Potterverse Coherence

[marinafrants]

No: HPFGUIDX 38827

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., dfrankiswork at n... wrote:

> The question I have, though, is, Does JKR *really* put clues in one
book that will count as foreshadowing of revelations in a later book? 
In the specific example of Rita, is she *meant* to have any mystery
about her that survives GOF?
> 

That's a very good question.  I can't say about Rita, but I can tell
you the one thing that convinced me that JKR really does have a master
plan going: it's the throwaway mention of Sirius Black at the
beginning of PS/SS.  Now, if Sirus had been named Joe Smith, I would
not have thought twice about his reappearance in PoA.  I would be
perfectly willing to believe that JKR had opportunistically recycled a
random name from a previous book in order to foster an illusion of
continuity.  Bit Sirius' name is so closely tied in with his character
that I just can't believe it was originally tossed in as a throwaway
with no intent of future use.  I can only conclude that JKR already
knew while writing PS/SS that a guy who turns into a black dog was
going to play a major role in the overall story.  So when PoA gave us
not only Sirius but also the Whomping Willow (introduced in CoS),
Snape's life-debt to James (introduced in PS/SS) and a major
revelation about Scabbers (also introduced in PS/SS) -- *and* all
those things turned out to be connected to each other -- I really
began to believe that there's a big picture, and JKR knows what it
is.  This doesn't mean she has all the teeny details worked out (hence
all the inconsistencies we keep nitpicking), but I think the overall
arc is there.

Marina
rusalka at ix.netcom.com