[HPforGrownups] Re: Martin Miggs The Mad Muggle and other burning questions

[Karen]

No: HPFGUIDX 150510


  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: justcarol67 
  To: HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com 
  Sent: Tuesday, April 04, 2006 12:28 PM
  Subject: [HPforGrownups] Re: Martin Miggs The Mad Muggle and other burning questions

  Carol responds:
  I think that's how it would have played out if JKR had decided to keep
  the backstory, but as far as canon is concerned, Dean is the
  Muggleborn he thinks he is. I see no indication to the contrary in the
  books themselves. ("Me folks are Muggles, mate.") JKR at one point
  intended for Hermione to have a little sister and for Ron to have a
  Slytherin cousin, Mafalda (she ended up giving the name Mafalda to a
  Ministry of Magic employee, I suppose because she didn't want to waste
  a good name). But as far as I'm concerned, these are abandoned story
  notes that went the way of having Mr. Granger discover the ruins of
  Godric's Hollow. So neither the sister nor the cousin exists and Dean
  is a Muggleborn until canon shows otherwise. (On a sidenote, writers
  abandon plots and subplots all the time. Look at all of Tolkien's
  revisions. He was always going back to find out "what really
  happened." Gollum's ring as a "birthday present" is probably the
  best-known example.)

  But, yes, I'd love to see backstories on the characters, at least the
  important ones, related to incidents that do actually occur in the
  books--Snape's memories and the fate of Neville's parents would be
  particularly interesting from my perspective.

  Carol, who finds JKR's website entertaining and occasionally
  informative (especially the demolished rumors) but does not regard it
  as canonical

  kchuplis:
  Well, I didn't really mean to imply it was canon. I really do realize changes of ideas occur and plots and subplots are dropped. I guess to me it seems Dean's back story in a way does still exist though since her intention was for him to *eventually* find out that his father was a wizard and died fighting Death Eaters, but dropped when she was worried it would take away from Neville's importance. I mean, it could have been something found out in Book 7. Since it is not even touched upon, it just means that Dean still thinks both his parents are muggles. I'm always interested in back stories. Even unimportant ones, because it is interesting to see how it "colors" important ones.

  And besides, as much as I adore the character Snape, I'm just getting a bit weary of talking about him. 

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