Thoughts About Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince (SPOILERS)

*whips sweaty brow* Whhheeee... Thanks Winter Sorrow. I am indeed a lazy person... I just couldn't bring myself to go into the bedroom to retrieve the book and look it up. Owe ya one. ;)


Yes, I thought that was kind of cool how Tonk's patronus changed! My friend was probing me on what I thought it was... a dog per the description I preceived in the book...
How many knew Tonks was in love with Lupin?
 
Winters_Sorrow said:
Patronus :)

I also like the idea that the shape of the Patronus can change depending on how you're feeling (Tonk's Patronus changed once she fell in love with Remus)
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would point out that harry is told it can change under severe emotional truma, not just on a whim. tonks was obviously in love because she was talking to mrs weasly, and at the christmas dinner its given away that it's lupin. though why her appearance and power should suffer is beyond my understanding.
 
bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah!
to tired to do more than laugh at that
 
My thoughts on the latest HP book:

Let me first say that this is not a bad book. J. K. Rowling is a very talented writer, and her execution of the Harry Potter concept is simply brilliant. But Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is my least favourite of them all. There are a number of issues that pulls this book down below the others:
  • The setup: The first 100 pages of the book reads like an excessive plot dump, and almost all of it is dialogue. This book is all plot; almost no real story. Rowling was critizised for the massiveness of book 5, but this isn't an improvement, only an extreme opposite. It is like a HP movie: Lots of big events, but no room for all that little stuff that made it relatively unique.
  • The setting/atmosphere: The smaller details are crucial for the totality of the setting. I felt I was losing the grip on Hogwarts; what had been a huge, physical castle around me, now only seems to be a collection of brick fragments connected by the red line of the plot, only existing when called for by it. Hogwarts, and its richness, used to define Harry Potter. Now it could just as well be a space station or a concrete bunker; it doesn't matter, only the plot does.
  • The characters: Through five books, Rowling has presented us an ever-increasing number of original, life-like characters, but here there are almost none. Dear secondary characters like Neville, Dudley, Lupin, and, most of all, Hagrid, are only fleetingly mentioned whenever they get in the way of the plot.
    Those secondary characters who remain are just flat, and somehow add upp to the growing crowd of Exaggerated Antagonists; people who grasp any excuse to oppose and distrust Harry. An example is Zacharias Smith, whose presence in book 5 made it seem like he was destined for more important parts of the plot in this one. But now he's just another "Harry-hater".
  • The love affairs: The jealousy games brought back uncomfortable memories of The Wheel Of Time. They don't really seem to add anything, just turn Dean, Seamus, Lavender and some other characters into Exaggerated Antagonists. The Lupin-Tonks match didn't seem to have any purpose at all, except have them being occupied with each other, thus effectively sealed off from future plot.
  • The death: This might be some controversy. Dumbledore is dead, and, to be honest, I was quite relieved. I had already mourned him: The old Dumbledore died somewhere between book 5 and 6. The new Dumbledore was nothing like the old. There was no twinkle in his eyes, he was rash and impatient. He was like Hogwarts itself; unrecognizeable.
  • The ending: It is right as many people have said; this book was the preparation for book 7, and thus I feel it loses its independence as a story. All the bridges have been burned; he has no friends left on Hogwarts, Dumbledore is dead, Snape and Malfoy are gone, the relationship with Ginny was ended with surgical efficency; in other words: There is nothing left for Harry Potter at Hogwarts, and Ron and Hermione will follow him wherever he goes.
  • The balance: Let's look at book 3, The Prisoner of Azkaban. Why is this the favourite book for so many fans? I believe it is because it is so prefectly balanced. It has the delight of the first two, without feeling childish, but also the matureness of later books without being as tragic. Each book after the third climbs on the "anguish" scale; just think about seeing the opposition and inconveniences rise in book 4, or learning ever new reasons to hate Umbridge in book 5. The Order of the Phoenix was at the precipice; book 6 is well beyond. There is nowhere to rest.
All in all: The uniqueness of the series is dwindling. If it is true that there will be no Hogwarts in the last book, Rowling will have to make up something REALLY original and good to keep Harry Potter standing out over the heaps of ordinary fantasy.

At least, that's what I think.
 
Well, the Death Eaters made themselves known, Dementors deserted Azkaban and joined Voldemort, Snape choosed his true camp. Bad news: dementors can breed and Voldemort has a body again, all in volume # 6.

Dumbledore did his best to prepare Harry for the final battle. No surprise to see his character dead in the end.

The time for studies ended at 17 years old. It's time to see the main characters outside of school. Come on ! How many of you have wished to end the school ASAP ? At 16 years old, you believe you know everything. I know, it's only an idea teenegers have, but we all passed that age. :p
 
Alexa said:
Well, the Death Eaters made themselves known, Dementors deserted Azkaban and joined Voldemort, Snape choosed his true camp. Bad news: dementors can breed and Voldemort has a body again, all in volume # 6.

Dumbledore did his best to prepare Harry for the final battle. No surprise to see his character dead in the end.

The time for studies ended at 17 years old. It's time to see the main characters outside of school. Come on ! How many of you have wished to end the school ASAP ? At 16 years old, you believe you know everything. I know, it's only an idea teenegers have, but we all passed that age. :p
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Some of us are still studying at 38 :D :D
 
Well, I'm way behind you lot, having only just finished this book, but I think that Ivy's envelope will twitch a little more at my speculation. :)

Dumbledore had to die for 2 reasons:

1 to make way for Voldemort to come into the open and go after Harry.
2 to ensure that Snape is thoroughly trusted by Voldemort

I'm convinced that Dumbledore set it up such that Snape would be the one to kill him in such a way that the other death eaters would be forced to accept him fully into their ranks and report his deed to Voldemort. All the phoenix lamenting in the background has been mentioned already, so no prizes for my thoughts on him actually being dead! Dumbledore has proven himself to be right in all cases up to this point - the begging to Snape was out of character. It all adds up in my mind to a set up.

As for R.A.B. - this is very much of a wild guess, but I doubt that many people other than Dumbledore could have managed the cave, so I'm guessing that he had already been there and left that message - otherwise, why take Harry? It will probably mean something to somebody, but the reader is definitely not supposed to be able to decipher it with the information they have. It may even be the case that he has one of those time travel watches of his own and, having already been there with Harry - he knows the challenges, so goes back in time to a point before they go to the island, does the business and leaves the fake. I'm probably wildly wrong, but JK does have a way of weaving complex solutions.
 
R.A.B. has to be Amelia Bones. Unless of course JK only mentioned her demise early in the book to throw the more perceptive reader.

Mark I hope that you are right about Dumbledore and Snape - it is a kids book afterall.
 
Talked with a friend about an interview that Rowling did for some program. In the interview, Rowling said I never said that someone would die in each book....

It could be very possible that Dumbledore is alive... I believe so...
Besides all that if Snape had the ability to kill Dumbledore and didn't kill Harry it says something. While Snape couldn't have killed Harry, he choose to teach him... that I find interesting.
 
Snape offers the most questions. Is his malice toward Harry purely because he was bullied so badly by James? I can understand this. But if Snape loved Lilly then why we would want to hurt Harry, you would think he would want to protect him? You would at least think that the guilt of causing Lilly's death would make him warm to Harry. But humans are so complex we act not always with reason.
 
Did Snape love Lilly? I never got that impression...
I always thought that Snapes harsh feelings toward Harry was because of James and his friends... nothing more.
 
Yes he did love Lilly, which was partly the reason that he was bullied. The creepy little sci fi nerd was always hanging around.
 
For some reason I missed that... but still the same... I view the behavior toward Harry as a result of his father's behavior toward Snape. An eye for an eye, nothing more.

And I view Snape as a oily fantasy nerd. :D
 
I love all the Harry Potter books, but really enjoyed all the answers we got in this one.I think R.A.B is as, said before Regulus Black.
I also believe that Snape was acting on Dumbledores orders!! *crosses fingers*

I believe DD knew he was dying, hence the reason he spent so much time giving harry background information. I also believe DD sacrificed himself meaning Malfoy and Snape kept their lives.
 
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