Room for Debate (ws Re: J.K. Rowling Comments )

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 164729

Carol earlier:
> 
> > What I found interesting was her comment that we would still have
plenty to speculate and argue about, which means that she's *not*
going to answer all our questions. Either that, or the scenes and
characters will still be open to interpretation. That last part I can
live with, as long as I know Snape's motives and backstory.
> 
> 
> va32h here:
> 
> I think we will get all the major questions answered, all the ones 
that are important to JKR. But I think her comment about "plenty to 
speculate and argue about" refers to the enthusiastic members of the
fan community who want literally every conceivable question answered. 
> 
> What would be the Boggart and Patronus for (insert every character 
> ever mentioned). 
><snip>
> 
> What is the backstory for (every object, person, or place ever 
> mentioned). 
><snip>
 
> va32h, who honestly wonders why people can't just use their 
> imagination for the mundane issues, when they are perfectly capable 
> of imagining wild theories for the major ones.
>
Carol responds:

Or what was Snape's relationship with the other Slytherins at
Hogwarts? ;-)

Now, granted, I'd like to know Snape's Boggart and Patronus simply
because JKR has said they'd reveal too much about him for her to
answer that question, but I was thinking more of unanswered questions
that would lead to discussions, for example, what's going on between
Snape and Lupin in the scene where Snape summons Lupin to his office
to talk about the piece of parchment he confiscated from Harry?
Clearly, they both know something they're concealing from Harry,
including who the "manufacturers" of the map were, but it isn't clear
whether snape recognizes the names or only suspects that Lupin was one
of them based on the insults (four people who clearly know who Snape
is insulting him, and one of them suspiciously named Moony?) I don't
think she'll answer a question like that in DH (though she might
answer it on her website some day), but until and unless she does,
it's open to argument and speculation.

I still think that different posters will interpret the characters'
motives and personalities in different ways even after we know more
about them. Sure, we'll find out whether Snape was loyal to Dumbledore
or not, but will we ever agree on who and what he is? 

As for backstory, I'd love to have her publish the complete backstory
on MWPP and Teen!Severus since I think she knows more about it than
she can possibly include in the book, and I'd also love to read that
cut scene between Draco Malfoy and Theo Nott, which will probably
never make it into the books. (Here's this intriguing alternate
Slytherin, and she's barely even used him in the books so far. And yet
I'm betting she knows his whole backstory, too--dead mother,
imprisoned DE father. Who was he staying with after his father was
arrested when he was only fifteen or just turned sixteen? Is he pro or
anti Death Eater after what happened to his dad?)

At any rate, some things will be answered in the book, a few little
things (like what the teachers do over the summer or how Hagrid "flew"
to the Hut on the Rock) can be answered on her website. Stuff like
Hermione's life when she's home with her Muggle parents (for
increasingly fewer weeks every summer) can be left to fanfic.

Anyway, questions that can be answered conciseely and specifically
should be answered, especially if they're important to the plor
(Godric's Hollow!), but other questions, what's going on beneath the
surface in certain scenes, will, I hope, still be subject to
interpretation, and we can still have fun with Harry's pov and how the
scene looks to him as contrasted with how it looks to us. 

After all, no two people read "Moby Dick" or "Pride and Prejudice" in
exactly the same way. I don't think that's going to happen in the HP
books, either. There's too much going on beneath the surface, too much
that isn't exactly as it seems even in the earlier books where
everything has supposedly already been explained.

Carol, who still worries about silly things like how a Dementor can
dig a grave