A lot of people dislike the epilogue for some reason. Me, I didn't have much of a problem with it... but then I like stuff other people don't, so what the hell do I know?
Poll: Harry Potter problem
- Thread starter Caedus
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This thread is the first I've heard about people picking up on a lurve vibe between Minerva and Dumbledore. I was under the impression that the point of him going along with Grindelwald's immoral plans and following him like a smitten puppy was because, as he explains to Harry "I was young and foolish" *Dumbledore trails off unhappily remembering how his heart was broken*. At least, that's how I interpreted that conversation near the end of the books.SmashLovesTitanQuest said:
So it's not 2+2=4, it's that the fan sees what they want to see.
OP: It's like when someone dies, you go for a while feeling like you can't live without them. It's happened to me with other long running series as well as HP, you'll move on eventually, time heals all wounds.
I can accept that ending. The one in the books just came off as too happy for everyone. I felt like there needed to be a big sacrifice from one of the main characters to end everything. The death of Harry's mother's what set this whole thing into motion, it seemed only right that someone else's death should end it.Averant said:
I do understand it was dramatic effect but it still really bugged me. As for the gun - I would assume that Voldemort would have some sort of charm on himself to prevent death by such mundane means. Of course I've always wondered how it is that everything going on is completely unnoticed by muggles. Certainly if the UK military had noticed a castle under siege - or a dragon tearing its way across Diagon Alley - they would've at least sent jets to investigate it. I don't think Voldemort and his followers would fair well if bombed by the UK air force.Averant said:
About the end; while I didn't really enjoy the epilogue that much, I liked the ending nonetheless. Now that I think about it, maybe it was a bit abrupt, but all in all, I simply love the series and there's little from it that may annoy me. To hell with bias; the series influenced my life in such amount that I could write a book on my own about it, so I simply let some "flaws" slide. The epilogue bothered me a bit because it was so vague and somehow seemed like she wanted to just push in the most important information about the trio and their family lives, but then again, what else could the epilogue have consisted off? No matter what she wrote, someone would find it inadequate. And I can't imagine what else should have been there, besides writing a whole book and naming it "Harry Potter - The Epilogue".Caedus said:
Anyway, if you can't get enough of it, you should try watching A Very Potter Musical (if you haven't already) and joining Pottermore (once it opens for all, it's still in beta. I was lucky to get that early access). While Pottermore is still only starting and there's not really that much to do right now, I can't wait for more info that we'll get there (currently, only the first book is "playable" and as it's short, there's not much to do. However, there's still plenty of awesome additional info).
I know you've been quoted to death, and I don't want to bash you or attack you. I'd just like to say that not agreeing with something about the canon is completely normal, but you have to accept the fact that it is canon. You wouldn't be the first nor the last person to have their own versions of certain events, versions that differ from the canon, various shippings and so on.CODE-D said:
Canon is not only what is in the books, because everything that JKR invented about the world could not fit in the books. She has tons of material and character info that never made it to the books, simply because there wasn't enough space for everything (and you can't put things out of context just to put them in). Besides, it's essentially a book for kids; you can't just put a sentence like "Oh by the way Harry, I love to have sex with guys!" in it. It wouldn't make sense even if it wasn't a book for kids; there was absolutely no reason for Harry to know Dumbledore's sexual preferences, because they were not THAT close nor they should have been. However, Jo naturally had a background and additional info for all characters; some of it made it into the book, some of it didn't. Writing does not consist only of writing things that you will put in the final product; it is much more than that and it involves hundreds of pages of stuff that no one, but you, will ever read. It's necessary to have as much information as possible about your characters, places and events, despite the fact that that information will not end up in the book. It helps the author to organize things, to know who does what and why, to give the author the feeling of really knowing the world and characters. Let me show you something from Pottermore; JKR's additional info on her progress while writing the story and the amount of things she wrote besides things that ended up in the book:
Two of my most prized possessions are a pair of small notebooks, which contain my very first scribblings about Harry Potter. Much of what is written in them was never used in the series, although it is startling to come across the odd line of dialogue that subsequently made it, verbatim, to publication.
In one of the books is a list of forty names of students in Harry's year (including Harry, Ron and Hermione), all allocated houses, with small symbols beside each name depicting each boy or girl's parentage.
While I imagined that there would be considerably more than forty students in each year at Hogwarts, I thought that it would be useful to know a proportion of Harry's classmates, and to have names at my fingertips when action was taking place around the school.
As the stories evolved, I changed the parentage of some of the original forty. While some never appeared in the books at all, I always knew that they were there; some had surgery to their names after their first creation; a few emerged from the background to have their own secondary stories (Ernie Macmillan, Hannah Abbott, Justin Finch-Fletchley), and one, Neville Longbottom, developed into a very important character. It is very strange to look at the list in this tiny notebook now, slightly water-stained by some forgotten mishap, and covered in light pencil scribblings (undoubtedly the work of my then infant daughter, Jessica), and to think that while I was writing these names, and refining them, and sorting them into houses, I had no clue where they were going to go (or where they were going to take me).
In one of the books is a list of forty names of students in Harry's year (including Harry, Ron and Hermione), all allocated houses, with small symbols beside each name depicting each boy or girl's parentage.
While I imagined that there would be considerably more than forty students in each year at Hogwarts, I thought that it would be useful to know a proportion of Harry's classmates, and to have names at my fingertips when action was taking place around the school.
As the stories evolved, I changed the parentage of some of the original forty. While some never appeared in the books at all, I always knew that they were there; some had surgery to their names after their first creation; a few emerged from the background to have their own secondary stories (Ernie Macmillan, Hannah Abbott, Justin Finch-Fletchley), and one, Neville Longbottom, developed into a very important character. It is very strange to look at the list in this tiny notebook now, slightly water-stained by some forgotten mishap, and covered in light pencil scribblings (undoubtedly the work of my then infant daughter, Jessica), and to think that while I was writing these names, and refining them, and sorting them into houses, I had no clue where they were going to go (or where they were going to take me).
And this is only one example. She wrote details about completely non-important characters; you really believe she didn't have details about characters like Dumbledore? Personally, I always wondered about Dumbledore and how come he didn't have a family (as a matter of fact, in the books, it was never mentioned that any of the Hogwarts staff had a family; and it kinda makes sense as the story is told from Harry's perspective and I don't think he would be interested in exploring his professors' love affairs). And I don't think we would ever truly know about Dumbledore if one random fan didn't ask JKR about it. She didn't announce it to annoy people or to create a scandal; she was asked a question and she answered (because she had an answer already). Dumbledore's sexuality is not important for the story so it wasn't in the books (unless you want to interpret his relationship with Grindelwald in a more... intimate way).
Anyway, I find it perfectly normal for people to disagree with canon and to create their own versions of character relationships and events, but canon is canon, whether it was in the book or not (and a lot of canon is not in the books). If you don't imagine Dumbledore as gay, well, that's your opinion (after all, there are people who make heterosexual characters gay so they can ship them in their fan fictions, despite the fact that those characters are clearly not gay in the books. There are also people who refuse to believe that Harry ended up with Ginny and they believe that his true pair is Hermione. There are millions of examples like this). However, officially, according to canon, Dumbledore is gay.
I hate to be an annoying nitpick, but Hogwarts is in Scotland.Da Orky Man said:
This poll doesn't seem to have a yes answer which is what I would have chosen-go to Hogwarts, get dumped in Slytherin, become evil magical terrorist as a result, ????, profit!
Probably pissed that JK screwed up their fanfic.Olrod said:
I think that's the only reason 90% of the internet cares about the sexuality of fictional characters, anyway.
It does seem odd to dump all the manipulative trouble-makers and potential magical murderers into one house that rewards and encourages these values.Zachary Amaranth said:
Yeah, my muggle life isn't bland.Caedus said:
If your muggle life is bland then you need to stop losing yourself in books and start living your life rather than imagining others.
An unpopular view on these forums, I'm sure, but it's true.
The Dresden files make Harry Potter look like shit. Hell the Dresden files make most things look like shit. Also they have real vampires in dresden. None of this emo, sparkely bull shit. Gient, intellegent, super strong, super evil bat like things that crave human blood and can take human form when nessasery. They also have asperations of world domination.Jedoro said:
...I think he was probably joking, mate. And after all, to us muggles, any life as a wizard would make our lives seem bland.Danny Ocean said:
I read the last page of the last book in Waitrose. Seemed a bit lack luster as an ending, and I haven't even read the others.
I was going to add "They are freaks, I'm happy being a normal person" and "When do I get my wand?" (and even maybe "My family is pureblood and I'm against my will on this Muggle-computer") but I hit Enter by mistake and it sent the poll+thread. I tried to fix it but it wouldn't change.Danny Ocean said:
And no, my life isn't bland (though it could be better ^^'). You don't seem to have any idea where you are right now. This is the Internet and "imagining other lives" is quite normal. Even in the reaaaaal world.
I'll have a look in Dresden Files as soon as I have the money though.
Honestly I was way over the HP series before the seventh book even came out. I mean they're good children's books, but by the time they were winding down I was getting out of puberty and was looking for more substance in a book. I thought the names Harry gave to his kids were kind of hokey...
I'm 23 with a life I'm happy with but you know what? Yes. I would love to go back 12 to 13 years and get that letter of acceptance to Hogwarts or whatever its equivalent would be in the U.S. If I were to go to Hogwarts, I would have missed Harry and the gang but I would have been able to meet Hagrid so there's that. Also, I would have attended in the Post Snape years under a new headmaster. So no Dumbledore but also no Snape...what the hell, I'd still do it!
