The Protection of the Prophecy Plot (Was: Themes and theories)

[nkafkafi]

> Catherine :
> I agree with this as well.  As much as I enjoyed OoP (and I'm 
surprised and intrigued to discover
> that there are at least 3 newcomers to this list who cite it as 
their favourite of the series so
> far), I was very dissatisfied with the whole prophecy plot line.  
Not so much regarding the
> prophecy itself, but I still cannot comprehend why exactly it was 
so important to guard the
> prophecy - or even keep it in existence.  Yes, there is the whole 
insanity thing to get around,
> but why on earth couldn't they have just smashed it?  Dumbledore, 
after all, had (allegedly)
> perfect recollection of it.  I can only think of two reasons - one, 
that Voldemort wasted almost a
> whole year trying to get hold of the prophecy, and so bought 
Dumbledore some time, and two, that
> he was trying to lure Voldemort into revealing himself at the 
Ministry, which he presumably
> expected only to work if Voldemort failed to lure Harry there 
first, hence the importance of
> occlumency.  
> 
> I'm sure there has been much discussion on this over on HPFGU - as 
you can see, I haven't visited
> there for while.

Neri:
There might be another reason why DD was reluctant to simply destroy 
the prophecy orb: he wanted to use it as a proof for the whole WW 
that Harry is their only winning card in the war. The pensieve 
evidence would be suspicious - especially with DD credibility already 
questioned by the Ministry. The prophecy orbs in the DoM, OTOH, must 
have very strong credibility or they wouldn't be collected and 
guarded so meticulously. I imagine DD envisioned the whole wizengamut 
and top Ministry gathered in the DoM with Harry asked to smash the 
orb in front of them in order to prove beyond doubt that he is The 
One. And DD couldn't suggest such a gathering before it was obvious 
to everybody that Voldy is back, because Fudge's party would just say 
that the prophecy predicted the final vanquishing if Voldy in GH. Now 
that the orb was smashed, DD can't prove to everybody that Harry is 
The One, or even that there IS "The One". I predict a conflict 
between DD and the Ministry in Book 6 about Harry's importance and 
how to run the war.

I fully agree that JKR sometimes has plot holes, but I'm not sure at 
all the prophecy is one of them. We have to remember that the 
existence of the prophecy was revealed very late in OotP, and after 
that it was not time to dwell on many details because of Harry's 
state of mind. There are probably more explanations coming in HBP.

> Aberforth's Goat a.k.a. Mike Gray wrote:
> I agree about JKR's weak plotting. ("Sucks"? Well, that's maybe a 
little
> tough? Maybe it's more like watching a top tennis player with 
a "weak"
> backhand: weak by their standards, though it would blow a hack like 
me
> right off the court.) I'd even stretch that weakness to include the
> whole planning of her imaginary world. A long time ago, I remember
> reading an article by Alan Richardson, where he claims that Rowling,
> more like Tolkien than Lewis, has mythopeia "in spades."
> 
> At the time, I agreed. I don't any more. I would now say that JKR's
> creativity is much more like Lewis' - if anything even patchier 

Neri:
Yes, so it IS world building that JKR is really weak at, not 
plotting. Her "plot holes" are usually those depending on the 
consistency of the world building. You know, the "why didn't DD do 
this" and "why couldn't Voldy do that" type. With a detective plot 
taking place in RL-like world we would have known for sure why, but 
when it is embedded in a fictional realty that is not familiar to us 
muggles and is not very consistent, it seems questionable.

As a Sci-Fi fan I was never impressed with JKR's world building. It's 
not even close to that of Tolkien. I believe she actually never 
pretended to try building a consistent realty. Her WW is more of 
assorted parodies on several RL aspects and literary/mythical styles. 
It's great because it is so entertaining and imaginative, not because 
it is consistent.

Neri