Twist JKR? (was:Re: Dumbledore's pleading...)

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 141612

> >>Nora: 
> There are, natch, many different categories of payoff.  You have   
> to leave open the possibility that she's been laughing at how     
> we've contorted ourselves to explain Snapeykins, while the reality 
> is something far more direct.
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
Weirdly enough, I see my understanding of Snape's character as being 
quite direct. YMMV, of course. <g>

> >>Nora:
> Snape's interest as a character is something I'm going to 
> predict is actually somewhat more shortlived than the more fully 
> realized creatures on the page.  So much of his fan interest is 
> predicated upon the multiple possibilities and the unknowable      
> issues and motivations.  You kill off most of those, as I suspect 
> JKR is going to take a fiendish amount of glee in doing, and you   
> leave people high and dry to go sulk over their own nuked         
> backstories and ideas.

Betsy Hp:
Leaving Ron as a more complex character, IOW?  While I'm quite sure 
JKR will leave us with the straight scoop on Snape, I really doubt 
it's going to be totally uninteresting.  The discussions will be 
over, of course, with some folks celebrating and others not (to put 
it mildly <g>).  But I don't think Snape will suddenly achieve the 
character blandness of say... oh, Tom, owner of the Leaky Cauldron.

We know all there is to know about Sirius now, and he's still a 
favorite amongst the fans.  If Snape is ESE, fans will love to hiss 
him.  If Snape is DDM, fans will love to cheer him.  If he's OFH the 
debates will live on.  Unless JKR does something like, "yeah, that 
Prank never really happened, Snape and James clashed only that one 
time you saw, the fighting couple were child!Snape's next door 
neighbors, when Harry said he *hated* Snape he only meant it in the 
most lukewarm way possible, oh, and Trelawny was totally wrong about 
Snape being the eavesdropper," Snape's interest as a character will 
remain.  Just as Sirius's has. 

> >>Nora: 
> I think I do repeat myself when I say that to me, the last two    
> books have not had the same kind of mystery structure (although    
> there are elements in common) as the first four. We've already     
> gotten hints that book 7 is going to be even more radical in       
> breaking open the format, with a potential shift into fantasy     
> quest mode.  Is now the time that I should say I think reading the 
> books as mysteries is also typically overemphasized? :)

Betsy Hp:
The books aren't true mysteries, I agree.  I'm not totally up on the 
rules of the mystery genre, but I belive one of the rules is that 
the author must provide the readers all the clues needed to solve 
the mystery. (I'm sure I'll be corrected if I'm wrong. <g>)  I don't 
think JKR does so.  There are usually enough hints given so that the 
final reveal makes sense, but not enough to put the books into a 
true who-dun-it catagory.  However, JKR *does* throw in twists (some 
better than others).  And yes, she does so in each book.  She can 
choose to not do so in the last book, but I'll be quite surprised if 
she doesn't.

> >>Betsy Hp:
> > Yes, trying to protect your mother's life is *so* not good. <g>  
> > <snip>

> >>Nora:
> I said The Good, not good. :)

Betsy Hp:
And I covered that in the part you snipped.  To repeat, I've not 
really seen JKR setting up any character (or any house, for that 
matter) as an example of The Good.  Even Dumbledore slips and 
stumbles at times.  That's more CS Lewis's line.

> >>Nora: 
> Probably only if Draco is genuinely sorry for the wrongs that he's 
> done, as opposed to mainly being upset that things didn't work out 
> for him like he would have wanted them to.

Betsy Hp:
He *is* waiting in the wings than. <g>

> >>Nora:
> That would be a quantum leap in his character, to get over his    
> self-centeredness (and yes, that does include his elevation of his 
> blood kin as more deserving of consideration than many others), so 
> we can't rule it out.

Betsy Hp:
The idea of leaving your family to die being an example of selfless 
good is exactly the kind of backwords thinking that threw me out of 
the last Star Wars movie.  Voldemort was certainly willing to 
sacrifice his family.  We're setting him up as an example of "The 
Good" now?

> -Nora wouldn't mind, now that we mention Schadenfreude, Draco 
kicking it just to further frustrate hordes of shippers...

Betsy Hp:
Heh.  You've not noticed the Sirius fans at all then, have you? <bg>

Betsy Hp