Book Titles (LONG) (Was: Re: HBP - who was the royal?)

[Liane]

No: HPFGUIDX 130396

heather the buzzard wrote:
(major snippage)

> The Goblet of Fire, for instance, was not 
> actually the focal point of its book.  It was relaly just a small 
> part of the tale.  The Triwizard Tournament was the main element 
> of the story, and the book was almost called that, but GoF had 
> more dramatic punch. 
> 
> The HBP might, therefore, only be a minor part of the plot.  
> Integral, but not momentous, if you would. 

Please bear with me on this (I'm a long time lurker!) but your point 
got me thinking.  We are all wondering who (or what) the Half-Blood 
Prince is, but I think that it is just not important.  (I will 
insert a big IMO now, to save me adding it after every line!) Let me 
explain...

BOOK 1 - PS/SS
If we had been doing analysis of the title before the book came out, 
a quick search on google would have told us what it was, since the 
PS/SS was once thought to be a real object. The importance of the it 
lies in what happens if Voldemort gets his hands on it and NOT what 
the object itself is.

BOOK 2 - CoS
Ok, so the CoS was important for this book, I don't deny it, but 
would anyone have guessed before the release of the book what it 
was?  It's not important that it was a chamber hidden beneath a 
girls bathroom with a whopping great snake in it, but if it wasn't 
for the chamber we wouldn't have learnt about Aragog, Dobby or  
Lucious.  Hagrid wouldn't have had his name cleared, Lockhart 
wouldn't have caught his own memory charm, and we wouldn't have 
learnt about the true connection between Harry and Voldemort.  It is 
the secrets that we learn, and not the chamber which is important.

BOOK 3 - PoA
This is the only other book with a person in the title, and so maybe 
the most information about the HBP can be found here.  We find out 
about Sirius Black, a mad escaped murderer on page 18 (uk childrens 
edition) when he is mentioned on the news.  We find out that Sirius 
was a Prisoner from Azkaban on page 33, so what about the rest of 
the book?!!!  What is important is not that Sirius was a PoA, but 
that he is Harry's Godfather, and that it is Harry that clears his 
name, which leads to Harry producing his first real Patronus, and so 
saving his own life!

BOOK 4 - GoF
As Heather said (which caused this whole theory!) the Goblet is not 
important, but rather it is the object that gets Harry into the TWT, 
and leads eventually to the final duel with Harry and Voldy.

Book 5 - OOTP
We learn about the Order on page 65 (uk childrens ed) when Hermoine 
says "It's a secret society... It's the people who fought against 
You-Know-Who last time."  What I think the order represents for 
Harry is protection, but it also reminds us that he is still a 
child, not being old enough to join the Order.  And of course it is 
when the Order come to the childrens rescue in the DOM that Sirius 
falls through the veil (I didn't say he's dead, I'm still hoping we 
will see him again, but I'm also prepared for a huge disappointment 
there!)


So, what about the Half-Blood Prince?  I don't know who he is, none 
of us do.  I'm not totally sure that its a person and not a pub 
somewhere, but looking at the previous titles, i'm sure that whoever 
the HBP is, the important thing will be the influence that it has on 
Harry's life.  I'm sure that with the PoA we could not have guessed 
beforehand that Sirius was his Godfather, even with his brief 
mention in PS/SS (flying motorcycle)

But saying all this, it's still fun to guess!

Hope this wasn't too much of a ramble!
Liane
x