Rate Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (spoilers)

[Flexor the Mighty!]

I've talked to several people who talked of plot holes like Arnwyn does only to say after I explained the book, "Oh that's what that was about", or "Oh well that makes more sense now that you have explained that...". It was just too short. It needed about 20 more minutes to get everything down.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

Harry has certainly absorbed massive abuse from the Dursley's, but he has also dealt out a significant amount of unpleasantness back at them. One of the things I like about the series is that Harry isn't always perfect or likeable. He's an utter twit sometimes, just like real people. His treatment of the Dursleys is a good example.

The Dursleys have never treated Harry like anything other than garbage. They deserve so much more misery than they have recieved. In the books they make it clear that Harry has always been treated like by them, they have never accepted him, or treated him as anything other than an unwelcome burden. It must be a great feeling for a small kid to get a pair of your uncles old socks for Christmas while your cousin gets 30 gifts, or to never have your birthday celebrated except by yourself with a drawing of a cake in the dirt.

Personally I'd enjoy it if Harry lost control and hit them with the Imperius Curse for a summer before he leaves.

 

[MaxKaladin]

Imperius Curse

Huh? What's that?

FWIW, Everything I've heard about the situation indicates that Harry was being "done unto" long before he did anything back and that the Dursleys have dished out far more than Harry ever did in retaliation. Of course, I haven't read the books...

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

Huh? What's that?

FWIW, Everything I've heard about the situation indicates that Harry was being "done unto" long before he did anything back and that the Dursleys have dished out far more than Harry ever did in retaliation. Of course, I haven't read the books...

A mind control curse. One of the three Unforgivable Curses that automatically gets you a life sentence in Azkaban. They get into those in the next book/movie.

And you are right. Harry has always been a treated extremely poorly by his "family".

 

[Plane Sailing]

As an aside, would anyone mind if we gave up the spoiler tags for this discussion of the fifth book? I'm not sure if anyone is still reading this thread who hasn't read Order of the Phoenix yet. If anyone minds, maybe we should start a new thread to continue talking about it.

Daniel

I have been reading this thread, I haven't read book5 yet... so if spoiler tags get dropped (and it looks as if someone has already) I'll have to give this thread up (which will be a shame).

It would probably be better to take HP book 5 chat off into a separate thread to ensure that nobody accidentally gets spoilers for the latest book (especially since the thread title doesn't warn of *that* possibility!)

What do you think?

 

[Plane Sailing]

OK, I've just read book 5, so I don't mind if people continue talking about it again. It was my least favourite of all the HP books as it happens. Somewhat over long and bloated and the few interesting revelations don't make up for the somewhat turgid plotline and lack of any surprising revelations. Each of the previous books has had a really decent twist towards the end; everything is deliberately telegraphed in this one.

Will she get back into her stride for book 6? It would be nice (but unlikely) for her to have an editor tell her to refine her story somewhat next time.

Cheers

 

[Barendd Nobeard]

A mind control curse. One of the three Unforgivable Curses that automatically gets you a life sentence in Azkaban. They get into those in the next book/movie.

And you are right. Harry has always been a treated extremely poorly by his "family".

Spoiler

Except for that one thing revealed at the end of Book 5....and I suspect Petunia has regretted it ever since!

 

[Staffan]

SPOILERS FOR BOOK 5 IN THIS POST!

Spoiler

I get the impression that he's very moral and very competent, but also very mean. He's screwed up in the past--he supported Voldemort, IIRC--but he's trying to make amends now.

More spoilers for OOTP:

Spoiler

It's been a while since I read it, but as I recall Snape wasn't a Voldermort supporter. He carries the mark of the death-eaters, but that's because he was a double-agent working for Dumbledore and spying on Voldemort and the Death-Eaters.

 

[cignus_pfaccari]

Well,

Spoiler

I'm starting to wonder what the relationship with Voldemort was like. I'd always wondered why Voldemort went after the Potters. What was so special about them that he needed to take them out? I wonder if it was nothing more than payback for James Potter being a supreme jerk to Voldemort in their past.

Well...

Spoiler

my thought is that it's because they stood up to him, as part of the Order of the Phoenix. A great many of the Order were maimed (like the Longbottoms) or killed during the War; it's scary how many, when you see the picture of them. It's likely that the Potters, being Voldemort's opponents, and having a new baby, would've made a particularly impressive target. Unfortunately for Voldemort, he chose...poorly.

Spoiler

(I'm not clear on Voldemort's chronology but I have the impression he was a contemporary of Jame and Lilly Potter.)

Spoiler

Not sure why I'm putting this in spoilertext, but in Chamber of Secrets you see Voldemort in Hogwarts at the time Dumbledore is a professor, rather than Headmaster. It takes time to accumulate the kind of wizarding power that Voldemort has, even if you're delving strongly into the Dark, so he probably wasn't a contemporary of James Potter and Lily Evans. He was definitely older than them, but how much older is debatable...though I could ask my friend, but she's asleep as I write this and would kill me if I called, even if it is about HP.

Brad

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

More spoilers for OOTP:

Spoiler

It's been a while since I read it, but as I recall Snape wasn't a Voldermort supporter. He carries the mark of the death-eaters, but that's because he was a double-agent working for Dumbledore and spying on Voldemort and the Death-Eaters.

Snape

Spoiler

was a Death Eater, but he turned on Voldemort and began to spy for Dumbledore. He is an Occulumus and it enables him to close off emotions in his mind that allow others to know if he is lying or not. They don't explain why or how Snape turned but I think it will be dealt with next book. Know what I don't know is how Malfoy and the other Death Eaters didn't find out that Snape was a spy back in the hayday of Voldemort. In Goblet of Fire Harry sees Dumbledores thoughts in the Penseive that are about the trial of Karkaroff where it is said that Snape has turned on Vorldemort and is working for the Ministry. Malfoy has all kinds of pull at the Ministry, at least before the end of Book 5 he did. How did he not know that Snape was a traitor? The problem is that it's alluded to that Snape is in contact with the Death Eaters finding out what Voldemort is telling them. Why wouldn't Malfoy and the rest have already killed Snape for his betrayal a long time ago?

www.hp-lexicon.org has some timelines and they put Tom Riddles hogwarts days being in the 40's while Snape & James Potter and crew were there in the seventies. It's a pretty cool site, but it's not really official I suppose.