Umbridge, detention, scars, and plotlines, oh my!.

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 126054


>>Phoenixgod:
<snip> 
>I think that could have been one of the problems of OOTP. She had 
every so precisely planned out that she had to go ooc with a few of 
the characters to get the to the spot they needed to be even though 
it wouldn't really make since for them to do it, since she didn't 
have the room to allow for changes in her narrative.<

>>Lupinlore: 
>I think you may well be on to something here, Phoenixgod.  The 
tyranny of an outline could well explain the OOC characters in OOTP, 
along with many of the other contrived developments.<

Betsy:
I think we've discussed this before, but I can't resist throwing my 
two cents in.  Again <g>.  I really didn't see any character in OotP 
acting out of character.  Except for Ginny, no one came out of left 
field for me.  I even understood Harry's anger and frustration with 
being kept in the dark about things.  (It's never good to keep folks 
who thrive on action *out* of the action.)  Am I alone in this?

I do wonder though, what contrived developments?

>>Lupinlore:
>An example is Ron suddenly being both a prefect and a Quidditch 
keeper.<
<snip>

Betsy:
What?  But Ron works so darn hard to become keeper.  Actually, I 
would have been surprised if Ron *hadn't* tried out for a spot on 
the team.  He's quidditch mad, his brothers have all played (except 
for Percy, who's *definitely not* Ron's role model), and we learned 
in PS/SS that Ron, at the very least, wants to be on the team.

Now if Ron had been an outstanding keeper, totally unfazed by 
Draco's taunts or the attentions of the crowd, *then* I would have 
suspected authorial tampering.  No - Ron earns his spot, and in the 
end, he earns his triumph.  (Sucks that it was off-screen though.  
I'm betting JKR is setting us up for something there.)

Ron's being prefect was also handled perfectly well, IMO.  First, 
everyone is rather insultingly surprised that he got it instead of 
Harry.  And second, Dumbledore, in the end, makes it clear that 
Harry had been removed from the running.  Of the fifth year boys 
only Dean struck me as someone who could have been prefect.  But 
he's been so uninvolved in all the adventures that have earned 
Gryffindor their housecup year after year, even he would have been a 
strange choice over Ron.  Frankly, Harry is so unassuming in 
general, I don't know that he'd have made a good prefect.

Actually, in many ways I feel like JKR has been holding back when it 
comes to Ron.  We've been shown time and again that he's a crack 
chess player.  Has he ever shown a head for strategy off the game 
board (and I'm not talking fanon, here <g>)?  He's also more 
sexually aware than Harry, and shows some real jealousy, when it 
comes to Hermione, towards both Krum and Harry.  Will something come 
of that (beyond R/Hr I mean)?  For that matter, has his jealousy 
towards Harry's place in the spotlight been fully dealt with?

No, JKR has set Ron up for some major stuff from the beginning of 
the series.  And it wasn't just with the Mirror of Erised (though 
I'd argue that if Ron does become Head Boy and Quidditch Captain, 
that would be foreshadowing rather than a special power of the 
Mirror).  JKR has constantly given hints that Ron is a character to 
keep an eye on.  If nothing happened with him it would be totally 
anticlimatic.

>>Lupinlore: 
>I agree that Hermione suffers a great deal from authorial empathy, 
but I'm not sure that explains the problems with her in OOTP.  I 
think much of it was that she was dragged along by the forced 
developments with many of the other characters.<

Betsy:
What "forced developments"?  Was there a time that you thought 
Hermione was acting out of character?  As to authorial empathy, I'm 
going to withhold judgement until the end of the series.  Hermione 
did some pretty ruthless things in OotP, (in GoF too, for that 
matter) and I wonder if there will be any consequences she'll have 
to face.  But Hermione has always shown a tendency towards 
ruthlessness when she's sure she's right.  

(Here's an interesting essay by No Remorse comparing Hermione to 
Umbridge: http://www.livejournal.com/users/no_remorse/31520.html )

But again, I didn't feel any author strong-arming going on with 
Hermione or her reactions to various events.

Betsy