OOP: I was disappointed, too

[David]

No: HPFGUIDX 64582

Cindy wrote:

> And major things just kind of fizzled.  Harry is jealous of Ron, 
> which goes . . . nowhere, really.  Harry dates Cho, which 
goes . . . 
> nowhere, really.

Yes, quite a few 'major things' are left undeveloped, aren't they?

I can't help feeling that, although OOP stuck to the formula of 
summer at the Dursleys, followed by a visit to a part of the WW, 
followed by a school year, followed by the train journey back, in 
significant ways it departed from the formula.

In the other books, IMO, there is a central mystery that is raised 
and solved pretty well within the confines of the book, and the 
subpolts are closed off.  In OOP there isn't a mystery.  OTOH there 
are many unresolved subplot issues: Percy, the Centaurs, James, 
Grawp, Harry's gift to Fred and George, etc.  At the same time, many 
of the foreshadowed things of GOF are not taken up: what happened to 
Karkaroff?  What was Snape's task?  Why the gleam?  Other things are 
mentioned but left in cold storage, or almost so: Fleur, Rita 
Skeeter (what will she do when free?), the Goblins.

In effect, OOP comes across to me much more like a part of a longer 
story than the earlier books do.  A bit like the first half of The 
Two Towers, it deals chiefly with the neutralisation of a minor 
threat (Saruman, the MOM) that is preventing the characters from 
getting on and dealing with the main enemy (Sauron, Voldemort).  
It's a sort of holding operation and a preparation for what is to 
come.

I think this means that it is likely to contain a lot of stuff that 
will turn out important later on.  The shock Harry gives Vernon; 
Petunia's knowledge; the blank canvas at Grimmauld Place; the things 
Sirius and Lupin *didn't* say when Harry tackled them about James; 
Molly's fear of finding family members dead; Tonks' exile from the 
Black clan, and so on.

It also, to me, implies that OOP may well contain an ESE imposter to 
parallel Quirrell, Ginny, Scabbers and Moody.  It's just that this 
time that person hasn't been revealed yet.  It could be an existing 
good character now under Imperius, or a new character (I fear Tonks 
fits best, better than Shacklebolt or Luna), or one of our 
longstanding suspects.

Finally, Cindy, did you realise what that dais and arch are?  They 
may *look* like a low platform and your standard-issue 
interdimensional gateway, but in terms of their narrative essence, 
they are a rickety catwalk and a river of molten lava.  That must 
count for something, surely.

David