Hogwarts Express: The Harry Potter Discussion/ Appreciation Thread! (Spoilers)

I don't think the scar will ever vanish. I'm of the opinion that the Potter books will finish on a victorious but ultimately bittersweet note. Everything will not turn out okay, and Harry's scar will (I hope) always be there as a sign of Harry's past. It may be an unwelcome burden, but that's a pillar of Harry's character; he's always been reluctant to fully take on the mantle he's been lumbered with. His scar, after Voldemort has been - at the very least - put back in his box, will never leave him.

 

I never dsaid that I though TOm MADE him one, I think it was a side effect of what happened......and if the snake is one, it was created AFTER the thing at godricks hollow. I only half believe it myself, but it makes total sense to me.......and Harry doesn't have to kill Tom, one of them has to kill the other

 

So the prophecy says:

"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord" not "The one who will vanquish the Dark Lord."

So once again Rowling leaves her options open as to who survives the series.

I for one was really hoping that Harry and Ginny could stay hooked up. She's pretty much the closest thing to normal as anyone in the series gets, and it would be nice if we could avoid all the romance conundrums that filled up the last two books. She doesn't have any dead former boyfriends, schoolwork and philanthropy complexes, and is generally level-headed. Harry's definitely gonna need some help to defeat Voldemort, and love worked before didn't it?

Hmm... wishful thinking probably.

As for harry being a horcrux, I don't think that Rowling will do it. For one thing, it's just a weird concept, although the concept of a horcrux is pretty wierd in itself, and IMO ill-defined. The other reason is that Harry will have to think about killing himself. I suppose that is one interpretation of "the power to destroy the Dark Lord" but I don't think it'll be done.

Looking back over the series as a whole, I still find Dumbledore's motives for just about everything he does, quite baffling. Very little of what he does in the last two books, makes sense, but I think his motives will become more clear in the last book.

I really enjoy the Harry Potter series, but at times I find it hard to connect to. I think the root of the problem lies in the fact that Harry is almost an anti-hero. Although this makes him more interesting, I think it also makes him harder to sympathize with. I see so much of Anakin in him that I'm surprised that Voldemort hasn't offered to let him join up. It's hard for me to root for a character that is so arrogant, foolish, and begrudging. I'm hoping that Rowling is going to bring the "good" out in him at last. To me, Malfoy has a better chance of redeeming himself, than Harry has at avoiding a fall to the Dark side.

Snape is a little bit more of a mystery, as are Harry's parents. We see so much of these characters through Harry's eyes, that our view of them is dramatically skewed at best. As HBP was Dumbledore's and Voldemort's book, so the next one will be Snape's and and Harry's Parents'.

Ok I'm done now.

 

I don't view Harry so much as an anti-hero or a hero...he is a regular kid (albeit one with magical powers and all...) but I love that about him, the same way I love that about Anakin. He is flawed, as are we all. I would love for him to become the hero in the book, I really would, but I am still not sure it is going to end up that way. I guess my theory is that Snape is going to somehow redeem himself at the end and have something to do with Voldemorts death, maybe even thinking that Snape himself will die as a result....I dunno. Give me a few days and I will change my mind I am sure...

What do we think abot Neville? Think he will play a big part in the book? He could have been the prophecy...

So many ways this could go. I think that Harry will have to face Voldemort alone and I do get the feeling he will be leaning in a very dark direction, but in the end, could he deliver the AK???? I am not so sure. That is where I think Snape will come in, someway.

 

There is something I read in a analysis book of Harry Potter. Doesn't it seem extraordinary that Neville has an incredibly moronic memory? We seem to be reminded about this throughout both the books and the movies. So why is his memory so bad? Could a boy, who could've been the Chosen One, really be that lost in his own mind? My answer is no. What if Neville is the victim of a powerful memory charm? One so powerful it knocked his entire memory out of whack? We know from Book 4 that Bertha Jorkins was victim to a memory charm and seemed to be inhibited afterwards as well.

What exactly happened to Neville's parents? Was it Order of the Phoenix business? Was Neville there? Is that why his memory would need to be erased?

 

All I know is I want to see Neville Effing kill or mame Bellatrix......

 

The more I think about it the more I think that Neville may very well be under the spell of a memory charm. I figure he is going to be a huge part of the outcome of the book at least, if not a major player in general.

 

From the books' perspective, he doesn't lack courage, loyalty or determination. I'll give him that much.

 

There was a lot of buildup for Neville in GOF and OOTP, the JK pretty much didn't bother focusing on him in HBP which kinda bothered me. I did like though that he (and Luna) were the only ones to answer the call to battle the Death Eaters in Hogwarts.

I too strongly believe that there's something going on w/ Neville's memory. Remember his mother always hands him gum wrappers - could that somehow be significant? Like she's trying to give him something to help him to remember something important? Could Neville be a secret keeper who's had a strong memory charm placed over him to prevent him from remembering?

I think it's all possible and I don't see JK just flat out dropping him from the last book and not resolving the many unanswered questions that surround him.

 

Rowling has said that the Gumwrappers from Neville's Mother means nothing. It's only supposed to be a bittersweet little moment between a mother and her son...

 

Am I the only one who thinks this discussion should be in the book forum, as this thread should really be just about the films?

 

We knew going into this that some discussion was going to overlap between this Forum and the Book Forum. Especially with things like Harry Potter. While we try to limit the discussion on the books portion, sometimes you can't help but use them in the context of your post. It's just one of those things that's going to happen and you can't really talk about Harry Potter without referencing both the films and the books.

 

Yes, but the discussion for the last page has been speculation on the seventh book. Then again, you are the mod and I'll bow out as now I'm just derailing this discussion. Sorry!

 

Well you know he *IS* a Boogieman Isn't it the job of the Boogieman to derail threads?

Back to the HP movies...

What scenes do you think can be cut in OOTP in order to keep the integrity of the story intact? What scenes can't/should NOT be taken out?

 

I think the whole thing (except the end) should be rewritten and edited for brevity.

 

Here's one thing I appreciate about Harry Potter: the casting. All the movies have brought the characters to life with good casting. I expect this will be the same with all the future movies still to come.

 

my favorite casting for the whole series so far has been Alan Rickman as Professor Snape

 

My favorite as well. I pray he continues through it all.

 

Actually, initially I was pretty disapointed with the casting of both Ron and Hermione. Neither was at all how I imagined. However, Ron's acting ability has been the strongest of the trio up until the recent film, so that made up for it. Only in GOF did I really warm to Hermione. And the initial casting for Dumbledore was horrible.

Other than that, though, brilliant.

 

I'm quite happy with the film's Ron and Hermione.

Ron does look like how I see him in the books but Hermione does not.

 

You know, I didn't start reading the books until late last year. Even though I didn't see the movies before I read the books, I still knew what the movie characters looked like. So that really made it easier to visualize them when I was reading about them.

Perhaps that's why I think the casting is top-notch with everybody, because I knew what they looked like before I read the books.

 

Rickman is the perfect Snape. His sense of timing is impecable, and his voice is exactly what Snape should sound like. HBP is going to be an awesome movie for him if he stick around.

 

You know, I just now realized that at the end of Chamber of Secrets, after Harry frees Dobby, Lucius begins the killing curse on him, till Dobby saves him. This is the first time watching it since before reading and seeing GoF and finding out what the killing curse is, which is why I hadn't noticed it before, but that's cool that he did that.

 

Well I know that's what it sounded like in the movie, but I think the actor was just mouthing gibberish. In fact, I don't think it's mentioned - in the book - what Lucius Malfoy mutters during this scene ... if anything.

 

No it doesn't say in the book, but last I checked we were discussing the movies. And I think it sounds an awful lot like it to just be coincidence.