CHAPDISC: DH32, The Elder Wand

[potioncat]

No: HPFGUIDX 184747

> CHAPTER DISCUSSION: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
> Chapter 32: The Elder Wand

>Potioncat:

Great summary and questions! 

First a few reactions to the summary:
 
Voldemort claims he [Lucius]wants only to get into the castle and 
> look for Draco, and asks whether Draco has not become a friend of 
> Potter since "he did not come and join me, like the rest of the 
„« Slytherins."

Potioncat:
OK, I know we've discussed this before¡K"like the rest of the 
Slytherins." You know, there just aren't that many of them, because 
we know at least 3 didn't show up. I can take this to mean, "like the 
rest of the anticipated Slytherin DEs" and not just a blanket "the 
whole house/6th and 7th years." So, who thinks Theo and Blaise are in 
the DE camp as this conversation is going on? Do we believe (based on 
this bit of conversation) that most of the 7th and 6th years reported 
to LV? JKR tells us there are Slytherins with Slughorn, but she must 
mean Slytherin old boys and old girls.




> He explains, also, that there is no need to worry about 
> finding Harry, as Harry will come to him. He then sends Lucius for 
>Snape.

Potioncat:
Can¡¦t LV summon Snape with a touch to his wrist? So why does he send 
Lucius? Is this just a bit of drama on JKR's part, or is there some 
purpose to sending Lucius to get Severus? Where is Severus? From the 
conversation that will happen in a few moments, it will sound as if 
Snape had been in the battle, or in some way observing the battle.

Granted, we come into the middle of the conversation, 
"¡Kmy Lord their resistance is crumbling¡K" LV then appears to repeat 
that Snape cannot re-enter the battle. Yada yada,  "Do you know why I 
have called you back from the battle?" and Snape says, "..let me 
return.."

So, what might Snape have been doing? Does anyone think we may have 
seen Snape in battle? Or does anyone think Severus is referring to 
the moment he flew from the castle as when he left the battle? I know 
I asked all this a few weeks ago, but I didn't have this canon at the 
time.



> 
> Harry recounts what he has seen to Ron and Hermione, and an 
argument 
> ensues about who should go after the snake, which ends when two 
Death 
> Eaters show up. Hermione saves the day with some quick and clever 
> spell casting, and the Trio, covered in Harry's cloak, head out to 
„« the Shack.

Potioncat:
I really did expect Ron to go off and tackle Nagini. It seemed like 
the end of the "set-up" in the chess game back in SS/PS. And I 
thought Nagini would "stand in" for the queen.


 

> 1) What is with ending chapters with the dramatic deaths of 
> characters, including, of course, descriptions of their eyes? (I 
> refer the reader to Dobby's sightless orbs staring unseeingly up at 
> the starry sky *sob*, Fred's eyes that stare without seeing, and 
> Snape's eyes, from which "something" vanishes as he dies.) Feel 
free 
> to comment on similarities and differences between these three 
„« character deaths witnessed by Harry.

Potioncat

Eyes have been an important feature or object of comment all through 
the series. We've been given descriptions of Ollivander and Luna, 
(owl like) Trelawney, (insect) Hagrid and Severus, (beetle black), 
Albus and Aberforth (bright blue) Harry and Lily (green) to name a 
few. I think we've also been given Vernon, Dudley and perhaps Crabbe 
or Goyle--but I don't quite remember.

In Snape's case, JKR may have been trying very hard to convince "all" 
her readers that Snape was dead.

 

> 
> 2) Speaking of this something, what are we to make of it? These 
same 
> eyes have been elsewhere described thusly: "They were cold and 
empty 
> and made you think of dark tunnels". (Empty things have *nothing* 
in 
„« them.)

Potioncat:
Yes, but dark tunnels often have something at their end---treasure or 
danger, and it's hard to know which. But for Harry, who all these 
years saw a dark emptiness, now saw even less.



> 3) What was your reaction to Snape's death on your first reading of 
> it? Did the following chapter change your view? Does it affect you 
„« differently on rereading?

Potioncat:
Do I even need to answer this one? <sad grin>

But, having had a long time to think about it, and to get over it, I 
can see the value in the way JKR wrote this scene. I wanted a heroic 
death for Snape (since I was sure he would die) yet I didn't want a 
cheesy death. This wasn't cheesy nor heroic. But really, no one gets 
a heroic death. Everyone dies for the cause, but no one goes out in 
glory.

Cedric is killed out of the blue, before he even knows he's in real 
danger. Fred gets hit by falling debris in the middle of a laugh. 
Sirius dies in a moment of bravado. We don't see several deaths. 
Severus gets the biggest death scene of all, and his death is 
motivated by an incorrect belief on LV's part and for a reason Snape 
probably doesn't understand. 


 
> 4) Voldemort compares Lucius and Snape. What meaning, if any, do 
you 
„« ascribe to this?

Potioncat:
Lucius and Severus both try to distract LV with comments about 
getting Potter. While LV sees this as a ploy on Lucius's part, I 
don't think he believes Severus is trying to distract him. But he is 
comparing Snape to a lesser DE, perhaps the beginning of convincing 
himself that the loss of Snape will not be so unfortunate after all.


 
> 5) Will Zara ask a question that is NOT about Snape? Erm, right, 
yes, 
> well¡KPersonally, I prefer the battle scenes in this chapter to the 
> ones in the previous one, even though the last chapter was named 
> after the battle. Which is your favorite scene of the first part of 
„« the battle (feel free to name one from the previous chapter!)? Why?

Potioncat:
Why "would" Zara ask a question NOT about Snape?

I did like the scene with Minerva and the desks. For all that SSSusan 
and I had expected a greater role for McGonagall, she does hold her 
own in these last few chapters. And I'm sorry, as horrible as these 
chapters are, the comic relief  (when I was finally able to see it) 
was welcomed. All the attacking furniture still reminds me of 
Disney's Beauty and the Beast.


 
> 5) What was Draco doing on the upper landing of the marble 
staircase, 
> to need rescuing from a Death Eater, in your opinion? What do you 
„« suppose happened to Goyle?

Potioncat:
Either the DE didn't recognize Draco. Which we could accept if not 
all DEs had been to Malfoy's house while Draco was there. OR, LV has 
already commented publicly that Draco hadn't returned with the 
Slytherins. OR the DE is wondering why Draco isn't in the fight. What 
did happen to Goyle? Has he rejoined the fight? Has he run off to 
hide? 



 
> 6) The Death Eaters brought a giant to the battle, and Grawp fought 
> him to defend the school. As payoff for Hagrid's back-story, Mme. 
> Maxime, "Hagrid's Tale", and the Grawp subplot in OotP, was this 
„« sufficient for you? Why or why not?

Potioncat:
JKR was writing about a magical world that included many magical 
beings familiar to her readers. Sometimes she added a little twist. 
It had been mentioned that LV used dark beings on his side, so it 
should be anticipated there would be some magical beings on DD's 
side. (I have a hard time deciding what to call the part of the WW 
that supports DD/ Harry or at least opposes LV.)

So creating the Grawp sub-plot allowed a way to have a giant fighting 
for Hogwarts. I might have preferred Mme Maxime, if that's what you 
want to know. The Grawp sub story also reinforces the theme of 
family/blood that runs through the HP story.



> 7) The Slytherin hourglass broke as Harry ran down the stairs into 
> the Entrance Hall, just as the Gryffindor one had in the fighting 
at 
> the end of HBP. Did you ascribe any particular meaning to this bit 
of 
„« trivia on your first read? Do you now?

Potioncat:
Oh, I noticed it right away. It's unclear what caused the hourglasses 
to break (We didn't see in HBP, did we?) but the loss of the two 
Headmasters was a blow to their houses. Snape isn't dead yet---but 
the image of the shattered glass is moving.


> 
> 8) What was your reaction to Hagrid's defense of the giant spiders 
„« and its results?

Potioncat:
I did re-read this chapter, and something jumped out at me this time. 
Wizards from both sides scream at the sight of the spiders and both 
sides start firing curses at the beasts. It's unclear why they are 
there, or who is in control of them. It's also unclear if Hagrid is 
begging the spiders not to hurt the students or begging the wizards 
not to hurt the spiders or both. When he was carried off, I was 
certain he was being killed. 


 
> 9) How cool was it that Hermione defended Lavender from Greyback? 
> (Or, why was it not cool?) Why do you suppose Rowling chose 
Trelawney 
„« as the person to finish him off?

Potioncat:
Until you asked, I didn't see any significance to it. It was a known 
student being attacked by a werewolf. Knowing the witch was the part 
that was moving.  And, now that you ask about Trelawney, I'm reminded 
of PoA. There was a connection between the crystal ball (orb) and the 
moon that Lupin feared. So here's an orb finishing off a werewolf. 
Maybe this is a stretch.


 
> 10) Luna, Ernie, and Seamus's Patronuses are revealed to be, 
> respectively, a hare, a boar, and a fox. Do they suit your ideas of 
„« these characters? Why or why not?

Potioncat:
See Carol's answer. The boar could also reflect Hogwarts, since there 
are statues of winged boars around the castle. But will someone 
please explain the canon connection to Ron and his Jack Russell 
terrier? (I know, I know, it's JKR's favorite breed.) 


 
> 11) Hermione tells Ron "Are you a wizard, or what?" when he regrets 
> Crookshanks cannot open the Willow for them. This echoes the moment 
> in PS/SS when Ron said the same to Hermione as she worried 
> frantically that she has no matches. What does this serve, in your 
„« view? Do you see other mirrors in this chapter?

Potioncat:
It's a bit of comic relief, heroic banter.

I'm going to answer 12, 13 and 14 in another post.

Again, wonderful job. I couldn't have taken on this chapter!