responses to several posts Snape/ships/LOTR/Hogwarts

[Sherry Gomes]

No: HPFGUIDX 133465

Ok, this is my first attempt at combining many responses.  Forgive me if i
don't handle this well.  But here goes.




Heather now:
(Discussing LOTR parallels)
One I noticed was the phoenix's lament... a magical sad song that seems 
to fill them with the utter despair of the loss of Dumbledore.  This is 
very much like the elves' lament for Gandalf in Lothlorien.  And I 
already mentioned that DD's sacrifice was a lot like Gandalf's, and all 
the 'white' imagery around it reminiscent of Gandalf's return.

Heck, the Dementors are a lot like the Black Riders.  The comparisons 
are really too numerous to enumerate all of them...

Heather the buzzard

Sherry:

The other day I read part of an interview with JKR, in which it was said
that she doesn't like fantasy and didn't even consider the first book to be
fantasy till she heard it described as such.  She said she never finished
LOTR.  That shot down my attempts at comparing the two series and my hopes
that Dumbledore would do a Gandalf routine.  Sigh.

Jo
Could Lupin include Snape as one of those in which Lily saw 
the "good?"  

Is it possible that Snape hates Harry so much because he is James's 
son instead of his own? 

Just wondering ---


Sherry:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't Snape refer to Lily as a mudblood at
the end, during the fight with Harry?  Even in trying to hold the disguise
of loyal Death eater, would this be necessary, if he had truly loved Lily?
The only time we see them interact, in the infamous pensive scene; he is not
very nice and calls her that word.  I'm not convinced of any warm feelings
for Lily on his part.


Jacquelyn 
Sirius, on the other hand, did not die with the finality that DD 
did. In DD's death, there is closure.  Harry feels the lose and 
understands the weight that death holds over a person, and I 
personally don't believe that Harry really felt that with Sirius.  
Maybe I am just too much of a Sirius Black fan to let him die, but I 
cannot find as much actual proof (like the ending of the spell on 
Harry, the changing of offices, DD's portrait on the wall, etc.) in 
the death of Sirius.

Jacquelyn 

Sherry:

Harry's inheriting Kreacher convinced me more than anything else that Sirius
is indeed dead.  Sniffle.  I had held out hope till then, but if Sirius was
alive, in hiding or something like that, could Harry become Kreacher's
master?





AF here: Oh dear.  IMO, it appears that a major  point has been missed, if
not an entire promontory,   While I rejoice for any new found affection for
Snape,  there is no cause to gloat over  "revelations"  made via the
horrific acts in HBP.  The thinking that Snape's evil nature has finally
been proved seems to carry the day on the sites by and  devoted to young
readers, but for those of us a bit longer in the tooth, I believe  JKR's
multi-faceted characterizations show us that this is a very complex, adult
series. Snape's acts -rather than illustrating his amorality - show instead
his nobility, loyalty and bravery.   I'll eat my words - and change my
opinion of this fantastic man - only after reading book 7!

AF


Sherry:

I haven't read any response to my basic gut instinct reaction against noble
wonderful Severus following through on the diabolic plan concocted by him
and Dumbledore.  That is the matter of the destruction of the soul if one
commits murder.  Would great, wise, compassionate, kindly, loving--and any
other word to imply amazingly good and honorable character--Dumbledore
actually have created a plan that forces Severus to destroy more of his
soul?  The soul was a major part of HBP, and we are told in detail about the
terrible damage to it caused by killing another person.  Would the murder of
the one person who has loved and trusted you be less destructive?  I truly
wanted to believe in good Snape, because of Dumbledore's belief.  But from
chapter two, when the mention was made of how it was Snape's info that led
to the murder of Emiline Vance, i couldn't help feeling worried.  When he
murdered Dumbledore, I was completely convinced he was evil all along.  Not
because of him, but because of my reading of Dumbledore's nature.

Also, I am 47, so I don't know what that says about me in regard to your
thoughts that older readers could see more of the complexity in Snape.  I
did, till this book.  In fact, I wouldn't be at all surprised if JKR didn't
expect myriads of people to believe Snape couldn't be ESE after this book,
that Dumbledore couldn't be wrong.  In this case, i wouldn't be surprised if
she made the obvious surface explanation the real explanation.



A few general comments in response to too many to attribute:
About ships.  I found the ships believable, but rushed, in a way.  My
feeling was that JKR may have felt she needed to get them out of the way
because there was so much else that was important in the book, and the ships
needed to be resolved, so the reader could focus on the important stuff.  It
was the same with Sirius' name being cleared and his estate going to Harry.
We had debated several times about all that, and in a few words, she settles
it.  Ginny's comments to Ron, when he got mad at seeing her with Dean seemed
like typical brother and sister interaction.  I'm considerably older than my
younger siblings, but the youngest brother and sister would have acted just
like that.  I was sure it was Ginny's digs that sent Ron into snogging with
Lavender.  My own brother would have reacted in a very similar way.  We also
see Ron's actual behavior after getting hit by a love potion, and none of
the other reactions fit that.  Harry had enough clear thought to worry about
how Ron would feel about his feelings for Ginny.

About Hogwarts and missing it.
I, too, felt like I missed a lot of the Hogwarts atmosphere in this book.
Several times, my friend and i commented that we'd like to see more of the
DADA classes, that we wished the DA had continued, that we missed more
interaction with the other teachers, especially McGonigal.  Yet, in thinking
about the future, with Harry not returning to Hogwarts, now it seems natural
that we would have been being led away from the school in this book, that
our focus would be put on other things.  Otherwise, maybe the abrupt change
would be too drastic.  My hope is that we will still see other characters
such as Lupin, Tonks, McGonigal, Hagrid, and Moody, even though Harry and
company won't be at school.

And on that note, I really missed seeing more of Neville and Luna,
especially after OOTP, but perhaps they are settling into more of a
background role, because they won't play important parts in the end game.

Does anyone think Ginny will actually let Harry go off with Ron and Hermione
and not go along too, or at least be greatly involved?  If the H/G ship
continues to sail, I expect her to have a fit, insist on going along, or to
play some kind of vital role, at least.  I think book 7 could end up kind of
dull, if we get only the trio.

Sherry