Well, if not changing the book itself: -could the 'gohsts' tell just something about the veil? Or probably Dumbledore? There are actually many things that Dumbledore might've said in 'Kings Cross' chapter to make the book more acceptable for me. -how the sward got into the sorting hat, and why if it's so easy to pull it from the hat, they all went looking for it for so long? Something like 'every true Griffindor would pull the sward out of the sorting hat if he\she faces real danger, no matter where the sward is right now'
And, I know it's an offtop, but why... why the curtains, and no wands on the us cover?
She answered SO many of them. MOST of them are within the text. She doesn't come out and say 'this is this as I said it was important in this interview'. It's all there. Bar the veil, Ford Anglia and a few other small questions. All the other questions were generally answered in some form or another. She did very well. Brilliant.
I believe she has the right to include what she wants in her story-for example if she decided she didn't have time to tell us what the Potters jobs were as she said she would, that's ok. But there are a lot of those left, I think. And I am particularly unhappy with the Fidelius Charm as she clarified how it worked, so more than what was just in canon, and to me the way it's used in DH is not what she said. . . .
I was surprised that this question won, because it is not the one that I'd have voted for… but hey, if this is what you want to know, this is what you want to know!
When a Secret-Keeper dies, their secret dies with them, or, to put it another way, the status of their secret will remain as it was at the moment of their death. Everybody in whom they confided will continue to know the hidden information,
( ... )
Plothole: "We shall be leaving before Harry does. Due to the danger of using magic in your house--Harry being still underage, it could provide the Ministry with an excuse to arrest him--we shall be driving, say, ten miles or so, before Disapparating to a safe location we have picked out for you." (Page 37) Yet in OotP, Tonks and Moody use magic in the Dursley house when they go to collect Harry. Despite how much the Ministry wanted to expel/arrest Harry at the time, no one ever thought to check out this case of apparent underage magic that obviously wasn't performed in self-defense. Hmmm.
Problem #2: Snape died. :(
Solution: Denial. Snape isn't really dead. JK only said he stopped moving... really, anything could have happened. His "ghost" wasn't with the others' when Harry "died," and there was no mention of a Snape portrait in the headmaster's office, so I conclude that he only passed out from the blood loss and went on to live a happy, healthy life after Voldemort's defeat.
If it's a plot, whole it is one for book five, as it makes sense especially in book seven. And whilst Harry was up for a possible trial, any one of the said who performed the spell could go with Harry and Ministry, show them (using that Priori spell) what spell they used and when (the ghost of the spell I think) and with Dumbledore by his side, they wouldn't have had much to say on the subject.
In book seven these are dark and testing times. It's life and death. The Death Eaters and the Big V have taken over the Ministry. If they arrested Harry, it would be straight to the Death Eaters. Just look at what happened as soon as they left the protection of Privet Drive.
I know it may be a bit of loose fodder by Jo, but there is an explanation for it...
There are many possible explanations for everything in the world. Including 'why this book doesn't feel good-written for me'. And I tend to take the easiest explanation: plothole <-> the writer forgot about something, or decided to leave out the link.
Who doesn't want Snape to live a happy life now? After all the shit he's been through, he deserves it. He probably went off and got married to a beautiful, snarky woman and had several children. Or maybe just a daughter, to make fanon happy. XD
Then, by your own logic: Snake hiss =/= human hiss. Why are you in this community? If you disagree, leave. This is for people who are unhappy with the book and were hoping that it was a fake.
1. Hermione first says that she changed her parents' memories to protect them, but then later says she hasn't ever performed a Memory Charm, but only knows the theory.
2. How did Ron/Hermione get back up from the Chamber of Secrets? In the 2nd book they needed Fawkes to fly them back up.
1) I think that's the point... She'd never done one BEFORE, and only knew the theory, so I think she was betraying a bit of nervousness in what she'd done.
2) Ron was carrying a broomstick, if you read the part over again (I had to, I had the same question). I'm thinking they flew the broom up.
"1. Hermione first says that she changed her parents' memories to protect them, but then later says she hasn't ever performed a Memory Charm, but only knows the theory."
Actually, I think there's a distinction that JKR makes that we don't. When they refer to "Memory Charm," they're talking about the one whose incantation is 'obliviate,' I think, and that's for erasing memory. But she had just modified her parents' memories, not erased them. Plus she just "knew the theory."
Plothole: Voldemort flying Easy solution: a couple characters do comment that Voldemort can fly...a simple use of italics would make it clear that this is a new, unusual, skill.
Plothole: We never see anyone refilling on Polyjuice, although they are clearly Polyjuiced for more than one hour Easy solution: Have Made Eye explain, when they first use the potion at the Durselys, that the Order have developed a new, longer-lasting version of the potion. (New Long-Last Polyjuice! Now with Anti-Oxidants!")
Plothole: If Lily and Sev were bestest best friends for so many years, how come no one who would have known them both at Hogwarts ever mentioned this to Harry (Hagrid, Lupin, McGonnagal, etc) Not-so-easy solution: Go back in time and make reference to the Lily/Snape friendship in previous books. It does not ruin the Big Surprise, as we can still wonder if Snape is a Good Guy out of remorse or a Bad Guy out of rejection.
I thought this was understood as being an odd skill, just as Dumbledore can make himself invisible without a cloak.
"Plothole: We never see anyone refilling on Polyjuice, although they are clearly Polyjuiced for more than one hour"
I'd wondered about that, too, but I'm not sure whether they ever definitely went over the hour limit. Are you referring to the Ministry impostor episode?
"Plothole: If Lily and Sev were bestest best friends for so many years, how come no one who would have known them both at Hogwarts ever mentioned this to Harry (Hagrid, Lupin, McGonnagal, etc)"
I don't think that their friendship was really widely known -- they were hanging out with different crowds, and Lily's friends, I think, thought he was more of an acquaintance to her.
Oh I agree that it is noted that Voldemort can fly, I jut think if I were her editor, I would have suggested putting a stronger emphasis that this is an unusual, new development. Dumbledore's making himself invisible was actually referenced in this book as using a Disillusionment Charm, so that isn't particularly unusual magic
( ... )
As days pass, I am becoming less irate about the book
Yeah, me too. I still need to re-read it and as I've had the chance to start talking to other people about it, I'm coming around. But there are a few things I don't think I'll ever accept. For example, I've always felt GOF was a bit silly-if they wanted to kidnap Harry they really didn't need to make him win the contest. And Moody spent 10 months drinking Polyjuice, every hour. So I suspect there will always be points in this book, that just don't sit right with me.
Comments 44
-could the 'gohsts' tell just something about the veil? Or probably Dumbledore? There are actually many things that Dumbledore might've said in 'Kings Cross' chapter to make the book more acceptable for me.
-how the sward got into the sorting hat, and why if it's so easy to pull it from the hat, they all went looking for it for so long? Something like 'every true Griffindor would pull the sward out of the sorting hat if he\she faces real danger, no matter where the sward is right now'
And, I know it's an offtop, but why... why the curtains, and no wands on the us cover?
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If I start again on all the unanswered questions . . . :(
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http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/en/faq_poll.cfm
Result of F.A.Q. Poll
(SPOILER WARNING)
What happens to a secret when the Secret-Keeper dies?
I was surprised that this question won, because it is not the one that I'd have voted for… but hey, if this is what you want to know, this is what you want to know!
When a Secret-Keeper dies, their secret dies with them, or, to put it another way, the status of their secret will remain as it was at the moment of their death. Everybody in whom they confided will continue to know the hidden information, ( ... )
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Problem #2: Snape died. :(
Solution: Denial. Snape isn't really dead. JK only said he stopped moving... really, anything could have happened. His "ghost" wasn't with the others' when Harry "died," and there was no mention of a Snape portrait in the headmaster's office, so I conclude that he only passed out from the blood loss and went on to live a happy, healthy life after Voldemort's defeat.
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In book seven these are dark and testing times. It's life and death. The Death Eaters and the Big V have taken over the Ministry. If they arrested Harry, it would be straight to the Death Eaters. Just look at what happened as soon as they left the protection of Privet Drive.
I know it may be a bit of loose fodder by Jo, but there is an explanation for it...
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1. Hermione first says that she changed her parents' memories to protect them, but then later says she hasn't ever performed a Memory Charm, but only knows the theory.
2. How did Ron/Hermione get back up from the Chamber of Secrets? In the 2nd book they needed Fawkes to fly them back up.
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1) I think that's the point... She'd never done one BEFORE, and only knew the theory, so I think she was betraying a bit of nervousness in what she'd done.
2) Ron was carrying a broomstick, if you read the part over again (I had to, I had the same question). I'm thinking they flew the broom up.
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Actually, I think there's a distinction that JKR makes that we don't. When they refer to "Memory Charm," they're talking about the one whose incantation is 'obliviate,' I think, and that's for erasing memory. But she had just modified her parents' memories, not erased them. Plus she just "knew the theory."
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Easy solution: a couple characters do comment that Voldemort can fly...a simple use of italics would make it clear that this is a new, unusual, skill.
Plothole: We never see anyone refilling on Polyjuice, although they are clearly Polyjuiced for more than one hour
Easy solution: Have Made Eye explain, when they first use the potion at the Durselys, that the Order have developed a new, longer-lasting version of the potion. (New Long-Last Polyjuice! Now with Anti-Oxidants!")
Plothole: If Lily and Sev were bestest best friends for so many years, how come no one who would have known them both at Hogwarts ever mentioned this to Harry (Hagrid, Lupin, McGonnagal, etc)
Not-so-easy solution: Go back in time and make reference to the Lily/Snape friendship in previous books. It does not ruin the Big Surprise, as we can still wonder if Snape is a Good Guy out of remorse or a Bad Guy out of rejection.
Reply
I thought this was understood as being an odd skill, just as Dumbledore can make himself invisible without a cloak.
"Plothole: We never see anyone refilling on Polyjuice, although they are clearly Polyjuiced for more than one hour"
I'd wondered about that, too, but I'm not sure whether they ever definitely went over the hour limit. Are you referring to the Ministry impostor episode?
"Plothole: If Lily and Sev were bestest best friends for so many years, how come no one who would have known them both at Hogwarts ever mentioned this to Harry (Hagrid, Lupin, McGonnagal, etc)"
I don't think that their friendship was really widely known -- they were hanging out with different crowds, and Lily's friends, I think, thought he was more of an acquaintance to her.
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Yeah, me too. I still need to re-read it and as I've had the chance to start talking to other people about it, I'm coming around. But there are a few things I don't think I'll ever accept. For example, I've always felt GOF was a bit silly-if they wanted to kidnap Harry they really didn't need to make him win the contest. And Moody spent 10 months drinking Polyjuice, every hour. So I suspect there will always be points in this book, that just don't sit right with me.
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