LONG collection of DH related thoughts.

[jmgarciaiii]

No: HPFGUIDX 172882

I seem to be in a minority, as I was neither disappointed, nor did I 
LOVE it. I liked it a great deal, and JKR's storytelling prowess 
overcomes any issues related to her, um, less than airtight 
plotting. 

What I noticed (and noticed in others) is that the nanosecond I put 
the book down I loved it, it was the best book I had ever read, etc. 
But the more I pondered and re-read it, the more the gloss wore off.

It may seem from the following comments that my views are more 
negative than they really are.

Random thoughts...

Unforgivables - If you read back to GOF, you'll notice these curses 
are not so much unforgivable because they are <i>malum in se</i> but 
because they have been deemed so by the Ministry. A secondary point 
is that this is war, and in war good people do things of which they 
would scarcely consider. Not out of decision, but reflex. You can't 
go around shooting people, but in combat you can. Not pretty, not 
nice but there you are. Other than AKing Bellatrix -- keep in mind 
that Dementors are unavailable for Bellatrix Kissing purposes -- how 
can you GUARANTEE she'll never come back to visit evil upon your 
family? Finally, remember that DD explains to Harry that the scar 
horcrux is parasitic, which explains -- not as tidily as I would 
have preferred -- why Harry suddenly starts crucio-ing and imperius-
ing.

Snape/Pensieve - Remember, we are only seeing what Snape wanted 
Harry to see. This is Snape's edited version of things. Yes, a 
pensieve shows only true things, but it doesn't show EVERYTHING. It 
doesn't show what we might call "refuting evidence." In this case 
Harry saw the memories Snape wished to show him. We don't see Snape 
discussing Harry with LV, we don't see Snape discussing Occlumency 
with anyone. In a way we are taking Snape's "word" for it, a 
dangerous proposition in the Potterverse.

Doe Patronus - How can two people have the same Patronus?

Gran Longbottom - I LOVED her. Loved that she expressed her love for 
Neville, albeit in a stiff-uppah-lip way. I loved it that she got in 
the fight. I think of her in resembling the late Queen Mother.

Neville - I had wished it had been Neville who got to Bellatrix 
first. I found it a small letdown that it was Molly. He wouldn't 
have had to AK her, mabe squirt bubotuber pus on the black mark 
which proves poisonous...OK, I'll quit that.

The Secretive DD - Like in may spy novels, DD provides characters 
with information on a need-to-know basis. Invariably he is proven 
right in the end.

Snape's Death - I never had an issue with Snape *becoming* good, 
even heroic. (In fact, I called it.) But I have trouble believing 
that Snape was ALWAYS true-blue once he decided to turn. I firmly 
believe he deliberately sabotaged the Occlumency lessons, for 
example. It was my thinking that Snape would have a more, um, clear 
and unambiguous -- self-serving, selected pensieve memories do not 
count -- moment of redemption. At best his redemption seems to have 
been manifested gradually and too subtly to ring true. The death-by-
Nagini struck me as clunky and contrived and constructed thus for 
the express purpose of having the pensieve moment.

Occlumency - Harry figure that out rather easily. Imagine if some 
teacher had, y'know, guided him.

Ron the Parselmouth - Clunky and clumsy device. Parseltongue is not 
something learnable. IIRC, DD calls it a gift in COS. (Although, 
it's funny that he faked it.)

The SCAR as Horcrux - I guessed this one too, not because it makes 
such eminent sense, but because this'd be one way for Harry to "die" 
without dying.

"King's Cross" - I fully expected that scene, only I thought it'd be 
achieved through the veil. I liked that the ugly baby was the 
fragment of LV's soul. While this bit can be intepreted through a 
Christian lens very neatly, it's also part of the whole Classical 
Epic genre (think Odysseus and Hercules going down into the 
underworld). Depending on your view of things you could take it one 
way, or another or both. (I, being broadminded, choose "both.")

Tom Riddle - I LOVED it that Harry kept calling him that. Like DD 
did in OOP. It unhinged him. Good.

Elder Wand mastery - I "got" it, but it seemed needlessly 
convoluted. Could have been cleaner.

Peter P.'s Life Debt - Somewhat weakly dealt with. Like how he dies, 
though, as the end result of his own treachery.

Lily & Snape - While it's patently obvious Snape loved Lily, his 
understanding of love seems to be a VERY stunted, one-dimensional 
and selfish one. That's not to say that his pain wasn't real or that 
he was the product of a sad childhood...but those are all 
contributing factors and don't change the character of Snape's 
feelings. Regardless what Snape felt about it, his feelings for Lily 
very poor stand-in for true love. I defy anyone to tell me they'd 
want someone loving them the way Snape loved Lily.

Bravery - Snape, in his own way, exhibited great bravery. The 
ultimate reason why he did so is open to debate. But doing the right 
thing for the wrong reason still counts for something. What I see 
being debated is: "Was Snape the enemy of my enemy or was Snape my 
friend?" I've tended to dislike Snape a bit, but I can give the 
devil his due. A lot of people have engaged in exegetical yoga to 
reconcile their views to the storyline. Yes, he was a complete 
bastard but he was also heroic. Being brave for completely stupid  
reasons is still brave. To not see the nuances, subtleties and -- 
yes!-- paradoxes inherent in him is to slight him as a character. He 
is Harry's anatagonist, not his enemy. Lastly, remember that Harry's 
feelings for Snape are borne of how Snape treats Harry.

Snape & Lupin - Going back to POA, I never saw Lupin being 
particularly hostile to Snape, beyond being a Marauder. Yet Snape 
was always unpleasant to Lupin, but he finally saved Lupin from 
being AKed. The fact he had been awful to Lupin until recently 
bolsters my thinking that Snape's conversion was not complete by 
PS/SS, indeed, it wouldn't be until sometime between HBP & DH.

Senseless Deaths - This is war, alas, and people (owls & elves 
included) die. They die for being in the wrong place at the wrong 
time. They die regardless of who loved them, or what they stood for. 
Now, the death of the Muggle Studies teacher struck me as WILDLY 
inelegant. It reminded me of those Star Trek episodes when a 
character you'd never seen before schleps down to Planet Zork with 
Kirk, Bones and Spock...you just KNOW that guy's dead before the 
third commercial break. Hedwig's death (St. Hedwig is the patron 
saint of orphans) underscored the fact Harry had passed to manhood. 
Dobby's death gave Harry an opportunity to grieve *maturely.*

The Epilogue - It was a bit thin, and a bit pat, but I didn't mind 
it too damned much. I was sort of "meh" on it.

Slytherin - That Slughorn came back, presumably with a few 
Slytherins in tow, is a hardly a ringing endorsement for the notion 
that we mustn't prejudge people. At VERY BEST, it's a hint, an 
indication that there is some good in Slytherin House.

Shipping - Never been one to care one way or the other, I found the 
pairings to be not unacceptable.

Ravenclaw - LOVED the Ravenclaw password system.

Malfoys - I loved that, evil though they may have been, they still 
loved Draco, and that Narcissa's love for Draco overcame whatever 
fear she may have had for LV's wrath...and she seems to be a damned 
accomplished Occlumens!

Ron - The fact that Ron wasn't sobbing hysterically at the body of 
his slain brother and, instead, was available for conversation with 
Harry realllllllllllllllly struck me wrong.

DD & Snape - I liked how they were both trying to come to grips with 
their respective "skeletons" in the closet and doing so in a flawed 
(i.e. human) way. They are both fully-fleshed, complex characters. 
(Incidentally, "Severus" was an early Christian leader who may or 
may not have been a heretic, whose exact allegiances are the subject 
of speculation, conjecture and debate...)

Camping - That got old, FAST.

Questions which still linger...

What did Dudley see when he was Demented?
What happened to the Dementors?
What happened in the "missing" 24 hours?
Why does Neville have such a bad memory?
How does the (by my scoring anyway) third best wizard in the world, 
Snape, "accidentally" curse off George's ear?
What's the Ministry like now?
"Remember my last?" Whatever happend to a clarification of THAT?
Where's Snape's portrait?
What did *Lupin* ever do to earn Snape's wrath? (Being friends with 
James & Sirius doesn't count for much here.)
Why did Lupin go from being one of the most self-posessed and serene 
adults to near-unhinged in DH?
Why didn't Neville get burned by the flaming hat? (I'm guessing it 
was because Neville was a "true Gryffindor" and the hat was Godric's)
If Grindelwald wasn't the true master of the Elder Wand -- as he 
swiped it from Gregorovitch -- how is it that DD became the true 
master? This assumes that at some point DD found the true master of 
the Elder Wand and disarmed him, allowing him to win the duel.

OK, enough from me now...

-Joe