So, is Harry a great wizard or not?

[Annemehr]

Lyn wrote:
> If you haven't gotten the idea by now that this list is discussing 
the last book then no 
> amount of spoiler space is going to help you.
> 
> One of the many things that Rowling has frustrated me with, has 
been what I consider to 
> be her own ambivalence with whether or not she wished to portray 
Harry as a wizard of 
> great (or at least potentially great) magical power as well as a 
wizard who was  to act out 
> (badly or not) a great role bestowed on him. 

 
<snip>
> Yet at the end of DH we have two events, sans the Voldy component, 
which lead one in the 
> direction of exceptional wizarding powers. 
<snip>

> The second, for me is more telling. This is Harry repairing his 
Holly wand. 
> Hermione had failed, Ollivander said it couldn't be done, Harry 
hadn't tried previously, but 
> using the Elder Wand (which is noted for its abilities for dueling, 
but nothing else), he 
> immediately is successful.


Anne:
I'm sure I recall that he did try to repair it, after he woke up 
safe, back in the tent after Godric's Hollow...

No, you're right, it was Hermione who tried Reparo (ch. 17), and it 
didn't work, and then, yes, as you say, Ollivander said it couldn't 
be done.

As far as the Elder wand being able to do it...well, I suppose it's 
better than the idea that the Put-Outer (Deluminator, is it?) also 
has the special ability of being able to lead Ron back to Harry and 
Hermione.  I do feel a bit like I'm in a James Bond movie...

In any case, I do think the repair was due to the wand, and not to a 
talent of Harry's.

Oh, yeah, and BY the way -- many years ago, and more than once, I 
offered an explanation for the perrenial question "How does Hagrid's 
wand still work if it was snapped?"  I posited that it was Dumbledore 
who repaired it, and saw to it that it was hidden in the umbrella so 
no one would see.  Well, *he* was master of the Elder wand at the 
time, so there you go.

Lyn:  
> 
> Of course the disapointment for me is that I have no confidence 
remaining that canon is 
> sufficiently consistent at any level to derive a "truth" about the 
HP wizarding world, or any 
> of her characters.


I'm having that feeling, too.  *sigh* 

Anne