Random Thoughts XI: Listen to the Whispers

[choxorn]

Of course, it depends on what you see as canon, but the oldest he was (in what I think is canon) is 37. He could be married to someone else now and moved to the USA.

That's correct, the epilogue is stated to take place 19 years after the main events of Deathly Hallows, which would place it in 2017.

(Technically, the Cursed Child also takes place shortly after the epilogue but I refuse to acknowledge that pile of garbage as canon)

 

[W|M]

first time I read that epilogue I hated it enough to not consider it canon at all, and the film confirmed that

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Of course, it depends on what you see as canon, but the oldest he was (in what I think is canon) is 37. He could be married to someone else now and moved to the USA.

Possibly, if you go with one of the many different fanfic scenarios. Some of those do involve Harry going to the US.

One story I've been reading for the past several months (it's got over 100 chapters) has Harry married to Luna Lovegood and Ginny married to Draco. Hermione is having a love affair with the ghost of Severus Snape, who is roommates of a sort with Sirius Black in Purgatory. Snape and Sirius will be allowed to move on from Purgatory when they've accomplished their assignment, which is to give Hermione a sense of being truly happy with her life (she and Ron divorced).

Harry is a twit in this story, going so far as to drag Hermione to the wizarding world equivalent of a shrink, for insisting that Snape was visiting her regularly, he's been teaching her to cook (it's similar to brewing potions), and they fell in love. Meanwhile, Sirius has been stuck in Purgatory, reading Greek philosophy books pertaining to happiness and giving Snape pointers on dating. After 100+ chapters, Harry finally believes that Hermione hasn't gone crazy and that he's willing to believe her story that Snape visits her and only she (and Draco's children) can see him.

That's correct, the epilogue is stated to take place 19 years after the main events of Deathly Hallows, which would place it in 2017.

(Technically, the Cursed Child also takes place shortly after the epilogue but I refuse to acknowledge that pile of garbage as canon)

I found it rather ridiculous that Hermione and Ron would still be together after all that time. I don't like Ron, and the fanfic stories in which they either never married or they did marry and later divorced seem more realistic. Ron's got Quidditch on the brain, Hermione has zero interest in it, her thoughts are more nuanced, Ron's thoughts revolve around food, Quidditch, and women (when he's older)... I can't see them staying together for 19 years.

I'm reading a story now in which the Ministry of Magic has instituted a law that all unmarried witches and wizards from the ages of 17-35 must marry and produce children. Hermione is single in this story, and while I haven't finished reading it, it looks like she might end up with either Neville Longbottom or George Weasley (Harry and Ginny having already decided they'll marry).

first time I read that epilogue I hated it enough to not consider it canon at all, and the film confirmed that

The makeup and costuming department did a terrible job of convincing me that those three were 37 years old.

The argument over what "canon" means in SF/F franchises is ongoing. There's "canon" and "headcanon". The latter is why I feel free to ignore some of the Star Trek movies (and the last 3 series), and the whole Remus/Tonks storyline in HP.

 

[amadeus]

A philosopher gives us food for thought.

In exchange, we give philosophers food for thought.

 

[Traitorfish]

While the old Eurasian land empires were unquestionably Bad Things, it's hard to deny that the way they collapsed is responsible for many of the great humanitarian disasters of the last hundred years. If you were to map out atrocities occurring since 1918, you would see a long, broad cluster of coming down from the Baltic, through Central Europe into the Balkans, and then arcing through the Aegean into the Levant, mapping out the borderlands of the old Romanov, Hohenzollern, Hapsburg and Ottoman Empires.

I don't know what a timeline in which these empires were less dramatically dismantled looks like, but I have to think it has a lower body-count that this one.

 

[amadeus]

It also made high school geography tests harder what with the more countries on the map.

 

[Birdjaguar]

While the old Eurasian land empires were unquestionably Bad Things, it's hard to deny that the way they collapsed is responsible for many of the great humanitarian disasters of the last hundred years. If you were to map out atrocities occurring since 1918, you would see a long, broad cluster of coming down from the Baltic, through Central Europe into the Balkans, and then arcing through the Aegean into the Levant, mapping out the borderlands of the old Romanov, Hohenzollern, Hapsburg and Ottoman Empires.

I don't know what a timeline in which these empires were less dramatically dismantled looks like, but I have to think it has a lower body-count that this one.

The body count might be the same with just the circumstances and timing of the deaths being different.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

It also made high school geography tests harder what with the more countries on the map.

Did you ever watch that old kids' game show Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?

I take my hat off to the kids who managed to get anywhere on the map of Asia. Even if it was right-side up from their perspective, I know I wouldn't have been able to get anything right on it.

 

[Takhisis]

Valka, when are you going to start the Harry Potter thread in Arts and Entertainment Literature?

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Valka, when are you going to start the Harry Potter thread in Arts and Entertainment Literature?

Soon. I got sidetracked by fanfiction and a few other things. Sorry.

Funny you should mention "literature", though... just for the fun of it, I went for a browse through some old threads in Site Feedback. Later on this month will be the 11th anniversary of the creation of the Arts & Entertainment forum. In another thread, there's a very earnest argument among some people over whether it should be called "Arts & Literature", or "Arts & Entertainment", and one person who just wanted to call it "Arts".

Then some time later came the argument over the lack of punctuation in the forum description.

I'll have a thread up later tonight. Thank you for the reminder.

 

[Traitorfish]

It also made high school geography tests harder what with the more countries on the map.

Ideal timeline:
"Name all European national capitals."
"What, both of them?"

 

[The_J]

Yeah, this would all be easier if we had won .

 

[Takhisis]

(Technically, the Cursed Child also takes place shortly after the epilogue but I refuse to acknowledge that pile of garbage as canon)

I really need to answer this, Valka!

 

[amadeus]

Ideal timeline:
"Name all European national capitals."
"What, both of them?"

Reminds me of an old joke.

“Great-grandpa, are you going to watch the soccer game?”
“Who’s playing?”
“Austria-Hungary.”
“Versus who?”

 

[Birdjaguar]

The answer is clearly "The Turks."

 

[Valka D'Ur]

I really need to answer this, Valka!

Sorry, I was in the middle of a rather long OP when my browser crashed. It didn't want me to take the Sorting Hat quiz. I'll try again.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Valka, when are you going to start the Harry Potter thread in Arts and Entertainment Literature?

All Things Harry Potter

It's not a terribly original thread title, but it gets the job done and has a nice symmetry with the other "All Things...." threads.

 

[amadeus]

There are thousands of different, crazy JFK assassination theories but I’ve yet to see one alleging he never was assassinated.

Now that would be a conspiracy.

 

[The_J]

I guess the reason for that would be that he can play undisturbed poker with Elvis and do Marilyn Monroe without anyone bothering him.

 

[EgonSpengler]

While the old Eurasian land empires were unquestionably Bad Things, it's hard to deny that the way they collapsed is responsible for many of the great humanitarian disasters of the last hundred years. If you were to map out atrocities occurring since 1918, you would see a long, broad cluster of coming down from the Baltic, through Central Europe into the Balkans, and then arcing through the Aegean into the Levant, mapping out the borderlands of the old Romanov, Hohenzollern, Hapsburg and Ottoman Empires.

I don't know what a timeline in which these empires were less dramatically dismantled looks like, but I have to think it has a lower body-count that this one.

How often do empires come apart other than dramatically and with a high body-count? I suppose the Soviet Union's body-count didn't happen towards its end, and instead of going out in a Viking Funeral, it just kind of sat down, sighed and slumped over. I tend to think of empires as dams holding back a great deal of pressure until they fail.