LONG collection of DH related thoughts.

[jmgarciaiii]

No: HPFGUIDX 173192

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "faery_wisdom" <kitnkids at ...> 
wrote:
> Beautiful post Joe, of course that may be due to my residing in the
> same camp as you. Rather than duplicate what you've already
> eloquently stated a couple of comments to the above Q's and Snape's
> patronus.

Me: Right off, I can see you are clever, wise and insightful.
 
> Remember in OP that Tonk's Patronus changes form due to her pining
> after Lupin? What's to say Snape's patronus did not change to a doe
> after Lilly's death?

Me, again: Oh, I know THAT, my question was how Snape came to have, 
not a different patronus than he had before, but the same patronus 
Lily had. Wish the mechanics were explained.
 
> The sectumpsempra curse used to blow George's ear off is actually
> explained in the Pensieve. Snape was cursing a death eater who
> swerved / swooped at the last minute - so it was truly an accident.
> Can't recall which book of the last three, but I do remember a 
convo
> about not being able to take back or divert curses and that's a
> particularly nasty one. Second point there is that had he targeted
> George he probably would have lost a hell of a lot more than just 
an
> ear.

Me, still: The latter part of your statement sits better with me. My 
basic point wasn't "Ha! That was no accident!" but rather that it 
struck me as odd that someone as skilled as Snape would have that 
accident.
 
> Remeber my last is clarified for me when we realize that Petunia
> wrote to Dumbledor to attempt entering Hogwarts, and more than once
> from the sound of it. We know DD left her a letter when he dropped
> Harry off so it stands to figure he explained in that letter (his
> last) the importance of Harry calling her house home.

Me, yet again: Agreed. I just wanted more detail on this. Not that 
I'll get it, but I can still dream.
 
> The festering bitterness Snape clearly feels towards the Marauder's
> combined with Lupin's acceptance of Snape's coveted professorship
> explains his wrath toward Lupin. Especially when you consider that 
he
> was forced to make the potion meant to keep Lupin from his
> transformation and that Lupin and Harry Bond as well as they do.

Me, some more: Again, agreed. What I meant is that this outlook on 
Snape's part isn't, you know, exactly a glowing report on his 
emotional maturity up to that point.
 
> As far as the unhinging of Lupin in DH I can only ask, do you have
> children Joe? How many former husbands have you heard of who turned
> into someone else once the couple went from newly weds to 
expecting?

Me: Um...did I mention the unhinging of Lupin? Mind you, I thought 
his behavior was a bit strange and my fear was that we'd get a Hell 
of a double-cross from JKR, to the effect Lupin was a Voldemort 
agent. (I have two young sons, and Lupin's behavior is something 
outside my first- and second-hand experience.)

> It fits given that he had more than staunchly opposed any
> relationship between himself and Tonks to begin with. Whatever 
served
> to sway his opinion changed the second he realized they were 
having a
> baby. Lupin's greatest fear is that his affliction would cause harm
> to those he loved, and the ultimate harm would be to pass it on
> through birth to a son. Harry's treatment of him in Grimauld
> certainly seems to rehinge him for the remainder of the book. I'm
> just sorry he had to die!

Me, continuing: My fondness for Lupin -- abated somewhat by his 
portrayal in The Medium Which Must Not Be Named -- stemmed from the 
serenity with which he dealt with Snape's antagonism and goading.

> I think you answered the hat question yourself. I didn't concern
> myself with that so much b/c it was a classic Voldy thought he knew
> how to get rid of another pesky brat, but wait - he's come out
> unscathed and WITH the sword of Gryffindor. So is it a Voldy failed
> to understand the magic behind the object / person / act yet again?
> I'm inclined to think so.

Me, keeping on: I can see that. Not exactly a certainty, but 'twill 
do, 'twill serve, so I'll go with that until something better comes 
along.
 
> Lastly, I read the Elder wand stolen by Grindelwald part 
differently.
> I thought that DH states that Grindelwald did become master of it
> when he stole it, and then when DD was forced to face his fears and
> duel Grindy he won it when he beat Grindelwald in the infamous 
duel.
> DD was master until Malfoy managed to disarm him. That part works
> brilliantly for me. DD tells Snape that sometime in the next year 
the
> right moment for his death will present itself. He hasn't uttered a
> word, but soon as Malfoy disarms him we get the "Severus, please." 
DD
> admits to Harry in King's cross that he believed LV would seek the
> Elder wand at some point. Makes me think that when Malfoy 
unwittingly
> earns mastership by disarming him DD sees it as a perfect time to
> have Snape euthanize him as only he will know Malfoy is true master
> of teh wand.

Me, at it again: It's the Grindelwald "mastery" of the wand that 
threw me. Stealing it wouldn't bestow mastery, so perhaps something 
else happened...but then how was DD able to defeat the wizard with 
the unbeatable wand IF he really was its master? Unless he wasn't, 
and DD had already bested whoever THAT was.
 
> Your list of unanswered questions is great!! I would add one more 
to
> the list, unless someone caught this. Who performed magic at a 
later
> than expected age under desperate circumstances?

Me: The general consensus, albeit monumentally unsatisfying to me, 
is that it was Merope. Yawn.

Just like the Charity Burbage thing. I'd feel a squajillion times 
better if JKR had bothered to plant her name before, even just once 
as a throwaway.

The whole Christian thing - First, in the interest of full 
disclosure, I must out myself as a practicing, orthodox, yells-bells-
smells high church Catholic. Now that's out there, I admit to having 
caught a lot of what I'll call "Christian-friendly" moments in DH. I 
caught them, snickered to myself and kept going. I didn't stop and 
say "Aha! An allegory! Huzzah! Soon the whole world will get it!" In 
my mind, the Narnia books are far more overtly Christian and far 
more allegorical. (Cynical people might say those were thrown in 
*specifically* to shut up those who kept hollering about how 
pointing at things with a stick and saying things in Latin was a 
Satanic activity. Not I, y'understand, but cynical people.)

I believe these books CAN be interpreted through a Christian prism, 
just as easily as through a non-Christian prism. While there are 
allusions to Christianity, I didn't think of those as particularly 
clumsy or obvious or obnoxious. We didn't see Harry trying to 
baptize a dying Dobby or demanding that LV accept Christ, just like 
we didn't see Dumbledore sacrificing rats to Baal or Hagrid 
summoning the minions of Satan to make his pumpkins grow.

Mind you, I derive enormous (and, admittedly, perverse) pleasure in 
seeing both ends of the spectrum getting their dander up over this. 
That one side thinks the books are now awful because of all 
that "Christ stuff," while the other thinks they are awful because 
of all that "occult stuff" gives me no end of glee. Not particularly 
charming of me, but like DD & Snape, I'm complex and difficult to 
categorize.

I am even more delighted by the readers who are utterly unable to 
see Snape proudly standing in that no-man's land between Noble Hero 
and Craven Villain. In being unable to see him as he is, they shoot 
off into impressive contortions that'd give a yoga master fits of 
envy. Why they insist of pigeonholing Snape into their pre-chosen 
cubbyhole of hero or villain, I have no idea. But it's interesting 
to observe.

This evolves into being able to excuse Behavior X in Character A, 
but finding it inexcusable in Character B; or in general to an 
inability to see shades of grey in the characters. Granted, some 
characters are charcoal grey and others a pale dove grey, but still. 
(Yes, this analogy may break down, but not before I arrive at my 
desired destination therewith.)

The one real disappointment I had in DH is the seeming lack of 
redeeming qualities from Slytherin as a group.

But can you do?

-Joe