Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows - POTENTIAL SPOILERS

[Plane Sailing]

Well, I've just finished the book.

I'd have liked to see the first 200 pages cut down to about 50 or so, I got thoroughly bored by the endless wandering around and dead ends and so forth.

Once everyone got to Hogwarts at the end I liked it, and I felt that the final battle(s) and the resolution of the Voldemort problem was excellent. Interesting that it is only after Snapes death that we really get to see significant additional things about his character, and it makes him an even more tragic figure.

I wasn't impressed by the epilogue, except as a way of showing that Harry had forgiven Snape.

I have one unanswered question come the end - why did JKR have Sirius fall through the mysterious 'curtain' rather than just die? It seemed to be portending something but... didn't.

Cheers

 

[kingpaul]

I have one unanswered question come the end - why did JKR have Sirius fall through the mysterious 'curtain' rather than just die? It seemed to be portending something but... didn't.

So there was room for sequels?

 

[Ilium]

I have one unanswered question come the end - why did JKR have Sirius fall through the mysterious 'curtain' rather than just die? It seemed to be portending something but... didn't.

Cheers

Pure conjecture on my part, but I think it was to make it harder for Harry to accept his death. In real life, of course, people often go through a denial phase when someone close to them dies. By having Sirius die in this weird, ambiguous way, JKR makes it easier for us to sympathize with Harry's nagging suspicion that Sirius is still alive. Also, it makes the death "pure." That is, Sirius just died. He didn't suffer or anything. That forces Harry to deal with the simple fact of his death without dragging in the trauma of watching him die in any kind of specific way.

So, in short, I think it had more to do with character development than plot.

 

[sckeener]

I have one unanswered question come the end - why did JKR have Sirius fall through the mysterious 'curtain' rather than just die? It seemed to be portending something but... didn't.

That is one question I have as well. The only vague reference to it in the Deathly Hallows is when they were discussing the Hallows with Luna's father and he mentioned the 'curtain'...and that was it...a mere mention and not even in reference to the particular curtain in the dept of mysteries.

I fully expected the curtain to work into the story...but it didn't, so I am left wondering.

As for the Hallows themselves, I found them needed only for Harry's decision while burying Dobby...the whole adolescent lust for power (elder wand) vs doing the responsible thing (destroying horcruxes)

 

[The Grumpy Celt]

I always took it that the curtain was was a kind of "wizard gas chamber" for executions, so I as never really fascinated by it.

Some parts felt a bit drawn out and other's too brief. The climatic battle was great, as was Voldy's death.

 

[GirII]

That seems like exactly the sort of thing that belongs in the epilogue! After all, its the end to THEIR story - not the beginning of their kid's...

I'm sure I'll gripe about Rowling using tantalizing details like this to sell future books... as I stand in line to pay for them.

It can be argued that the end of one generation's story is the beginning of the next generation's story. By showing the beginning of their kids' story it illustrates that Harry's story is done.

 

[Hijinks]

I wanted Harry to show some cleverness, ingenuity and real potential. Instead we see Hermione doing all of the spell casting, solving all of the problems and taking charge of all of the situations.

I think perhaps part of it is that Hermoine has emerged from the stories as a strong role model for young girls. I've seen advice columnists refer parents to the novels and have their daughters read them to get an idea of what a strong, capable girl is like, rather than a vapid twit. So perhaps Rowling wanted to make sure that Hermoine remained very strong, and perhaps took it too far, to the point where she was taking all of Harry's capabilities.

Or perhaps she's just over-enforcing the idea of friends being all-important, so that Harry couldn't have achieved anything without his friends.

 

[Psionicist]

The normal and Wizarding worlds barely intersect, though. They sent one guy to protect the muggle Prime Minister but that was it. The Ministry of Magic kinda goes it's own way and stays out of the mundane's realm and visa-versa. I doubt that if the Prime Minister really had any effect on the Ministry of Magic that he's have allowed it's excesses in the latter books. He seems to know that it exists, but that's about it.

Don't forget the first chapter of book 6. The only wizard the muggle prime minister really liked was Kingsley after all. I can see the Ministry of Magic and Prime Minister relationship increasing now which would fit the "new ministry" clarification.

 

[Mistwell]

Of course, funny enough, Harry never had all three at the same time, so...

Some centaur will be wandering around and find a resurrection stone!

You don't have to have them all at one time. You have to be the master of all of them at one time. Which Harry was.

 

[Vocenoctum]

You don't have to have them all at one time. You have to be the master of all of them at one time. Which Harry was.

I dunno, the only one that had "mastery" was the Wand, the Ring certainly wasn't mastered in any meaningful way, and anyone could use the cloak.