New elements

[Amy Z]

No: HPFGUIDX 15397

Every once in awhile someone raises the question of why we don't hear 
about this or that thing until a later book.  E.g. why do we never 
hear the term "Death Eaters" until GoF?  Is this a Flint on JKR's 
part? etc.

I have been thinking about the fact that for me, this is one of the 
many charms of the books.  What I love best about PS/SS (which is 
otherwise my 4th favorite, if I'm really forced to choose) is all the 
new things you encounter--one terrific Rowling idea after another, 
like portraits that move around and House ghosts.  If she'd 
introduced them all in the first book, the subsequent ones would 
really be missing something.

Every book has lots of things like this that we've never encountered 
before--

CoS:  Azkaban, the Weasleys' car, self-shuffling playing cards, Ron's 
Chudley Cannons fanship, Polyjuice Potion, Fawkes, Dumbledore's 
office, Floo Powder, Knockturn Alley, the Whomping Willow, house-
elves.

PoA: Dementors, Boggarts, and various other Dark creatures; Professor 
Kettleburn; the Marauder's Map; Hogsmeade (we hear of it but don't 
get the tour before this); the Knight Bus; the fact that Harry has a 
godfather. 

GoF: lots more Dark and otherwise interesting creatures we've never 
heard of before, veela, other wizarding schools, giants being hated 
and Hagrid being half-giant, Apparition (I believe it is in CoS in 
some versions but not in others?), Penseives, the term "Death 
Eaters," Snape having been one, the Dark Mark, the prefects' having 
their own bathroom, magical eyes.

We could ask about almost any of them, "how come this didn't get a 
mention earlier?"  Why didn't we hear about Dementors when we first 
learned about Azkaban?  Can we really believe F&G never talked about 
the Map before now?  Mightn't Hagrid have mentioned that the person 
he ran into at the wreckage of the Potters' was Harry's godfather? 
Why didn't we hear the term "Death Eaters" the first time we heard 
about Voldemort's circle of supporters?  etc.  The reason isn't, IMO, 
usually that JKR hadn't thought of these items yet, though I'm sure 
she invents plenty of them as she goes along.  One other reason is 
that PS/SS would have been 900 pages long if she'd made it a 
comprehensive tour of the wizarding world; another is that JKR is 
spacing them out to give us new delights in each book.  I like the 
latter because I'm hoping 5, 6 and 7 will be filled with new 
inventions like these.

Amy Z
wondering what wonders are in store in OoP . . . and whether 2002 
will ever come