Twins And Percy, Intercontinental Wizard Travel, and Stagnant Characters

[Jennifer Boggess Ramon]

No: HPFGUIDX 35898

At 2:45 PM +0000 2/28/02, cindysphynx wrote:
>
>I know I have heard others say they don't like Fred and
>George because they don't appreciate their particular brand of
>humor, but I wonder if they find Percy more interesting.

Am I going to upset this discussion if I let on that I like George, 
kinda like Percy, and don't like Fred at all?  And that I 
half-suspect that George is the fan of Harry's who is doomed to die?

>And for what it is worth, Percy doesn't seem to have any Edge at
>all, and the jury is still out on whether Percy is Tough.  He seems
>to bounce around between "pompous" and "worried."  It's a rather
>harsh assessment, but there you have it.  Sorry, Percy fans.

Isn't there at least a _hint_ of Edge when Harry and Ron find Percy 
immersed in his copy of _Prefects Who Gained Power_ in CoS?

And surely someone who rushes off to force a group of Death Eaters to 
put the Muggles back down without hesitations, and returns with a 
bloody nose, has at least a modicum of Tough?

Of course, having said that, I admit that blatant Tough is a 
turn-*off* for me -  better it be subtle, IMHO.



At 2:12 PM -0500 2/28/02, Edblanning at aol.com wrote:
>And another thing What about intercontinental travel? How do they cover these
>distances? Surely too far to fly. Not everyone can apparate, and wouldn't it
>be risky? Surely not the floo network. Port keys? Is there a form of
>wizarding  long-distance mass transport? Invisible cruise ships, perhaps.

According to QTtA, it is possible to cross the Atlantic by broom now, 
and it was first accomplished in 1935.  Prior to that, they did, in 
fact, use ships, and perhaps the less broom-agile still do.  No 
mention of the ships being invisible, though; probably they're merely 
registered through a tiny island nation owned by a wizarding family 
(perhaps the Malfoys?).



At 10:17 PM +0000 2/28/02, cindysphynx wrote:
>But then again, I have to wonder how much change we can really
>expect here.  The books take place over four consecutive years.  I'd
>guess that for many of us, our "basic qualities" haven't changed
>dramatically over the last four years.  In my case, I'd have to
>admit that my "basic qualities" may not have changed in decades.
>:-)  Is it realistic to expect HP characters to change dramatically
>in just four years, particularly when we are limited to the filter
>of Harry's POV?

Have my basic qualities changed much over the past four years?  Well, 
not much.  A little, I'd like to think - if I've stopped growing, 
after all, I'm dying, IMHO.

How much did my basic qualities change during any given four years 
between age 11 and age 18?  By yards and yards!  Sometimes back and 
forth, wildly.

Does it make sense for the students to grow and change over the 
course of four books?  Sure.

Does it make sense for the adult characters?  Hmm.  Depends on the 
character.  In Sirius's case, I can justify it by claiming it's all 
the growth he didn't get in his twelve years in Azkaban all 
happenning over one summer.

-- 
  - Boggles, aka J. C. B. Ramon			boggles at earthlink.net
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