It was dark, the night that Harry first saw Thestrals.

"If he had had to give them a name, he supposed he would have called them horses, though there was something reptilian about them, too." (OotP ch10)

But since he could see them at that point, we naturally expected this to be an improvement over when he couldn't see them:

...at least a hundred stagecoaches awaited the remaining students, each pulled, Harry could only assume, by an invisible horse, because when they climbed inside and shut the door, the coach set off all by itself, bumping and swaying in procession." (PoA ch5)

And yet he still saw the same thing, which, on reflection, does not inspire the highest confidence in his efforts. It rather reminds me of a favorite passage after Sirius had exhorted Harry to "keep your eyes open" in one of his letters:

"You'd think I walk around with my eyes shut, banging off the walls..."
"But he's right, Harry," said Hermione. (GoF ch23)

Sturdy girl, that Hermione. ;D

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Thestrals, complete in this posting, is Part IV of a new series.

"Justice is the first virtue of social institutions, as truth is of systems of thought."
John Rawls

The death of Severus Snape in Deathly Hallows was not unexpected but was untimely, unpleasant, and somehow unsatisfying. It seemed to leave important issues unresolved, both for Snape himself and for the reader trying to understand this perplexing character and what moved him. His death was brutal, right down to the tiny moment when he believed he might be reprieved. It was a miserable end to what remained a miserable life. It was shocking, it was unjust. It robbed us of the revelatory confrontation between Snape and Harry that the story seemed to demand. Rather than illuminate Snape’s life it cast it into shadow. What sort of life must it have been to deserve a death like this?

No life could deserve a death like this. It was, though, the sort of death that Voldemort was quite used to inflicting on those who came within his reach - Peter Pettigrew and Charity Burbage come to mind - and it was the sort of death that Snape had witnessed and knew he faced as a follower of Voldemort. The horror and injustice of Snape’s death should not be allowed to obscure our understanding of his life. He may not have confronted Harry in person but he told him what he wanted him to know through the memories he gave him. When we unite these memories with everything we have seen of Snape throughout the story we can understand that Snape’s life was not unfulfilled, and that though he died in pain he died in triumph. The project which was the purpose of his life was at its conclusion, and through it he had transformed himself - not from villain to hero, but from loser to winner.( Read more )

The interesting thing about DH was how it broke my heart in a million wonderful ways, while failing to break it where I would have suspected it to be the whole point of the story to break it, in order to immerse me in the book's main storylines of tragedy. Such as the Dobby funeral and the Harry suicide... The former of which didn't move me one iota because I was too busy trying not to puke at the fact that the story had just a) killed the freed slave with his selfless rescue impulse bourn out of his inexplicably unconditional adoration of a member of the enslaving race, and b) started telling me incessantly that we're supposed to see the privileged-race beneficiary of this sacrifice digging a tiny grave hole with his own hands, without relying on a power shovel, to be this super-considerate, unimaginably noble, wonderful payment for the wretched creature's death. And the latter of which, the Harry horcrux destruction, 1) had been speculated in numerous fanfics already, 2) didn't seem like such a horrible thing (despite the fact that it by rights should have been) if the boy's own mother was suddenly happily endorsing this course of action... And, above all else, that particular heartbreak 3) paled in comparison into nothingness, for me, who was in the middle of screaming at the utter wrongness of the string of facts that had just been revealed in the same scene -- i.e. how Snape had had to live his whole life and die in such misery, for mostly circumstantial reasons as opposed to any inexcusable, healthily-educated and well-informed choices on his part.

So that's the thing about DH. I still don't know if this makes the whole series an utter failure as a piece of literature (I would venture my humble opinion that it makes it an utter misfit for something to be sold as a series of books targeted for children, framed for them as a fantasy adventure with straightforward moral messages), or if it makes it a brilliantly innovative piece of postmodern, deconstructive fairytale, regardless of how any of these things in the tale ended up being the way they are... (Because who cares, really, whether the author of this story intended for it to be one thing or another? We all know she's just about the only fanatical adult fan of her creation that still believes, in this day and age, that its author would still be alive.) But the question of whether it's a good thing or a bad thing aside, I think that there's one thing that remains incontrovertible: the real drama of the Harry Potter story -- IMO virtually all of the real, fresh, mind-blowingly tragic and beautiful dramas of this story -- happened either completely off stage, or right at the corner of our peripheral vision.

Yet they happened. And we have all the clues necessary to reconstitute them into the downright operatic melodrama that they truly are.

( So we shall, shall we not? Because boy, how can anyone with a functioning soul NOT feel sorry for all those characters in HP that suffered the misfortune of being situated exactly where they were? )


*

ETA: In this post I failed to discuss Petunia's abuse of Harry in any substantial way, as my focus was on uncovering the aspects of her character that weren't narratively put under the spotlight. Many commenting have voiced how they have a fundamental problem with seeing someone who abuses a child as a "hero," no matter what tragedy she may have come through. And I tend to agree, at least when it comes to realistic thoughts on actual human beings. Meanwhile, static_pixie has pointed out how Petunia's character is simply impossible to rationalize as a consistent portrayal of an actual human being. These fen's insights have allowed me to start thinking more about her character by shifting my focus this time onto her character-trait coherency, and what I've come up with is an out-there hypothesis of her as a nightmarishly misrepresented character. It can be read here on my journal if you would like:

Some whacked-out thoughts on Snape and Petunia

I would, however, warn you that it's kind of dark as insinuation goes.

We're reminded quite a few times in DH that Dumbledore had James' Cloak of Invisibility on the night that Lily and James died. We never quite know why he had it. The closest thing to an official answer we get, I suppose, is Afterlife!Dumbledore telling Harry that his "guess" has been right, that the Order Leader had "asked [James] to borrow it, to examine it" -- but that just reeks of bullshit, doesn't it? ( Now for a bit of speculative meta, as opposed to my natural habitat which is the meta-narrative type of meta... Watch me sink or swim. *g* )

One theme of the Harry Potter books that I found interesting was the idea that it is our choices that make us who  we are.

However, it should be noted that in the books few people actually make these kind of choices.

So who are the people who choose who they will be?

EDIT: To clarify the idea of born "good" and born "bad" are not meant to reflect on real life. It is only for the purpose of characterization in Harry Potter. I do not think people are born good or bad from the beginning. Just wanted to make this clear, so you don't think I'm some kind of horrible judgmental person.

 My mind has been focusing lately on the things I disliked about DH (and man oh man were there many) so I thought I'd shift gears for a bit and reflect on what I liked about the conclusion to the series.

( A longwinded discussion of Harry, Voldemort, Dumbledore, Snape, and their different patterns of love follows the LJ-cut. Nothing too innovative as interpretation goes, it's all pretty obvious stuff. I just wanted to gush for a while to remind myself why I still adore HP. )
Thoughts, developments, and criticisms of all shapes and sizes are extremely welcome! Although I'm very bad at responding to each comment, so I apologize about that in advance...

Hey Guys,

While I generally liked the last book, and loved the series as a whole I was disappointed by the romance part of HBP and DH. Which is strange, because all the couples that I shipped since I was freaking thirteen got together. Except for Remus/Tonks which didn't actually exist yet, but for which I still shipped.

So what happened? 

Since this is only my opinion, I welcome differing opinions and ideas and interpretations.

I hope to God this livejournal cut thing worked.

I remember reading DH and being less than impressed with the whole "camping in the woods bit". I didn't understand at the time, but I felt as though I was missing out on something important, something relevant and interesting.

That something was Neville, and what he was getting up to at Hogwarts.

Darkness will appear on the face of the Abyss; Night, Saturn and the Antimony of the Sages will appear; blackness, and the raven's head of the alchemists, and all the colours of the world, will appear at the hour of conjunction; the rainbow also, and the peacock's tail. Finally, after the matter has passed from ashen-coloured to white and yellow, you will see the Philosopher's Stone.

- Heinrich Khunrath

I've been considering whether to rewrite and post the below effort for a while. I had my mind made up by slashpine, due to this comment on woman_ironing's recent essay imploring those disappointed with DH to reread it.

I have added little or nothing based on book 7, what follows is more of an intellectual exercise rather than any attempt to show that the series is based on any alchemical system; that there are links to aspects of the alchemical system should be clear enough by the end. However, alchemy can by no means be said to be the way of explaining the series. The series did not reach the end of the alchemical cycle, particularly the more involved seven stage cycle. IOW, the series did not follow Harry far enough for the alchemical process to conclude. By my reckoning it reached around two thirds of the way into the three stage process and less than half way into the more involved seven stage process.

( Alchemy only explains HP up to a point... )

Nota Bene - IMVHO alchemy does not assist too much in our understanding of the Harry Potter series as it stands, whichever way one slices it. Care to convince me otherwise?

This is a completely random speech on Snape that I wrote after I was actually meant to give it. The speech I gave was awful but this works as an OK essay.

 

Not everyone is unhappy with Deathly Hallows or with the outcome of the Harry Potter series. In discussions and comments and articles across the internet it is possible still to encounter delight and enthusiasm, but there are readers – a significant number, and clever and dedicated too - who are disappointed. They feel that in the final book their hopes and expectations were sent flying over the parapet to lie broken on the ground. It’s almost seven months after publication of the final book now, time enough, I hope, for it to be possible to invite these disappointed readers to think again, to take a fresh look.
( Read more )

(Note: I am posting this on behalf of the Terminus organisation committee; I am not associated with the conference in any way, so please do not direct any questions at me, as I will not be able to answer them!)




CHICAGO, IL -- January 29, 2008 -- The planning team for Terminus, a five-day Harry Potter conference to be held August 7-11, 2008, has announced that the deadline for programming proposals has been extended to Sunday, February 3.

"The programming for Terminus is drawn from the proposals made to the conference," noted Hallie Tibbetts, a Lead Event Organizer. "We invite scholars, professionals, and fans to share their analyses and interests surrounding Harry Potter and the related phenomenon with our attendees. Between the release of the final book and the continued fan interest, there are still hundreds of avenues to explore in presentations, and there's nothing quite so exciting as discussing Harry Potter with over a thousand other attendees who understand the allure of the books, films, and fan community."
( Read more behind the cut! )

My sister and I came up with a new method of sorting people! Actually I have no idea if it's that new, but it's based on the concept of what a person leans to in terms of choices in movies, books, TV shows etc. Do share your opinions on it! We find it pretty accurate thus far.

My sister and I felt that common definitions of the different Hogwarts houses to be largely superficial, where Gryffindor = brave, Hufflepuff = nice, Ravenclaw = clever, and Slytherin = cunning. We attempted to look deeper to motivations and driving forces, and we came up with a sorting system of our own. We thought that a number of people sorted themselves into the wrong houses because they wanted to be in the 'coolest' house etc. With our descriptions, perhaps you might want to re-sort yourself? :D

( Descriptions under cut. )

All through the books, JKR found incredibly ingenious ways to sink the pins of this locking puzzle deeply and securely.

Sometimes she made us think some bit of puzzle was part of the housing, and not meant to move.

Other times we could tell that a piece was shiftable, but couldn't tell how it should be set. (You can only solve that once you've made the pin bind, which involves taking them in order.)

And sometimes she just shamelessly marched us past the phenomenon while staging an uproar and had someone tell us that it was crude and unimportant for good measure.

This time I reckon she did all three - and sure enough, this pin is a dilly.

But then so was the picklock. :D

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Merlin's Legacy, complete in this posting, is Part III in a new series.
( Read more... )

.
Dumbles! Meet the Dumbles!
They're a Modern half-blood family,
At the town of Godric's
They're the talk of 1893.

Spied on by the children down the street
'Til they turned up hanging by their feet.

Kendra keeps the shades drawn.
She won't discuss her little daughter,
Just says the slaught'rer
Was Percival, who's gone!

Kennndraaa! (with apologies to The Flintstones)

"I knew my brother, Potter. He learned secrecy at our mother's knee. Secrets and lies, that's how we grew up, and Albus... he was a natural." DH ch28

A family that has to enlist its children to keep its secrets inflicts its damage and maintains its equilibrium in some predictable ways - no matter what its particular secrets are. One should certainly receive their family stories with a bit of skepticism.

Let's get to know the Dumbledores of Mould-on-the-Wold a little better, shall we? ;D

( Read more... )
Dumbledore, complete in this posting, is Part II in a new series.

Hi.

I'm a student of comparative literature in University of Turku Finland and a Harry Potter fan. I'm currently writing my masters thesis on Harry Potter fanfiction/slash fiction.

I'd be very gratefull if you would like to help me in my project by answering a fanfiction/slash related questionare .
HP-essays seems to have a great number of members who are intelligent, analytical and active fandom in fandom. Your answers and views would be most valuable for my thesis. So please consider donating a couple of minutes of your time, I will be eternally greatfull.

The answers can (ofcourse) be provided anonymously and the questionaire can be found  here.

All answers will be appreciated, even the very short ones will be of great help. (Though, the longer the better:))


This project of mine won't be finnished for many months now, but when it is, I shall post some of the results (a shortened version in english) in my journal (in case someone's interested).

Yours

Anelma-Unelma
aka.
Anu Rautalin
University of Turku, Finland

It has come to the attention of myself, and others around me, that even though the Harry Potter books have closed an era on all our lives, the fandom and the shipping continues, even though JKR might have killed out OTP. She may have killed off our fav characters in canon, but in fandom they live on. So the point of this essay is also a question, "When are we going to satify ourselves so much, that we will stop writing/drawing works of fandom?"