ChapDisc: DH 18, The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore

[Jerri/Dan Chase]

No: HPFGUIDX 182701

Nikkalmati wrote:
>   My original question was whether JKR saw the dichotomy
>between the story she wrote and the story she thinks she wrote.
>MHO, of course.
. . . SNIP . . .
>I see another and much more morally complex story in which
>DD is far from "the epitomy of goodness" JKH once called him.
>(Does she really believe that?) His behavior is morally ambiguous
>at best and a good example of why one cannot leave it to one
>person to decide what is "the greater good".  Aren't there some
>things one should never do even if one believes good would result?

I think that Nikkalmati has mentioned something that makes me think of 
a major gut feeling problem I have with the HP series as it was 
completed in DH.  As I see it, there are now several different HP 
series'.

There is the one JKR thinks she wrote.

There is the one contained in a straight reading of the books, without 
consulting other sources or looking deeply.

There is the one contained in reading the books and all the interviews 
JKR gave, which provide us with additional information (some of it 
contradictory to the books and/or with other interviews) and also 
reading all the information contained on JKR's own web site, including 
the WOMBAT tests.

There are numerous versions based on various levels of participation 
in Fan activities and/or visiting fan sites.

And of course, that is probably normal.  But there can be such 
differences between these versions.  Take Dumbledore.  As Nikkalmati 
said, she once called him "the epitomy of goodness", and up until DH 
my reading of the books had me able to see him that way.  I had 
discounted the various "puppetmaster DD" theories I had encountered, 
as I couldn't imagine an "epitomy of goodness" being so very 
manipulative of others.  I knew he wanted to keep information to 
himself, but I hadn't imagined that he would tell out right lies, 
(well, not to people like Harry at least.)  While I don't object to 
the concept of making DD human, with human weaknesses, I find the DD 
in DH to be so very flawed that I can't see calling him "the epitomy 
of goodness."  He may be a great wizard, doing his best in a difficult 
situation.  But that is something else completely.

Another way that these various versions of HP clash might relate to 
the issue of how the secret keeper charm works, and what happens 
when/if the secret keeper dies.  If I had never read JKR's web site, 
and hadn't read her explanation of this, I would have enjoyed DH much 
more.  However, my reading of the book and web site makes it seem to 
me that the way she explained it on her web site and the way it worked 
in DH were completely different.  In addition, the way she had it work 
in DH leaves the reader in a great puzzle as to why James or Lily 
weren't made the secret keeper for the Potter household in Godric's 
Hollow.

The problem isn't so much how she defined the rules for a Secret 
Keeper, but that the rules aren't consistent (or don't seem so to me) 
on a concept so very central to the plot of the book.  It makes me 
wonder if she can get such an important concept mixed up, how can we 
rely on other aspects of the books to be consistent?

(And this might not matter so much to me, if so many interviews hadn't 
made the point that she had been carefully plotting the whole series 
out for so many years and working to establish rules for how magic 
works.)

Jerri