Themes and theories

[pippin_999]

> David:
the plot is not like that of a detective or spy 
> story, where plot is paramount and one may suppose that 
rigorous  analysis of small clues may lead one to the unravelling 
of the mystery.  In my experience of this type of literature,  
chracterisation is necessarily flat to allow as many characters as  
possible to remain suspects for as long as possible.<
> 

Pippin:
JKR gets around this by having Harry see large numbers of 
people as flat. Then he suspects only the flat characters whom 
he notices doing something suspicious.  It is the characters who 
tell lies  and don't strike  Harry  as suspicious (or that Harry 
forgets were suspicious)  that you, as a sleuth, should have your 
eye on: 

-Quirrell, lying about the turban
- Riddle, lying to Dippet
-Crouch!Moody, lying that he can't see Crouch on the map any 
more, (we should realize this is a lie, though Harry doesn't. As 
Hermione points out in another context, Crouch couldn't have 
just evaporated) 
-Kreacher lying about where he went over Christmas "Though 
Sirius seemed satisfied with this story, it made Harry uneasy."

Need I point out that Lupin is a most accomplished liar?

Dave:
> It is theories based on the opposite supposition - that HP is 
 *predominantly* a detective or spying novel - that I feel are going  
to be disappointed.
> 

Pippin:
Then what are we to make of her constant references to clues 
and red herrings?

Dave:
> Yes - but I have to say that I don't see ESE!Lupin as one of 
those  complex speculative theories, in the main.  The main 
premise is so simple that the title says it all.  Try thinking of a 
name for Magic Dishwasher that actually tells the intelligent 
newbie enough to flesh out the rest of the theory for himself.<


Pippin:
Actually, the surviving elements of MD have been pretty much 
subsumed by Puppetmaster!Dumbledore, which says it all.

Dave: 
> I think JKR's characterisation is subtle and complex, yes, so in 
 that sense, yes, she 'does complexity'.  It's just that her 
 characters can't plan a simple thing like world domination, or 
the  protection of a valuable artefact, for toffee.<


Pippin:

I see her inspiration as  satirical rather than mythopoeic. You 
aren't supposed to ask how someone as incompetent as  
Voldemort could possibly be feared by everyone anymore than 
you are supposed to ask what Discworld's Morporkians drink if 
the river Ankh is so polluted. 

Dave:
> If for the moment we assume ESE!Lupin is part of the 
forthcoming  revelations, I don't honestly see how it thematically 
addresses the  central mysteries of the series, which I take to be 
1] what really  happened at Godric's Hollow, particularly how did 
Voldemort survive 
> and 2] how can Harry defeat Voldemort without being morally 
> compromised himself (there is a possible 3] how can Slytherin 
be  truly brought back into the fold)?

Pippin:
ESE!Lupin is tied to Godric's Hollow and Harry's ultimate fate by 
his boggart, which I take to be the prophecy orb. How it works out 
I have no idea; but it may be that Lupin knows the answer to 1 
and will be instrumental in  2. As for 3,  I think that Harry will be 
forced to see that Snape and the Slytherins, as difficult as they 
are to deal with, are less morally compromised than a certain 
traitorous Gryffindor.

Pippin:
> > I didn't really deal with the inconsistent world building. I 
would  say that JKR is deliberately inconsistent about things like 
the number of students which don't directly affect the plot but 
lend  Hogwarts a slightly surreal quality.

Dave:> 
> And, no doubt, the use of phrases such as 'Oh, maths' 
followed by  successive explanations on her website, which 
themselves require  subsequent emendation, is all part of her 
plan to disorientate the  fandom?
> 

Pippin:
I may be projecting my idiosyncracies onto JKR, but I think she's 
like me: relentlessly logical, scores high in mathematical 
reasoning, but slightly subaverage in mathematical computation. 
Dates, sequences, and figgers put her in a fluster, due to  which 
she gladly accepts eleventh hour corrections from editors and 
figures if it's in the Lexicon it's probably okay, and where did I
put 
my notes about that anyway.

Judging by her virtual desktop, she's not great at organizing, and 
therefore probably has multiple sets of notes which are not quite 
duplicates. Like, there's one set in which NHN died in 1492 and 
another where it was 1592. Oh well, he's been a ghost for a long 
time, anyway, and calendars don't mean much when you're 
dead. ;-)


Pippin