JKR's intent

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 178794

 
> Betsy Hp:
> If that's the case, it means JKR failed as a writer.  Her imagery 
> overwhelmed her message.

Pippin:
If the reader doesn't notice that two of the Irish chasers at the QWC
are female, does that mean that JKR failed as a writer, or that she
succeeded in showing how an unconscious  assumption that star
athletes are male can waylay a reader even if the reader wants 
and expects to see female Quidditch players?

If the unconscious assumption that Slytherins are evil captures the
imagination and distracts people from the text which explains 
why the Slytherin banner is not there, is that JKR's failure, or her
success in illustrating how prejudice works?

Did Shakespeare fail as a writer because it took a few hundred
years for people to notice that those vulgar entertainments he
wrote to make money were also literary works of subtlety and
power?

> 
> Betsy Hp:
> What text shows that McGonagalls read of the Slytherins was wrong?

Pippin:
The text that shows them not doing what she said they would do,
sabotage the resistance or take arms against the defenders. Three
stay behind to go after Harry,   but that does not affect 
the defense of the castle at all. And despite what Voldemort says,
we don't see any Slytherins who left the castle on his side.

> 
> Betsy Hp:
> And yet, wasn't Dumbledore supposed to be a power to be reckoned with 
> for a good while there?  IIRC, Lucius's power at the Ministry lasts 
> for about... two years?

Pippin:
Lucius was a member of the Hogwarts board of governors until the
end of CoS. He had enough influence to get Dumbledore suspended.
Dumbledore explained that Lucius had threatened to
curse their families if the governors did not support him.  GoF 
mentions that Lucius has a ministry committee in his pocket. As
Fudge says in HBP, the other side are wizards too. 


> Betsy Hp:
> Heh.  When you're writing an epic hero's journey type story?  It's 
> *always* the hero's job. 

Pippin:
Oh. Oh, no. *Now* I get it. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I
think I finally see what you're getting at. Yeah, if I squint and look
at it in a funny way, there's this weird, broken limping quest story
that either didn't end or ended all wrong. 

Dobby could have lived, Kreacher could have died, the Slytherin
banners should have been in the RoR, Harry wouldn't have let
the Slytherins be turned out, the  Elder Wand could have
put Voldemort's shattered soul together before
the end, and we would have seen Snape's portrait in the Headmaster's
Office, dictating potions recipes before going off to make wolfsbane
potion for the portrait of Lupin. 

And Snape would have said, "You're still arrogant, Potter."
And Harry would have said, "Yes I am"
And Snape would have said, "But you can be my wing man any time."

Cue the scrolling text that tells what everybody did with the
rest of their lives. 


That's how these things are supposed to work.

But...
(all the following, of course, is IMO)

We left the epic hero's journey behind us, a  long time ago and
far, far away. 

It's gone for sure when Dumbledore begins to cry in earnest. Could
you see Gandalf doing that? Did Aslan ever ask whether he was
any better than the Witch? In Narnia it's a coward's question, or a
traitor's, and when it is asked in earnest it brings Narnia to an end.

But come to think of it  Harry hasn't completed a quest successfully
since he won the Tri-Wizard Cup, and that was a bit of a cheat. 

If there was an epic hero's journey in DH, it was Voldemort's. He 
went into the dark places and sought the one weapon which
would save himself and his people from extinction. He followed his
bliss and he never gave up. 

But Harry? Did he go on  a quest and become a hero? I don't think so.
He accepted reality...and became a man.

The reality is that wizards succeeded in doing what Muggle slave
owners have only dreamed of, and made House Elves happy to be
their slaves. The reality is Gryffindors didn't want to be  united 
with the Slytherins and vice versa. The Gryffs *like*  thinking that 
only they  are truly brave and the Slytherins *like* thinking that 
only they truly deserve power. 

The reality is that Voldemort would rather rend his soul to pieces 
than give up his dream, even if it's the dream of a tortured child and 
to be a tortured child is the only way he can dream it. 

Harry knows there wouldn't be an Albus Severus if it weren't for 
Snape's courage, and Draco knows that Harry's power saved his
life. But that doesn't mean that they have to like it or that  Albus
Severus and Scorpius will see things in a new way.

Tolerance isn't for things you approve of, after all.  

Maybe Hermione and Ginny stayed home with the babies, maybe
Ron and Harry did. Maybe they were at the office all day and half 
the night.  Can we tolerate not knowing? Can we be okay with
them making *their* choice, or do we have to know they made
the one we think is right?


Maybe the Elder Wand could have united the Houses and 
even freed the House Elves from their enchantments. Trouble is, 
aside from a few visionaries like Hermione and Dumbledore and
Dobby, nobody wanted that to happen. The cure, as Aeschylus
put it, is in the House and not outside it. House Elves will be
freed when the House Elves want freedom, and when wizards
realize what a burden their mastery is. The Houses will unite
when the children want unity, and when the adults realize
what a burden their discord is. 

And Harry respected that, because, like Dumbledore,   he knows 
that even the Elder Wand doesn't have the power to make other 
men (or House Elves) see the truth. 


Pippin 
whose favorite Pratchett quote is, "The truth is out there. The lies
are all inside your head."