[HPforGrownups] There are Loads of Clues in CoS (WAS: Key points in CoS)

[Carol Bainbridge]

No: HPFGUIDX 46630

Here's someone's response to the question about clues in CoS.  I think 
there's even more to it than this.  JK makes her clues very, very 
subtle.  On a first reading, you are totally unaware they are clues.  They 
just seem part of the story, sometimes quite inconsequential parts.  I 
can't think of an example right off at the moment, but we've seen this 
happen already.  It's what makes many of us want to go back over the books 
again and again and look for the clues.  She is really good.  Better, if 
you ask me, than Agatha Christie for providing subtle clues in a 
mystery.  The fun is that once you see what has happened, you think, "Of 
course!  We should have known!"  I am betting that the topics mentioned in 
relation to what's learned in the History of Magic class will be 
significant.  Remember one was about some goblin uprising?  I'll bet 
something's going to come up about goblins.  Nothing JK puts in her books 
are insignificant.  Amazing writer.  I've also read in an interview with 
her that Harry's eyes will be important.  Do you remember all the times she 
mentions his eyes?  No?  If not, it's because it just doesn't seem 
important.  It just seems like nice descriptive detail.

So anyway, the idea is to see what is included in the movie.  It's kinda 
like looking at what is in the first movie.  For one thing, we see how the 
Potters were living when Voldie came to kill them.  That scene, which was 
not in the book, was made with JK's approval.  So what is it about that 
scene that tells us about later events?  Some people have suggested that 
the Potters were hiding among Muggles, living as Muggles.  (They had 
electric lights.)   Doesn't seem all that significant, though, as you're 
watching the movie, though, huh?


At 07:22 PM 11/14/2002 +0000, you wrote:
>Richelle ("Richelle Votaw") wrote:
>
> > Okay, according to The Leaky Cauldron, Filmforce had an interview
>with JKR.  They quote her as saying:
> >
> > "Key things happen in book two. No one knows how important those
>things are... yet. There's a lot in there. And I know how difficult
>it was to get it all in there without drawing too much attention to
>the clues."
> >
> > So, what are they?!?
>
>Now me:
>
>CoS was my least favorite of all of the books until I re-read it
>enough times to realize just how many fabulous clues JKR provided to
>us in Book 2.  It's neat to hear her say it!
>
>I firmly believe in the "Harry as Heir of Gryffindor" theory, and I
>think that there are many clues in CoS that support this theory.
>
>In CoS, Fawkes, who I believe to have once been Gryffindor's phoenix
>(see an essay I wrote on this for more information if you're
>interested: http://www.i2k.com~svanderark/lexicon/essay-fawkes.html),
>helps Harry fight the basilisk.  In legend, the griffin was believed
>to be the "adversary of serpent and basilisks, both of which were
>seen as embodiments of satanic demons" (from the What's in a Name
>website ­ paraphrased from the Dictionary of Symbolism).  I believe
>this to be a parallel to Gryffindor's Fawkes and Slytherin's
>basilisk, and perhaps a clue to a possible good-against-evil fight
>between Gryffindor and Slytherin 1,000 years ago. When I brought this
>up once before, Judy Shapiro added her theory that this could also be
>a foreshadowing of Harry's eventual defeat of Voldemort.
>
>Other clues in CoS that support the "Fawkes was once Gryffindor's
>phoenix" theory are that Fawkes lives in Dumbledore's office, which
>has a griffin-shaped doorknocker, and also contains Gryffindor's
>sword and the Sorting Hat, which we learn in GoF was once
>Gryffindor's hat.  In support of the "Harry as Heir of Gryffindor"
>theory, in CoS, Fawkes brings two items previously owned by
>Gryffindor to Harry's aid in the Chamber - the Sorting Hat and the
>sword.
>
>And it's in CoS that we first learn that Gryffindor's first name
>was "Godric", and can make the connection to the Potters living in
>Godric's Hollow.  In addition, if you parallel the life of St. Godric
>with Harry, there are all sorts of connections which support the Heir
>of Gryffindor theory - there are legends about St. Godric protecting
>a hunted stag which parallel the workings of the Fidelius Charm (and
>of course, the stag is both James' animagus and Harry's patronus),
>and St. Godric, like Harry, was able to know of events happening at
>great distances.
>
>There was another clue on a different topic that I was going to
>raise, which was that in Ch. 3, at the Burrow, "Harry just caught
>sight of a pair of bright *green* eyes staring at him before it
>closed with a snap."  The "bright green eyes" are Ginny's, and this
>reference made me wonder whether whether there might be a
>relationship between Ginny's green eyes and Harry's green eyes.
>However, this reference is from the US version; when I pulled out my
>UK version today to find the quote for this post, I see that it
>reads "bright *brown* eyes."  Very curious, indeed!
>
>~Phyllis
>
>
>
>
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Carol Bainbridge
(kaityf at jorsm.com)

http://www.lcag.org