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

[phoenixgod2000]

No: HPFGUIDX 126076


- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, 
lupinlore:  

> I think you may well be on to something here, Phoenixgod.

huh, I wonder how that happened.

  After all that about how the Mirror doesn't foretell the
> future I'll throw the book against the wall if it turned out the
> Mirror foretold the future, even by accident. 

Ron bothered me less just because something truly meaningful was 
*finally* happening to his character. I hope it sets up an arch that 
shows the fandom just how great the character can be. I see where 
you are coming from though. I wish it wouldn't have come at the 
expense of harry, nor was his moment of triumph happening off 
screen, well done either.

 
> 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.  As they changed in rather
> unbelievable ways to reach the end state that JKR's outline 
dictated,
> her reactions had to change as well.  In a way I feel rather sorry 
for
> her.  Caught in a world gone mad she at least remains sane, if 
shrill.

Eh, Hermione seemed to backslide into the annoying rulesmonger that 
she was in the earlier books. Her crack about Harry having a "saving 
people thing" irritated me to no end. Why she picked then to 
suddenly decide having a wacky adventure was a bad idea is 
absolutely beyond me. And of course, she protests the one time it 
actually was a good idea to protest it. aside from being obnoxious, 
the whole thing was badly timed. And just another example of 
Hermione being always right.

Which is really annoying. Especially since her brain seems to come 
at the expense of Harry and Ron's. 

 
> Oddly enough, I really didn't mind the developments with Ginny very
> much.  Given the much greater problems presented by the other
> characters, I thought her sudden shifts were a relatively minor
> disruption.  After all, we haven't heard much from her in a couple 
of
> books, and so at least there was the possibility that much of this 
had
> been going on sub-rosa.

It was badly handled if she's going to be as important as I think 
she might be. And for the record, if Ginny ends up a parseltongue, I 
may give up the series. Thats how much I hate both the idea and her 
character.

 
> I agree with Betsy that JKR is probably heading for H/G.  I agree 
with
> you, Phoenixgod, that the Ginny presented in OOTP doesn't seem a 
very
> good match for Harry.  I'm not sure I'd agree Harry needs a "sweet"
> love interest.  

I think that is exactly what he needs in order to balance him out. 
He needs someone who will back him up all the way and not present a 
struggle whenever something she doesn't like comes up. Which seemed 
to be were Ginny was heading to me. Harry needs someone like Luna, 
who won't be bullied, but will neither bully in return. Again, 
something I saw in Ginny.

>At present all I can
> see Harry doing with Ginny as presented in OOTP is descending
> gradually into a battle of wills punctuated by increasing 
snarkiness.

I see Harry and Ginny getting into a lot of loud arguments. Not the 
flirty kind like Ron and Hermione, but real, ugly fights. 

>If Ginny can maintain her sense of humor and cultivate a
> version of Molly's strong will marked by calm, firmness, and 
>patience as opposed to her mother's bossiness, I could easily see 
>Ginny as being very good for Harry.
 
There is no evidence of Ginny becoming that way in the books so far. 
To me, she seemed like an overbearing young girl with a chip on her 
shoulder because of the way she is treated by her mother and 
brothers since she is a girl and the youngest. She certainly didn't 
spend much of the OOTP being calm, kind, or patient. She fought 
Harry every step of the way to go to the DoM and yet did almost 
nothing once she got there. For a girl who was touted as being 
sneaky and a powerful witch throught the book when people talked 
about her, she certainly never demonstrated it when it counted.  No, 
Ginny has nothing Harry needs.

phoenixgod2000