[HPforGrownups] CHAPTER DISCUSSION: Chamber of Secrets Chapter 18: Dobby's reward

No Limberger no.limberger at gmail.com
Wed Jun 2 17:18:28 UTC 2010


No: HPFGUIDX 189264

<Question snips>
>1. Harry is asking Dumbledore whether Voldemort put a bit of himself in
>Harry. After DH do you see it as foreshadowing of Horcrux ? Why or
>why not?

No.Limberger responds:
After reading HBP, I didn't want to believe that Harry contained a horcrux,
which turned out to be the case. Each of the books leading up to DH
were moving in that direction, beginning with SS/PS in which Harry started
to experience pain in his scar anytime that LV was near. Then, he learns
that he is connected to LV in CoS when Harry learns that LV put a part
of himself into Harry the night LV killed Harry's parents and tried to kill
Harry. At the time, I didn't make the same connection with the diary as
with Harry, but that was clearly the case even though LV putting a part of
himself into the diary was deliberate, but putting a part himself into Harry
was unintended. Then, Harry's visions in GoF and OotP further showed
the connection that was increasing in intensity.

>2. I know that Hagrid tells Harry that Lockhart was the only applicant for
>the job, but still why do you think Dumbledore hired him? Does it mean
>that Snape applying every year was after all a lie? If it was a lie, why
>Dumbledore did not teach DADA himself, instead of hiring incompetent
>imbecile whom I consider Gilderoy to be?

No.Limberger responds:
I would list two reasons. First, the only other potions teacher mentioned
is Slughorn, who DD had to work very hard to convince to return to Hogwarts
in HBP. If DD made Snape the DADA teacher, he'd potentially have no
replacement for Snape. Second, if DD was aware of the curse placed on
the DADA teacher's job, he wouldn't want to place Snape into that position
since having Snape around is very important to the defense against LV.
After all, every teacher who was placed into the DADA teacher's job left
Hogwarts at the end of the same school term.

>3. Among many other things I hold Albus Dumbledore responsible for
>is him not shouting to Wizarding World about Tom Riddle being Lord
>Voldemort, while IMO telling useless nonsense to Harry about calling
>him one imaginary name instead of another imaginary name. But in this
>chapter Dumbledore easily shares such information and while he does
>it within limited circle of people, he does not ask them to keep it a
secret
>or anything like that. Should I cross off this offense (my opinion of
course)
>off the list and maybe realize that he may have shared such information
>more than once and people were not interested in sharing such information
>with each other?

No.Limberger responds:
Consider this. Wizards & witches are required to keep their world
a secret from the muggle world. This means that from the onset of their
lives, children raised in wizarding homes are taught to be secretive. As
adults, they seem to carry this further by not necessarily sharing
information
with one another. Then, there's the fear that so many lived with when LV
was active and had the power to read minds. Since whoever who was at
school with Riddle may have known he had become LV, it wasn't only
DD who didn't really discuss this with other or tell others. Further, DD,
IMHO, was working to defeat LV and felt the need to keep as much
information that he had about LV a secret as much as possible. DD
shared information as he felt that he needed to. He didn't want to cause
Harry any more pain. DD likely knew that Harry was a horcrux; sharing
that with Harry would have only caused Harry that much more pain.

>4 Ginny insists her brothers would not tease Percy about Penelope,
>is there a chance that Fred and George will keep their promise?

No.Limberger responds:
No.

>5. Dumbledore tells Harry " It is our choices, Harry, that show what
>we truly are, far more than our abilities ". Which choice of Harry's is
>Albus talking about here? Do you agree this is a difference from Tom
Riddle?

No.Limberger responds:
Harry made a choice to not be placed in Slytherin. And, even though he
carried part of LV with him, Harry effectively chose not to be
the "heir of Slytherin". LV, on the other hand, did choose to be the
heir and pursue a life of evil & dark magic. The diary, which only
contained a part of LV, like the original, clearly wanted to be the heir.
Harry chose to be himself.

>6. What did you think happened to big and scary Basilisk before DH?

No.Limberger responds:
Never gave it a thought really, except that it was locked away for a very
very long time in the chamber.

>7. Harry is asking Dobby "Just promise never to try and save my life
again."
>Did you expect a repeat performance from Dobby and did it live up to your
>expectations if any?

No.Limberger responds:
Dobby believed he was doing what was right, even though it wasn't. I
think he learned that lesson.

>In light of DH do you believe that JKR planned Dobby's character arc
>already when she wrote CoS? Why or why not?

No.Limberger responds:
Yes, I think JKR had already planned that and I expected Dobby
to return at some point in the future. The reason I believe JKR planned
this is because she already knew the outcome of the stories before
she ever started to write them, which suggests that she already
had plans for the various characters also.

-- 
"Why don't you dance with me, I'm not no limberger!"


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