in the books but is forbidden
by them to say anything about the story or the characters anywhere but
in the text of the books.)

But, if she had outed DD in the 7th book, after 6 books of asexual DD
and strictly heterosexual WW, most of the readers who are currently
angry would have been just as angry. Most of them would think she had
tricked them by writing 6 books the way they wanted and suddenly being
different in the last book. Many of them would have already bought all
7 books, buying DH as soon as it was released, before the news media
reported The Big Outing. 

I myself have a problem with 6 books being one way and the last being
different. On Main List, Lee Kaiwen used the phrase that readers are
'co-creators' (with the author) of the characters (and everything
else) in the book being read. I want to use the phrase 'co-creator'
and ignore the rest of his post. I think it's pretty clear on list
that even tho' readers can agree what words were on the page, they can
get very different images in their minds about e.g. Snape's character,
or even whether Hogwarts Castle looks more like an old, rough-hewn
rock castle or like Neuschwanstein (spelling?), or even like
Neuschwanstein modelled in sparkling sugar crystals.

So I co-created a certain image of Albus Dumbledore in my mind through
the first 6 books. My image didn't make a big deal about his sexual
orientation (altho' I preferred him to be bisexual and have
descendents, possibly including Lily and Petunia Evans), but it did
imagine that he was a loving person, having loved romantically/
erotically again after the normal heartbreaks, and loving some people
in brotherly and paternal (non-erotic, non-romantic) ways. Instead, DH
gave us a very cold Albus, who had loved Harry, and MAYBE Ariana, but
no one else in a paternal way (and not enough to shed more than one
tear about planning to kill Harry), and who had loved Grindelwald but
no one else in a passionate way. I was just SHOCKED at how cold he was
to reformed Severus.

My image of Albus was that he refused to be Minister of Magic and
instead remained Headmaster of Hogwarts because he didn't want to be
tied up with a bunch of bureaucracy and he thought that educating the
young was more important. Instead, DH gave us Albus who refused to be
Minister of Magic because he was afraid that he couldn't be trusted
with power, and who didn't seem to care much about educating the
young. I could have dealt with him being afraid to be Minister lest he
abuse the power except he seemed not to notice how much he abused, or
at least strongly used, the other powers he had. My life and these
lists have been too busy for me to digest this new image of Albus,
such as whether it makes any sense for this bloke who doesn't feel
love to keep preaching about love.

(It's pretty close to one of Pippin's annoying suggestions: suppose
Albus was born with sociopathic tendencies, an inability to feel love,
but developed good values from intellectual analysis, and suddenly was
shocked when he found that he loved little Harry as he had never loved
before.)

And I wonder whether it makes any sense that his mother was Muggle-
born. Unless she was an abused child like Harry who was overjoyed to
flee cruel parents/guardians and live only in the wizarding world, I
would have expected her to be in contact with her children's
grandparents or some other relatives, so that her children should have
grown up having some contact with their Muggle relatives and therefore
knowing about Muggles without taking a Muggle Studies class. And one
thing they would know is that Muggles aren't all alike, so not all
Muggles are like the nasty ones who physically abused Ariana. He could
have fallen for an idea that Muggles would be better off ruled by
wizards from actually knowing Muggles and seeing their problems with
blizzards and hurricanes, diseases, transportation, and other things
that could be 'solved' by magic (or technology), rather than from
ignorance of Muggles except the dangerous ones.

Lizzyben wrote in
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPFGU-OTChatter/message/34048>:

<< She remained quiet about any possible Christian elements to the
series until after DH was published. Then she announced that it was a
Christian story all along. >>

No, she didn't. She mentioned that it was a Christian story in that
long ago interview with, was it the Vancouver SUN? And she had
Christmas and Easter in all seven books, and Bible quotes *in* DH.

If you said she kept quiet about Christian elements until *inside* DH,
I might not have bothered to nitpick about one easily missed newspaper
interview and some secular seasonal celebrations. I have a personal
issue with things inside DH as mentioned in the reply immediately above.

David Frankis wrote in
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPFGU-OTChatter/message/34071>:

<< Can a backwater be arid? >>

This is a forbidden LOL post.

Carol wrote in
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPFGU-OTChatter/message/34087>:

<< The idea has to come from somewhere and relate to something. >>

Of course I, as an American, assumed that Rowling, as a former
teacher, intended Umbridge as a comment on government interference in
the classroom (as well as a villain needed for the plot), but as long
as I'm replying to the next bit of your post, I want to say that
authors are *supposed* to have good imaginations and be able to invent
villains that are not a comment on Current Events nor even History. 

The idea *could* come from 'what do I need for my plot? I need Harry
to get close enough to Ginny, Luna, and Neville that they'll join the
Trio in the adventure in the Department of Mysteries ... Luna isn't a
Gryffindor, so it can't be something in the common room ... they could
get that close by being in a class that Harry teaches ... all Harry is
good at is Defense and Quidditch ... why will Harry teach a Defense
class? Because the real Defense class is no good and Hermione wants to
pass her OWLs. Why is the real Defense class no good? I've already
done Lockhart as a teacher who doesn't teach...

<< (There's an apparent connection to the Spanish Inquisition--which I
realize was not the only inquisition) in her title and tactics, IMO,
but no one ever responds when I raise that point.) >>

Of course her title is a reminder of the Spanish Inquisition. I don't
recall having ever noticed you raising that point, but if I had
noticed it, what would I say to respond? Argue that 'Spanish
Inquisition' is so much all one word in most people's mind that it
never occurs to them that it had something to do with Spain?