Well worth a read

[carolynwhite2]

--- In the_old_crowd at yahoogroups.com, Barry Arrowsmith 
<arrowsmithbt at ...> wrote:
>
> Never found most of the books about the Harry Potter books  
> particularly enthralling. Possibly because too many read as if they 
were penned by teachers who work in remedial schools. However,  
> there's a new one out that fell through my letterbox a couple of 
days  back - The End of Harry Potter by David Langford.
> 
> Well organised, easy-going style, some nice tongue-in-cheek humour, 
a  keen eye for detail and doesn't take himself too seriously. And 
it  appears to be slanted towards the adult reader, which is a relief.
> 
> Of course, most of the contents (and speculations) have been   
> subjects heavily - even endlessly - discussed on the boards. Even 
so,  there were potential internal links and possible plot 
developments   suggested that I can't remember having come across 
before. If Jo  hadn't been so relentless in knocking most of the more 
fanciful (or  as some might have it, interesting) theories on the 
head, I'd be   sorely tempted to fire up my enthusiasm and give the 
old keyboard a  good workout dissecting or adding to some of the 
ideas mentioned.
> 
> Don't agree with some of the ideas, but there again I wouldn't be 
a  true Potterhead if I did, would I?
> 
<snip>

> But the book is worth dipping into IMO.
> Cheap, too. The hardback edition (from Amazon) cost £5.99.
> 
> Kneasy
>

Well sir, have spent one of my last afternoons of freedom before New 
Year lying on the sofa reading this.. it's an edited, reasonable 
summary of the key ideas, I agree. But as a sign of my continuing 
addiction, I spent some time feeling puzzled that he missed out on 
such classic theories such as LOLLIPOPS, MAGIC DISHWASHER and 
Toadkeeper II, not to mention essential locations such as The George 
or even the Catalogue Office. Then I realised I was getting reality 
severely confused with the WW (or something..).

Anyhow, the most useful snippets/reminders I took from it were (in no 
particular order):

1) Chocolate Frog Cards as DD's means of communication with the 
troops in the last book. Langford didn't mention it, but at some 
point in OOP (?) DD even confirmed it - something along the lines of 
not caring what titles they took away from him 'as long as they don't 
take me off the Chocolate Frog cards'.

2) Apropos of nothing - Filibuster Fireworks - as in 'time-wasting' 
fireworks. Had missed this nuance in the name! V. appropriate to Gred 
and Forge's use of them in OOP.

3) Prof Sinistra - origin of name is a star in the Ophiuchus 
constellation, 'associated with depravity' and also known as 'The 
Serpent Handler'. The lady has only been seen doing an ungainly two-
step with Mad-Eye so far, I think, oh, and supervising an exam on top 
of the astronomy tower (?). Is it just an idle swipe at the possibly 
evil intentions of all left-handed folk or is she another Voldie spy?

4) Tarot - that the four suites of 14 cards are respectively Swords, 
Cups, Pentacles and Wands. Not having your deep experience in reading 
fortunes (...!), was just struck by the potential link with 
Gryffindor's sword, Hufflepuff's cup, and ok.. breaks down after that 
except that it's been speculated that it's Ravenclaw's wand that 
Harry might need to find for one of his hickleboxes.

5) And just going back to the wretched hoxpotches, renewed irritation 
that the suggested combination still includes TWO items of Slytherin's
a) diary
b) Salazar's ring
c) Helga's cup
d) Slytherin's locket
e) Ravenclaw's WHAT?
f) Nagini, Harry or take your pick..

My current view is that symmetry absolutely demands a Gryffindor 
item, and that would have been most prized by Voldie. The sword would 
have been his first target, second possibly the Sorting hat, but so 
far he does not appear to have got either of those - so what else 
would he have targeted?

On timing, assuming he had intended Harry's death at GH as a 
necessary step in creating this very special hoglump, what would he 
have intended to put the soul-fragment into if he had succeeded?

Still leaves two Slytherin items, created before GH.. annoying...

6) Prediction that the action climax in the 7th book would be dark 
and underground, based on key action scenes in previous books:

PS/SS - Chamber under Hogwarts
CoS - basilisk chamber
POA - secret passage underground to Shrieking Shack & enclosed room
GoF - ok, not underground, but a nasty graveyard
OOP - battle in the depths of the MoM
HBP - inferi cave (debatable whether that was climax, obviously)

Deathly Hallows  seems nicely dark and horrible as a culmination of 
all this. Definitely at Hogwarts, where Lily and James are buried.

My addition to the Langford hypothesis is that he seems to have 
forgotten the-dragon-who-must-not-be-tickled. Have always held that 
there's something down there, Smorg-like, guarding the Ultimate 
Secret under Hogwarts.

7) Next DADA professor. My stab at this is that it might be Aberforth.


Langford's overall thesis seems to be that Harry got a bit of Lily's 
soul in the head as a result of GH (not Voldie) - a sort of failed, 
reversed-horclucky effect, and this overdose of love will be enough 
to see off Voldie for good in the end. Yuck etc.

Only bright point on this theory is where does the sixth bit of 
Voldie's soul end up in this scenario ?

Oh well, it wiled away an afternoon..

Carolyn
.. and Happy New Year to all