Dobby/ bigotry & choices /Evil!Lily & Evil!Lupin (Was: foreshadowings in CoS)

[Tom Wall]

No: HPFGUIDX 53333

Nobody's Rib wrote:
<snip>This subplot was one that I 
always felt would come back later,
otherwise why waste book-space 
developing it when GoF was already 
so long. JKR cut out the Weasley 
cousin, leading me to believe that 
any subplots not needed for future 
stories would also have been cut.<snip>

I reply:
It was my understanding that the 
reason the Weasleys' cousin was cut
is because she created some kind of 
hole in the plot of which we can never
be aware now that it is fixed. However,
Rita Skeeter is supposed to fulfill the
same narrative function, and although
she was supposed to be a more minor
character, was developed further.


Nobody's rib wrote:
What better way to make the WW question what other tragedies might 
have been averted had their own house elves had free will? And what 
better way for Dobby to show the other (obedient and happily 
enslaved) house elves that their lives are good for more than 
following orders, that they can play a more vital role in the WW?

I reply:
On this note, I'm convinced that the house elves will be offered, or 
will take their freedom by the end of the series. After all, there is 
at least one mention of the goblin rebellions in every book, so 
despite the distinction that Hermione draws between the two races, I 
still perceive that as foreshadowing. And the fact that house-elves 
have magic that makes wizards like Mr. Malfoy think twice is enough 
to indicate to me that there's going to be more that happens on this 
front.


Nobody's rib wrote:
I believe Dumbledore said that it is the choices we make that are 
important (don't have the books with me - would love it if someone 
wants to look up this quote).

I reply:
He makes several comments on this throughout the books. Here are a 
few:

"It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than 
our abilities."
(CoS, US paperback, Ch.18, 333)

"You fail to recognize that it matters not what someone is born, but 
what they grow to be! Your dementor has just destroyed the last 
remaining member of a pure-blood family as old as any – and see what 
that man chose to make of his life!"
(GoF, US hardcover, Ch.36, 708)

"Remember Cedric. Remember, if the time should come when you have to 
make a choice between what is right and what is easy, remember what 
happened to a boy who was good, and kind, and brave, because he 
strayed across the path of Lord Voldemort. Remember Cedric Diggory."
(GoF, US hardcover, Ch.37, 724)

That last one gets me every time - poor Cedric.

-Tom