Posted on 07/17/2005 5:16:14 PM PDT by grellis
THIS THREAD IS INTENDED FOR READERS THAT HAVE COMPLETED THE BOOK! If you have not yet read the book, consider yourself warned: There will be spoilers on this thread.
For my fellow FReepers who have no intention of reading the book but would like to discuss the more controversial issues related to the work, I am asking you as politely as I can: DO NOT HIJACK THIS THREAD. We are all members of this forum and as such, it is not up to me to disallow anyone from participating in the discussion. That is why I am asking you--please do not hijack this thread. If you would like to discuss the more controversial aspects of the book, maybe you could start your own thread and ping us over there. If we are interested, we'll come.
Let's face it -- we've heard of Susan Bones, but we've never really met her. But we now know that her aunt was murdered by the Death Eaters, so perhaps she will play a larger role in book 7.
And then there's Neville. He was almost "the boy who didn't die." But his Gran doesn't seem to know this from the way she treats him, and I wonder what her reaction will be if she does learn it this bit of news. Will his parents be cured? Will they help fight Volders? Do we really know why Neville is so scatterbrained? Is it just because it's his personality, or was he with his parents when their memories were taken away and he, small child that he was, get the fallout of that spell?
Will we learn why Volders didn't want to kill Lily but did want to kill James? We know why he wanted to kill Harry, but why kill his parents too?
So many questions. Books 1-4 posed questions that were answered, to a large extent, in book 4. But book 5 opened a whole Pandora's box filled with more questions, and book 6 opened it even more.
I'm torn between dying to read book 7, and not wanting the whole thing to end.
I posted that a couple of hundred posts ago. I am very conflicted about this coming to an end and book 7.
Maybe we should compile a list of characters with some fact from the books. i think you are right about the Bones family. I initially thought that Amelia Bones was RAB, but the facts of all her initials got in the way. However, it has been mentioned in the books that Voldemort personally killed Amelia and pretty much the entire family.
Wormtail owes Harry his life and is indebted to him.
Neville is a wuss cause his grand always tells him how worthless he is and how he isn't like his dad. I think we may expect great things from him.
Rowling says in an interview that we get to know much better in the next book a member of the Order, can't remember if that will mean anything much as to the downfall of the Dark Lord. She also says that Petunia overheard the conversation about the dementors and that will be something big in the last book. Heck, maybe Petunia has visited Hogwarts and Voldemort saw her and had a thing for her (gag). Anyway, that could explain why Voldemort gave Lily the chance to live.
I moreso think Snape had a thing for Lily which is why he came to DD and I think that is when he may have made an unbreakable vow with DD that he would do whatever was needed for the Order.
DD is easier than typing Dumbledore
And he doesn't get referred to with his first name too much. I saw someone else doing it, and since I knew who he was talking about, and I was growing tired of spelling all the long names, I too, started using DD. It is just using the letters that get the most emphasis of his last name.
I think I'll be re-reading them all shortly. I need to do my re-read of HBP first though, and then perhaps I'll go back to book 1 to take some notes.
i think you are right about the Bones family. I initially thought that Amelia Bones was RAB, but the facts of all her initials got in the way. However, it has been mentioned in the books that Voldemort personally killed Amelia and pretty much the entire family.
That was my initial thought too. I know most people think it's Regulus Black, but I don't remember seeing him with a middle initial. Another reason to re-read the earlier books. Slowly. ;-)
I moreso think Snape had a thing for Lily which is why he came to DD and I think that is when he may have made an unbreakable vow with DD that he would do whatever was needed for the Order.
I absolutely think Snape had a thing for Lily. She was the only person who was nice to him when they were in school.
Here's a theory some of my friends and I had after the 2nd book, but I never thought about it again until we learned that Petunia knows more than she says she does.
Lily and Petunia are the names of plants/flowers. There is another name of a plant/flower in these books: Myrtle. Could Myrtle somehow be related to Lily and Petunia? I know they're Muggle-born, but so was (I'm 99.99999% sure Myrtle was too). Could there have been a distant relative who was also a witch? Could Myrtle be related to Harry?
You know, I'm really not a conspiracy theorist!
Here's one topic I've never seen discussed -- does Voldemort only prey on witches/wizards in England? Why don't we hear about anyone from Beauxbatons or Durmstrang who are attacked, killed, etc.?
I think that is (stealing from Ron Weasley)-"Bloody Brilliant. Isn't this fun? I get brain fatigue just reading all the theories, and bits of information
Plus, I'm having to go back and re-read GOB now with a more critical eye.
I really should be cleaning my house- and I actually thought of putting a Do Not Disturb-I'm reading Harry Potter sign on my front door.
I remember Draco talking about how he alsmost went to Durmstrang. Hermione said they were more into the dark arts and with Karkaroff the former death eater, that may be a training camp, big conspiracy theory! Phlegm never really comments on Voldemort, so who know about the other schools for sure.
Wasn't the oath to protect Malfoy? Seems to me that's precisely what Snape did.
Narcissa also made Snape promise to do the job if Malfoy failed.
Tag line take two...
Groaning and Laughing simultaneously.
;^P
I think Ginny might have a special power that we are all unaware of. Remember, LV possessed her in COS. He might have left her with something of his powers as he did to Harry.
Man, it is POURING here! We didn't even have sprinkles in the forecast. Our local meteorologists have all got to be Trelawneys.
I am so glad to hear that other people thought The English Patient and Titanic were awful, too! I like movies that don't take themselves that seriously, and have a hint of mischief in them.
I reread that chapter and you are correct. There is still something else bothering me, though: after what Dumbledore had shown Harry about Tom Riddle, it should have been obvious that TR/LV might be the Half-Blood Prince, and it would have been clear that Harry should ask Dumbledore about it. To be sure, for the potions book to have actually been LV's would have been too much like a replay of HPCoS, but it would have been logical for Harry to ask. This would likely have required some logical means by which Dumbledore could fail to figure out who the HBP was, but would have absolved Harry of the apparent blame for Dumbledore's death.
BTW, one thing I've disliked about the last three books is that Harry Potter's decision keep getting people killed. To be sure, he may not be morally to blame but nonetheless he's not totally innocent either. Worse, key plot aspects of LV's plans resolve around Harry such that if he simply did nothing, LV's plans wouldn't succeed. IMHO, it's a serious dramatic flaw when the world would be just as well off without the hero of the story.
Cleaning house? What's that? ;-)
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