[HPforGrownups] Epilogue (was Re: Ron and Parseltongue)

[Lynda Cordova]

No: HPFGUIDX 183405

Lynda:
Now here are some things that I can respond to in an intelligent and
hopefully nonconfrontational manner. I did feel the need to copy and paste
the entire post for reasons which will become apparent, I believe:

Montavilla47:
I can see why you'd think that. And that's a criticism that cuts, because
it puts the onus on me, as a disappointed reader. Was I putting too
much pressure on the last book? Were my expectations too high?
I was certainly very enthusiastic about Deathly Hollows. I purchased
three copies. One for myself and two for young relatives. I had been
sharing a mutual enjoyment for the series with my nephew for several
years.

Lynda: Same here. I went to the opening night party, spent the entire
evening reading, drinking HP themed drinks and taking part in costume
events.

Montavilla47:
And, objectively speaking, I should have been quite happy. The ending
was pretty much what I predicted. Harry lived. Snape was good.In the
few months before the book was published I had, somewhat reluctantly,
come into the Snape/Lily campe, so that was another feather in my
predicting cap.

Lynda: I never really did join the Snape/Lilly camp. I wasn't disappointed
by its inclusion, just didn't see a lot of evidence for it throughout the
books--I was, however early to realize that the horrible boy Petunia rants
about was Snape, not James.

Montavilla47:
But... but... but. I was disappointed. Mainly because I just couldn't get
into the Dumbledore subplot, I suppose. Every time Harry angsted about
Dumbledore's two-week flirtation with evil in his teens, I felt like
shouting,
"What does it matter? By the time you met him, he'd been anti-anti-muggle
for a hundred years! Plus, you don't even *like* muggles! He obviously
changed his mind when HE DEFEATED GRINDELWALD!"

Lynda:
I was just glad to know that Dumbledore had a subplot! Angsty teenagers
don't bother me. I expect teens to be angsty. And I've been disappointed by
people's actions in the past and know how difficult forgiveness can be
(believe me--I had to forgive a teacher of mine who caused grave harm to a
large number of my classmates through his behavior--then I had to forgive
myself for my attitude to him--the latter was more difficult: the first made
me feel free).

Montavilla47:
Look at that. Harry made me go capslock.
Every move the Trio made in the book seemed clunky and ponderous. Every
place they went involved *weeks* of intense planning. Planning that we never
saw, but nevertheless seemed to bog us down. And yet, for all the *weeks*
of planning, there always seemed to be some big, obvious thing they didn't
think through. Like Hermione packing everything in her bag (including the
kitchen sink), but neglecting to bring food. Or the Trio angsting about
stealing food, instead of apparating to a large town and going to the
supermarket.

Lynda:
Considering what it was the trio was doing, the intense planning was
necessary. And I don't think we needed to be burdened with being overly
detailed with it. It would only have made the book longer--more clunky for
those who already consider it so. Yes, there were always big things that
they neglected to think about, but having already experienced six years of
the trio doing exactly that, that wasn't a surprise to me.

Montavilla47:
I had imagined a big battle at Hogwarts, which we got. The details were
fun (I liked the charging desks), but the action was... disappointing.
Whether or not it was deliberate, I got pretty annoyed at Harry for standing
around like an idiot, watching everyone run around, instead of looking
for the darn Horcrux.

Lynda:
Here I go again. He did go after the Horcrux. He also watched the battle for
a bit, which gave us a view of the fight, sense the book is from his
viewpoint. He had a choice to make. Fight or look for the horcrux. His
friends teachers and schoolmates were fighting and it would not have been
easy for a kid like Harry not to stay and fight, but he did go after the
horcrux.

Montavilla47:
I was disappointed that Draco Malfoy never seemed to get beyond that
moment on the Tower when his wand drooped a tiny bit. He spent all of
DH with his wand metaphorically drooping just a tiny bit (until he didn't
have a wand at all).

Lynda:
I never expected big changes from Malfoy. It would have been nice, but not
expected.

Montavilla47:
I was disappointed that Unforgiveable Curses became not just forgiveable,
but "gallant." I was disappointed the Molly Weasley turned into Ripley.

Lynda:
I always believed that the Unforgivable Curses were only Unforgivable if
they were used for the purposes of Dark Magic. Expelliarmus, to my mind,
used by a Dark wizard, to disarm a wizard who is trying to stop him becomes
an Unforgivable Curse. I would not consider Crucio, Imperio or other
traditional UC spells to be gallant, however. Neither did I think Molly
Weasley turned into Ripley--Ripley is not the only person to have ever used
that term before or since, or to have defended her offspring against
something trying to kill them.

 Montavilla47:
I was disappointed that Percy's main reconciliation seemed to be centered
on the twins, when his break-up was with his father, since that was a
reconciliation that could have ended any time in that last three books and
been effective.

Lynda:
Percy's falling out was with his entire family, not just his father, and the
twins were the ones who most actively
opposed him, even before he left the family cloister, so I thought it was
appropriate that it was they he reconciled with first. Especially in light
of the fact that one of them died in the battle.

Montavilla47:
I was disappointed the Grawp's contribution to the story
turned out to be less than the trouble it took to bring him into it in the
first place.

Lynda:
What contribution? No. I haven't forgotten what he did, it was just so
minimal as to be unremarkable.

Montavilla47:
I was disappointed that Remus's efforts with the werewolves
came to nothing.

Lynda: I was too. I was not expecting it too. Werewolves are nasty beasties
for the most part, but it would have been nice to see a few more join in
against the Dark Wizards.

Montavilla47:
I was disappointed that the Power of Love didn't really
apply to Harry at all--his main advantage turned out to be a technical
one, based on his ability to grab and pull some else's wand out of their
hand. That Power of Love actually applied to Snape--who was dead
(Did it matter that Snape wasn't on Voldemort's side if he was dead?)

Lynda:
Ah! Now here I disagree with you. The Power of Love that Harry had meant
everything to the story. Without it He would never have survived and if
Voldemort had been able to give up his anger and hatred ("try for a little
remorse"). Of course it applied to Snape. It applied to every character in
the story!

Montavilla47:
And yes, I was disappointed that the Sorting Hat's warning about unity
only applied to three of the four Houses.

Lynda:
I don't think that's the case. The Sorting Hat's warning applied to all four
houses, it's just that every person had to make their own decision and only
one Slytherin (Professor Slughorn), did. I was also happy that the senior
Malfoys made a turn around and actually ended up helping Harry, if only
indirectly.

Montavilla47:
So, it wasn't really a big thing that disapointed me. It was a lot of little
things--including the pacing of the book.
And part of that disappointment came from JKR's own statement about
having written the epilogue before starting the book, so that she'd
know where she was going. I took that to mean that she did have a
grand unified plan.

Lynda:
Knowing the end of the story before writing the beginning, just means you
know where you're headed. Not necessarily the nitpicky details.

Montavilla47:
Having reached the end, I don't think she did. She knew what was going on
with Harry, but everyone else was just background.

Lynda:
Well, its Harry's story, but I have a feeling she had more planned out with
the other characters than you do. She just kept focused on Harry, since he
was the main character.

Lynda


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