Just finished Deathly Hallows ***SPOILERS UNDER CUT!***

[thewayne]

Very much enjoyed it and have passed it on to the spousal unit.

And just to repeat the warning, SPOILERS UNDER CUT!


I knew Snape was working with Dumbledor, I was rather surprised by the method of his death, though. I thought his final pensive trick was good. I knew he would be redeemed in the end, I kinda like the way they did it.

I also liked the conversion of Kreacher. That was cool. And now we know why Rowling insisted that Kreacher appear in the film of Order of the Phoenix. The death of Dobby was pretty sad, though. I thought it would have been nice to see Bellatrix's knife that killed Dobby used to kill her. Still, Mrs. Weasley got her in fairly spectacular fashion.

Why do I think that Harry is getting a bit of Luna loving on the side? ;-)

I liked the revelation that Dumbledor was mortal and frail like the rest of us. He came off as so perfect, you had to know he had some serious flaws and weaknesses.

I thought the revelation of what happened to his hand in Halfblood Prince was pretty spiff.

Did Harry actually kill anyone directly? I don't think that he did, but I could have easily overlooked it.

One thing bothered me. During the initial escape, Hedwig is killed and Harry loses his broom. Why didn't he summon it back with an Accio? Likewise, when Harry et al were out camping and the other group of refugees come by and start doing "Accio Salmon!", why didn't Harry et al start emulating that?


One thing that I'm curious about is what Rowling is going to do in the future. She doesn't need to do anything, she has more than enough money to not write another word for the rest of her life. I'd like to see other Potterverse stories, they wouldn't have to continue with Harry et al though. But it would be difficult to top what she's written now, anything else could be a severe let-down. I'd definitely like to see what magic is like in other countries, especially in America, but the thing that is constantly reinforced to writers is "write what you know", and Rowling knows the British education and government system, so it could be quite hard for her to write anything else, at least with any verisimilitude.


I was kind of expecting Deathly Hallows to start with a time-gash. Re-reading Halfblood Prince and Order of the Phoenix, and seeing Order of the Phoenix, amply demonstrated that Potter and Crew were not up to a knock-down battle with Deatheaters, so how was Potter supposed to take on Voldy? I thought the "destroy the horcruxes" quest as a great way to sidestep that issue.


I hope they make the final movie three hours long. I'd say there's a good chance of it. I think the movie is going to be pretty spectacular, especially the final battle and the break-in at and escape from Gringot's.

Comments

[slashophile.livejournal.com]

Nah, Harry has never killed anyone, I believe. Said he'd never use the Aveda Kedavra unless it was absolutely necessary or somesuch. Said he didn't want to be like Voldemort. He stuck with mostly expelmarallus or however it's spelled, it seems.

Dobby and Severus hit me hard. And I damn well knew Sev was going to die, I've said it since book four, I believe. I literally sobbed when Dobby died because it was so unexpected and his last words were just so right. I loved it. Severus's desth repulsed me but it fit, I s'ppose. He died quietly and without fanfare (fanfair?), much like how he lived. Except without rude insults. But anyway, I think it was the right move. Although my SS/HP side really wanted one of those moments where they both just understood each other. Nothing fancy, just a general moment of clarity. But I'm glad Harry let everyone know the Severus was always Dumbledore's, not Voldemort's. And unlike most people I was happy with the epilogue, especially with the bit about Severus being the bravest man Harry ever knew. *sighs* I don't hand character deaths well and I feel like I read a fanfic that didn't give me proper warning. I dealt ok with all the other deaths but Severus...oi, that was just hard to swallow. And the things you found out afterwards made it just worse, the man never caught a break. Given part of it was his fault, but still. He had the capacity to love and show remorse, I just loved him, such a tragic, flawed hero.

I wondered the same thing about the salmon. Never did figure that one out.

JKR said for a long time after the 7th book she was done, but now that it's finally over and she's immersed herself in this world for 17 years; she's starting to have second thoughts. She said she'd love to think about doing books sorta like her magical creatures and Quidditch one again. And I'm hoping she'll change her mind about a prequel. Nothing huge or fancy, doesn't need to be seven years of the Marauders!era, just one or two books. I think it'd be fun, especially with all the new things we learned. And we never really saw when Lilly started to fall for James.

That final movie had better be damn long, I don't know what the hell they could cut, for goodness sakes.

[thewayne.livejournal.com]

I now recall that Harry said something about if he died a non-violent death that the uber-wand's enchantment would be broken, perhaps that goes both ways: he doesn't inflict final violence and avoids dying by it. Of course, if he re-entombs the wand with Dumbeldor, with only Ron, Hermione, and all the previous headmasters knowing where it is, then if Harry does have to kill someone, at least it won't be with that wand.

Snape's death was quite a shock. You pretty much knew he wasn't going to survive the book, you saw the build-up, but the method of (literal!) execution was pretty shocking. I loved it when later Longbottom killed Nagini (or whatever the snake's name was) with the Griffindor sword, that was a great piece of literary justice.

Snape's hatred of James, and his love of Lily (as we found out) were too far deep for him to ever be friends with Harry, but at least there was a better understanding at the end. Definitely a flawed, tragic hero, driven entirely by love, hate, and remorse. I thought Albus Severus Potter was a great name.

[slashophile.livejournal.com]

*nods* Very good point about the wand. I love that even in the final book he didn't shoot to kill.

Severus's death, I think, shocked and angered by the death. It wasn't anything like I think anyone had pictured. And, yes, Neville being the hero was so incredibly awesome. Neville turned out to be such a kick ass character.

I do love Albus Severus Potter and I think we're like the only two who think that. *snerks* But you're right about Severus. And I'm almost glad the way he went out, I think he would have preferred it, you know? Not the whole biting on the neck thing, of course.

What does your wife think?

[thewayne.livejournal.com]

The spousal unit has not yet finished the book! So unfortunately no feedback from her. I had one desire: I wanted to see Longbottom take out Bellatrix, but it didn't happen that way.

The thing about the death of Snape was that it was so casual. Nothing dramatic, just *poof!* and dead. Not to say that it was a dishonorable death, but it was far from an honorable one.

I'm really looking forward to Russet finishing the book!

[slashophile.livejournal.com]

Darn her! I was on my mom to finish that damn book. She still has cramps on her neck. heee.

*nods* Yeah that's very true. It wasn't honorable nor dishonorable just...there. I think everyone was "bwah!?" when it happened.

Sweet! Let me know what she thinks!

[thewayne.livejournal.com]

I think she's finished it, or she's at least at the point where she'll discuss parts of it....

[thewayne.livejournal.com]

(LOVE your icon! (and absolutely agree!))

[slashophile.livejournal.com]

Alan Rickman is GOD.

[zentraedi-shep.livejournal.com]

In the scene when Dobby got hit by the silver knife, I thought for a second that the blade would swirl through the empty space where our heroes just disapparated and hit the werewolf into the chest... That would have been a really nice twist!

[zentraedi-shep.livejournal.com]

Also, I like the idea that, should some sequels follow, it will be the next generation and that there will be NO possibility whatsoever for shipping combinations of the main characters since they are all related (being cousins through their several Weasley lines)... :)

[thewayne.livejournal.com]

That would've been cool, but I had no problem with the werewolf being brained by Sybil's crystal ball. It was good to see her get a good shot in!

[ateji.livejournal.com]

I rather wish Hedwig had been mixed up with the stuffed owls the body-doubles were carrying. That would have been a nice, "Whew, sad thing averted!"

And here I quote Ursula Vernon regarding something that annoyed me: "Is somebody punishing fandom for all that Sirius/Remus fan fic?"

[thewayne.livejournal.com]

I think Hedwig's death was a demonstration that bad things were going to happen: first Hedwig is blasted, then we think Hagrid is dead and he turns out alive, then we find out about Moody. All in the first 50 pages.

We were warned that there were going to be multiple deaths, at least none were the core characters.

And that's a great quote from Ursula! Must pass it on to my wife.

[ateji.livejournal.com]

I guess it works as a "look at the innocents being harmed because of this stupid war" scenario, but it still makes me grumble about turning her in to the RSPCA. ;)

I know a lot of fans who're going to be whining that Harry cheated death. I may even side with them.

Ursula's journal and DeviantArt are some of the best fun on the 'net. Hope Russet enjoys the quote.

[thewayne.livejournal.com]

Someone also pointed out that Hedwig would be (no pun intended) dead weight while the three were out camping, trying to figure out where and how to go for the other horcruxes. I think that was a good point.

As far as the cheating death part, I'm not sure that I agree. I think Voldy's first blast killed the horcrux in Harry and he was seriously stunned.

[ateji.livejournal.com]

Hedwig could hunt; I think she would have been fine. Or she could have stayed with the Weaseleys or something.

It smacks very strongly of deus ex machina to me. I think the final draft needed a few more rewrites, but I've thought that of most of the series in the first place.

[thewayne.livejournal.com]

One of the themes of the book was loss: Harry had recently lost Sirius and more recently Dumbledor, she obviously wanted to continue the theme. Short of Ron & Hermione, Hedwig was the only one remaining who really meant a lot to him. And off-hand, I can't think of anything that Hedwig did in the previous books except pass messages, and Rowling wanted to emphasize the isolation of Harry & Co., so I think killing Hedwig was probably a good idea.

[quasar273.livejournal.com]

I thought that Harry should have ended up raising Teddy Lupin! Isn't that what a godfather is supposed to be for? Maybe he got into a custody dispute with Andromeda.

I'm . . . I don't know if disappointed is the word. Still trying to work it out. With every book it seems that Rowling uses less of the old information than we expect, or uses it in different ways than we thought she would, and adds more information. And that's her prerogative -- in fact, it's one of the cool things that has differentiated the canon from the fanfic. But I guess I thought the final book would be more about tying together info from the previous books (at last!) with less new stuff. Instead we had new Horcruxes (okay, knew that was going to happen) and then these three Deathly Hallows things coming out of nowhere. Those were kinda cool but still felt like a distraction to me. I wanted . . . I dunno. More about the veil Sirius went through, and its connection to Dementors? More about Godric's Hollow (okay, we did get some of that, but not a lot)? More about Fawkes, or Crookshanks, or any of the other could-maybe-be-an-Animagus critters?

I did like the backstory on Dumbledore, though. Good job making him imperfect but not evil -- that balance is one thing fanfic is really horrible at. The friendship with Grindelwald was cool, but can anyone really buy Grindelwald spending 60 years peacefully in prison?

[quasar273.livejournal.com]

Oh, and if the part of Voldemort that was inside Harry went away, shouldn't his scar have gone away? Or if the scar was simply from surviving Avada Kedavra, shouldn't he have THREE of them now?

[thewayne.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that is one of the traditional role of a godparent. So I guess Andromeda is raising him, but perhaps we'll never know.

It would have been nice to get more info on the veil, but again, that's going to continue to be shrouded in speculation and mystery. Heh. Fawkes? I think he died when Dumbledore was entombed.

We talked about the white peacock on the Malfoy estate as being an animagus. I wonder if she planted it as a deliberate distraction or put it there as a possibility of it being an OotP animagus spy. Dunno. I think it would have been hard to plant an OotP agent that close to Voldy without them being detected, Snape excepted, of course.

I found Grindelwald interesting. He built the prison for his captured enemies and ended up locked up in it. The book does say that he reformed in the end, but again, we have a severe lack of information on the prison. I recall something being said to Ron or Hermione about Azkaban that implied that prisoners are not kept in their cells 24/7, so perhaps the one that Grindelwald built also was not on the model of full time in your cell.