The HBP is DEAD

[rebeccatrishel]

No: HPFGUIDX 107375

I'm sorry if somebody has already said this, because I haven't been 
reading the posts for a long time ... BUT ...

Okay. A lot of people have been asking, "Who is the Half Blood 
Prince?" I want to know, "Why did J.K. Rowling leave out the hyphen 
between half and blood? To drive me crazy until the book comes out?" 
and more important, "What will the HBP bring to the battle between 
Voldemort and Harry?"

I think the most important clue is what JK Rowling has said on her 
site: that the HBP is neither Voldemort nor Harry. That says 
something hugely significant that most fans seem to have missed: Book 
6 can't be about the search for the HBP, or she never would have told 
us who he isn't.

And besides, imagine a book wherein Harry, Ron, and Hermione stumble 
around looking for a mysterious prince, the most likely candidate 
being Harry himself and Voldemort? She's already written that book. 
CoS.

That has huge implications. If there won't be a search for the HBP, 
then we should learn who he is first thing, and there will be no 
doubt about it.  I mean, chapter 1, paragraph 1: "'Dear Harry,' 
Hermione's letter said, 'we met the Half Blood Prince today, and it 
turns out he's (fill in the blank)."

And if that's true--there is no search for the HBP--why is he 
important enough to be the title?

And another thing: if the HBP was some wizard living in England, why 
does he have a whole title? He must have something important to do 
with the Volde/HP conflict, the main storyline in our books. At this 
point in the series, the second-to-last book, he must be someone 
extremely important. In fact, someone more powerful than Harry. 
Someone more powerful than Dumbledore. Somebody more powerful than 
Harry, Dumbledore, and the Order of Phoenix combined, or why would 
they trouble themselves about him?  And is there room for somebody 
that powerful in the HP universe? Why hasn't anyone mentioned him 
before?

Both of those deductions lead me to supposed the following: the HBP 
can't be someone human now living. I just don't think there's room.

So, what other possibilities are there?

There's the possibility that the HBP is someone non-human, but it 
kinda grates that they could be so powerful. I really hate the idea 
of a whole book of Harry trying to convince the Crown Prince of 
Selkies to fight against Voldemort. Bo--ring.

He could also be not yet born, but I doubt that the Harry Potter 
books will ever have a plot device that centers on pregnancy. Imagine 
that the HBP is Voldie's son:

"Harry looked at Bellatrix's swollen stomache in sudden horror. 'No--
' he said fearfully.

'Yes!' Voldemort sneered coldly. 'I have given rise to a new order!'

'Are you telling me,' said Harry faintly, 'that you impregnated 
Bellatrix Black with an evil demon-child?'

'Evil demon BOY, actually. We had an ultrasound yesterday.'"

Yuck!

So, how about the HBP being someone who has been dead the whole 
series? Godric Gryffindor and Salazar Slytherine are good candidates, 
but it could be almost any dead guy. In that case, the HBP won't 
detract from Harry's and Dumbledore's struggle against Voldemort, and 
the plot wouldn't have to center around him.  The HBP would be 
someone who was important to the Pureblood-extremists/non-pureblood-
extremist conflict in the past, and someone whose character is 
important to Harry in some way.  Heir of Gryffindor, anyone?

--Rebecca