![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rusty_haloOh my God!
I finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and managed to remain completely unspoiled until the end.
SPOILERS.
So my first reaction is, oh my god, so much death. I know, it's all about how death isn't all that bad and you shouldn't be afraid of it. But still. I love the darkness in this series, but I also enjoy the whimsical children's book aspect of it, and this one pretty much abandoned that. Every time something whimsical and fun would happen, someone would die horribly right afterward, so you could never relax and enjoy it. I guess I still think of this series the way I first encountered it, reading the first book aloud to the six-year-old I was babysitting, and although I liked when it started getting shockingly dark, I wish it hadn't gotten this dark. I mean, how am I supposed to enjoy re-reading the first book, with sweet innocent eleven year old Harry, knowing what's going to happen later?
The one that got me was Fred. I guess after Sirius died, the twins were the only characters left that I really liked. I love that they dealt with everything through humor, that they didn't give a crap about school, that they broke the mold and were successful at it, and that they were actually really brilliant when they were doing something they cared about. I mean, they're like the Stewart or Colbert of the wizarding world. And we watched them grow up from the time they were children. Thinking about Fred dying so young, and of George without Fred, makes me tear up every time.
(WHY COULDN'T SHE HAVE KILLED HAGRID INSTEAD?! I screamed every time he *didn't* die. He's the most inane and useless character, seriously, can't we trade Fred for him? *sob*)
The other one was Lupin, but it didn't really upset me as much as I expected. I guess because *so* many characters had died by then. And with Tonks and Sirius also gone, at least he didn't leave behind someone desperately mourning him. (I mean, it sucks for his kid, but at least the kid will grow up surrounded by loved ones.) I like that we got to see the dark side of his passive-aggressive nature in this one, and that he overcame it for his kid, and that his relationship with Tonks was a mess. I can reassure himself that he's with Sirius now, and that Tonks is off ... being dead ... elsewhere. (Sorry, Tonks fans.)
I do wish he'd had more scenes with Harry, a reminder of how touching their relationship was in Book 3, of what a great teacher he was. But it's a small quibble.
I didn't really care about Tonks or Dobby (although the "A Free Elf" thing made me tear up a bit), and I knew Snape was a marked man. (Seriously, one day I am going to write a redemption story that DOESN'T END IN DEATH! I'm telling you, it CAN be done.) I got all sad over Hedwig, though, she was such a wise and calming presence, if a bit snooty; she reminded me of my cat Vanilla. After all her loyalty, to die so unceremoniously... :(
And, of course, there's the Snape story. VINDICATION for all the believers that Snape was good. (Which, I know, most people figured out, but it was still cool.) I wish he'd been in the book more. I wish he and Harry had one last confrontation, either something bitter before Harry found out, or bittersweet afterward. I wish he'd died in a more heroic way, doing something actively good. But I'm so glad that she devoted a whole chapter to him, and that we finally saw Harry realize, truly realize, that the man he'd despised so long was "the bravest man he ever knew." I mean, Harry named his kid after Snape, how amazing is that, after everything that came before? And Snape, who loved Lily so much, having her grandson named after him.
I'd figured the Snape/Lily stuff beforehand, but I liked how it was done, how they'd been friends since childhood. I love that Snape's worst memory was worst not because of the boys teasing him but because of his own horrible mistake. I had already figured all the heartbreaking stuff--Snape telling Voldemort about the prophecy, then going to Dumbledore because he wanted to save Lily, and being heartbroken and turning to good after her death. It was the only thing that made sense for why Dumbledore trusted him. But I loved seeing it all spelled out. And I love that Dumbledore's own youthful mistakes are what made him perfectly suited to truly understand Snape's repentance.
I think one of the major themes was that people don't start out old and wise, but that they become that way through living and loving and suffering. I think it ties in with Rowling's emphasis on free will--it's the choices you make that determine who you become. So Snape, who starts out with a terrible childhood and a rotten disposition, is inspired by love to choose good. And I love that Dumbledore, who always seems so wise and all-knowing, is deeply flawed, but has learned to recognize his weaknesses and to make better choices. And, of course, Harry. I thought Rowling did an amazing job of showing him growing up and learning to overcome his flaws, to lead and to make the right choices. After spending most of the series thinking "You idiot! Don't do that! What are you thinking!?" this was pretty impressive, that Harry became a believable leader in the end.
I liked that Lily was so important. It always bothered me that the early books made such a big deal of Harry's father and mostly ignored his mother. I'm glad that she was at least equally important, if not more so, in the end.
Okay, and it kind of makes me cry, the way Snape wanted to look at Harry and see Lily's eyes one last time before he died. Can you imagine how painful it was, all these years of seeing James, the man he'd hated, in Harry's face, but then Lily's eyes? I mean, of course it totally doesn't excuse how horrible he was to the children. But I love that too, that he was such a cruel and unpleasant man and yet also so courageous and driven by love. Yay for moral ambiguity!
And there was a lot of moral ambiguity here. Dumbledore's arrogance and youthful flirtations with fascism, the Malfoys' love for their son outshining their loyalty to Voldemort, Dudley's gratefulness to Harry, Regulus's betrayal of Voldemort, Wormtail's ever-so-brief moment of mercy, the betrayal and return of both Ron and Percy...
And speaking of Percy's return--I love the way Rowling tied up the plot threads. I think her actual writing is mediocre/poor (aside from her creative naming and integration of different mythologies), and her characterizations (aside from Snape) are just okay, and her "romance" sucks completely (except maybe Ron/Hermione, which was competently written).
But I love the way she's been creating these plot threads throughout the entire series and she managed to tie up pretty much all of them at the end. And I loved all the shoutouts to the previous books. The importance of Grindelwald, the basilisk fangs in the Chamber of Secrets, the "Support Cedric Diggory" button, the mirror that Sirius gave Harry, Dumbledore's brother, Krum, Kreacher, Ron's insecurity, Percy's return, the explanation for Petunia's bitterness, Dumbledore's dead hand, Snape's motivations, the return to Hogwarts, Godric's Hollow and the graves, the sword of Gryffindor, Neville finally being important (GO NEVILLE!), the reason Harry could see into Voldemort's mind...
Oh yes, Harry being the final horcrux. I knew it! And I knew he wouldn't die, because Rowling sticks to the Hero's Journey template like glue. I remember seeing all these posts after the previous book, of people going "OMG Harry must be a horcrux, that means he'll die!!!" and other people going "No way, Harry can't be a horcrux, because there's no way he'll die," and I kept arguing that he could be a horcrux and NOT die, and yes, it's true! I love this, that Rowling foreshadowed it from the very beginning, Harry's connection to Voldemort, the line in the second book about Voldemort putting some of himself into Harry, and once the we learned about horcruxes it all made perfect sense.
What didn't I like? Well, Rowling kicking Sirius when he was down. Couldn't we have had something nice with him to balance it out? We all know he could be an arrogant git, but he was so awesome and funny and tragic, couldn't we have had more of him? Wasn't death by curtain bad enough? (And there totally should've been some explanation of that, because it was *stupid* and she never even explained what that damn veil was or why it was in the Ministry.) I know, I'm just saying this because he was my favorite.
What else...? Snape wasn't in it nearly enough. The middle dragged, with all the running around in the forest stuff. I missed Hogwarts. Too many people died. The stuff with the wands dominating each other was complicated to the point of ridiculousness. I never felt for one moment that Harry was deeply in love with Ginny, or any reason why. She was a representation of an idea for him, not a real person.
The epilogue was absolutely terrible. (I mean, aside from all the potential for slash fiction that it sets up--I see that![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
the_ass_ship has already been created.) I've read that it was written around the time of the first book and tacked on here, which would make sense. The tone is all wrong, far too light compared the darkness of the rest of the book. I hate that happiness is equated with traditional heterosexual marriage and children. I hate that she tries to pass it off as a "happy ending" when it's really only happy for those who lived, and even there it was more bittersweet, given everyone they'd lost.
I can understand what Rowling was doing--that Harry, who grew up without a family, has created one. It's the happiest ending he could possibly have; the boy who stared into the Mirror of Erised and saw himself with his parents is now surrounded by family. The naming is almost creepy, the way he's recreating everyone he lost by churning out children (and yes, that first boy had better be named "James Sirius," and doesn't Ginny have any say here? The next one should definitely be "Fred" something).
The whole thing is just too neat and simple. They should all be so much sadder after everything they've lost, and aware that evil never truly dies. I wish she'd just left it out. We could extrapolate all of it from the last chapter before that, and our imaginations would've done a much better job than her trite and traditional ending. The only thing I liked was Harry's son being "Albus Severus," and Harry's thought that Snape was the bravest man he'd ever known. That was wonderful, Harry finally recognizing the greatness of Snape, but in my fantasy world I'm ignoring the rest of it.
I look forward to the fanfic. I'm assuming there's going to be lots of Dumbledore/Grindelwald now, right? And I know that plenty of wonderful creative people will fix Remus and Sirius for me. Sirius obviously only had those pictures up because he was trying desperately not to think of Moony....
Okay, wow, it's almost 8pm. I'm going to go eat... uh... lunch.
I finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and managed to remain completely unspoiled until the end.
SPOILERS.
So my first reaction is, oh my god, so much death. I know, it's all about how death isn't all that bad and you shouldn't be afraid of it. But still. I love the darkness in this series, but I also enjoy the whimsical children's book aspect of it, and this one pretty much abandoned that. Every time something whimsical and fun would happen, someone would die horribly right afterward, so you could never relax and enjoy it. I guess I still think of this series the way I first encountered it, reading the first book aloud to the six-year-old I was babysitting, and although I liked when it started getting shockingly dark, I wish it hadn't gotten this dark. I mean, how am I supposed to enjoy re-reading the first book, with sweet innocent eleven year old Harry, knowing what's going to happen later?
The one that got me was Fred. I guess after Sirius died, the twins were the only characters left that I really liked. I love that they dealt with everything through humor, that they didn't give a crap about school, that they broke the mold and were successful at it, and that they were actually really brilliant when they were doing something they cared about. I mean, they're like the Stewart or Colbert of the wizarding world. And we watched them grow up from the time they were children. Thinking about Fred dying so young, and of George without Fred, makes me tear up every time.
(WHY COULDN'T SHE HAVE KILLED HAGRID INSTEAD?! I screamed every time he *didn't* die. He's the most inane and useless character, seriously, can't we trade Fred for him? *sob*)
The other one was Lupin, but it didn't really upset me as much as I expected. I guess because *so* many characters had died by then. And with Tonks and Sirius also gone, at least he didn't leave behind someone desperately mourning him. (I mean, it sucks for his kid, but at least the kid will grow up surrounded by loved ones.) I like that we got to see the dark side of his passive-aggressive nature in this one, and that he overcame it for his kid, and that his relationship with Tonks was a mess. I can reassure himself that he's with Sirius now, and that Tonks is off ... being dead ... elsewhere. (Sorry, Tonks fans.)
I do wish he'd had more scenes with Harry, a reminder of how touching their relationship was in Book 3, of what a great teacher he was. But it's a small quibble.
I didn't really care about Tonks or Dobby (although the "A Free Elf" thing made me tear up a bit), and I knew Snape was a marked man. (Seriously, one day I am going to write a redemption story that DOESN'T END IN DEATH! I'm telling you, it CAN be done.) I got all sad over Hedwig, though, she was such a wise and calming presence, if a bit snooty; she reminded me of my cat Vanilla. After all her loyalty, to die so unceremoniously... :(
And, of course, there's the Snape story. VINDICATION for all the believers that Snape was good. (Which, I know, most people figured out, but it was still cool.) I wish he'd been in the book more. I wish he and Harry had one last confrontation, either something bitter before Harry found out, or bittersweet afterward. I wish he'd died in a more heroic way, doing something actively good. But I'm so glad that she devoted a whole chapter to him, and that we finally saw Harry realize, truly realize, that the man he'd despised so long was "the bravest man he ever knew." I mean, Harry named his kid after Snape, how amazing is that, after everything that came before? And Snape, who loved Lily so much, having her grandson named after him.
I'd figured the Snape/Lily stuff beforehand, but I liked how it was done, how they'd been friends since childhood. I love that Snape's worst memory was worst not because of the boys teasing him but because of his own horrible mistake. I had already figured all the heartbreaking stuff--Snape telling Voldemort about the prophecy, then going to Dumbledore because he wanted to save Lily, and being heartbroken and turning to good after her death. It was the only thing that made sense for why Dumbledore trusted him. But I loved seeing it all spelled out. And I love that Dumbledore's own youthful mistakes are what made him perfectly suited to truly understand Snape's repentance.
I think one of the major themes was that people don't start out old and wise, but that they become that way through living and loving and suffering. I think it ties in with Rowling's emphasis on free will--it's the choices you make that determine who you become. So Snape, who starts out with a terrible childhood and a rotten disposition, is inspired by love to choose good. And I love that Dumbledore, who always seems so wise and all-knowing, is deeply flawed, but has learned to recognize his weaknesses and to make better choices. And, of course, Harry. I thought Rowling did an amazing job of showing him growing up and learning to overcome his flaws, to lead and to make the right choices. After spending most of the series thinking "You idiot! Don't do that! What are you thinking!?" this was pretty impressive, that Harry became a believable leader in the end.
I liked that Lily was so important. It always bothered me that the early books made such a big deal of Harry's father and mostly ignored his mother. I'm glad that she was at least equally important, if not more so, in the end.
Okay, and it kind of makes me cry, the way Snape wanted to look at Harry and see Lily's eyes one last time before he died. Can you imagine how painful it was, all these years of seeing James, the man he'd hated, in Harry's face, but then Lily's eyes? I mean, of course it totally doesn't excuse how horrible he was to the children. But I love that too, that he was such a cruel and unpleasant man and yet also so courageous and driven by love. Yay for moral ambiguity!
And there was a lot of moral ambiguity here. Dumbledore's arrogance and youthful flirtations with fascism, the Malfoys' love for their son outshining their loyalty to Voldemort, Dudley's gratefulness to Harry, Regulus's betrayal of Voldemort, Wormtail's ever-so-brief moment of mercy, the betrayal and return of both Ron and Percy...
And speaking of Percy's return--I love the way Rowling tied up the plot threads. I think her actual writing is mediocre/poor (aside from her creative naming and integration of different mythologies), and her characterizations (aside from Snape) are just okay, and her "romance" sucks completely (except maybe Ron/Hermione, which was competently written).
But I love the way she's been creating these plot threads throughout the entire series and she managed to tie up pretty much all of them at the end. And I loved all the shoutouts to the previous books. The importance of Grindelwald, the basilisk fangs in the Chamber of Secrets, the "Support Cedric Diggory" button, the mirror that Sirius gave Harry, Dumbledore's brother, Krum, Kreacher, Ron's insecurity, Percy's return, the explanation for Petunia's bitterness, Dumbledore's dead hand, Snape's motivations, the return to Hogwarts, Godric's Hollow and the graves, the sword of Gryffindor, Neville finally being important (GO NEVILLE!), the reason Harry could see into Voldemort's mind...
Oh yes, Harry being the final horcrux. I knew it! And I knew he wouldn't die, because Rowling sticks to the Hero's Journey template like glue. I remember seeing all these posts after the previous book, of people going "OMG Harry must be a horcrux, that means he'll die!!!" and other people going "No way, Harry can't be a horcrux, because there's no way he'll die," and I kept arguing that he could be a horcrux and NOT die, and yes, it's true! I love this, that Rowling foreshadowed it from the very beginning, Harry's connection to Voldemort, the line in the second book about Voldemort putting some of himself into Harry, and once the we learned about horcruxes it all made perfect sense.
What didn't I like? Well, Rowling kicking Sirius when he was down. Couldn't we have had something nice with him to balance it out? We all know he could be an arrogant git, but he was so awesome and funny and tragic, couldn't we have had more of him? Wasn't death by curtain bad enough? (And there totally should've been some explanation of that, because it was *stupid* and she never even explained what that damn veil was or why it was in the Ministry.) I know, I'm just saying this because he was my favorite.
What else...? Snape wasn't in it nearly enough. The middle dragged, with all the running around in the forest stuff. I missed Hogwarts. Too many people died. The stuff with the wands dominating each other was complicated to the point of ridiculousness. I never felt for one moment that Harry was deeply in love with Ginny, or any reason why. She was a representation of an idea for him, not a real person.
The epilogue was absolutely terrible. (I mean, aside from all the potential for slash fiction that it sets up--I see that
the_ass_ship has already been created.) I've read that it was written around the time of the first book and tacked on here, which would make sense. The tone is all wrong, far too light compared the darkness of the rest of the book. I hate that happiness is equated with traditional heterosexual marriage and children. I hate that she tries to pass it off as a "happy ending" when it's really only happy for those who lived, and even there it was more bittersweet, given everyone they'd lost.I can understand what Rowling was doing--that Harry, who grew up without a family, has created one. It's the happiest ending he could possibly have; the boy who stared into the Mirror of Erised and saw himself with his parents is now surrounded by family. The naming is almost creepy, the way he's recreating everyone he lost by churning out children (and yes, that first boy had better be named "James Sirius," and doesn't Ginny have any say here? The next one should definitely be "Fred" something).
The whole thing is just too neat and simple. They should all be so much sadder after everything they've lost, and aware that evil never truly dies. I wish she'd just left it out. We could extrapolate all of it from the last chapter before that, and our imaginations would've done a much better job than her trite and traditional ending. The only thing I liked was Harry's son being "Albus Severus," and Harry's thought that Snape was the bravest man he'd ever known. That was wonderful, Harry finally recognizing the greatness of Snape, but in my fantasy world I'm ignoring the rest of it.
I look forward to the fanfic. I'm assuming there's going to be lots of Dumbledore/Grindelwald now, right? And I know that plenty of wonderful creative people will fix Remus and Sirius for me. Sirius obviously only had those pictures up because he was trying desperately not to think of Moony....
Okay, wow, it's almost 8pm. I'm going to go eat... uh... lunch.