What is with the wimpy spells?

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 162748

TheIllusiveOne wrote:
> > I don't think that's good enough of an excuse. Snape was inventing
spells and modifying potions in his sixth year. James Potter was
casting silent spells in his fifth. Voldemort was IMMORTAL by his
sixth year. Harry's had Voldemort after him for years, yes, but you'd
think that would make him even more motivated to learn useful and
powerful spells, and to work hard in school. Hermione has been with
Harry most of the time, and yet she manages to learn advanced stuff
early (The charm on the fake Galleons in OotP). That's been my biggest
problem with the last two books, Harry went from a powerful, motivated
(the Patronus charm, the spells for the Triwizard Tournament, etc)
young wizard, into a completely average, unmotivated kid (Not learning
Occulemency, being tricked easily by Voldemort, cheating in potions,
etc) and really not doing much of anything.
> 
jhenderson9:
> I think Rowling's point is that Harry, the Everyman, must defeat the
lord of darkness and save the world. In the cave, Dumbledore tells
Harry,"I am much older, much cleverer, and much less valuable."
Dumbledore knows full well of certain magical mediocrity found within
Harry, such as his inability to master Occulemency, but he still
knows, even if he downplays prophecy, that Harry is indeed the Chosen
One. <snip>

Carol adds:
I think you've made a very important point here. Except for his
exceptional Quidditch skills (no doubt inherited from James), his
talent for DADA, and whatever powers he acquired from Voldemort, Harry
 really is almost as mediocre as Snape accuses him of being. If he
were a genius, he wouldn't need Hermione's help. If he were as
powerful and brilliant as Voldemort, the David-and-Goliath aspects of
the story would be lost. What Harry has, primarily, is his courage and
his determination. He also has the power of Love, which of course he
has yet to use to its fullest because he doesn't really understand it
or believe in its potency (and consequently, neither do the readers). 

As for the "wimpy" spells, I agree that Harry should have learned what
Snape tried to teach him (Occlumency and nonverbal spells) and his
inability to do so hampered him in the duel against Snape at the end
of HBP. Possibly, that defeat will motivate him to work on his
nonverbal spellcasting a bit. But there's no time to learn many more
spells (unless he gets the HBP's Potions book back and finds more cool
spells in there, bearing in mind that Teen!Severus was not yet a Death
Eater, much less the man who killed Dumbledore). And in the end, it
won't be spells that defeat Voldemort. He's got to find and destroy
the stupid Horcruxes and come to terms with Snape (he can't go on
hating him and seeking revenge or he'll never access the power of
Love.) In the end, I think Harry may use another power that he's
acquired from Voldemort, possession, either to force him into the
locked room of Love or, throgh his own sacrificial Love, force him
through the Veil. And I also think that the Sword of Gryffindor and
Fawkes will play a role, along with Parseltongue, in destroying
Nagini. So the "wimpy" spells won't matter in terms of what Harry has
to do.

But I also think that Harry and his friends are supposed to use
*defensive* spells (Stupefy being probably the most efficient, along
with Expelliarmus) to defend themselves against the Dark Arts rather
than using powerful but Dark spells like the Unforgiveables,
Sectumsempra, and whatever curse Dolohov used against Hermione in the
DoM (the purple-flashing spell that would have done serious damage had
it not been cast silently). The good guys can't resort to using the
Dark Arts themselves or they'll be no better than their enemies.
Witness Barty Crouch Sr., hoist by his own petard.

I forgot to mention that Harry was hampered in OoP by his own anger
and his ability to feel Voldemort's emotions through the scar
connection and in HBP he was sidetracked by whatever Draco was up to,
but he nevertheless learned some useful new spells (along with one he
needs to learn *not* to use) through the HBP's book. I agree with you
that he should not have been taking credit for the HBP's potion
improvements, but at least he finally developed an interest in the
subject (which may or may not come in handy in the next book). In PoA,
 OTOH, he was motivated to learn Expecto Patronum by his own fear of
Dementors and in GoF, he had to learn certain spells (always at the
last minute) in order to survive the TWT. So the motivation for
learning is absent in the fifth and sixth books, not to mention that
Harry's resentment of the teacher who has most to teach him, Snape,
hampers him in learning both Occlumency in fifth year and nonverbal
spell casting in sixth. At least he can now Apparate, and Dumbledore
has said that he now knows all he needs to know if he'll only realize
it. (Of course, I think he'll need some help along the way from
Hermione, Ron, Snape, and others, until the ultimate showdown when he
faces Voldemort alone.

Carol, who thinks that, ultimately, Harry's own instincts and the
power of Love will save him somehow