[SPOILERS!] HP and the Deathly Hallows

[Paul]

This thread is for those who have finished the book. Spoilers will likely occur.

If you have not read the final Harry Potter book, you may wish to switch to another thread.

Put another way: THIS THREAD IS FULL OF SPOILERS!!! PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!

[Paul]

That said, I finished the book Saturday evening. Didn't lay my hands on the book until 2am Saturday morning, read until 5am, snuck in about 2 hours before noon, had a game in New Braunfels, then finished up circa 8pm.

I think the best analogy, for me, on my feelings towards the book, is to refer to the Matrix. Ya'know how, after #1 came out, everyone had all these ideas how the sequels should be? And how #2 was *so* far off what most people thought of as "The Matrix," it really ruined the entire series?

Deathly Hallows was the exact opposite of that.

Rowling tied together all the loose ends, and despite the fact that some of them felt predictable, it overall felt right.

No, I'm not happy with the first death -- the randomness just made me angry. But that is likely the reaction Rowling wanted. I wish we'd seen a bit more of "what are they doing" in the final chapter, but we got the important bits.

In the final analysis, it was worth the wait, and worth the staying up way past my bedtime.

[Icelander]

I concur. Enjoyed book, glad to see that there were no surprises and that all foreshadowing had actually been called for in the series.

The end was precisely what one expected.

All in all, excellent series. It's not high art, but hey, who needs high art anyway? ;)

[RevBob]

I quite enjoyed it, also. For the record, I didn't do too badly with my predictions:

Originally Posted by RevBob

1. Neville still has a significant part to play.

2. The final Horcrux is Harry's scar.

3. Ron and Hermione will explicitly fall for each other and tell each other how they feel.

4. For some reason, Harry won't wind up with Ginny. I think it's a shame, though.

5. Dumbledore still has more to say, but there's no resurrection in the cards. (Three words: notes, painting, ghost. Combine as needed.)

6. Snape really is a bad guy, but an eleventh-hour redemption is a real possibility.

7. At least one of the Weasleys will die. I'm guessing Fred or George.

8. The Dursleys will do something shockingly humane, for a change.

9. Draco's toast, unless he swallows his pride and switches sides. Voldemort isn't exactly the forgiving sort, and Draco failed him big-time in book six.

10. This volume may conclude Harry's story, but Rowling's going to do at least one more book in this world. Backstory, epilogue, parallel...something.

11. The Sorting Hat used to belong to Godric Gryffindor - so much for not being able to find a Gryffindor artifact to use as a Horcrux....

I pretty well nailed it on six of those, and one of the remaining ones can't be answered yet. That leaves four wrong, and I'm tempted to claim half-credit on Draco and Snape - Draco was almost literally toasted, and Snape may have been in it for The Greater Good, but he was still a rotten twit who did some things I think were pretty unforgivable. I'm actually glad to be wrong about Harry and Ginny, though.

[piningforthefjords]

What a great book. No one of any importance died (IMHO). The only characters I cared for in the story were Hermoine and Hagrid. She could have killed everyone else off for all I cared. But I have to say it was great and had a happy ending too.

I have a question though - were did Neville get the Gryffindor Sword from to hack the head off the snake? I thought that Goblin took it. Or does it just pop out of the sorting hat in an hour of need?

[Magicheide]

I agree that the first death was senseless and shocking and 2 deaths before page 80 certainly set the tone, but like many I am, over all, satisfied. There were parts I wish had been explained more fully, but the pace was pretty good (there were some introspective wanderings in the woods that went on for unecessary pages, but they were minor). I liked the addition of the epilogue, and that certainly leaves room for a new series in the future for the author. Some surprises were good and some foreshadowed enough that they weren't really a surprise. Snape for one. I literally dropped my jaw when reading that Snape was made a Headmaster of Hogwarts! I felt his affinity for Lilly was well foreshadowed, however. Kreacher was another pleasant surprise.

The final duel reminded me of the Ministry of Magic one in book 5. It was even more of a breakneck free for all and a lot of good people died, sadly. One dissapointment was the ruse of half-dying. Not only could you see it coming, it was frustrating to note that Dumbledore also could have easily had possesion of the Hallows before Harry--strange that one was not exploited more.

[Kai_Lord]

After having the various Hocruxes confirmed, it seems that Voldemort did indeed get one item from each of the houses, quite unintentionally. The missing Gryffindor item, is of course, Harry himself.

[Rasputin]

I definitely liked this one much better than Half-Blood Prince. I was a little disappointed at the bare minimum of future information given -- she handled only the six most important child characters, and we learnt the profession of only one, Neville Longbottom, and we didn't learn his family situation. Did Harry become an Auror? Did Neville hook up with Luna? Did Goyle ever utter a sentence? The Pensieve and flashbacks kill the idea of a prequel, mercifully, but her bare minimum of future information lets her have a sequel. I'd prefer that she write History of Magic (especially after the prominence of its fictional author in this last story) or Hogwarts, a History, however.

Originally Posted by piningforthefjords

I have a question though - were did Neville get the Gryffindor Sword from to hack the head off the snake? I thought that Goblin took it. Or does it just pop out of the sorting hat in an hour of need?

Must be. Harry did the same thing in Chamber of Secrets, though the sword was in Dumbledore's office at the time.

[Furabo]

What can I say? I generally agree with all that has been reported in previous posts, but wanted to note my general agreement.

I was actually a touch disappointed that Snape didn't play a larger role. But then, I like Snape a lot--his "saltiness" helps to offset the "sweet" of so many of the other characters.... I'd really rather hoped/half-anticipated that at some point Harry would be captured and that Snape would assist his escape, and at some point during those scenes he would have angrily shared enough so that Harry could figure out his history. As it is, I thought Rowling kinda let Snape and Harry's relationship off light, emotionally.

Same goes for the Dursleys: I would like to have seen a bit more of them.

I, too, was mildly irritated with Harry being "Mostly Dead" and getting to come back. I wonder if Rowling got talked out of actually letting him be Gone. It felt a little weak to me, but was understandable--esp. (I think) given that the books are ostensibly for younger readers. And I suppose it fit with Professor Tolkien's "eucatastrophe" model of a good fairy story.

I also was slightly disappointed that although Ron had his moment of weakness and left, Hermione did not seem to have a similar moment (although accidentally breaking Harry's wand might be a parallel for her). Or maybe I was reading too quickly to notice...?

All this said, tho, I thought the book wrapped everything up very well, and it certainly was not a disappointment! I can't really complain too strongly that Rowling didn't write out the plot precisely the way I might think it "ought" to be written: If she did, there wouldn't really be any surprises for me--and she would rob me of the fun of nitpicking the work! Fortunately, this is pleasant, surface nit-picking, unlike, say, my problems with the Star Wars Prequels.

[DryaUnda]

A good book, in spite of Tonks dying (boo...). I now plot and watch the future of the fan fiction.