Merlin-DD (wasRe: Cheating

[Ceridwen]

No: HPFGUIDX 146494

Potioncat:
> The main reason I think DD is dead, dead as we know it, is that I 
don't 
> think JKR would kill someone in one book and have all the kiddies 
and 
> adults wait years before finding out he's alive. If she was going 
to do 
> that, I think she would have completed it in one book. Of course, 
Black 
> didn't think DD would hire anyone who had ever worked for LV. So, 
who 
> knows.

Ceridwen:
I sure don't!  I do like to look at various possibilities, though.  I 
come down on the unimaginative yet serviceable viewpoint that 
Dumbledore is dead.  At least, that's how I see it right now.  
However, that phoenix rising was put there for a reason.  It could be 
for three in-story reasons as I see it:  Dumbledore is alive and 
sending a Patronus; Dumbledore is dead and this is his spirit being 
released; Dumbledore is alive and this was him in his Animagus form 
escaping.  The fourth would be the author's reason of leaving things 
ambiguous.  I might change my mind (on this and a lot of other 
things) before book 7 comes out.  One byproduct of playing around 
with possibilities!

Potioncat:
> I read the chapter titles before starting the book. Boy, was that 
> misleading! As soon as I saw a chapter about a cave, I knew DD was 
> going just like Merlin...only the cave didn't exactly work out that 
way.

Ceridwen:
The chapter titles fit, but you get it only after you've read the 
chapters in most cases.  'Spinner's End' was one where you saw 
evidence throughout the chapter, but most aren't like that.  And they 
can certainly convey a very different idea before reading as opposed 
to after!

Potioncat:
> The most recent Merlin story I've read was by Mary Stewart. In her 
> version Merlin is put in the cave, but is not really dead. He does 
come 
> back to advise Arthur, but keeps an otherwise low profile. I 
haven't 
> had the time to see if the older versions include Merlin's return 
or 
> not. All the strange things around the funeral seem to point that 
way.
> 
> But I wouldn't hold my breath.

Ceridwen:
I'm not too familiar with the various Arthurian varieties.  The one 
I'm most familiar with is that Merlin is resting in a crystal cave, 
ready to come to Arthur's aid if he needs him.  And Arthur is either 
in a burial mound with his knights, or on the isle of Avalon, waiting 
for Britain to need him again.  I do think JKR is playing off the 
legends, though I don't know which version, in Dumbledore's story.  I 
do think he's Merlin, the wise and powerful wizard who advises the 
hero.  I'll be interested in what Arthurians have to say on this 
topic.

Ceridwen.