Also, HP

[jethrien]

Finished Harry Potter last night. (Hey, I didn't get my copy until after lunch yesterday - it arrived while we were at Chuckro's parents' house.)


Overall, I'm satisfied. I would have liked to see a little bit more of Draco at the end, to get a sense of whether the whole debacle had any impact on him at all.

A couple questions:
- How did Gryffindor's sword get back into the hat after the goblin took it? I realize they needed it to be there, plotwise, but it didn't really make sense.
- If the entire house of Slytherin abandoned Hogwarts at its moment of need...why the hell is there still a house of Slytherin? I mean, we've pretty much proved that Slytherins are only good despite themselves. Why continue allowing this house to exist?

Anyway, it was a little more straightforward than it could have been, given all the hints dropped about Neville and so on. But overall, it was enjoyable, wrapped up most of the loose ends, and felt like a satisfying close. So I'm happy.

Comments

[jethrien.livejournal.com]

Still, I was kind of disappointed by how clearly Slytherin favored Voldemort. According to the Sorting Hat in the beginning, Slytherin was supposed to be home for the ambitious, not necessarily the evil. It would have been more interesting if a couple more of the Slytherin kids weren't totally against the school, and maybe some of the other houses' kids were more sympathetic to Voldemort. Maybe not Hufflepuff, but surely some of the Ravenclaws would be tempted. After all, look at her daughter...

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

I think Rowling has a funny sense of condemning most Slytherins (if not Slytherins all) to a life of self-interest and ambition that, unfortunately, pre-select them for pursuing careers through the use of dirty tricks. Not all, certainly. I'm pretty sure that Percy Weasley would have been a Slytherin if he hadn't chosen against it (not that they've shown that, but I'll bet my Sorting Hat, he was a likely candidate). What's funny about Rowling's attitude towards them and evil = ambitious is that she is not exactly unambitious herself. Rowling: the ultimate example of good in Slytherin?

As far as I remember, Slytherin made blood purity and ambition together his means of determining members of his house, too, so that's a pretty sure way to get a bunch of rich, stuck-up prigs who wouldn't lift a finger to catch a feather. Hufflepuff, being the one who was willing to take the rest, would have collected a bunch of muggle-borns and half-bloods, so I'm assuming that there'd be far fewer of them likely to support the muggle-murdering Death Eaters. As for Ravenclaw, well, I've always thought them most like Slytherins--their mad pursuit of knowledge being almost as zealous as anything a Slytherin would do for power. So, you're right there--there should have been some who'd have been more tempted or on the wrong side.

[jethrien.livejournal.com]

If purity is required for Slytherin status, why was Harry considered? Lily seems to be a Muggle, or at least has wizard blood so far back in her family tree she doesn't know what it is. So Harry's father's line might be long and pure, but he seems to be a half-breed.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Hold up, I didn't say pure blood was a requirement!

Blood purity was not a requirement but a preference when Salazar Slytherin was at Hogwarts. I assume, like all royal houses have found, he would have taken in gifted, Slytherin-inclined half-bloods and the like as well. Once he was no longer alive, his preferences couldn't be mandated or strictly maintained by the Sorting Hat because the Hat takes into consideration what the sorted wizards and witches choose in addition to their individual leanings. Thus, after many years of ill will being produced against Slytherins, you'd have plenty of pure bloods in no hurry to be in Slytherin but plenty of pure bloods in Slytherin maintaining that that was how you told how really magical a bloodline was. Hence the reputation of Slytherin would supplant the reality of the half-bloods and muggle-borns among their ranks.

[hyouneko.livejournal.com]

Pure bloodedness is not a requirement. See Snape and Voldamort.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Never said it was. See my comment above :)

[hyouneko.livejournal.com]

My bad, I misread.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

No worries!

[hyouneko.livejournal.com]

According to Wikipedia, Rowlings defends Slytherin saying they aren't all bad. But I think it actually shows a weakness in her writing. We are supposed to believe that they aren't all evil, but yet most of the villans are from Slytherin. Seriously, the house of Voldamort? It's represented by a snake? At this point, regardless of intent, the writing's in the books. Gryphendor is seen as good and Slytherin is seen as evil.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

The problem Rowling has with defending Slytherin is that she has purposefully condemned it from the outset. Hagrid is the one who says that there wasn't ever a witch or wizard who went over to the dark side that wasn't in Slytherin. It's why it was so easy for the world at large (who didn't know him) to believe that Sirius would have turned on the Potters (since his family's Slytherin forever, it would be easy to assume the Hat made a mistake in his case; it also makes the case of Pettigrew all the more interesting).

So, while it's true that all dark wizards and witches are Slytherins, not all Slytherins are dark wizards and witches, it doesn't look well for one house of Hogwarts to have such a huge amount of attrition to evil forces.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

And, as for the snake? Snakes are perfectly lovely creatures. Harry talked to several and found they weren't really all that bad. Like anything else, there's always a few bad apples to spoil the bushel. Besides, there are plenty of examples of creatures thought to be evil by reputation and lore that aren't, really, even just in Harry Potter.

Sorry, got defensive as a former snake mommy.