Alternate Titles

[jelly92784]

No: HPFGUIDX 171520

jelly92784 wrote:
If you could rename each of the already published Harry Potter 
Books, what would you call them?
 
Here's what we came up with:
SS:  Harry Potter and Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
CS:  Harry Potter and the Heir of Slytherin
POA: Harry Potter and the Servant of Voldemort
GOF: Harry Potter and the Triwizard Tournament
OOP: Harry Potter and the Department of Mysteries
HBP: Harry Potter and the Unbreakable Vow
 
Bart:
But what is your goal in renaming them? How are the new names 
superior to the old names?

In this case, retitling the books assumes that there is a problem 
with the current titles. By rule #1, it's hard to come up with new 
titles unless we know what is wrong with the current titles.


Jelly92784:

I wouldn't say that there is anything necessarily "wrong" with the 
titles, in fact, for the most part, I like them all!  The topic came 
up as we were discussing the titles JKR said she had prior to 
Deathly Hallows and wondering what they could've been, which led us 
to wondering what other titles she may have had for the other 
books.  It was really just meant as a fun exercise.  

At the same time, I have always wondered why she chose, in the title 
of book one, to give away the object that Harry spends so much time 
attempting to discover.  Although now that I've read SS about a 
million times, the title obviously doesn't take anything away from 
my enjoyment of the story, because I already know that it is the 
sorcerer's stone.   But it still seems a bit odd to me that people 
reading it for the first time already know what the hero is trying 
to find out (although, of course, they don't know who is trying to 
steal the stone, just that it is a stone that is being pursued).  

My sister doesn't like the title of Half Blood Prince.  She thinks 
that it doesn't make sense because we never find out the background 
of why this nickname is important, why Snape chose to call himself 
that and what it may mean.  I don't agree.  I think that the title 
is excellent.  After the fact, we know that the story revolves, to a 
great extent, around Harry and Snape, but we don't really know that 
until the end.  In this case, the title tells us that the Prince is 
important but doens't give away who it really is.  I think that 
Snape's reasons for the nickname aren't as important as the fact 
that the name allows Harry to form a different sort of relationship 
with Snape, not knowing that it is him.  That said, I also love the 
alternate title we came up with of "the unbreakable vow".  Of 
course, this could have different implications depending on where 
Snape's loyalties lie, but, like many of the subjects of the other 
titles, the vow is something that we learn about in the beginning of 
the novel and that continues to be a motivating force, influencing 
events up until the end.

So, like I said above, in coming up with alternate titles for the 
books, I wasn't trying to imply that there is anything wrong with 
the actual titles.  Instead, I just thought it a fun way to 
reanalyze the novels and figure out what is important for each one.  
It also helped me to appreciate how difficult it is to come up with 
a good title!