HBP MUST have appeared in COS

[Wanda Sherratt]

No: HPFGUIDX 103427

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "karenlyall666" 
<karen.lyall at b...> wrote:
> I'm having problems understanding why everyone seems to have 
decided 
> that the 'Half Blood Prince' character must have appeared in 
Chamber 
> of Secrets.
> 
> The title Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince could easily have 
> worked for book 3 if Voldemort was the 'Prince' here's the 
important 
> bit - referred to in THAT title.

True, but the fact that this was considered as a possible title for 
Book 2 argues that someone who could fit the description "Half Blood 
Prince" must have been in that book.  Rowling changed the title, and 
it's possible she took the HBP character out of the book entirely in 
order to introduce him later on.  But I don't think that's likely, 
because someone or something important enough to figure in the title 
would be hard to just remove.  
> 
> None of the above negates the possibility of using the title in 
> either book 3 or 6.  Just because JKR's titles have been very 
> specific doesn't mean this is the only way to go.  They could just 
as 
> easily (and specifically) called.
> 
> BK1 - HP and the Mysterious Package
> BK2 - HP and the Heir of Slytherin
> BK3 - HP and the Godfather
> BK4 - HP and the Triwizard Tournament
> BK5 - HP and the House of Black

Sure, any of those would have worked.  But that's because all those 
things or people in the titles actually DO appear in the appropriate 
books.  It's one thing to say, "Hmmm, 'HP and the House of Black' - 
too obvious, I'm going to change it to 'HP and the Order of the 
Phoenix.'"  It's quite another to rewrite the book so no "House of 
Black" is ever mentioned in Book 5.  That's why I think that, name 
change notwithstanding, the "Half Blood Prince" is still there in 
CoS; maybe a little blurred around the edges so he doesn't obviously 
leap out at us and make the mystery too easy.  (Now that I think of 
it, Tom Riddle is *literally* blurred around the edges when Harry 
meets him in the Chamber!)

Wanda

>