Harry's Characterization (was: Satisfaction of the story to date

[juli17 at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 163509

 


Mike:
> So what happened to that boy in HBP? In every other book,  Harry's 
> magical abilities are the lynchpin to the end results of the  
> penultimate or ultimate conflict of the book. <snip>
>  
> What did he do in HBP? Well ... he apparated back to Hogsmeade.  
Wow, 
> what a show of magical ability. He couldn't even handle an  
> untransformed Greyback without help, much less land a single spell  
on 
> Snape. Remember, while he's chasing them through and out of  the 
> castle, Harry thought stopping Snape was the key to rescuing  
> Dumbledore. He wasn't thinking revenge as he was catching up to  
Snape 
> and Draco. In his mind was the thought that he could  somehow 
reverse 
> events if he stopped Snape from escaping. So  where was that inate 
> magical ability when *Harry* thought he needed  to do something? It 
> wasn't there, was it? What happened? How come a  year older Harry's 
> power has failed him? I hate to think it was all  for the storyline, 
> but I hasve no other explanation. This is my  grievance with HBP, 
the 
> book.


As a true DDM!Snape  believer, I suggest that it's because *Snape* is 
powerfully magical and an  integral part of the plan to defeat LV, and 
that Snape knew -- *really*  knew -- what he had to do, and it wasn't 
to be captured by  Harry.

Annemehr



Julie:
Remember too that JKR has stated the last two books are really  structured
like one story (one book), so HBP ended right in the middle of  that story.
Thus the conflict at the end of HBP between Snape and Harry wasn't  the
final, nor the penultimate conflict of this story (or of the book if  HBP and 
DH
are essentially two parts of one book). That does make it hard to  compare
HBP with the previous five books in terms of story structure, but JKR  did
deliberately plan it this way. 
 
As for why Harry's magical ability failed him this time, it's  because he 
wanted 
to do the undoable. What possible power is going to reverse Dumbledore's  
fate?
A time-turner might do the trick, but not any power inherent within Harry  or 
any
other wizard. And by the time Harry caught up to Snape he was  thinking about
revenge. He was fighting wildly, without focus. I think that made the  
difference,
and that's why Snape was right when he told Harry to "shut his mouth and  
close
his mind." What he really meant was without some control Harry  won't be able 
to
focus his power--wizardly or emotional--neither to protect himself nor  to 
defeat
Voldemort. All he'll do is flail, impotently, as he did against Snape. 
 
Julie, who thinks Snape doesn't see Harry clearly (and vice versa) but does  
know
how uncontrolled emotion/passion can lead one  down a destructive path.
 


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