Role of ESE in Hero's Quest (was:Re: Was HPB's ending BANG-y?...)

[Neri]

No: HPFGUIDX 147627

> > Betsy Hp:
> > JKR has 
> > given us the McGuffins that are the horcruxes, but I suspect that 
> > they will be of secondary importance.  

> Nora:
> Isn't the classic definition of McGuffin a plot element/item which 
> everyone wants but has no significance in and of itself--like the 
> suitcase that everyone is chasing but no one, including the audience, 
> knows what's inside?  (One good example is in the movie Ronin.)  The 
> Horcruxes seem anything BUT a McGuffin in that function of the word.  
> They absolutely must be found and destroyed before Voldemort himself 
> can be taken care of--hence my joke about Harry being able to unlock 
> the final dungeon, a classic scenario for all players of video game 
> quests.  

Neri:
I believe the proper term would be "plot coupons", as defined in the
highly acclaimed (and highly amusing) 1986 assay by Nick Lowe, "The
Well-Tempered Plot Device"
http://www.ansible.co.uk/Ansible/plotdev.html

One of the main reasons I'm hoping for something like Horcrux!Harry is
that it will prevent the Horcruxes from being standard plot coupons,
and Book 7 from being a standard collect-the-coupons quest.

> 
> Jen: Oh, I like this interpretation Betsy. The part about Harry 
> untangling himself from Voldemort particularly, because that does 
> seem to be the 'central and critical question' JKR is trying to 
> answer: How did Harry become tied to Voldemort in the first place 
> (almost there but for Godric's Hollow) and how can he *untie* 
> himself via destorying the horcruxes and ultimately, vanquishing 
> Voldemort. And how does Harry do this without destroying his own 
> soul in the process?

Neri:
Precisely, although I'm not sure Jen meant Horcrux!Harry here. What
saves Tolkien's One Ring from being a shameless plot coupon is that it
is a symbol of the main thematic question in the LotR series: how can
power and knowledge be used without corrupting those who use them.
What might save the Horcruxes from being shameless plot coupons is if
at least one of them would prove central to the question "how do you
destroy an evil soul without losing your own soul in the process?"
(especially if Free Will would turn out central to the answer). The
other alternative would be what Betsy seems to suggest, that the
Horcruxes would be reduced to mere structure, an arbitrary excuse to
take the plot of Book 7 away from Hogwarts and propel it forward while
the important part would be the rather unrelated process of Harry
untangling himself from Voldemort. And returning to the title of the
thread, I also don't see how a standard ESE, however BANGy, can save
the Horcruxes from being poorly written plot coupons.  

Neri