Some questions/comments about GoF

[meriaugust]

No: HPFGUIDX 102202

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Barbara D. Poland-Waters" <bd-
bear at v...> wrote:
> Why does VM address PP as Wormtail? Wasn't that just his marauder 
nickname
> in school?

Meri now: Yeah, but Wormtail is just such a degrading name, and 
shows where PP stands in the eyes of LV so well. I bet if LV had had 
his druthers he would have picked just about any other servant to 
help with the rebirthing, and that shows with the whole nickname 
thing. 

> Why did PP find (look for) VM after POA? Wouldn't it have been 
safer to just
> hide out as a sewer rat somewhere? Or perhaps he was so afraid of 
his old
> "friends," he felt he had to align himself with VM again, even if 
he didn't
> know how much power he would have when he found him.

Meri again: Well, PP didn't know that no one would believe Harry 
about his being alive. He had to assume that he would be hunted and 
with his cover blown he had to leave the country. 

snip

> It's so clear to me that Fudge is the "One, too cowardly to 
return. . ."
> With all his denying that VM is back at the end of the book, it 
seems so
> clear that he's afraid that he's going to be punished by VM for not
> supporting him or looking to help him when VM was in exile. And he 
has the
> ambition and desire to stay MoM which certainly can't happen if he 
starts
> prosecuting DEs and VM. . .they can implicate him and then he'll 
lose his
> job and get thrown into jail!

Meri: Once again, I think this line is one of JKR's red herrings. We 
are supposed to speculate that the three mentioned are different 
people, but I still think she intended them to mean Snape (left 
forever), Karkaroff (coward) and Crouch Jr. (loyal servant). 
 
snip
 I also loved how Snape and McGonagall really do act as
> DD's right-hand men, they don't question him when he directs them 
to do
> something and they are completely loyal and trusting of him, as he
> apparently is of them.

Meri: Yes, they do seem to be a faculty version of the trio. I 
always did also picture DD and MM having a bit of a thing, but maybe 
that's just me. But that would make Snape Harry and that's just a 
bit weird! (Just cause I can't really see MM and SS having a thing.) 

> I am forced to wonder yet again how a movie of GOF can possibly be 
made with
> out scaring the bejesus out of everyone under 10! I mean, I know 
some kids
> are allowed to watch cartoon violence and stuff that's obviously 
made with
> special effects and all, but VM putting the Cruciatus curse on 
people,
> Wormtail cutting off his own hand, etc... That's all seriously 
disturbing
> stuff! I fear that the directing/writing team won't do justice to 
the
> all-important graveyard scene because of the kids in the audience. 
Ideally,
> I'd think that making an accurate representation of the book into 
a movie
> would require an "R" rating, and they won't want to have a "R" 
rating for it
> if they want to market it primarily to kids.

Meri: I actually don't want them to make GoF into a movie, for 
several reasons. First off, too much will have to be cut. I've 
allready heard that the Dursleys are being cut out, which will mean 
that my fave scene in the book (when the Weasleys Floo to No. 4 and 
get stuck in the fireplace) will not be there. Second, the violence 
will surely be toned down. And thirdly, really hot Cedric will have 
to die still, and admiting that I cried at the end of a HP movie is 
way lamer than admitting I cried at the end of Return of the King 
(though I was a touch emotional at the end of PoA). 

> I felt SO bad for Harry. What an ordeal to go through. And who 
knows how
> much of his acting out and anger in OOTP isn't at least partly a 
result of
> his trauma at the end of GOF. After all, right after that he's 
left alone
> for most of the summer (IIRC. . .if I don't, I apologize- -I'm 
about to read
> OOTP) to deal with his memories of that night. That was a pretty 
horrible
> experience and he gets virtually no support almost immediately 
after it
> happens.

Meri: I concur. Had Harry not been left to wallow in his grief and 
guilt and been given info and something to do immediatley, then IMHO 
he would not at all been in such a bad place at the begining of 
Order. (I just remember that line when he's trying to make a 
Patronus in Dudley Demented, "there was no happiness in him." I cry 
almost every time I read that!) 
 
> I have changed my mind about POA being my favorite book. I think 
GoF is now.
> I've read it at least 3-4 times now and for some reason, in the 
past, I
> always thought it was too complicated. But I followed things much 
better now
> regarding what Barty Crouch, Jr. did and how things happened, and 
at the end
> I had tears in my eyes when Lily and James come out of the wand.

Meri: GoF is definately my fave. Order is the best book of all five, 
but Goblet will always be my top. From the TT to the World Cup to 
Crouch!Moody to Krum and Cedric and R and H's little thang...it's 
just all good. And any time I read it I can never stop in the middle 
of the last ten chapters. I cry whenever DD eulogizes Ced and people 
think I am nuts. But yes, major props to GoF! 

Meri