06.28.06
Posted in Theories, Scoops at 2:15 am by RavenclawWit
via Nimble Books LLC
You can read the entire transcript of the interview that Rowling did on the Richard and Judy show in the UK at the link above. This interview has been much talked about over the past few days, with speculation running wild. However, most of the coverage surrounding it have taken Rowling’s statements out of context and/or just plain got the facts wrong.
Myth # 1: Rowling said that two characters will die in the last book. - No, she didn’t. She said, “But I have to say two die that I didn’t intend to die.” That likely means that there will be more than two deaths in Book 7.
Myth # 2: Rowling said that Harry will die in the last Book. - No again. The interviewer asked her if she’d ever been tempted to kill him off. And she responded, “No, I’ve never been tempted to kill him off before the end of Book 7 because I’ve always planned seven books; that’s where I want to - I want to finish on seven books.” To some that may sound like she’s saying he will be killed in Book 7, but if you read it in the context of the whole conversation, it’s clear that she’s saying that she hasn’t killed him off because she had planned 7 books from the beginning. Get it folks? Furthermore the interviewer framed the question in terms of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who reputedly killed off his character Sherlock Holmes because he was sick of him. That’s when she went on to say she understood that attitude. She didn’t say that that was what she was going to do.
That said, I have to admit that all this talk the last few days has really got me thinking about how I’d feel if Harry really does end up dying at the end of the series. Previously, I thought that perhaps it was the only way, and that it might even be a bit fitting. I’ve changed my mind. I think I’d be very upset if Harry or any of the trio dies. I might even be upset enough to regret having read any of the Potter series. I truly feel that for Rowling to kill off any of the trio would reflect a callousness towards children that I don’t wish to contemplate. Many kids admire, idolize, and identify these characters because they are children who are somehow able to navigate the dark and scary situations they find themselves in. Even if one of the trio were to die doing something noble and brave, that’s a bitter pill to swallow for most kids. I don’t think it’s necessary for good storytelling, or a lesson, or realism to kill off the kids.
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06.26.06
Posted in Theories, Scoops at 2:40 pm by RavenclawWit
via HPANA
Huge news. J.K. Rowling appeared on the Richard & Judy Show in the UK, and she revealed many interesting things about book 7. She stated that the book is not finished, but that she is well into it. She also said that the final chapter, which she originally wrote back in 1990, has changed in that two more people will die than she originally planned and one person who she did plan to kill off will live. She also stated that she regrets writing some parts where she may have boxed herself in earlier in the series and that she believes Ron to be a more popular character than Harry due to a poll she saw on a fansite.
Whoa. Some big news to digest here. The news that two more people are going to die threw me for a loop at first. But then I thought about it. In point of fact, we don’t know of anybody she was planning to kill off in book 7, so the fact that there are two more is not that big of a deal. Or at the very least, we shouldn’t jump to conclusions. The two more people could be death-eaters for all we know. However, it could very well be that at least one of our trio gets it. To be honest, people keep saying Ron, but I just don’t see it. Number one, why would Rowling spend all this time developing this big romantic storyline between Ron and Hermione just to kill him off? Secondly, I’ve always been of the opinion that if any of the trio dies, Harry would make the most sense. Especially if he gives his life defeating Voldemort.
But I’ve actually begun to think that probably none of the trio is going to die. I think even Rowling knows that that might be crossing the line from realism to outright cruelty. Sure, I could handle it, but what about all the thirteen year olds who read the book? They might actually require therapy if one of the main characters dies. Children become very invested in the characters in the books they read.
So my guesses as to who will die? I say some of our older characters are not long for this world. Pretty much Hagrid, Lupin, and McGonagall are fair game as far as I’m concerned. I think Moody will almost certainly die. Slughorn maybe? Dobby, perhaps? If you think about it, there are a ton of characters to kill off without even touching Harry, Ron, or Hermione.
I’m more intrigued by who she will be giving a reprieve. My guess on this one is Snape. I believe that Snape is actually good, that he killed Dumbledore as part of a plan cooked up between the headmaster and himself, but even so, I’ve always believed that he would die in the last book. Sort of a you must pay for your sins even if you’ve repented sort of thing, which is common in literature. However, it would be interesting if she let Snape live. My only other guess as to who this could be is Draco. If she lets Draco live, it will either be because he has truly repented and seen that Voldy and his father are evil gits, or because she wants to leave us with an open-ended ending. After all who was it who said that if you destroy one Dark Lord, there’s always another to take his place?
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06.22.06
Posted in Stories, Humor at 5:33 pm by Headmaster
Via the Newsarama comic book blog I found out about a scandal in the Harry Potter fanfic community that has been meticulously documented on LiveJournal.
Long story short: an author used multiple screennames/personalities to bash her own work in an effort to court favor.
I’m no fanfic writer/reader, but I’m interested now.
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06.15.06
Posted in Scoops at 1:08 pm by RavenclawWit
Hey all, I just created a custom Harry Potter search engine over at Rollyo. Rollyo is a site that allows you to create custom search engines that search the sites you specify. The one I created searches a number of Harry Potter sites, including HPANA, Mugglenet, TLC, and others (including this site). If you use Firefox, it can even be added to your search box. I hope you enjoy it.
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06.14.06
Posted in Scoops at 3:51 pm by RavenclawWit
via HPANA
You can now purchase Harry Potter fantasy banknotes here.
The banknotes have various images of the actors from the Potter films of them and are marked by “Gringotts Bank”.
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06.07.06
Posted in Theories, Questions at 12:44 pm by RavenclawWit
Today I’m going to talk about something I almost never talk about. Shipping. I try to avoid shipping discussions for a couple of reasons. One, I actually don’t care that much. Some people in the Harry Potter fandom seem to be obsessed with who Harry, Ron and Hermione date, and to me, such things are the furthest from the point of the story as can be. Of course the reason is probably that I’m a 26 year old adult, while many HP fans are adolescents. When I was 15, I too was preoccupied with who everyone I knew was dating. The second reason I usually avoid shipping discussions is because I’ve seen them devolve into some pretty nasty arguments. People seem to get pretty wound up about this stuff. But despite that, I’m going to open up the floor on the issue anyways.
Since Half-Blood Prince, I think it’s apparent to everybody who is going to end up with whom, provided nobody dies. At this point, it’s pretty clear that it’s Harry/Ginny and Ron/Hermione. Yes, I know there are lots of other characters to ship, but somehow I don’t think Rowling is going to deal with the romantic lives of every character in the series.
Let me say first that I never considered Harry/Hermione as a possible couple even before book 4 when it became a bit more apparent that Hermione was in fact Ron’s romantic interest. To me, there couldn’t be anyone more unsuited for each other than Harry and Hermione. Hermione is a bossy know-it-all and Harry is a kid with a quick temper who tends to resent and/or distrust authority. See the problem? You can already see it. Hermione is constantly telling Harry what to do. Harry takes it in silent anger until Hermione says something that pushes his last button, at which point he usually loses it and tells her where to go in no uncertain terms. Most of CAPS LOCK! Harry is directed at Hermione. At which point Hermione, who seems a bit frightened of Harry’s temper, either cries or sulks. Not really a good pattern for a lasting relationship.
To me, Ron/Hermione definitely makes a bit more sense. Yes, they have their share of arguments, but if you look closely, it seems that they actually like arguing with each other. Hermione likes it because she likes to argue and be right (and let’s face it, in an arguement with Ron she’ll always win), and Ron likes it because he appears to get some sort of kick out of getting her all worked up. I think everybody has known a couple who were actually like this.
But where does that leave Harry? Well, with Ginny, I guess. But to be honest, I never really considered Harry/Ginny possible couple material until the very end of book 5, when Ron advises Ginny to choose a better boyfriend and then looks pointedly at Harry. That foreshadowing was just too glaring to miss. I admit I winced when I read that line; Rowling must have been tired at that point, so she decided to do her job with a sledgehammer instead of a chisel. Anyways, my point is that until Rowling came out and said Harry/Ginny, I didn’t really consider it. And it’s not because I don’t like Ginny, or that I don’t think she and Harry are well-matched. In fact, the problem is that I don’t feel that Rowling developed Ginny enough as a character for me or anyone else to make such an assessment either way. Ginny was basically a mute for the first four books. Only in five did she really begin talking, especially to Harry. But it might be that Harry is more the problem here. Even when Ginny did start talking to him, Harry appears to have zero reaction whatsoever to her. Of course he was sort of wrapped up in Voldemort and his bizarrely dysfunctional relationship with Cho Chang, but it seems to me that he should have started to become at least marginally more aware of Ginny as a girl and a person before promptly falling in love with her in book 6. Even if he had thought to himself in book 5 that she was getting kind of cute or something, that would have set up some foundation for his sudden overpowering attraction to her in HBP. As it was, he seemed to go from caring less about Ginny Weasley in book 5 to omg!, how I lurve that red-headed gal in book 6. It just seemed a bit sudden. I’m not opposed to it really, I just think Rowling could have handled it better.
So who did I think Harry was going to end up with? Well, to tell the truth, when Luna Lovegood showed up on the scene in the beginning of book 5, and there was the whole thing with the thestrals, I thought that maybe she was it, the girl for Harry. They seemed to share something that he’d been unable to share with his other friends, a sense of personal loss. I guess, though, that she probably is just a little too flaky for Harry’s taste. Especially for a kid who all his life has just wanted to fit in and be “normal”, at least by wizarding standards.
So fess up, fellow Potter fans. Who do you think would be the perfect couple and why?
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