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40cakesFinished! (Hey, I didn't get my book at midnight like some, and then we went shopping, and had dinner, and saw a movie...)
The 'ships have sailed. Ready the canons. Stop my puns.
I've already seen someone else on a friend's comment mention that they didn't like the shipping here and found it out of place. I kinda liked it. For all the danger and peril and worry and secrecy and sneaking, they are still 16/17-year olds. This book is also a little more mature while discussing relationships - gone are the butterflies in the stomach of Cho Chang's days. Now we have Rowling informing us of Harry's midday Ginny fantasies and how she sometimes is a feature in his dreams. Obviously not hardcore anything, but I was still all agiggle at it. You're A-OK, J.K.
While I started the series R/Hr and H/G, I drifted away from that in book 5. Mostly because OMG Luna Lovegood is awesome, though I admittedly couldn't decide who she'd be a better fit for. Also, I thought it'd fuck up the friendship dynamic between our starring trio if two of them got together. Hermione could have Krum and Ron would find one of the lovely Gryffindor girls if not Luna and Harry would probably die a tragic hero death in the end, so who needed someone for him?
(Page 519, US Hardcover) "The battle still raged inside [Harry's] head: Ginny or Ron?" Dude. I predict SO many threesome fics now, based off of that ONE LINE.
That being said: LupinxTonks theirloveissopastedonyay. Really. WTF. I'm all for frivolous romantic entanglements, but...did that really have to be stapled on? I'm trusting you, JK. I'm trusting that it will all matter come book 7.
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BIGGER SPOILERS BELOW! YOU MAY NOT WANT TO READ UNLESS YOU'RE THROUGH THE BOOK!
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THIS IS A SPOILER ABOUT A MAJOR PLOT POINT. JUST SO YA KNOW.
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Horcruxes. I have a theory. Well, actually it's sort of half-bastardized off of someone from Mugglenet. There are 7 Horcruxes. Voldemort himself, the diary, the Hufflepuff Cup, the Slytherin locket, the Slytherin ring, and 2 other stuffs, likely to be from Ravenclaw and Gryffindor. Dumbledore wondered what Voldemort could have from Gryffindor, as Godric's sword resided in his office. So I don't doubt that one of the last two unknown Horcruxes is something belonging to Rowena Ravenclaw. But the final thing?
What if it's Harry?
Now, I say this theory is bastardized because I remember an essay from Mugglent in which the author wondered if Harry truly had died originally, but the way the curse reflected onto Voldemort, Harry's body continued living, but with the latter's soul inside. Since, as we have seen with the dementors, one does not need a soul to keep alive. And since ghosts were referred to as "Spirits" then the spirit and the soul were two entirely different things.
We know that in order to create a Horcrux (Horcross?), there needs to be a murder. Harry's mother. Perhaps Voldemort meant, by killing the Potters, to create the necessary sacrifice to divide out the seventh portion of his soul into Nagini, but failed and sent it into Harry? What if Voldemort's own protective measures to guard his soul now guard Harry? What if the final fate of our beloved character is that he must also die so that Voldemort will be gone forever?
Just a thought.
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BIG SPOILER ABOUT CHARACTER DEATH
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I didn't get upset at Sirius' death. PoA was not my favourite book; I didn't particularly care for Sirius Black in any of his appearances. Also, his death was so strange I had to re-read the scene. "Wait, what happened? I REALLY can't picture this veil thingie." (Though perhaps that's my own personal problem.)
But Dumbledore. Oh man. I had actually expected his to be the death of book 5. He was the one with the answers, the one with the exposition. He knew everything that was going on. If he died, Harry would truly have to grow up. But now I see why the deaths happened the way and the order they did. In a few months, Harry will legally be a man, and now he is forced to mentally be one.
The suddenness of his death killed me. This is my first time crying at HP, y'all. And then the sprawled body, and Harry fixing his glasses, and the funeral - oh, the FUNERAL.
I don't think Snape is truly evil. I don't want to believe it. I can't believe that we've been through 5 books of being dutiful; 5 books of protecting the kids, despite personal feelings; his making the Wolfsbane potion; his not immediately turning evil at the end of book 4; so that we can find out in book 7 that "Oops, was all a hoax on his part! Dumbledore never suspected a thing! Even though the MALFOYS were slightly redeemed in all this, Snape turned out to be actually evil. SURPRISE!" He's a legillimens: he read Dumbledore's mind that the poison was killing him anyway, so at least make a show of it and don't let Draco lose his innocence by murdering, and this is all in the plan, you'll see Potter, someday. Still didn't stop the pounding in my chest at "OMG SNAPE KILLED DUMBLEDORE SNAPE KILLED DUMBLEDORE DUMBLEDORE'S JUST FAKING RIGHT, HE'S ACTUALLY JUST BELOW THE WINDOW ON A MAGIC CARPET OR A BROOM OR SOMETHING, AND SNAPE ACTUALLY AIMED THE CURSE RIGHT NEXT TO HIM AND SINGED HIS GLASSES OR SOMETHING."
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MEDIUM SIZED SPOILER
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Wow. The ending of this made the entire book seem pretty futile, ne? At least in the other books, if someone died, happy things happened to balance. But for them to go through all that only to not even find the prize they were after...geez. OotP was darker overall, but this definitely ended on the "Oh Shit, when's the next book" note more. I almost waited for Harry to find out Voldemort's his father, lose his wand hand, Ron to get encased in carbonite, and Hermione to wind up in a gold bikini at Hog's Head or something.
Let's see if he returns for a seventh year at Hogwarts. I think what's going on around him will making studying for N.E.W.T.S. really very irrelevant.
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So in short, Ginny dies, Lupin's a spy for Voldemort, and the Half-Blood Prince is Hagrid. Bwa ha ha.
The 'ships have sailed. Ready the canons. Stop my puns.
I've already seen someone else on a friend's comment mention that they didn't like the shipping here and found it out of place. I kinda liked it. For all the danger and peril and worry and secrecy and sneaking, they are still 16/17-year olds. This book is also a little more mature while discussing relationships - gone are the butterflies in the stomach of Cho Chang's days. Now we have Rowling informing us of Harry's midday Ginny fantasies and how she sometimes is a feature in his dreams. Obviously not hardcore anything, but I was still all agiggle at it. You're A-OK, J.K.
While I started the series R/Hr and H/G, I drifted away from that in book 5. Mostly because OMG Luna Lovegood is awesome, though I admittedly couldn't decide who she'd be a better fit for. Also, I thought it'd fuck up the friendship dynamic between our starring trio if two of them got together. Hermione could have Krum and Ron would find one of the lovely Gryffindor girls if not Luna and Harry would probably die a tragic hero death in the end, so who needed someone for him?
(Page 519, US Hardcover) "The battle still raged inside [Harry's] head: Ginny or Ron?" Dude. I predict SO many threesome fics now, based off of that ONE LINE.
That being said: LupinxTonks theirloveissopastedonyay. Really. WTF. I'm all for frivolous romantic entanglements, but...did that really have to be stapled on? I'm trusting you, JK. I'm trusting that it will all matter come book 7.
=============
BIGGER SPOILERS BELOW! YOU MAY NOT WANT TO READ UNLESS YOU'RE THROUGH THE BOOK!
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
THIS IS A SPOILER ABOUT A MAJOR PLOT POINT. JUST SO YA KNOW.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
--
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Horcruxes. I have a theory. Well, actually it's sort of half-bastardized off of someone from Mugglenet. There are 7 Horcruxes. Voldemort himself, the diary, the Hufflepuff Cup, the Slytherin locket, the Slytherin ring, and 2 other stuffs, likely to be from Ravenclaw and Gryffindor. Dumbledore wondered what Voldemort could have from Gryffindor, as Godric's sword resided in his office. So I don't doubt that one of the last two unknown Horcruxes is something belonging to Rowena Ravenclaw. But the final thing?
What if it's Harry?
Now, I say this theory is bastardized because I remember an essay from Mugglent in which the author wondered if Harry truly had died originally, but the way the curse reflected onto Voldemort, Harry's body continued living, but with the latter's soul inside. Since, as we have seen with the dementors, one does not need a soul to keep alive. And since ghosts were referred to as "Spirits" then the spirit and the soul were two entirely different things.
We know that in order to create a Horcrux (Horcross?), there needs to be a murder. Harry's mother. Perhaps Voldemort meant, by killing the Potters, to create the necessary sacrifice to divide out the seventh portion of his soul into Nagini, but failed and sent it into Harry? What if Voldemort's own protective measures to guard his soul now guard Harry? What if the final fate of our beloved character is that he must also die so that Voldemort will be gone forever?
Just a thought.
=======
BIG SPOILER ABOUT CHARACTER DEATH
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
I didn't get upset at Sirius' death. PoA was not my favourite book; I didn't particularly care for Sirius Black in any of his appearances. Also, his death was so strange I had to re-read the scene. "Wait, what happened? I REALLY can't picture this veil thingie." (Though perhaps that's my own personal problem.)
But Dumbledore. Oh man. I had actually expected his to be the death of book 5. He was the one with the answers, the one with the exposition. He knew everything that was going on. If he died, Harry would truly have to grow up. But now I see why the deaths happened the way and the order they did. In a few months, Harry will legally be a man, and now he is forced to mentally be one.
The suddenness of his death killed me. This is my first time crying at HP, y'all. And then the sprawled body, and Harry fixing his glasses, and the funeral - oh, the FUNERAL.
I don't think Snape is truly evil. I don't want to believe it. I can't believe that we've been through 5 books of being dutiful; 5 books of protecting the kids, despite personal feelings; his making the Wolfsbane potion; his not immediately turning evil at the end of book 4; so that we can find out in book 7 that "Oops, was all a hoax on his part! Dumbledore never suspected a thing! Even though the MALFOYS were slightly redeemed in all this, Snape turned out to be actually evil. SURPRISE!" He's a legillimens: he read Dumbledore's mind that the poison was killing him anyway, so at least make a show of it and don't let Draco lose his innocence by murdering, and this is all in the plan, you'll see Potter, someday. Still didn't stop the pounding in my chest at "OMG SNAPE KILLED DUMBLEDORE SNAPE KILLED DUMBLEDORE DUMBLEDORE'S JUST FAKING RIGHT, HE'S ACTUALLY JUST BELOW THE WINDOW ON A MAGIC CARPET OR A BROOM OR SOMETHING, AND SNAPE ACTUALLY AIMED THE CURSE RIGHT NEXT TO HIM AND SINGED HIS GLASSES OR SOMETHING."
=======
MEDIUM SIZED SPOILER
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Wow. The ending of this made the entire book seem pretty futile, ne? At least in the other books, if someone died, happy things happened to balance. But for them to go through all that only to not even find the prize they were after...geez. OotP was darker overall, but this definitely ended on the "Oh Shit, when's the next book" note more. I almost waited for Harry to find out Voldemort's his father, lose his wand hand, Ron to get encased in carbonite, and Hermione to wind up in a gold bikini at Hog's Head or something.
Let's see if he returns for a seventh year at Hogwarts. I think what's going on around him will making studying for N.E.W.T.S. really very irrelevant.
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-
-
-
-
-
-
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So in short, Ginny dies, Lupin's a spy for Voldemort, and the Half-Blood Prince is Hagrid. Bwa ha ha.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-07-17 05:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-07-17 06:53 am (UTC)My sister saw Tonks/Lupin coming and has been gloating about it to everyone.
no subject
Date: 2005-07-17 11:34 pm (UTC)Thank you. After reading the end, I really needed that, because you and I had about the same reaction re: Sirius and Dumbledore. And the theory re: Harry and the Horcrux is frighteningly plausible. Shit, I don't think I could take that.
no subject
Date: 2005-07-18 12:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-07-18 12:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-07-18 03:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-07-18 07:02 am (UTC)Also, Lupin a SPY? OMG, you spoil me!
no subject
Date: 2005-07-18 10:34 pm (UTC)LMAO. Wow. Best critical commentary ever.
I've not read the other comments, so forgive me if I go on a repeat-athon.
Dumbledore's death, while I saw it coming once Harry was frozen, was still shocking to me. When OotP ended I was so excited about Snape, who I feel is one of the best characters in the stories. He was working for DD and going to redeem himself and Slytherin somehow, I knew it. Ooops. Still, I don't want to believe Snape is evil. I really don't. I have a soft spot for the bad guys who turn over a new leaf. I want that to be Snape, and I want Malfoy (who finally got some decent character development this book) to be the guy the good side tries to redeem, but looses in the end. Every good story has one, and Harry and Draco have been opposites from the beginning. Why not end them that way as well?
I agree completely, BTW, this book put me into the OMG whens-the-next-book-coming-out-already mode. It's going to be a long wait until the next book. Though JK turned around fairly quickly from V to Vi, maybe she can do it one more time (as long as she doesn't get pregnant again!)
Hades