CHAPDISC: DH24, The Wandmaker

[potioncat]

No: HPFGUIDX 183600

 
> SSSusan:
> With apologies in advance for the length of this (I should be named 
> Siriusly Overwordy Snapey Susan), here we go....

Potioncat:
Oh, no. This was very well done. 

I have to answer in bits and pieces though.
> QUESTIONS
> 
> 1. "It was like sinking into an old nightmare; for an instant he 
> knelt again beside Dumbledore's body..." [p. 386].  Is there any 
> character in this series who has as much experience with old 
> nightmares?  If you think there is another (or other) candidate(s), 
> present the case, or the case that it *is* Harry.

Potioncat:
We've seen several of Harry's dreams in canon. We've looked very 
closely at some of his dreams. Not all of them carried the meanings 
we might have thought.

We've also seen Neville having dreams, or sleeping fitfully. I know 
we've never determined that he saw his parents tortured, but we know 
that torture has shaped his life.

Based on canon, I'd say DD had experience with nightmares. That all 
these decades later he would want to bring Ariana back, tells us how 
fresh the pain remains. But the really telling part, I think, is his 
reaction to the "nightmare" caused by the green goo in the basin at 
the lake. 

My third candidate for nightmare veteran would be Snape. We don't 
have any canon that he has them, but we have the memories he kept 
protected; saw his need to protect them. We can only imagine the 
nighmare inducing experiences he's had. We know he wanders the castle 
halls at night. Perhaps it's part of 'watching over Harry', but 
perhaps there are reasons he's not sleeping.
> 
> 2. Many readers feel that the death & burial of Dobby is a turning 
> point in Harry's journey.  What significance do you think there is, 
> if any, in the fact that Harry prepared Dobby's grave without the 
use 
> of magic?  Why does it lead to "understanding blossom[ing] in the 
> darkness" [p. 387]?

Potioncat:
I don't really "get" why not using magic was important, but as a 
scene to be read, it was very moving. He put great effort and time 
into preparing a resting place for Dobby. That the effort was visible 
was important.
> 

> 
> 4.  Why, after all this time and all the various efforts, has Harry 
> *now* managed to "learn control at last... the very thing 
Dumbledore 
> had wanted him to learn from Snape" [p. 387]?  Why does the death 
> trigger this in Harry?

Potioncat:
I think the need to compartmentalize finally arose. Well, both the 
need and the motivation.
> 
> 5.  Is there significance to JKR's choice of "Nurmengard" as a name 
> for the prison?

Potioncat:
It sounds like Nuremberg--where the WWII war criminal trials were 
held. That's what it reminded me of. The name also kept me from 
feeling sorry for the old man in the cell.
>