This is the SPOILERS discussion thread for the final GWC Harry Potter Book Club installment: HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS.
For those who have NOT READ THE BOOK OR THE SERIES BEFORE: Congratulations! You’ve done it!
Oh gods, is that the Brit cover? Horrible.
And the fact that older Harry looks JUST LIKE my best friend from High School is equally disturbing.
Ha! I have to admit I’m not a fan of either version’s cover, neither really goes with the book too much for me.
Anyone else notice that young James Potter says “I think I’d leave” if sorted Slytherin, just like Draco said he would if he were sorted Hufflepuff in the first bood? I think that in Deathly Hallows, Rowling demolishes the house stereotypes she’s built up. Snape is her principle instrument. Dumbledore says that he sometimes thought “we sort too young”, complementing Snape on his bravery. And Harry echos this when he tells Albus that Snape was the bravest man he ever knew.
Speaking of which. A little while ago, someone floated the theory that Harry’s younger son will sort Slytherin on the bases of his initials:
A
lbus
S
everus
P
otter. Asp. You’ll remember that Harry almost did, if Draco and Ron hadn’t made such a glaring contrast. And Slughorn thought the boy’s paternal grandmother would have made a fine Slytherin. Taking a gander at miss snooty, ambitious Petunia Evans and one starts to see a trend…
So I’m about halfway through my reread… which is odd enough in itself, because this is not a book I’ve ever taken breaks getting through! (and to be fair, I’m late getting back to it thanks to the Song of Ice and Fire books… I want a Dance with Dragons, and I want it now! :p)
On HP, though - there are parts of this book that just creep me out in ways the earlier books didn’t (particularly the Godric’s Hollow episode). Has anyone else had that reaction? It was a new one for me.
I was and am a big fan of the resolution of the novel, and I have to say I love seeing bits and pieces of the whole trinity thing sneaking in. I love love love that. Makes me happy, and all.
Anyways, Harry just said Voldemort so I’m off to re-read them all escaping from the Malfoy Manor… Dobby! aagh.
(I do find myself thinking a lot while reading about the filming of the movies, and how certain things will be dealt with plot-wise, how they’ll be shot, etc.)
So I always forget that I really can’t put the book down once they’re at the Manor, and escape, and go to Gringotts and then the whole Hogwarts bit. It’s fabulous.
The book still makes me cry. I tear up when Dobby dies, I straight up cry when Harry is walking into the Forbidden Forest with the Resurrection Stone, and I kind of sniffle my way through his conversation with Dumbledore at King’s Cross. Which makes me being happy when he comes back that much better.
It’s funny but Lent seems like an appropriate time to read this, given the parallels to the Easter story that we have in the end. It was almost spiritually edifying. Maybe I’m a bit loony for thinking that, but there you have it.
Did anyone else get a chance to finish the re-read?
I was thinking the same thing. Loonies unite!
Hmm… I am a huge fan of Harry Potter (as in, I have probably read and re read each book 20 times), but I am just now realizing how much I really don’t like Harry and that he didn’t really earn his happily ever after at the end of the series. I, personally, find him to be a self centered and rather dumb kid who has smart friends and is always at the right place at the right time.
Okay… Let’s start at the beginning. Voldemort tries to kill his entire family, but something backfires while his is killing Harry and Potter lives. He gets so much undeserved attention and fame for simply living when it was, in fact, due to his mothers love for him. He doesn’t even figure that out until Dumbledore tells him! *
In the Philosopher’s Stone, he ends up in a chamber with his Voldemort-possessed Defence against the Dark Arts professor. How did he get there? Well Hermione solved a test, then Ron, then Hermione, and then he stupidly faces down the big guy. Alone. He really should have died right there. But no, the stone magically appears in his pocket and it just happens to turn people that he touches into dust (I actually didn’t quite understand that bit of the book). Then his friends get help for him and he is saved. Well done, Harry. You really deserved all the praise there.
*And then in the third book, the Prisoner of Azkaban, he finds his long lost godfather and miraculously goes back in time to save him. How did he do it this time? Hermione did loads of extra work and was granted a Time Turner. She let’s Harry use it and they go back in time. Harry almost gives them away, but Hermione fixes it and helps Harry let Sirius escape. Along the way, she discovers that Lupin is a werewolf and makes all sorts of brilliant connections. Harry… He fights off the creepy Dementors thanks to the random Patronus thingy that appears on the other side of the lake to help him. Ooh, good one, mate! But who gets all the credit? Harry, of course.
Well, I always knew that Harry wasn’t the brightest crayon in the box, but the last book really makes him look like a moron. Okay, he finds some Horcruxes… Thanks to Dumbledore leaving him clues and Hermione figuring out the rest. Again, what does he do? Piss off his best friend, causing him to leave, then say Voldemort’s name which leads to them being captured. Aliiiight. * He already caused Sirius’s death in the 6th book, but then he also causesthe death of many others in the final battle. Which would have made sense if they actually won, but the idiot decides to give himself up… after everybody had died. And by sheer luck, he didn’t die and somehow killedVoldemort (overlooking the fact that Neville killed the snake and Ron and Hermione destroyed the other Horcruxes for him).
I could go on and on about how Harry doesn’t deserve all the credit he’s getting, but I would be writing all day! *
What I really wanted to say, I guess, is that you should think about the other, more deserving, characters as well, instead of falling in love with Harry and becoming a maniacal PotterHead.
You’re from House Slytherin, aren’t you?
Well, Harry is a very humble character (and he’s got a baddie attached to his soul which at times reeks its ugly head). He does his best to avoid the praise, he doesn’t think he deserves it, and at times he even despises the attention. He’s only 13, after all. You have to admit finding out about a whole new world and the fact that you are a wizard is exciting and overwhelming. His friends, et al
already know about their condition and abilities.
I was just talking with my daughters about this. I told them that the typical Hero does everything and saves everyone. Harry isn’t the typical hero. He needs help, constantly. He relies on his friends and the faults of his enemies to succeed. Harry is a hero we can relate to. He is flawed. He is wounded. He needs help from the people around him. He can’t do it alone.
I think the whole Potterhead scene is about the Potter universe not just Harry. He is a part of the world and the main character but he doesn’t hold it all together. He is just the device that pushes the story along. Same with Star Wars. We follow Luke’s journey but the Star Wars universe is too vast and fascinating. Some fans want to be Luke, some Han, some Vader, some Jedi, some Sith, etc. On the Potter front, I don’t want to be Harry. In fact at times I want to wring his neck. I think that is a good thing, though.
My favorite character is Hermione.
If Harry Potter were deserving of his reputation and ‘praise’ the reader would not be able to relate to the character at all… But because he is flawed, humble and often reacts in situations much as the reader would; he is approachable and the reader can empathize with him. Which is necessary for your protagonist to be successful.
And like Talos I too am a Hermione fan.
What Talos said. Harry earned his happiness, but, in my humblest of opinions, Ginny did not earn Harry 