DD's commentary in Beedle the Bard

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 185243

I've moved this post from the Movie group because my response relates
to the books.

Potioncat wrote:
> JKR said DD wrote the commentary about 18 months before he died.
It's unknown if he intended it to be published, or was writing for his
own amuzement.
> 
> I think Pippin believes DD intended Snape to find the book and his
commentary. I'm not so sure...if only because JKR didn't write the
stories until afterwards, and the commentary was written even later.

Carol responds:

If it had been written during HBP, I would agree with Pippin. But
eighteen months before DD's death would have been early December of
Harry's fifth year, before Christmas vacation and before the attack on
Mr. Weasley that led to the Occlumency lessons. Snape was still
Potions master, not DADA professor (the ill-fated position from which
he was sure to be ousted at the end of the year). Draco was not yet
planning to kill Dumbledore (the MoM debacle and Lucius Malfoy's
arrest hadn't happened). Nor did Dumbledore know that he was going to
die because he hadn't yet (stupidly) put on the cursed ring.
Everything was normal at that point. DD was old but at the peak of his
powers (as we see in his escape from Fudge and the Aurors and the
battle with Voldemort), and he hadn't yet been ousted from his post by
Fudge and Umbridge.

Did he realize that he was old and likely to die soon (before Harry
completed his Horcrux quest) despite his vigorous health? Had he
already written his will (which makes no provision for the Elder Wand)
expecting the wand to lose its powers with his natural death and also
anticipating that Harry might need to bring the Hallows together? Was
he already intending for Hermione, not Snape, to receive and decode
the Hallows story? And yet it seems that his comments weren't included
in her copy, or she'd have figured out the significance of the Hallows
sooner. 

I think that he either made or revised his will soon after Snape told
him that he had only a year to live. But still, of course, he made no
provision for the wand in the will, still thinking that it would lose
its powers. (Obviously, there was no danger of LV trying to take it
from him while he was still alive since DD was "the only one he ever
feared.")

Anyway, the timing makes no sense to me unless DD wrote the notes for
his own amusement, perhaps in connection with his fascination with the
Hallows. But why bother with Babbitty Rabbitty (sp?) or the Warlock's
hairy heart and all that if his interest was the Hallows?

It seems to me that once again, JKR's sense of timing within the
framework of the story is off, as is DD's motivation. True, he took
time earlier to comment on or write a preface to "Fantastic Beasts,"
but that was before the danger of Voldemort's return intensified. By
Harry's fifth year, DD was busy searching for Horcruxes and possibly
still investigating Voldemort's past. (Then again, he'd lost his
position as chief Warlock of the Wizengamot and whatever the other one
was, so maybe he was a little less busy than usual. But Umbridge was
High Inquisitor, undermining his control of the school and Voldemort
was getting stronger, and DD was using his time to comment on
children's stories? It doesn't make sense to me.)

Admittedly, I haven't read Beedle the Bard (I picked up a copy in a
Border's store and skimmed it, but I don't recall a single word!), so
I'm probably wrong on all counts.

Carol, having trouble suspending her disbelief in this particular instance