Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (WITH SPOILERS)

[e350tb]

Ron/Hermionie had been building since day 1 if you ask me.

My favourite bit's hard to choose, though I have to admit, I had a bit of a thought when the Ministry was taken over. Britain in chaos, one side infiltrated by Death Eaters, the other as dumb as a headless chicken. Murders, 'Accidents' and goodness knows whatelse killing and injuring so many, and the cruelties the Death Eaters madfe at Hogwarts!

My least favourite bit was when Fred died. Fred and George have always been my favourite charectors, along with Neville. They're the kind of characters that last foreverin your mind, like for example, the hell they gave Umbridge, and the fact that they still joked around when George lost an ear. It was probably the only time I tried not to cry while reading.

 

[Luckymoose]

Personally speaking I'm not exactly happy with Harry marrying Ginny; was always more of a Harry-Hermione person

You didn't read the books very well then.

 

[xfactor99]

I think it is obvious that the most pressing question on all of our minds after reading Deathly Hallows is if Snape died a virgin.

In all seriousness, there was only one person he ever truly cared for, and it is rather saddening to think he lived from the age of 21 to 37 dedicated to fighting for the last vestiges of her that he had ingrained in his memories, instead of moving on with his life.

I suppose it was impossible for him to let go of his one true love, given the conditions of his promise to Dumbledore, the constant reminder by the presence of Harry Potter, and his dealings with Voldemort, but Snape's single-minded pursuit of a woman who was long dead was a fair bit disconcerting, to say the least. It's either a strongly passionate affection that resonated even after corporeal separation, or an immaturity that was the byproduct of an emotionally immature and scarred child who never learned to interact healthily with other human beings.

Oh wait - it's actually both. Which just comes to prove how we're all a sucker for love at times. Some more so than others, and in Snape's case, disturbingly much more so.

 

[BCLG100]

I thought the romances didn't really make much sense... Harry and Ginny appeared completely unable to talk to one another - not really a brilliant quality in a couple, while Ron and Hermione just wasn't really very believable. I just hope JK doesn't go into romance novels.

Ron and Hermione was entirely believable in my mind, it had been building for years! Harry and Ginny, i thought this was nice but wonder when you all thought Harry was meant to have the chance to have this meaningfull conversation with her- maybe at the start but that would have slowed down the entire storyline which was rather the whole point, to keep it fast to show how fast Voldermort was going. Room of Requirement- who's to say when he first went in there it wasn't empty- if loads of people knew about it wouldn't everyone?

Ugh, who was the character that does magic 'late in life' that JKR mentioned in 1999? I can't figure it out!

As others have said, Molly Weasly or Nevilles Gran when she blasted Dawlish.

 

[Wolfe Tone]

It was pretty good, could have been better. It was fairly predictable. The RAB and the locket occured exactly as I expected. Before the book came out I expected that Fawkes would go to Harry. When Hedwig was killed, I thought that it was surley setting up Fawkes' arrvial, but I was wrong. I was definatly expecting a return to the Department of Mysteries, specifically to the 'love' room and the death chamber. When the Hallows were being explained, I was sure that it meant that the cloak could be used to go throught the veil and return. The epilogue could definatly have been better, very little was wrapped up.

 

[Gilder]

I'm also disappointed in the fact that none of them tried to kill any Death Eaters. It's like they have a gun, but instead of shooting people you just beat them over the head with it and run away.

You'd think one of them would have snapped at some point and said "screw it."

 

[Strider]

I was definatly expecting a return to the Department of Mysteries, specifically to the 'love' room and the death chamber. When the Hallows were being explained, I was sure that it meant that the cloak could be used to go throught the veil and return. The epilogue could definatly have been better, very little was wrapped up.

I for some reason thought that Rowling said that a character we thought was lost returns inside of this book. Either I'm imagining that, or it never happened (unless it was that time with dumbledore?). Honestly I half expected Sirius to return and when the Deathly Hollows came up.. I thought that was going to be the way.

Poor George.. without a twin and without a ear.

 

[Shylock]

I like Luna and all. But painting giant figures of your friends on your ceiling?

Creeepppy. And I say that as someone who is no stranger being called that.

 

[emzie]

I for some reason thought that Rowling said that a character we thought was lost returns inside of this book. Either I'm imagining that, or it never happened (unless it was that time with dumbledore?). Honestly I half expected Sirius to return and when the Deathly Hollows came up.. I thought that was going to be the way.

Poor George.. without a twin and without a ear.

Sirius did return! Don't you remember Harry asking "Does it hurt?"

Tears incoming in 3...2... oh there they are.

 

[emzie]

As others have said, Molly Weasly or Nevilles Gran when she blasted Dawlish.

But how is that rare! They always had the capability, the only thing that could be called rare is a fight for your life!

 

[BCLG100]

But how is that rare! They always had the capability, the only thing that could be called rare is a fight for your life!

Well i don't remember what passage the quote was from so i was merely thinking of old folk doing magic.

 

[JonnyB]

Ugh, who was the character that does magic 'late in life' that JKR mentioned in 1999? I can't figure it out!

Hagrid?

...

 

[nc-1701]

The only real complaint I had was that Harry never used Avada Kedavra I was sure he would end up using it, the moral being that you couldn't beat evil without a part of that evil becoming a part of you. This seamed to be a big part of the story, and I thought it would climax with Harry using a killing curse. I mean he used Crucio, and Imperio, but they just weren't quite the same...

 

[BCLG100]

The only real complaint I had was that Harry never used Avada Kedavra I was sure he would end up using it, the moral being that you couldn't beat evil without a part of that evil becoming a part of you. This seamed to be a big part of the story, and I thought it would climax with Harry using a killing curse. I mean he used Crucio, and Imperio, but they just weren't quite the same...

Personally i thought that was rather the point, that there were certain lengths he was willing to go to but not to cut his soul as would have happened if he'd used Avada Kedavra.

 

[Integral]

I want to know just how badly your soul is cut when you make a Horcrux, because if Voldemort made six and had Harry as a seventh (unintended), he would only have 1/128th of his soul left in him.

Assuming that the soul is split in two halves each time a horcrux is created, it follows that:

1/2 of the soul is in the first horcrux, 1/4th in the second, 1/8th in the third, 1/16th in the fourth, 1/32nd in the fifth, 1/64th in Harry, 1/128th in Nagini, and 1/128th remains inside Voldemort. So Harry has more of Voldemort's soul in him than Voldemort has in himself.

Then again, Dumbledore only says that creating a horcrux tears the soul, which isn't very precise...so maybe I'm thinking far too much into this.

Integral

P.S. Enjoyed the book, particularly the bits on Snape's and Dumbledore's backstory, but it left quite a few minor threads hanging...and the epilogue was horrid.

 

[AutomatedTeller]

Did Harry, at any point of this series, kill anyone? As far as I can tell, he didn't actually directly harm anyone.

Yes, he destroyed one Horcrux and killed the basilisk, and Quirrell died by touching him... but I don't think he killed anyone in the series.

I also thought it interesting that he didn't destroy any of the Horcruxes in book seven - Ron got 1, Hermione got 1, Neville got 1, Crabbe/Goyle got 1!!, even Voldemort got 1.

But all Harry ever did was defend himself.

My favorite line in the book was when Hermione said to Ron "are you a wizard or not?" at one point - I loved that it tied all the back to book #1 that way

I liked that Molly Weasley went nuts, though I could have gone without her channeling Sigourney Weaver.

I do not understand why she killed off Hedwig - was it just to keep Harry cut off?

I liked DD's backstory, and how it explained his actions and the development of his character. I thought it made for a great story of redemption, though the whole "DD knew Grindewald" bit was a little fishy.

The charge of the house-elf brigade was awesome.

The death of Dobby was sad, but a necessary part of the plot.

I completely agree with everyone who thought that Riddle was an idiot for hiding the diadem in the room of requirement. Did he not ask Draco how he got DeathEaters into Hogwarts the night Snape killed DD??

I am not sure that Snape's soul was damaged by killing DD, btw. It was more like assissted suicide and it was only changing his time of death, not the fact of it.

I have no clue who it was who used magic late in life, either.

I wasn't happy that Remus and Tonks died - Remus, sure - he was a DADA teacher, and they all got messed up. I don't really understand why she knocked off Tonks, though. Didn't get that one.

Really, really liked that Ginny, Neville and Luna lead the resistance to Snape

 

[Taliesin]

The book put most of the rest of the series to shame despite its flaws, I thought-- the style was better, the plot more gripping. The scene at his parents' grave was well written, and brings to two the number of somewhat aesthetically impressive moments in the series. I thought the ending a bit flaccid and disappointing, though-- not the battle, which was pretty good, but everything after Harry's crucial (ha ha) decision. It was an adequate ending, is all I'd say about it. I expected better. On the whole, a flawed book, and definitely not as well-turned as PA, but I think the most vital.

I think in general the series is best when Rowling lets herself be entirely pagan: the two moments I have in mind are the scene in the forest in the first book with the centaurs remarking on the brightness of Mars, and the graveyard scene I mentioned, in which Harry's thoughts momentarily leave the Christian world for that of King Lear. The former, I suspect, was just a lucky glimmer, because despite its promise she never permitted Fate, and the centaurs' sublime awe at it, to return to the story. The latter I interpret as a straightforward harvest from Rowling's own experience at her mother's grave: it's well-written because it is more immediate and real for her, and I think its reality prevents her from forcing it to fit into the book's redemptive narrative. I had wondered about the importance of the loss of Rowling's mother for the story, but I hadn't guessed it was as central as the concluding volume proves it to be: Lily is the key to the entire series, so much so that it doesn't seem implausible to call Harry Potter Rowling's love letter to her dead mother.

Some specific observations: I loved Ron's line about his "Winning Girls" book and how "surprisingly it's not all wand work." I was a little shocked that Rowling got that cheeky.

Her handling of the Malfoys was very lame.

The story unfolded more or less as I had predicted. The one thing I missed-- and I'm pretty sure this is the thing that Rowling said she'd be quite annoyed if anyone happened to guess-- was the actual meaning of the prophecy and its implications, namely that the 'live' in "neither may live" really means 'die', i.e. true life.

Other than that she did her best to keep the Christian allegory bits beneath the surface, but Dumbledore's odd professions of ignorance of their location at King's Cross (!), e.g. "it's your party", made me think that here Rowling was imagining Moses addressing Christ in heaven. Given all this, I'm kind of disappointed from an aesthetic perspective that Harry had no red-haired Judas.

I've read no more than three or four pieces of fan fiction. Amusingly, one of them was an epilogue that, to my recollection, was practically identical to Rowling's, so much so that I almost wonder if she was mischieviously posting under alias. Also, I was slightly cheesed that after making such a big deal about the last word being 'scar', she rearranged the sentence so that it wasn't.

It was interesting how practically nothing the trio learned in school was of any use. As far as I can recall, they did a whole lot of Apparating, they used protective spells that Hermione had learned on her own time, and they threw around a couple of charms that they'd learned in year one or two-- alohomora, wingardium leviosa, expelliarmus. No potions, no transfiguring, no Dark creatures to face. Was this intentional?

I thought there was one excellent sentence in this book, which is a nice change: it's the one (I can't remember the phrasing exactly) about Ron kneeling on the ground and looking up, as if hoping for the right word to swoop down and claim him.

Ginny, Neville, and especially Luna got seriously shortchanged. Neville got his moment with the sword, fine, but Ginny did practically nothing. I was most disappointed that Luna turned out to be so unimportant, after she was built up in the last two as an interesting and sympathetic character.


Oh, er, about the magic late in life: I wondered the same thing, but couldn't think of an instance. I recall a scene where Hagrid charges in somewhere with his umbrella, I think in the Hogwarts battle, but I don't think it was exactly specified what he was doing with it. Neville's grandmother makes the most sense, I guess.

Also, is it just me, or was it never explained what Dumbledore and Petunia had been exchanging letters about? There was her request to attend Hogwarts, of course, but how does that account for "Remember my last!"?

 

[Evie]

Personally, Neville's part in the book is what I'm happiest about. He has gone such a long, very long way from "Has anyone seen Trevor" to "I will never join you."

 

[Taliesin]

Oh for sure, I was glad to see him getting his moment of defiance and his throngs of admirers, but still there remains a gap between Neville at the end of HBP and this book's Che Longbottom. It would have been nice to see something of his progress through the final step on the road to heroism.

 

[aneeshm]

Another peeve - why the HELL didn't these people fight to kill? Why was it that, even when fighting for their lives, nobody from the "good guys" at Hogwarts ever tried to use AK on their opponents? WTF was wrong with them? Were they COMPLETELY ******ed?