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You can find the full transcript of the live chat with JK Rowling on Muggle Net now....here's a couple of things I thought I'd bring up:
quote:
J.K. Rowling: Thank you! I’ve already answered about Hermione. Kingsley became permanent Minister for Magic, and naturally he wanted Harry to head up his new Auror department.
J.K. Rowling: Harry did so (just because Voldemort was gone, it didn’t mean that there would not be other Dark witches and wizards in the coming years).
J.K. Rowling: Ron joined George at Weasleys’ Wizarding Wheezes, which became an enormous money-spinner..
J.K. Rowling: After a few years as a celebrated player for the Holyhead Harpies, Ginny retired to have her family and to become the Senior Quidditch correspondent at the Daily Prophet!
<cringe> Ginny became a rock star? Puh-lease!!
And for those who were wondering, here's what she says about the person who was to do magic...
quote:J.K. Rowling: My very earliest plan for the story involved somebody managing to get to Hogwarts when they had never done magic before, but I had changed my mind by the time I'd written the third book. J.K. Rowling: I'm sorry about this, but I changed my mind! Snapedinhalf: You promised that someone will do magic late in life in book 7. I've now read it three times but cant work out who it might have been! Please help!!
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The Holyhead Harpies is the all-witch quiddich team, not a musical group. She was, presumably, a seeker, not a rock star.
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Not a rock star - she became a professional Quidditch player. The Holyhead Harpies is a quidditch team.
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quote:Casey Kunze: Who killed remus and tonks I think if I knew this, I would get some closure over the very sad, but understandable, death of two of my favorite characters J.K. Rowling: I'm so sorry! I met a couple on launch night who had come dressed as Lupin and Tonks, and I felt dreadfully guilty as I signed their books! J.K. Rowling: Remus was killed by Dolohov and Tonks by Bellatrix.
I'm glad to hear she was a little bothered by that.
quote: Cornersoul: So what happens to all the dementors where will they go will they be destroyed if so, how J.K. Rowling: You cannot destroy Dementors, though you can limit their numbers if you eradicate the conditions in which they multiply, ie, despair and degradation. As I've already said, though, J.K. Rowling: the Ministry no longer used them to torment its opponents.
Yikes! Good thing this is pretend!
There's a funny bit where she explains patronuses often take the form of a loved one (but who gets to pick?) and later someone asks what hers would be. At first she says otter, because Hermione was based on her, but then she said maybe a large dog. Rowling has the hots for Sirius Black, you heard it here first!
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Dementors will engulf the Earth and never cease to exist. Then, as there is about a dementor every ten meters, they will combine into the beast. Then our Savior will descend from heaven and send us all to King's Cross Station, to board the train.
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Just finished the book. Wow. The battle of Hogwarts, Snape vindicated, Harry walking to his death, and the final dues of the Dark Lord and his lieutenants... very impressed.
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I have about seven odd points to make, three on new topics and four on old topics that fill up most of this thread. I loved the book and am reading it a second time just to see what I missed.
1) Hedgwig and the Broom 2) The Secret of Horcruxes (horcruxi?) 3) Alternate solution 1A old 4) Christianity in HP 5) The Wands 6) Harrily ever after. 7) Hagrid's missing.
Its gonna be quite a post. here goes.
1) Nobody seems to mourn the loss of Hedwig. He died early and first in that rush from the house. Here was a good clue that death and destruction would run rampant. His death was very meaningless, as he was trapped in a cage and couldn't fight or run.
Harry also lost his broom, which I am suprised he didn't mourn since it was his first true gift from Sirius. Yet it gets one line and then is forgotten.
Can you say obvious plot device. Why doesn't Harry just send an owl for help when needed, or fly away on his broom stick with his great, much discussed broom skills? Oh, lets get rid of the owl and broomstick quickly so we don't have to worry about them.
2) Secret of the Horcrux. I think I am missing something but why was it so important to keep the Horcruxes a secret from everyone, including the Order of the Phoenix?
The only way to stop Vold is to destroy the Horcrux.
The only people who know this are Ron, Herm, and HP.
The mission is risky. It is likely that they will die. Then nobody will know how to end Volde.
I can understand that Horcrux, the idea, is so evil that nobody should know about them, but you could still tell people, "Hey, there are these things that if destroyed will weaken Volde."
If it were me, I'd jump on the underground radio network and tell the world.
Even after Dumbledore tells him that all his secrets were a mistake, HP still barely allows himself to tell Neville part of it. And sharing that secret brings success.
#@$#@@#$ I have to go to work. More to follow tonight.
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quote:Originally posted by Dan_raven: 1) Nobody seems to mourn the loss of Hedwig. He died early and first in that rush from the house. Here was a good clue that death and destruction would run rampant. His death was very meaningless, as he was trapped in a cage and couldn't fight or run.
Harry also lost his broom, which I am suprised he didn't mourn since it was his first true gift from Sirius. Yet it gets one line and then is forgotten.
Can you say obvious plot device. Why doesn't Harry just send an owl for help when needed, or fly away on his broom stick with his great, much discussed broom skills? Oh, lets get rid of the owl and broomstick quickly so we don't have to worry about them.
Ummmm...who would he have sent the owl to? If an owl had been useful, Ron had one too. But Pig was back with Hermione's cat with Ron's parents. And when, exactly, would the broom have helped him get out of any of the things he got into?
I did notice and mourn the loss of the owl. Save Dobby, it was the saddest death. I think it was a bit of loss of innocence for Harry when that happened.
As to the broom...what did you want, a funeral? It was a broom. More important people and creatures (Mad Eye and Hedwig) were dead. When disasters strike we care, in order, about the following: Human deaths (especially children), animal deaths (especially cute ones), and THEN property. I'm glad he didn't mourn overlong about the firebolt. It showed maturity.
quote: 2) Secret of the Horcrux. I think I am missing something but why was it so important to keep the Horcruxes a secret from everyone, including the Order of the Phoenix?
The only way to stop Vold is to destroy the Horcrux.
The only people who know this are Ron, Herm, and HP.
The mission is risky. It is likely that they will die. Then nobody will know how to end Volde.
I can understand that Horcrux, the idea, is so evil that nobody should know about them, but you could still tell people, "Hey, there are these things that if destroyed will weaken Volde."
If it were me, I'd jump on the underground radio network and tell the world.
Even after Dumbledore tells him that all his secrets were a mistake, HP still barely allows himself to tell Neville part of it. And sharing that secret brings success.
The secret of the horcruxes was critical -- as was demonstrated when Voldemort found out that Harry knew about them and was destroying them. As soon as he knew he went to check on them. Had he found one, he would have moved it to a place no one would have ever discovered and then what would they do? The entire horcrux plan worked because Voldemort didn't think anyone knew about them. He hid them in sentimental objects and places that a person who knew Voldemort well (and very few did) could reason out.
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Even Moldy Voldy did not know that Harry himself was a horcrux, containing a part of his soul. But if the Dark Lard knew that others knew about the horcruxes in general, like Christine said, he would have hidden better the ones that he knew about.
But I would speculate that Harry, since he himself contained a part of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Tamed, would have the ability to find all the other horcruxes, since presumably there would be some kind of link among all of the horcuxes. After all, look how often he found himself thinking the thoughts of Voldy and seeing and hearing what Voldy was seeing and hearing. Didn't he once or twice find himself seeing through the eyes of the snake, Nagini, too--another horcrux?
Telperion, isn't it fair to say that Harry did not really die?
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If there were a link amongst the different parts of Riddle's soul, I would expect Riddle to feel it when one of them was destroyed.
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That was explained - Voldy was so evil and so gone that he couldn't feel the difference between emptiness of soul and absense of soul.
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Christine, I am unconvinced. One was in Gringrotts, one in a trapped cavern with poison and enough undead to conquer a small country, etc, etc. I don't think there were more difficult places for them to be hid.
If more good guys know to destroy the Horcruxes then there is a better chance they will be destroyed. If the bad guys know that they are a key to Volde's power, then evil will do what evil does best and turn upon itself. Some, like the Malfoys may seek what revenge they could get on Voldermort. Others like Bettrix may pull her item out of Grigrotts in order to use at as a tool for power with Voldemort, which would result in some nasty thinning of the death eaters. My imagination could run wild with these scenarios.
However, it isn't worth arguing about.
The Owl could have been used to communicate between the Weasley's or the Order and our campers to let them know all was well and get updates. That may not have been possible for magic reasons, but once Hedwick was killed, Ron and Hermonie's owls went the way of most D&D Familiars--forgotten by their owners.
3) The Alternative Solutions. It is clear throughout the books that while muggles are totally clueless about the power of magic, the Magicians in general and Death Eaters in particular are totally clueless about the power of human technology.
Mudbloods and Harry--raised by muggles--are more familiar with such mundane power. Combining the two would be much more powerful than Magic or Muggledom alone.
Apparate into a Special Forces Barracks. Throw up a few quick Imperators, and suddenly you have a group of heavily armed marksmen trained in camouflage on your side. Call Volde out for a face to face duel, then when he and his crew show up to ambush you--your troops sniper at them from 1/4 of a mile away. Wands are fast, but a Sniper bullet is faster. Just saying.
4) Christianity in HP should not come as a surprise. Most of the Christian holidays are well represented each year. In fact, it can be argued that each book, besides being a school year long, follows a Christian year--with the evil being present by All Hollows Eve, the turning point coming at Christmas, and the ending beginning at Easter. Thats a bit of a stretch.
The wedding, while not given by a formal clergyman, and not a Church of England ceremony, still has signs of a Christian wedding. The religious words were just skipped over by RK.
Or you can look at the Christ similarities of HP totally backwards.
What if Jesus was just an early skilled young magician with a good soul. Some evil Horcrux producing Wizard was bent on world domination and living for ever. We can call him Herodimus, for example. His Horcruxes might even have been in similar items to Volde's--say a tiara of thorns, a gold cup or Grail, instead of a scar on a boys head, the actual head of the wise bearded mentor of the young hero--John something. Etc. etc. When his Imperator'd friend Judas brings the hero to meet this master magician, he willing goes to his death, and by doing such, does not truly die.
I am having way to much fun with this.
5) The Wands. The Death Wand seems to choose only the victors to bestow its power on. Those victors are the people who win it at the end of a battle. Some people have pointed out that Grid did not win the wand in a battle, but stole it from the wandmaker. That might explain how Dumbledor was able to defeat him and his unbeatable wand in their great duel. I believe that once the last owner of the wand dies the wand will start the choice of who it belongs too again, needing at least one battle to have its master proven. That is why Dumbledor was able to claim it fully after that great battle.
6) Harry will never become an Auror, despite what RK says above. Every time Harry duels or fights he risks being dewanded, which will transfer ownership of the Uberwand to the victor. This will keep the wand alive, which is what Harry swears not to do at the end of the book. No, I think he takes to writing Muggle fairy tales which sell like hotcakes in the wizarding world, making him wealthy ever after.
7)You know who is missing at the train station at the end? Hagrid. He was always at the train station for Harry, so his absence here must mean something. This can be explained by the fact that RK was going to have him die in this book, but changed her mind, since this chapter was written at the time she wrote the first book.
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He won't keep the wand alive. It's buried and hidden and nobody knows about it now. Even if he does get defeated, he's going to leave the Elder Wand where it is, in Dumbledore's tomb.
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quote:Originally posted by Dan_raven: Christine, I am unconvinced. One was in Gringrotts, one in a trapped cavern with poison and enough undead to conquer a small country, etc, etc. I don't think there were more difficult places for them to be hid.
If more good guys know to destroy the Horcruxes then there is a better chance they will be destroyed. If the bad guys know that they are a key to Volde's power, then evil will do what evil does best and turn upon itself. Some, like the Malfoys may seek what revenge they could get on Voldermort. Others like Bettrix may pull her item out of Grigrotts in order to use at as a tool for power with Voldemort, which would result in some nasty thinning of the death eaters. My imagination could run wild with these scenarios.
I don't find this at all plausible -- especially Belatrix turning aginst Voldemort. I think she was in love with him.
quote: The Owl could have been used to communicate between the Weasley's or the Order and our campers to let them know all was well and get updates. That may not have been possible for magic reasons, but once Hedwick was killed, Ron and Hermonie's owls went the way of most D&D Familiars--forgotten by their owners.
I can't disagree with this more. Harry, Ron, and Hermione could NOT have communicated with anyone, especially not with Hedwig. That was a pretty distinct owl and every order member and especially the Weasleys were being watched. Owls are not a secure means of communications, as we discovered in the fifth book. Even if they had had Hedwig, Pig would have been a better choice, but even that owl was likely to have been intercepted with the close watch the death-eater ministry was keeping on anyone they would have contacted.
quote:
3) The Alternative Solutions. It is clear throughout the books that while muggles are totally clueless about the power of magic, the Magicians in general and Death Eaters in particular are totally clueless about the power of human technology.
Mudbloods and Harry--raised by muggles--are more familiar with such mundane power. Combining the two would be much more powerful than Magic or Muggledom alone.
Agreed, but this wasn't really Rowling's world. I've played around with worlds like this...that tie magic and technology together...so have others.
quote: 6) Harry will never become an Auror, despite what RK says above. Every time Harry duels or fights he risks being dewanded, which will transfer ownership of the Uberwand to the victor. This will keep the wand alive, which is what Harry swears not to do at the end of the book. No, I think he takes to writing Muggle fairy tales which sell like hotcakes in the wizarding world, making him wealthy ever after.
Yeah, I spotted that too. It was one more reason I expected him to be a DADA teacher but whatever...once again, it's not my world or my story.
quote: 7)You know who is missing at the train station at the end? Hagrid. He was always at the train station for Harry, so his absence here must mean something. This can be explained by the fact that RK was going to have him die in this book, but changed her mind, since this chapter was written at the time she wrote the first book. [/QB]
He was never there to see Harry onto the train. He only collected him on the other side. And he was mentioned. The kids were supposed to have tea with him. Check it again. Posts: 2392 | Registered: Sep 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Dan_raven: Mudbloods and Harry--raised by muggles--are more familiar with such mundane power. Combining the two would be much more powerful than Magic or Muggledom alone.
You could play the older Jedi Knight games to get a parallel idea of what thats like (mixing powers and weapons). For even more flexibility you could mix up light and dark powers as a lower ranked Jedi.
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Near the end, after Moldywart's demise, Harry used the Elder Wand to repair his own wand, because he preferred it. No matter where he hid the Elder Wand, it would become the property of whoever might kill Harry, whether the location of the Elder Wand was known or not.
Hagrid probably ran off with Olympe Maxime, the half-giantess head mistress of Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, whom he was sweet on, and raised a family off in the Himalayas or somewhere.
Dan_Raven, I too have often marvelled that Hogwarts apparently taught no Muggle science. But maybe it is just as well that wizards and witches are not taught nuclear physics. Imagine what Moldywart might have done with that knowledge!
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Did JK ever tell us who Snape's source was when he told Voldemort the date when the Order would be moving Harry?
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Rowling liked to keep the wizard and muggle worlds separated far more than actually makes sense. (Actually, there are a lot of things that don't really make much sense in her world, but that's OK.) If a wizard tried to start using muggle science, she'd come up with some pretense for not allowing it to work.
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No, Mundungus didn't tell him. Snape knew from Dumbledore, because there's a scene where they're discussing it in the headmaster's office. Snape Confunded Mundungus to make him suggest to the Order that they use six decoy Harrys.
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That was a bad idea, IMO. Risk Harry and the rest of the Order's lives just so Snape can seem more evil to Voldemort? Why would Voldemort suspect Snape if he doesn't know when they're transferring Harry? The Order obviously no longer trusts him.
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Pretty dull and depressing for most of it, with an insanely idiotic Gringotts chapter, and cheesy but admittedly entertaining ending.
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Snape couldn't have found out when they were moving Harry from Dumbledore, because Dumbledore didn't know. He was dead, remember? Snape was talking to his portrait in the headmaster's office, which can consult and give advice, but would have had no way of knowing information from the Order. He had to have found out from Mundungus.
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quote:Originally posted by GaalDornick: That was a bad idea, IMO. Risk Harry and the rest of the Order's lives just so Snape can seem more evil to Voldemort? Why would Voldemort suspect Snape if he doesn't know when they're transferring Harry? The Order obviously no longer trusts him.
Voldemort demonstrates several times how he feels about his minions who are no longer useful to him and/or have failed him.
I'm fairly certain he would have looked at an end to Snape's inside information as the end of his usefulness.
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quote:Originally posted by GaalDornick: That was a bad idea, IMO. Risk Harry and the rest of the Order's lives just so Snape can seem more evil to Voldemort? Why would Voldemort suspect Snape if he doesn't know when they're transferring Harry? The Order obviously no longer trusts him.
Voldemort demonstrates several times how he feels about his minions who are no longer useful to him and/or have failed him.
I'm fairly certain he would have looked at an end to Snape's inside information as the end of his usefulness.
Maybe eventually, but he had just successfully killed Dumbledore so I think that success should ride him out for a while. And he was also useful as headmaster of Hogwarts. No, he was no longer a spy but he was no longer a spy. Only an idiot would have counted on Snape being able to get any information out of the order at that point. I have to agree -- Snape giving over that information at that time wasn't all that useful. IMHO, it was Rowling making one last attempt to convince those who were on the "Snape is good" side of the debate that he was really bad before doing her big reveal.
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quote:No, Mundungus didn't tell him. Snape knew from Dumbledore, because there's a scene where they're discussing it in the headmaster's office. Snape Confunded Mundungus to make him suggest to the Order that they use six decoy Harrys.
Actually, how was Snape in the headmaster's office at that point? It was before the ministry fell and, presumably, before Snape was headmaster at Hogwarts.
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Did it bother anyone else that when Nagini was sent to attack Snape he just stood there and let it happen. Snape was a VERY accomplished wizard, I refuse to believe he would let fear overpower him and just let the snake get to him. Sure he might not have stood a chance against Voldemort even without the snake attacking him but why not try?
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Not really. . . remember, the Daily Prophet was printing all those lies, questioning what had happened and implying that Harry had actually killed Dumbledore himself.
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It sounds like the Ministry was so corrupt that they didn't believe or didn't care that he did murder Dumbledore.
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quote:Originally posted by mr_porteiro_head: How could that have happened? Did people not believe Harry that he had murdered Dumbledore?
The ministry appointed him? Remember it was on Voldemort's pocket. Also wasn't Dumbledore's death inconclusive? Some people thought Harry killed him.
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quote:Not really. . . remember, the Daily Prophet was printing all those lies, questioning what had happened and implying that Harry had actually killed Dumbledore himself.
That didn't happen until after the ministry fell, did it?
quote:The ministry appointed him? Remember it was on Voldemort's pocket.
Not until the wedding - after Harry departed the Dursleys. Only the head of law enforcement was under their control prior when Harry departed.
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There's no way Snape was headmaster before Voldemort had full control over the ministry. I think Dag made an excellent point and it seems likely to be a pretty sizable oversight. Not unforgivable, but sizable.
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Didn't that conversation happen before Dumbledore died? He died at the end of the school year - I thought they were making plans for Harry for that summer before school ended.
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Ron & Hermononie showed Harry the headlines before the wedding, I'm pretty sure, which was before the Ministry fell. I don't have my book here to check, though.
I was under the impression that the Death Eaters had a lot of influence in the Ministry before it fell, and that the head of law enforcement was just one of the people on their side.
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That might have been when they had the conversation, but still, the actual date to move Harry couldn't have been set that early.
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quote:Ron & Hermononie showed Harry the headlines before the wedding, I'm pretty sure, which was before the Ministry fell.
The "Snape Confirmed as Headmaster" headline was seen after the wedding. I'm almost positive because I double checked. But it said "confirmed," so that doesn't mean it actually happened then.
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quote:Didn't that conversation happen before Dumbledore died? He died at the end of the school year - I thought they were making plans for Harry for that summer before school ended.
If it did, then my objection goes away. I'll have to double check.
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