Harry's B-day Re: Riddle and Grindelwald in 1945

macfotuk at yahoo.com macfotuk at yahoo.com
Sun Aug 8 02:01:01 UTC 2004


No: HPFGUIDX 109310

<snip>
> We find Jo Rowling making atrocious mistakes 
<snip>
 Sincerely perplexed by poor math skills,
> RMM
> www.hermionegranger.us
<snip>

Geez give the woman a break! She is fantastically gifted at 
storytelling and fantastically bright too (her plots) but yes she 
does not give a toss for numbers and pedantic, nictpicking match-ups.

Always when JKR 'gets it wrong', and yes there have been LOADS of 
examples, it is for the sake of the story.

Things like no first year had ever been a quidditch player before HP 
is for literary impact, not factual accuracy so that someone 
plotting back that Alicia Spinnet must be in year X is nonsense. 
Likewise, the elder Weasley kids are long gone but totting up the 
numbers doesn't make sense with Gryffindor not having won the house 
cup for years. Why is Luicius so old producing his first-born 
(Draco) when others must be so young (Percy as Minister of Magic 
assistant and HP's own parents almost being teen pregnancy victims).

Lots and lots and lots doesn't match up in the interests of the 
story which is, after all, what we love. All the aha! gotcha must 
drive JKR mad or bemuse her mightily.

Why has noone at Hogwarts ever had a flying lesson after the first 
day when Harry caught the remembrall? Why has Harry never asked 
about his parents, grandparents etc from wizards who must clearly 
know this info and have no reason not to tell him? Why are ALL his 
relatives, muggle or wizard, dead in a world of long-lived people? 
Not because JKR is hiding anything (apart from what she must) so 
much as Harry appears more tragic and isolated with no folks apart 
from the dreadful Dursleys. It is patently preposterous that 100,000 
wizards can attend the Quidditch world cup final and yet all wizards 
know all others by first name, one school suffices for the entire UK 
and Snape couldn't have time (not convinced on this but it's an 
argument that's been made) to teach all those who need to be taught 
potion at Hogwarts. 

One of the best examples of things not adding up is:

There are five boys per house per year (roughly) - 40 students per 
year @ 7 years (1-6th then upper 6th) = 280 students max in all of 
Hogwarts. This is about half the number popularly percived to be the 
case and besides means the wizard cohort of the UK is rather tiny. 
Certainly not large enough for there to have been mass celebrations 
in every town - the Dursley's at least - the day HP became 'the boy 
who lived'. Maybe numbers are massively depleted because of the 1st 
war, but the point is it's stupid to count. JKR is always a writer, 
always writing for literary impact and never for strict accuracy. 
Sorry if this sounds harsh, but the books are fantasy. Speculating 
about them is fun but it IS NOT REAL, none of it. JKR makes it real 
with her fantastically skillful writing but even she doesn't want us 
to be so up it that we lose touch with it being fantasy, and so 
allowed to have literary license. I know it frustrates the US 
audience that it is so UK-based, but it is equally frstrating to me 
as a Brit that the magic world does not sem to have much of Eastern 
mysticism in it, such as Chinese wizards, Inidian fakhirs, Shamen, 
nd so on. It just does not fit the plot and the setting.

I am NOT trying to be a killjoy, cynic or anything else here (I am 
as much into analysing this stuff - to my partner's amazement) as 
the rest of you, but whenever numbers and consistency start to be 
required you REALLY have to take everything with a liberal pinch of 
salt. We are all trying to guess what's in JKR's mind, not least 
because she's told us the books have enough clues to allow us to do 
this - it doesn't mean she'll make it easy. The number of red 
herrings is enormous.

Many have compared her plotting to Agatha Christie who, IMO, never 
gave much away until the very last page and when you found out what 
the key link was with which to solve the mystery it was SO tenouous 
and buried in the red herrings that few would have guessed it, even 
if it did often appear very early in the particular book. 

I wonder what Dickens (who wrote a few of his most famous works in 
serial form) might have made of his fans guessing what he'd do next 
with his characters in the profusion that the modern day internet 
affords. I believe I am right in thinking that there was equal 
hysteria ahead of each of his chapters and people queueing at docks 
to meet the boat bearing the latest episodes of his works.

There was a horrible thread about JKR dying before she managed to 
complete the series but I hope she (or her publishers) has found 
some fan fiction author she likes sufficiently who could take up the 
aegis (and her completed last chapter) to fill in books 6 and 7 in 
her absence - god forbid! To ensure the series was completed even if 
only in the 'this is what was supposed to happen' vein. With child 3 
on the way I wish her the longest and happiest of lives and hope she 
does never try to top HP (and why would she need to, at least as 
JKR, though the writer in her will need to express itself often and 
variously I hope perhaps under some other pseudonym). This would be 
like Christopher Tolkien tidying JRR's notes into a series of 
interesting (to fans) books like the Silmarillion that noone 
expected to have the literary ability of the original masterpieces 
but which nonetheless filled in the back story clamoured for. Not 
that I'm in the camp that compares JRRT and JKR - they are quite 
different and share only the strand of fantasy/escapism. I wonder if 
Warners and her publishers don't have massive life insurance 
policies though sadly you can bet Jessica and David won't be the 
beneficiaries.

Anyway, leave her to get on. I find it fantastic that she's an 
internet fan and has her own web site to let us who thirst for books 
6 and 7 know that (a) she's progressing and (b) snippets/hints to 
keep our active imaginations going during the wait. I hope 
jkrowling.com doesn't end up taking so much time she can't do the 
books even though I'm constantly frustrated it hasn't been updated. 

BTW - should JKR ever read this - when is Voldemort going to get 
REALLY nasty? Yes I know you said there'd be more deaths, but for 
obvious reasons he was pretty quiet during OotP. Must we wait until 
book 7 for all the dirt on Lily, Petunia, James and Snape? The 
opening chapter(s) of OotP was(were) certainly shocking on Petunia 
but then it was left hanging. So like you - but yes you have a plot 
to hide, even while expounding it slowly book by book to its final 
denoument.

Aarghhh - will *I* live long enough, let alone our heroine (JKR)? 
Have to hope so with three of my own not yet ready for Hogwarts.

 

  






More information about the HPforGrownups archive