[HPforGrownups] Harry Potter Character Sketch! (with FF snippet)

[Ebony Elizabeth Thomas]

No: HPFGUIDX 17157

Oh, what a *great* summary, Joywitch!

Since no one from my, er, *ideological camp* seems to have pounced on this 
yet, I'll take a stab and jump into the waters of this thread.

I solemnly swear I am up to no good... I promise to be as controversial as I 
possibly can.  :)

>From: joym999 at aol.com

>1.  The primary question about Harry, which we have discussed a
>million times, is WHY does Voldemort want to kill him?  And why did
>he kill James and Lily, for that matter?

We still don't know what Trelawney's First Prediction was, and there are as 
many guesses on it as there are fans.  One fan writer-friend of mine's guess 
is found below:

"For in this present age, evil
Pervades the land.
But fear not, good-doer
A saviour is at hand.
He will be the first-born son
Of the Stag and the Flower,
He will reign above all others
In bravery and power.
The Dark Lords reign of terror will,
Immediately desist,
Though the Dark Lord will not yet go 
His shadow will exist."
--ff.net writer Sirius, *Back to the Future*

My ideas about Voldemort's motives shift about from time to time.  At the 
moment, I'm a Prophecy theorist.  Now, I don't know *what* the Prophecy 
was... but I have the sneaking suspicion that the events that took place in 
Godric's Hollow on October 31, 1981 was the fulfillment of it.

I should say here that I don't think that Lily was the only reason why Harry 
did not die that night... in fact, the Narnian idea ("deep magic from the 
dawn of time") never occurred to me until I began reading this list.  I may 
have bought it after reading CoS and PS/SS, but PoA and GoF killed that idea 
for me.  This may be a somewhat unpopular view on this list, but I believe 
there's something about Harry himself that cause V's downfall.  The 
wizarding world thinks so.

Yes, yes, I know all about D's famous quote about our choices making us who 
we are, and not our abilities.  I don't think his quote can be used to prove 
that Harry's an ordinary wizarding kid or even a Squib who got his powers 
from Voldemort (as was recently proposed here.)  A gifted child has a 
different set of choices to make than a child who is average, based on 
his/her abilities.

As far as Lily and James are concerned, we know from GoF that Voldemort was 
NOT targeting Lily.  This week, I've been browsing at Steve's Lexicon 
(excellent website!)... and IIRC, there's a theory over there that Voldemort 
did NOT kill the Potters... someone else did.  I'm not sure if that was 
Steve's idea or someone else's.  Intriguing, though, if not plausible.

>2.  What was Professor Trelawney's first correct prediction?  Was it
>about Harry?  More importantly, was it that only Harry could kill
>Voldemort?  Or that Harry would lead the fight against Voldy, or that
>only Harry could do something that would lead to Voldy's defeat?  Or
>that only a child born to the Potters could defeat Voldy?  WHAT WAS
>IT?  (Yes, I know this has been discussed to death)

See above.  And yes, it has been discussed to death.

>3.  Will Harry's life end in tragedy or will he live happily ever
>after?  Is there a reasonable argument for either, i.e. has JKR
>indicated in any way how Harry will end up?

It's too early to tell.

Can't we have some middle ground between "certain doom" and "riding off into 
the sunset", though?  :)

>4.  Why the hell did the Dursleys take Harry in, anyway?  Did they
>feel obligated to beat the magic out of him?  Was Petunia even upset
>when she heard that her sister died?  Were they threatened (or
>charmed) by Dumbledore?

I've been wondering this myself... either Heidi or Jim Ferer and I were 
discussing this recently.

I'm starting to wonder if the Dursleys are being paid to keep Harry.  I 
know, there's no evidence in canon for it.  But Vernon and Petunia's hatred 
of wizards might not extend to refusing to take their gold.

I think that Harry was raised by the Dursleys because Dumbledore wanted him 
there.  Why is anyone's guess.  We know that Harry's protected with the 
Dursleys...

>5.  Probably the most popular question about Harry Potter is  Who
>will he fall in love with?  Will it be Cho Chang, Hermione, Ginny, or
>someone else?  This has already been discussed to death, but I'm sure
>the Shipping Contingent wants to discuss it some more.  Knock
>yourselves out.
>

In canon?  Hopefully, no one.  I'm a total no-shipper where he's concerned 
for Books 5, 6, and 7.  :)

>6.  What does the fact that Harry has chosen the fun-loving Ron and
>the bookish Hermione as his two best friends say about Harry's
>personality?

He didn't choose them.  At all.  I re-read PS/SS a couple of weeks ago... 
they were all just sort of thrown together.  Friends by circumstance.

All three complement each other.  Much as I liked Joywitch's summary, I'm 
not much for the notion that Ron is Harry's best friend and Hermione's some 
sort of hanger-on.  I would have liked to see more analysis of the 
Harry-Hermione *friendship*.  :)

>7.  Why is Harry such a good Quidditch player?  How come he knows how
>to fly a broomstick without even being taught?  Does it have
>something to do with his past?  Isn't it a bit much that Harry is not
>only the only one to have ever defeated Voldemort AND a natural-born
>Quidditch superstar?

Well, James was great at Quidditch.  Seems to be hereditary.

--Ebony

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Ebony AKA AngieJ
ebonyink at hotmail.com

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"Those who have ceased to love
Have not ceased to need,
Those who have ceased to care
Have not ceased to bleed;
Do not weigh the words that
Never ask, the minds that never
Seek, nor mark the averted faces,
But see the heart."

--Jean Toomer, Harlem Renaissance poet (c. 1947)

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