Where's that Big Reveal in DH?

[Mike]

No: HPFGUIDX 180039

> Pippin:
> Only because we fans had years and years to work them all out.
> Even if we didn't personally believe in Puppetmaster!DD or
> Lollipops, we weren't going to be shocked.

Mike:
And yet there was a good ship LOLLIPOPS floating in Theory Bay as 
early as 2002. At the end of book 5 we knew that Dumbledore had a 
Plan in mind for Harry. Those Puppetmaster!DD threads were around 
since the release of OotP in 2003.

Contrast that with:
By the end of PS/SS we knew that LV was after Harry and that DD knew 
the reason but wasn't telling. After PoA we knew that Trelawney had 
just made her *second* true prophesy that Dumbledore was aware of. 
Yet how many people put those clues together and predicted DD knew 
Trelawney's *first* prophesy was about Harry and LV? There were three 
years, the most between any books, from GoF to OotP for this 
prediction. Yet it came as a big surprise to me. Same goes for Sirius 
dying in book 5.


http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/180035

> Allie:
> 
> I think the big shocker was supposed to be that Harry has a 
> horcrux in/on him, and that Dumbledore knew Harry would have to
> die in the end.
<snip>
> The Harry/Horcrux idea wasn't new on this list, of course, but 
> that's only because we're a little obssessive here....

Mike:
A while back I looked through the archives and discovered the Harry-
is-a-Horcrux prediction was one of the first posts made when this 
list re-opened after HBP. I had even discovered some folks had 
predicted a JKR was going to use some type of hiding the soul device 
for Voldemort's seemingly immortality back in 2002. Not a lot of 
folks, mind you, but take into account this was before OotP.

My point is that nothing *revealed* in DH was unpredictable, imo. 
That's the difference for me between DH and all the previous books. 
There were several things in each book that definitely surprised me. 
There wasn't anything that took me by surprise in DH. 

OK, so I didn't know what exactly the Deathly Hallows were, but I did 
know I would find out. I did know what a Animagus (even if I didn't 
know the name, I knew Minerva could transform into a cat) was before 
PoA, but was most definitely surprised to find two major characters 
and Harry's father were Animagi. That's the kind of surprise I missed 
in DH. 



> Pippin:
> Come to think of it, it would have been a pretty weak cliche if 
> they had, and cheap as well, IMO. Draco's heart (and Snape's) were
> a couple of sizes too small, as Dr. Seuss would put it, and yet,
> as it turned out there was room for love in them. That's the big
> reveal, IMO. 

Mike:
I'm not getting this. Pippin, you were around when Amanda vehemently 
pushed for Snape loved Lily. Like you said, even if you didn't 
believe it, it wasn't a new idea that Snape could have loved. Draco 
sticking by Goyle, trying to save him, not such a big story to my way 
of thinking.

I agree, the Heart of Gold hidden under the gruff or jerk exterior, 
would have been cliche. But I could have handled Draco casting an 
Expelliarmus on Voldemort, behind his back, and telling Potter, 'I 
didn't do it for you!', for example. Instead, the sappy and/or weak 
ending to what were once promising story lines for the both of them, 
was almost as bad.

I bet if we started a thread that asked "What surprised you in DH?" 
we wouldn't get near as many responses as we got for Most Annoying 
Character (MAC).

Mike, wishing all a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. :D