Veil and Archway Don't Match OOP Descriptions

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 166984

Draeconin wrote:
> 
> In my 40+ years of reading books, I can say that 99% of the time the
cover art will have only a peripheral relationship with the content of
the book. The artists do not have the time to read every book they
paint a picture for, and rely on descriptions from the publisher
and/or  author.  The artist's job is NOT accuracy, but to create
interest in the book.

Carol responds:
With regard to book covers in general, I'd say that your statement is
true, though as a former assistant production editor, I've seen
authors provide input for the cover designs which may or may not be
heeded by the book designers.

The wrong cover art can be very upsetting to an author, as the
Ballantine covers were for J.R.R. Tolkien.

http://www.cafes.net/ditch/tril.jpg

I imagine that JKR had a similar reaction to the original back cover
of the Bloomsbury children's edition of PS:

http://www.hp-lexicon.org/images/covers/bloomsbury-ps-back.jpg

Setting aside the relative artistic merit of the HP Scholastic cover
art by Mary GrandPre (which has definitely improved since SS and CoS)
and the inaccuracy or cartoonishness of some of the chapter art (save
me from her conception of Snape or Aunt Petunia), we do know that she
has read, or at least skimmed, the books, as a previous poster
indicate with a link to a GrandPre interview.

Moreover, if we examine the Scholastic HP covers, we see that they do
indeed provide a good indication of what's going on in the books (even
if Fluffy is considerably larger than he ought to be and misplaced and
Quirrel!mort, on the back cover, is hiding behind a curtain and
holding a candle). The later covers are better, especially from GoF
forward.

The SS front cover

http://www.hp-lexicon.org/images/covers/ss-cover-large.jpg

at least gives us Harry on a broom catching a winged golden ball, a
castle, a forest, a three-headed dog, and a unicorn.

The CoS front cover

http://www.hp-lexicon.org/images/covers/cs-cover-large.jpg

gives us Harry wearing a sword and holding the tail of a Phoenix in
front of the chamber of secrets, complete with lots of snake imagery.
Granted, it's fancifully depicted and the font for "and the Chamber of
Secrets" is chosen to suggest the "Enemies of the Heir beware"
message, which actually appears in a corridor elsewhere in the story,
but despite some inaccuracies, the cover does give a fair indication
of the book's contents.

The PoA cover

http://www.hp-lexicon.org/images/covers/pa-cover-large.jpg and
http://www.hp-lexicon.org/images/covers/pa-cover-large.jpg

shows Harry and Hermione riding on a hippogriff, with the scruffy
shadow of Sirius Black looking up at them (that part is a bit
fanciful) and, on the back, hooded Dementors (rather Black-Riderish in
their facelessness), the Whomping willow, and Crookshanks.

The GoF cover (where see greatly improved art)

http://www.hp-lexicon.org/images/covers/gf-cover-large.jpg

shows Harry holding a golden egg (and his wand) with the other three
TWT champions behind him. In front of him is a spiky something
suggesting the Hungarian Horntail (the back cover, which I don't have
an image of, also suggests dragons). Dog!Sirius appears to be peeking
over a hedge.

The OoP cover  

http://www.hp-lexicon.org/about/books/op/rg-op00.html

shows Harry looking over his shoulder in a blue-lit, candle-filled
circular room with several open doors in front of him, obviously the
entrance chamber of the DoM. On the back, peeking through a door in
what is obviously the same building, are Tonks, Lupin, and Mad-Eye. A
wisp of smoke of cloud is coming out of the door (from the broken
Prophecy orbs?). Sirius, or his head, anyway, looks out another door.
In the back is another open door through which we see only a shadow
(don't know what that's about).

The HBP cover

http://www.hp-lexicon.org/images/covers/cover-hbp-large.jpg

shows Dumbledore (unfortunately with an uninjured right hand) and a
left-handed Harry looking into a cracked, Pensievlike bowl on a
pedestal. Swirling green light comes out of the bowl and suffuses the
cover. The back cover, for which unfortunately I don't have an image,
shows Ron, Hermione and ginny at night, with a shadowy Hogwarts in the
background, looking up at a Dark Mark in the sky.

While details such as that last one (Ron, Hermione, and Ginny actually
outside looking at the Dark Mark) are technically inaccurate, the
covers, especially the later ones, really do suggest what's going to
happen in the books.

Bearing all that in mind, I think that we can deduce from the
Scholastic cover of DH at least something of what's going to happen.
The rubble at the front may not be related to the Voldemort/Harry
scene at all, and the background is probably rendered with more than a
few artistic liberties. (For example, the curtains may represent the
Veil and the round amphitheaterlike structure may represent the Death
Room. If so, we're seeing an artist's conception rather than
faithfully imitated details from the book. Or they may represent
something else altogether.) We do *know* that the hooded figure is
Voldemort, despite those uncanonically rendered hands. I think we can
safely speculate that this scene represents the final confrontation,
and that the lighting, Harry's hopeful expression as he reaches out,
the apparent fear of Voldemort, even the odd wandlessness represent
fairly faithfully what we can expect in that final scene.

The lighting is particularly interesting, as the circular room *was*
lit by blue-flamed candles and the Pensievelike bowl containing th
horrible potion *did* give off a green glow. It's the type of detail
that Mary GrandPre would, IMO. pay particular attention to.

Carol, not sure whether the Bloomsbury artist read the book but fairly
sure that such a detailed rendering, particular the proliferation of
rubies and no other precious stones, suggests that he did