Plotholes and Dumbledore/ some Dark is rising WAS: Why down on all the characte

[bgrugin]

No: HPFGUIDX 179293

> Alla:
> 
<BIG SNIP> 
> As an aside on the subject of plot holes that I cannot explain and 
> as I said I can certainly see some of them there ( secret keeper 
> cough for example), I think of them as I think of one of the plot 
> holes in Dark is rising series. Or what counts for me as a plot 
hole 
> anyways. The character in the book had to recover a musical 
> instrument (harp? keep forgetting the word) that was a major part 
> for their quest and his mentor and boss sent him on this quest that 
> was oh ever so important for the light.
> 
> So, he does in that beautifully described competition, answers the 
> riddles, gets the harp, etc. Where is the plot hole you ask? Well, 
> you see three lords of High magic are the guardians of this harp.
> 
> Cough, one of them IS the mentor of the kid who has to get the harp 
> and another one is also the Lord of light, and only one is Lord of 
> the dark
> 
> I did not think that makes a slightest sense for the kids to go 
> through all that to get there, context and all that, because why 
> could not his mentor and other lord just, you know, overpower the 
> dark lord and get the harp?


MusicalBetsy here:
Ah, Alla, you must have read my mind. I actually just finished the 
Dark is Rising series (again - I've read it many times), and I too 
thought about that when I read the harp scenes!  And yet, like you, I 
thought, "But, oh, it's so interesting and fun to see how the boys 
get to the place where the meet the lords of High Magic and the hoops 
they have to go through...it's such beautiful reading, so who 
cares?"  And then I realized that when I first read the series as a 
child, I would NEVER have even thought about that...or cared.  I 
caught many plot holes as I reread the series, but none of them 
affected my enjoyment; Susan Cooper's writing is just too beautiful.

It's the same with HP - I'm quite sure that my daughter, who's almost 
thirteen, has never noticed any of the plot holes that we've 
noticed.  And the plot holes that we dissect on this site over and 
over again just really don't matter to me, because I still enjoyed 
the story and how we got there.  The whole Gringotts scene was rather 
contrived, but it was fun to read.

> 
> Same thing in Potterverse happens often. Did Harry participation in 
> Tournament could have been avoided by any sense? Sure, of course.
> 
> And could Barty dear just send him as a present to Voldy at any 
time?
> 
> ABSOLUTELY. The thing is JKR decided it should happen that way, so 
I 
> just followed along the ride. She wanted Harry to suffer and fight 
> at Graveyard, no?
> 
> I figured, since I enjoyed the end result tremendously, I do not 
> care that it happened in rather contrived way. 
> 
> JMO,
> 
> Alla
>

MusicalBetsy:
GOF was one of my favorite books - yes, it occurred to me at the time 
that it was not needed at all for Harry to win the tournament in 
order to be portkeyed to the graveyard, but would anyone really have 
wanted it any differently?  Weren't the three tasks just total fun to 
read?  

I really don't see DH any differently.  There were many things that 
probably weren't needed, but they were fun or emotional to read.  
Yes, I had some disappointments (as I did in the DiR series), but 
overall, it was still a great read for me.

Thanks, Alla, for putting it so well.

MusicalBetsy, who could probably start a whole site just on the Dark 
is Rising series