You have been warned. If you have not yet finished reading “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” do NOT read further! This is a discussion for those who have aleady digested the latest episode…
SPOILER ALERT!!! Below the fold…
DOUBLE WARNING…
TRIPLE WARNING…
Only you are responsible now…
I wasn’t surprised that Dumbledore got blasted. If Harry is to assme full hero status, he must do it alone. Yes, he has pledged assistance, but in the final scenes he must face Voldemort alone. It’s required.
I also was not surprised that Snape turns out to be as repulisive as he’s always been. Who thought Snape had been somehow redemmed by Dumbledore’s trust? (I’ll pull a catnip here.) Raise your hands. Um, I thought so.
I didn’t really feel grief until the funeral scene. I just absorbed Dumbledore’s death as so many more words. Am I the only person who gets so caught up in what-happens-next that I don’t feel what’s happening in the scene as I read it? In other words, how the characters react is more important than how I react. Do you wait to feel what they are feeling?
Ooo, goody, a Harry thread. Shall we recommend this so it stays up?
I actually think Snape is still up in the air, so to speak. I thought the last scene where dear Dumbledore is pleading could also be read as pleading with Snape to do What Must Be Done, namely, kill him. And it could be read that Snape was protecting Harry in the chase scene, too, and trying to keep him from doing something foolish.
I really liked this one a lot.
I didn’t cry over it,because for awhile I wasn’t quite convinced Dumbledore was really dead. The saddest moment for me was when the phoenix sang.
I wasn’t surprised at all. But I’d also read interviews with JKR where she pointed out quite explicitly that Snape was a real bastard, and that anyone who thought he was sympathetic or good was in for a rude surprise. I do see how his character is kind of ambiguous, but I think it requires a lot of stretching to see him, in any way, in a positive light. He’s a master deceiver with an inferiority complex, delusions of grandeur, a sadistic mind, and lots and lots of power.
I didn’t really accept that it wasn’t some kind of trick on Dumbledore’s part until then. Which, I think, may have been JKR’s objective. The bit where Harry goes tearing after Snape is certainly fast-paced and engaging, especially since he wipes out… What, three Death Eaters on his way downstairs?
That was a well-spent weekend of reading. I think the Unbreakable Vow will come into play with regards to Snape, but I am totally jaded now when I think of his character. I knew Harry and Ginny would hook-up eventually, but find it highly unlikely that Ron would act as approvingly as he did.
</geek>
(Gryffindor here, what about u all?)
Ravenclaw here, which surprised me. It must have been my choosing charms as my favorite course of study. And I did that because I think the Bogey spell, “Ridikulous!” is the funniest bit in all the books.
Funny, prior to sorting, I figured that I’d get Hufflepuff- that Gryffindor would be a bit of a reach. After the questions, even more so- but I turned up in Gryffindor- 😉
Betcha R.A.B. is Sirius’ little brother.
That was what I really had a hard time with. Dumbledore got killed after collecting a “horcrux” that had already been collected! Felt like such a waste!
I’ll have to go thumb through order of the Pheonix, Serius’ brother’s betrayal of Voldemort is within a pretty narrow time frame. Wouldn’t be surprised if it was right around the time HP was born.
Perhaps the bit of Voldemort’s soul that was in the locket was placed into HP, maybe be Snape and Lily Potter? Making HP Voldemort’s horcrux would pretty much do the trick of making him semi invulnerable to Voldemort, after all Dumbledore did say one could use an animal as a horcrux.
Harry might contain some essense of Voldemort. It would explain his knowing parseltongue and the mind link he sometimes has with the Dark Lord. But, it leads us to a climax where matter and anti-matter must cancel each other out, where Voldemort and Harry must both die. Hmmm, yes, like Mordred and Arthur simultaneously inflicting mortal wounds upon each other. And, I suppose, the only way the series could truly end is with Harry’s death. Otherwise, Rowling would be hectored for the rest of her life to write yet another sequel.
R.A.B is Burkes of Borgin & Burkes ‘Dark Arts Emporium’. I think he was mentioned as young Voldemort’s early helper in the Horcrux tricks.
My vote for RAB goes to Regulus Black as well.
I also believe that Snape has made an Unbreakable Vow to Dumbledore to protect Harry, as in seemingly every book he’s saved Harry’s life, and refused to kill him during the end chase despite the fact that Harry was desperately trying to kill him.
Indeed, how else could Snape have convinced Dumbledore that he could be trusted. He must have sworn a vow to defend Harry’s life. If I follow this logic, then, Snape killing Dumbledore instead of Malfoy was Snape fulfilling his vow to Malfoy’s mother, protecting her son from becoming a murderer. But, why then was Snape’s expression at the moment he killed Dumbledore so enraged and malicious. Or did Harry simply mistake his expression? Was it really a look of agony as Snape found himself wedged between his two Unbreakable Vows?
I agree that Snape may have killed Dumbledore to protect Malfoy from doing something Unforgivable,Harry as well.Dumbledore was dying from whatever caused the black shriveled hand and the poison. I also think Harry will have to die with Voldemort.
as it was essence du Voldemort that gives his the kicker.