non-contradictor
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Posts posted by non-contradictor
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JKR interview spoilers below.
Oh yes. I've read that, and a good deal of the resultant screaming that is now occurring within the fandom. Personally, I think it makes Dumbledore's blindness regarding Grindelwald make a lot more sense, and while I'm surprised that she chose to take that angle, I don't think it's completely out of the blue as some people are claiming. There were a decent number of people who read DH and thought there was a definite Dumbledore/Grindelwald subtext. I, of course, was too busy wondering whether Harry was going to die to notice.
I also think it's frankly hilarious, mostly because of people's reactions. I've seen everything from "Wow, this is awesome for the gay community," to "This has ruined Harry Potter for me and I'm going to burn my books," to "Great, now she's sending the message that unmarried people are necessarily gay."
Because obviously the sexual orientation of a dead fictional character who was loveless for most of his life is SERIOUS BUSINESS you guys, and we must all rise up in indignation at everyone who disagrees.
There are points where even I need to step back and say they're just books.
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I believe I referenced liking Atlas Shrugged in one of my essays, and I also listed Semifinalist in the Anthem essay contest as an accomplishment, but that's as far as it went. FWIW, I'm currently a Freshman at Caltech. I think that what you write about in your essays partly depends on the college you're applying to, but for the most part I wouldn't make Ayn Rand or Objectivism the focus of your essay. I don't think mentioning it in an essay where it's relevant, (mine, I believe was on the importance of passion for what you do), is a problem, but in essays where Ayn Rand or Objectivism are the focus I think it would be all too easy to make the essay more about Ayn Rand than it is about you, and colleges aren't going to like that (especially if they don't like her).
Good luck! College applications are brutal, but well worth it.
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Well, for one, if Dumbledore had survived the year, things would have been even worse for Draco than they were. For another, like Dumbledore says, he'd prefer Severus to do it rather than fall into Bellatrix's or Greyback's hands. He also probably predicted that the school would fall to Voldemort eventually with him dead, and hoped that Severus would be able to protect the students. I mean, like Harry says, sending Ginny & co. into the forest with Hagrid is a pretty tame punishment considering he's supposed to be a cruel evil Death Eater.
I also think that Dumbledore intended either for Snape to receive the powers of the Elder wand, or he intended the powers to die with him, since he planned his death with Snape (and the "conquering" therefore, didn't really count). I'm still unclear on this. However, it does make clear why Dumbledore did not want anyone else killing him, because he wanted the Elder wand (superpowers or otheriwise) in hands he could trust.
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Okay, so, I said I'd write more on Dumbledore once I'd given myself some time to digest DH, so here it is:
Re: The Ariana business.
I've read some good discussions of this part of the Dumbledore backstory, particularly this one, where the author rants about discusses whether or not Albus' resentment of Ariana was believable. She concludes that it is, citing her own experiences with a handicapped sibling as an example. I agree with her conclusion. I don't think it remarkably earth-shattering to find that a brilliant teenaged Albus, having a handicapped sister, would have resented her at least a little for holding him back. I don't think this makes any real dent in his character as we knew it pre-DH. I agree with Hermione, that Harry was only really angry because Dumbledore didn't tell Harry himself. IMO, Harry is very quick to take offense when people hold out on him because he has serious abandonment issues (probably has something to do with growing up in a cupboard). This is especially true of his relationship with Dumbledore, because Dumbledore keeps a multitude of secrets and Harry tends to assume that this means that Dumbledore doesn't care about him. (More on that assumption later).
Re: The Grindelwald business
This bothered me when I first read the book, but now that I've thought about it, it makes a lot more sense. At first glance, one is tempted to say something like: O_o Dumbledore was a wizard-supremacist? What alternate HP universe have we just entered?
However, we must look at Dumbledore's note to Grindelwald in the context of what happened to Ariana. Remember that by the time he meets Grindelwald, muggles have essentially ruined Albus' family life, and destroyed his sister's health permanently. Yes, it was only a select few, but I think that makes his, er, bias towards muggles a bit more understandable, yes? He's seen the damage muggles can do first hand, and he's very keen not to see it happen again. If this means that wizards will have to control muggle society, well, he thinks, then there won't be any more Arianas.
I don't think Albus' mistake here is catastrophic to his character either. I see it like this: Albus felt helpless, lonely, and unrecognized. He saw what happened to his sister and thought, in a somewhat typical teenage fashion that, "If I were in charge, things like this wouldn't happen." Along came Grindelwald who was brilliant and acknowledged Albus' brilliance as well. Albus took to him immediately, and they started forming plots to seize power and mold the world into their own image. If Albus had a few reservations about Grindelwald, he shoved them aside, because he saw Grindelwald as his only chance to make something of himself. He thought himself invincible, that even if he made a "deal with the devil," so to speak, he could still make it work out in his favor. Then, when Ariana died, Albus saw his mistake, realized what "taking control" would really involve, and did a personality 180. He then avoided too much power for the rest of his life, because he didn't trust himself not to let it go to his head and make him return to a place where he thought all the world's problems were just a ministry ordinance away from being fixed.
After thinking about all this, I don't find this very earth-shattering anymore. So, 17-year-old Dumbledore thought he could save the world by controlling it, realized he was wrong, and changed his mind. ... okay? This makes a difference in our idea of Dumbledore-as-we-know-him-now why?
Re: The Dumbledore & Harry relationship
I think that, of all the new Dumbledore information in this book, it was the bit about him, essentially, leading Harry to get killed that had the greatest potential to ruin my image of him forever. Yes, had. I liked Dumbledore's character pre-DH and I still do now.
I think that saying that Dumbledore essentially raised Harry to die is oversimplifying a great deal. I think that Ariana's death affected more of Dumbledore's personality than just the wizard-supremacist bit. I think he also realized, after she died, that power would involve being responsible for other people. For Grindelwald, this didn't matter, because he didn't care about what happened to other people anyway. But for Albus, who had a clear sense of right and wrong, taking power and being responsible for the deaths of countless people in the process, was repulsive.
In this context, I think that Dumbledore would've hated the idea of being responsible for Harry from the beginning. He says to Harry in OotP, "I never thought I would have such a person on my hands." Think about how Dumbledore has carried around the ghost of his dead sister for over a hundred years, ie, he still sees her in the mirror of erised, still loses his head in HBP when he thinks he will see her again, etc. This is not a man who could ruthlessly send Harry to his death knowing that he is responsible without hating himself for the rest of eternity. And yet, pre-GoF at least, he knows that it is a possibility.
But, he also knows that if Harry is indeed a horcrux, if he, Dumbledore, does nothing, Voldemort will never be defeated and more and more people will die.
This only gets more and more complicated as Dumbledore grows to love Harry, and conversely, Harry grows to love and trust him. Honestly, I think Dumbledore was doing a ridiculous amount of compartmentalizing in books 1-6. He knew about the prophecy, but worked very hard to convince himself that he wouldn't have to worry about it for a long time. He began to suspect horcruxes, and that Harry himself was one, but tried to convince himself that he was wrong. (In HBP, he says that he might be wrong about the horcruxes, whereas I now think it should have been prefectly obvious even before Harry got Slughorn's memory, don't you?)
In my view, Dumbledore didn't want to lead Harry to his death. He didn't want to let Harry confront Voldemort at all. But he didn't think he had any better option, and he also realized that Harry would only let Voldemort take over over Harry's dead body, literally. So he did the best he could to ensure that Harry was best prepared to defeat Voldemort and (hopefully) live. He was torn between trying to save Harry and trying to save the world, and it wasn't his fault that they were mutually exclusive. He wanted to be able to put Harry first, felt responsible for Harry's life, but at the same time, as the "greatest wizard of the age" and mentor of "the chosen one" he felt responsible for the rest of the world too. (Speaking of which, if you want to make a case for self-sacrifice, I dunno why anyone bothers with Harry. You'd have a much better case with what Dumbledore does to himself by "sending Harry to his death." It's kind of like killing your own kid to save the rest of the world, isn't it? Well, I don't think so, really, but you could certainly argue it.) I don't think he kept other people from the truth because he was afraid they would try to save Harry. I think that he kept them away because he wanted Harry to have at least *one* adult figure who didn't have to choose between Harry's life and the life of themselves/their children/the entire world. What do you think Molly would have done, given the information that: Harry has to die, or Voldemort will kill your whole family. Add in the fact that Harry would've been falling over himself to jump in front of any AK headed for the Weasleys, and, well, you can imagine how well it would have worked out for *everyone* to know that it was Harry-or-them. Dumbledore, effectively, took the blame upon himself, and hated himself greatly for it, I might add, if the tears and self-loathing at the end of DH are any indication.
I'm not convinced that, if the blood-bond thing which saved Harry hadn't happened in GoF, that Dumbledore wouldn't have broken down and sabotaged his plan before the end anyway. That's the original reason I thought he would die in HBP (before it came out) because I couldn't see him actually, when it came down to it, letting Harry face Voldemort alone unless he was already out of the picture. For all that the plan worked in the end, Dumbledore really wasn't very good at the whole not-caring-about-what-happens-to-Harry thing.
And one more thing...
The only thing that really still annoys me about Dumbledore is how misguided his self-hatred really was. He got all worried about Harry knowing about Ariana, when that really wasn't what made Harry angry with him. Dumbledore never seemed to get that all Harry wanted was some evidence that he hadn't been imagining things when he thought Dumbledore cared. This is what made me the most angry both in OotP and DH. It's so stupid, because poor little love-starved-until-he-was-eleven Harry doesn't get worked up about being lied to, manipulated, or whatever you want to argue that Dumbledore did to him. He gets angry because he thinks Dumbledore didn't love him. He's used to everything he loves going up in smoke. So the first conclusion he jumps to whenever Dumbledore does something he doesn't like is, "the only bit of me Dumbledore cares about is my scar." I would've felt better if Dumbledore had apologized for *that*, instead of the Ariana business, or the Grindelwald business, or even the manipulation/sacrifice business. Because *that* would've been so easy to fix, if Dumbledore had taken a moment a way from feeling guilty about every mistake he's ever made long enough to give Harry a freaking hug.
Seriously, it was his guilt that annoyed me more than anything else. Self-loathing is never flattering, but it was particularly unflattering on Dumbledore. Yuck.... I think I'm done for now. I'm sure I've left things out, but it'll have to do for now. Love to hear your thoughts!
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The way I see it, you can either be angry at Dumbledore for leading Harry to sacrifice himself, or angry at Dumbledore for wanting Harry to go back, but not both. Either death is some big horrible thing, or it isn't. Personally, I thought Harry rather deserved to have a rest and be reunited with his parents after all he'd done, but I'm not upset that he decided he'd rather finish off Voldemort and have his chance with Ginny. Of course Dumbledore doesn't seem to care whether Harry goes "on" or not. If Harry goes "on" he'll see his parents, Sirius, and Remus again. If he goes back to earth, he'll see his friends and have a chance at a new life. It's Harry's decision. Dumbledore's already dead.
As for Dumbledore only "guessing" that Harry would survive, how would he have told him that, exactly?
Dear Harry,
You're a horcrux and I think there's a good chance that you'll have to sacrifice yourself to defeat Voldemort. Have fun destroying the rest of the horcruxes!
Please. I'm not exactly happy with Dumbledore's character at the moment either, but I'm not sure what else he could have done, save told Harry to run for it like Aberforth did and leave the whole wizarding world to Voldemort's whim, and let's be honest here; that never would have worked.
I'll have more words re: Dumbledore after I've finished my second reading of the book. I thought we'd done with the Harry-is-upset-because-he-thinks-Dumbledore-doesn't-care plotline in OotP. Of course, I'd also thought we'd finished with the Ron-is-a-jealous-idiot plotline with GoF too. *sigh*
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Haha, I noticed that about as soon as I'd typed it, because I'm rereading the book and I was in the Godric's Hollow chapter. I didn't notice the first time I read it, because I've taken it for granted for a while now that Lily and James died in 1981.
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Did anyone notice the year that this booked takes place (I know, but i'm not saying because I want to see if someone else noticed it too before they read it and lie that they did.)
The general fandom consensus is that this book takes place in
1997-1998.
This is based off of Nearly Headless Nick's deathday party. If there's another way to derive a date, I haven't yet found it.
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Think so.
The bit of it that had been in Harry, anyway.
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I also stayed up all night reading it with my two friends. It involved a lot of frustrated noises, pounding the floor, gasping in shock, and asking "what page are you on? Can you believe....?"
I have no idea what to think. My head's still reeling. I've wavered for two years between the Snape is good/evil camps, finally settling on sort-of evil in that I didn't think he'd be absolved of everything in quite such a thorough manner. I've been a fan of unrequited Snape/Lily since HBP came out, but I was fully prepared (expecting, even) one of JKR's plot twists. Essentially, I would have been right in my predictions, if I'd stuck with my original ideas, but as we drew nearer to DH I got more and more convinced that there was no way it was that simple. I can't say whether I'm happy to find out that it was that simple after all.
I... I like Severus good, I do, and I had my fangirl moment of glee when unrequited Snape/Lily came true, but this book having turned his character completely on its head is a lot to take in. I just never expected, even when I was sure Snape was going to turn out to have loved Lily and been good all along that it would turn out so, er, fluffy. "After all this time? Always." I ask you...
And... Dumbledore. I thought I wanted Dumbledore's backstory. But this... I'm just glad he turned out not to have betrayed Harry after all. The section where Harry thought he had made me feel ill. I'm not quite sure I'm done feeling ill. "Dumbledore's man through and through..." Though he did name his son Albus, so...
Also... Remus'
moment? Brilliant, even if I wanted to cry and punch him at the same time. Ron leaving? One of my book-pounding frustration moments. Dunno why, but I expected him to have more sense.
I'll write more when I'm less dazed and confused.
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I'm playing the online version, and it just asked me what the national dog of France was. National dog? There was no answer for "who cares."
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Assuming that Tom Riddle's diary is a Horcrux, how did he preserve his 16-year-old self in it? He hadn't killed anyone yet, unless Myrtle being killed by the basilisk counts.
Secondly...when there's all these grandiose fights between wizards, such as the one at the end of book 5...why don't they all just cast the killing curse at each other? When Voldy was dueling Dumbledore in the Ministry of Magic, they were both just kinda dancing around using non-lethal spells. That seems dumb, given that they could kill each other with a single spell.
1. Riddle killed the Gaunts before he opened the chamber. He used their murder(s) to make the diary. He was 16 at the time.
source: http://www.hp-lexicon.org/timelines/timeline.php
2. Dumbledore can't kill Voldemort, and I'm pretty sure that Voldemort did try to hit Dumbledore with Avada Kedavra. Also remember that the unfogivables are Dark Arts, which Dumbledore probably wouldn't use on principle, same goes for the rest of the Order. I also gather that Avada Kedavra in particular is pretty difficult to cast, and is therefore not extremely practical for firing off quickly. It's also possible that some people can't bring up enough hatred to cast it effectively. Remember Harry's failed cruciatus? There's a lot of speculation on whether or not Harry would be able to use Avada Kedavra to kill Voldemort, even if he wanted to.
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I'll leave it at that for now. I think you made some good points with the rest of your post. You could be right. I especially hope you are right about Harry's attitude at the end of HBP, and that he "snaps out of it" in the next book.
Probably best. We won't really know until the book comes out anyway, and maybe not even then.
Thank you, though, and I hope he snaps out of it as well. I've read some fan stories where he doesn't, and he always ends up either killed by Voldemort or suicidal. Not a happy prospect, and if JKR tried to make him fatalistic and happy it would be even worse for being unbelivable.
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You're welcome.Thanks a lot for that, Tea. I had absolutely no memory of that -- shows how "well" I know the books.
Oh, I don't know. I see HP prophecy as a sort-of magical guesswork. It may be right more often (or a lot more often) than normal guesswork, but it's still guesswork and not 100% accurate. Though I do agree that as such, it's pretty much useless, because all it'd do is give you a major headache trying to figure out which bits to ignore/follow etc. Harry'd have been much better off if he'd never heard the darn thing, in my opinion, and things would have turned out pretty much the same. But it does make things more interesting.It sounds like Rowling thinks even less of prophecy than I'd assumed. It pretty much sounds like she's saying it's a load of bull. -
I don't think that what you quoted in your subsequent post validates the above statement. Dumbledore speaks of "prophecies" that haven't come true, but it can be argued that those are false prophecies. Dumbledore doesn't distinguish between real and false prophecies in the quote you cited.
Ooo, good call. I forgot to note one assumption on my part: That crackpot prophecies (anything Trelawney says while not in a trance) are false prophecies, and are therefore not recorded in the hall of prophecy. I base this on Dumbldore's assertation in PoA that Trelawney has only made two "real" predictions, but this is not very concrete evidence, I admit. However, it does suggest that Dumbledore does distinguish between real and false prophecies, and I think that is what he is doing in HBP, even though he does not state it. He and Harry have a close relationship. He probably knows that Harry doesn't believe in divination much more than he does, and so didn't feel the need to address Trelawney's predictions that Harry will die/ have twelve children/ become minister of magic/ etc. This doesn't mean he considers such predictions valid. Though, as I said, it's not concrete evidence, but based upon my reading of the characters I find this to be the most in-character explanation.
Also, note that Dumbledore does not reject the validity of prophecy. His position is that the prophecy has merit now because of Voldemort's actions. But that means prophecy has validity, only it takes human action for the prophecy to gain validity. Well, that's pretty lame, in my opinion. Of course it takes human action, otherwise how would you know that the prophecy was real? The fact remains that Trelawney predicted complex human events.What I don't get is why it matters whether she predicted them or not, as long as the individuals involved still retained their ability to choose. If she could just as easily have been wrong, what difference does it make?
Voldemort did not know the second half of the prophecy, yet he still marked Harry as his equal. Harry still had some power unknown to Voldemort. Etc.Harry has some power unknown to Voldemort. Not had. If Voldemort hadn't killed his parents, if he hadn't grown up with people who hated him, if he'd chosen Slytherin instead of Gryffindor, and on and on and on, things could have turned out differently.
Putting aside the issue of fate and prophecy, I still believe that Harry's motivation is heavily selfless. In the end of HBP, Hermione asks what Harry will do now, and he says that he is going back to the Dursley's, "because Dumbledore wanted [him] to." Then he is asked by Ron what he will do after that, and he says that he "might" return to Godric's Hollow: "I've just got a feeling I need to go there." Then, after that, he will hunt down the other Horcruxes, because "that's what [Dumbledore] wanted [him] to do."I admit to having some serious reservations about Harry's attitude at the end of HBP. He seems to have forgotten a lot of what Dumbledore taught him about choice, and has regressed into some fatalism. However, I maintain that he will most likely snap out of it. Give the guy a chance. He's 17; he's just lost his greatest mentor and the person he relied on for help and he's scared that more people he loves are going to die (and knows that some of them probably will). I think it's perfectly understandable that he's forgotten why he, himself, wants to kill Voldemort. He's doubting himself. Enough 17 year olds do that without a fraction of the crap he has to deal with. In his periods of self-doubt, there were two people who could snap him out of it: Dumbledore and Ginny. Ginny is still alive, and despite the "spider-man ending" of HBP, I don't think she's going to let Harry forget what he's fighting for.
The appeals to Dumbledore are, IMO, more a by product of the fact that he's just watched Dumbledore die than anything else. He knows that he should go back to the Dursley's. Dumbledore explained to him why it was important. And as for the horcruxes, I would hold that Harry would have tried to hunt them down anyway regardless of whether Dumbledore inteded him to carry on the task alone or not. He certainly managed the Sorcerer's Stone well enough, and that was without Dumbledore's permission (at least according to what he knew at the time).
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Interesting, in what context does he say that? I thought that a "real" prophecy was a foretelling; but I also thought that, in Rowling's mind, a prophecy did not contradict volition. It would come to pass, in some sense, but individuals retained their choice to act (perhaps as a result of the vagueness of the prophecy, which gave the actors a lot of leeway). Of course, we cannot explain this fully in "real life" terms, but then it's a book about magicians, so this would be an out-of-context quibble.
Here's the relevant passage from pg. 512 of HBP
secondary source (I don't have my book on me): http://gfp.typepad.com/the_garden_of_forki..._potter_on.html
“But Harry, never forget that what the prophecy says is only significant because Voldemort made it so. I told you this at the end of last year. Voldemort singled you out as the person who would be most dangerous to him –and in doing so, he made you the person who would be most dangerous to him!”“But it comes to the same— ”
“No, it doesn’t!” said Dumbledore, sounding impatient now. […] “If Voldemort had never heard of the prophecy, would it have been fulfilled? Would it have meant anything? Of course not! Do you think every prophecy in the Hall of Prophecy has been fulfilled?”
“But,” said Harry, bewildered, “but last year, you said one of us would have to kill the other –”
“Harry, Harry, only because Voldemort made a grave error, and acted on Professor Trelawney’s words! If Voldemort had never murdered your father, would he have imparted in you a furious desire for revenge? Of course not! […] Voldemort himself created his worst enemy… […] He heard the prophecy and he leapt into action, with the result that he […] handpicked the man most likely to finish him…” [...]
“But, sir,” said Harry, making valiant efforts not to sound argumentative, “it all comes to the same thing, doesn’t it? I’ve got to try and kill him, or—”
“Got to?” said Dumbledore. “Of course you’ve got to! But not because of the prophecy! Because you, yourself, will never rest until you’ve tried! We both know it! Imagine, please, just for a moment, that you had never heard that prophecy! How would you feel about Voldemort now? Think!” […]
“I’d want him finished,” said Harry quietly. “And I’d want to do it.”
“Of course you would!” cried Dumbledore. “You see, the prophecy does not mean you have to do anything! […] In other words, you are free to choose your way, quite free to turn your back on the prophecy! But Voldemort continues to set store by the prophecy. He will continue to hunt you… which makes it certain, really, that –”
“That one of us is going to end up killing the other,” said Harry. “Yes.”
But he understood at last what Dumbledore had been trying to tell him. It was, he thought, the difference between being dragged into the arena to face a battle to the death and walking into the arena with your head held high. Some people, perhaps, would say that there was little to choose between the two ways, but Dumbledore knew –and so do I, thought Harry, with a rush of fierce pride, and so did my parents –that there was all the difference in the world.
[...] indicate that words have been left out by the secondary source
That's one of my favorite passages in the whole series. (Though it's better without the [...])
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Hey! Welcome to the forum.
The importance of NHS will depend on the selectivity of a particular college. The Ivys, for example, aren't likely to care very much, while a smaller school that doesn't have very many NHS members matriculate might be impressed.
As for the service part of it, perhaps there is some volunteer work that would be of particular value to you. I know my friend who is premed volunteered at a hospital while she was in high school. I've done tutoring with the hope that it will increase my chances of getting a job as a tutor in college. I also thinks it helps me keep up with old material. Not all volunteer work is useless.
However, if you don't enjoy the club, don't stay in it. I'm not a big fan of people making themselves miserable just to get into college. I'm a senior right now, going to Caltech in the fall. I've watched a few of my friends obsess over which clubs would impress Harvard/Yale/Princeton/whatever the most. It ended poorly in each case. Colleges get plenty of students trying to impress them. What they're looking for is genuine passion. If you have to fake the passion to get in, then you probably shouldn't be going to that school anyway.
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If real prophecy exists, then that means (at least some) future events are determined.
It does exist in the HP universe. However, as Dumbledore said in HBP, not all "real" prophecies are fullfilled. In Harry's case, he could hide from Voldemort for the rest of his life if he wanted to, but since Voldemort believes in prophecy, Voldemort would most likely keep searching for him. This is why it will be Voldemort's fault if the prophecy is fullfilled. Harry's involvement is reactionary; Voldemort made the first move when Harry was only a year old.
Here's a relevant quote:
Some of you, who have been convinced that the prophecy marked Neville, in some mystical fashion, for a fate intertwined with Harry's, may find this answer rather dull. Yet I was making what I felt was a significant point about Harry and Voldemort, and about prophecies themselves, in showing Neville as the also-ran. If neither boy was 'pre-ordained' before Voldemort's attack to become his possible vanquisher, then the prophecy (like the one the witches make to Macbeth, if anyone has read the play of the same name) becomes the catalyst for a situation that would never have occurred if it had not been made. Harry is propelled into a terrifying position he might never have sought, while Neville remains the tantalising 'might-have-been'. Destiny is a name often given in retrospect to choices that had dramatic consequences.source: http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/en/faq_view.cfm?id=84
Personally, I didn't find the prophecy very shocking. It gives Voldemort's reasons for attacking Harry, but Harry was "playing the hero" long before he even knew it existed. It's not like, sans prophecy, Harry would just sit back and watch Voldemort massacre people.
Here's another quote:
JKR: It's the "Macbeth" idea. I absolutely adore "Macbeth." It is possibly my favorite Shakespeare play. And that's the question isn't it? If Macbeth hadn't met the witches, would he have killed Duncan? Would any of it have happened? Is it fated or did he make it happen? I believe he made it happen.As for Trelawney's second prophecy, I don't think it's very relevant as anything other than foreshadowing. Harry forgot about it until after the events were over, so it wasn't like he was acting for it or against it. That it predicted events in accordance with Harry's choices, well, who cares? If they're the decisions he would have made anyway, what difference does it make?
I could go on all day about this, but personally I think it's all rather beside the point. Who cares if the prophecies turn out to be true or not, as long as Harry doesn't go around reading the tea leaves to decide what to do next?
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UK: 608 pages (GoF is 636 pages)
US: 784 pages (GoF is shorter, presumably due to increased font size in DH)
source: http://www.mugglenet.com/
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*shrug* The HP fandom has woken up a bit since the book 7 date was released.
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Here is what the HP Lexicon has:
source:http://www.hp-lexicon.org/wizards/a-z/g.html#GrindelwaldGrindelwald (? - 1945?) Dark magic.The dark wizard that Dumbledore defeated in 1945 (PS6, PS13).
Because of the year of Grindelwald's defeat, which is stated on the Chocolate Frog card about Dumbledore, some have speculated that Grindelwald and Hitler were the same person or that Grindelwald was somehow related to the events of World War II. Rowling has confirmed that Grindelwald is deceased (TLC).
'Grindelwald' is a small village in Switzerland; JK pronounces Grindelwald's name “GRIN dell vald” (TLC). The name could also refer to Grendel, the troll-like monster of the Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf.
Grindelwald is mentioned in PS in chapters 6 and 13.
Here's an interesting tidbit from the interview JKR did with Mugglenet after the last book release:
source: http://www.mugglenet.com/jkrinterview3.shtmlIt's the one about Grindelwald, which I'm sure you've been gearing up for us to ask.JKR: Uh-huh.
ES: Clearly -
JKR: Come on then, remind me. Is he dead?
ES: Yeah, is he dead?
JKR: Yeah, he is.
ES: Is he important?
JKR: [regretful] Ohhh...
ES: You don't have to answer but can you give us some backstory on him?
JKR: I'm going to tell you as much as I told someone earlier who asked me. You know Owen who won the [uK television] competition to interview me? He asked about Grindelwald [pronounced "Grindelvald" HMM...]. He said, "Is it coincidence that he died in 1945," and I said no. It amuses me to make allusions to things that were happening in the Muggle world, so my feeling would be that while there's a global Muggle war going on, there's also a global wizarding war going on.
ES: Does he have any connection to -
JKR: I have no comment to make on that subject.
[Laughter]
MA: Do they feed each other, the Muggle and wizarding wars?
JKR: Yeah, I think so. Yeah. Mmm.
MA: You've gone very quiet.
[All laugh; JKR maniacally]
MA: We like when you get very quiet, it means -
ES: You're clearly hiding something.
Edited to add quotations
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Thanks for the information. Knowing this, I really don't agree with the Hitler/Voldemort analogy. I do wish we knew more about Voldemort's predecessor, Grindelwald, who was defeated by Dumbldore in 1945. JKR won't talk much about him, so perhaps he will come into play later. She does say we'll get more of Dumbledore's history in Deathly Hallows.
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This brings up an interesting historical question. Did Hitler actually believe all the anti-semetic rubbish, or was he just exploiting a long-standing prejudice to get control of Germany?
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The Death Eaters ~ racist, Social Darwinist-types. What they advocate---> Genocide. Who they support---> Lord Voldemort (with emphasis on the "lord" part with them...
)I agree with your interpretation of Death Eaters. However, I think Voldemort is exploiting their prejudice for his own ends (immortality and power). According to some areas of fandom, the Death Eaters were once known as the Knights of Walpurgis (the quote is unclear):
"'…in here is the history of the Death Eaters and I don't know that I'll ever actually need it — but at some point — which were once called something different — they were called the Knights of Walpurgis…'"Depending on how you interpret it, she could mean that she originally called them that, or that the characters did. (Ach, passive voice!) Anyway, I digress.
Assuming she means that the characters originally called the Death Eaters something different spawns a whole line of speculation of a KKK-esque age-old underground organization that Voldemort merely molded to fit his own designs. Personally, I like the idea, and even if it's false, the ingrained pureblood prejudices are apparent regardless.
What I'm getting at is that I don't think Riddle really ever cared about the pureblood nonsense. He just saw it as an easy way to win the right people over to his side. All he really had to do for power was to stir up the disgruntled purebloods and make them think he was going to implement the kind of biased laws they wanted. What he's really after is immortality by living through power over others. Pathetic, but there you are.
Harry Potter = Nazi allegory?
in Harry Potter
Posted
Here you go:
source: http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/2007/10/...and-scores-more