CHAPDISC: DH8, The Wedding

[Petra Pan]

No: HPFGUIDX 179396

Thanks for the summary!
 
> Questions:
>  
> 3. What is wrong with Lupin? He's at a celebration, why can't he
> enjoy it, especially since he and Tonks are newlyweds themselves?
 
Petra:
Lupin's misery here ((pg. 139, US HB) seems to continue his 
state of mind from chapter 7, where we hear that Tonks 
"looked simply radiant" (pg. 119) while Lupin looks rather 
unhappy.  Consider these two instances with what we find out 
in chapter 11 (pg. 212), namely Tonks is going to have a baby.
 
As pregnant women are often described as being radiant, it 
would seem that from the start, Lupin does not share Tonks's 
anticipation of a rosy future for their baby (pg. 213).
 
IOW, this little observation continues the set up for the 
scene in chap. 11 between Harry and Lupin that started in 
chap. 7.  Lupin is an interesting example of fatherhood, 
one of many in the series, and his last words on pg. 700 
confirm that he dreaded having brought a son into a world 
in which he is condemned to live an unhappy life.
 
So yeah, the guy's feeling too agonized to be lighthearted 
at the wedding.
 
> 4. What is the significance of meeting Xenophilius Lovegood? Is it
> just to explain where Luna gets her "Looneyness" from?
 
Petra:
Yes, at least in part.  The other part may be to introduce the 
wand-stone-cloak symbol as being Grindelwald's symbol and to 
set it up as being more than just Grindelwald's.
 
> 11. Why is Grindelwald's symbol so important? <snip>
 
Petra:
Grindelwald took the sign of the Deathly Hallows as his 
symbol and mere decades later, only the most learned (and the 
eccentric!) seem to even know that the symbol has origins 
beyond its most recent and most bangy association to 
Grindelwald's regime.  Hmm...it would seem, not that many
even know about the Deathly Hallows being the origins of 
the children's tale, eh?  Which is kind of interesting in
itself since the Hallows Quest is somewhat reminiscent of 
the Grail Quest and other stories of that very popular
paradigm.
 
Amazing ain't it, how you can never predict how people's 
neurons will fire...how the lives of the Peverell brothers 
morphed into the Tale of the Three Brothers as told by 
Beedle the Bard (chap. 21) and then became a symbol that's 
synonymous with Grindelwald's bloody reign.
 
Rather nicely parallel the story of the swastika in how 
things can change and morph through time. *
 
To some extent, this makes me wonder just many in the WW even 
realize how far Voldemort's ideology may have strayed from 
Salazar Slytherin's original philosophy.
 
Petra
a
n  :)
 
 
 
* 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastika
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/4183467.stm
(Funny story: I once asked a librarian about the swastika in 
a Kipling book and I swear, she looked at me as if I'm about 
to suggest that the book be burnt or that someone sue the 
library for having that book in its collection!)