Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Review (part three)
Third part of review: Horcruxes, Voldemort, The Malfoys and some Death Eaters.
Horcruxes
The cup, the locket, the snake, something from Ravenclaw or Gryffindor, etc. Incidentally, there was both something from Ravenclaw and something from Gryffindor, counting Harry, which made, what? Seven Horcruxes, as opposed to the six initially contemplated?
Slytherin’s Locket: it was the thing people caught first. It was too obvious, R.A.B., that some people had guessed even before finishing the book. I really can’t remember if I did, but I do remember reading - or thinking up - that the second name might be Arcturus. For some reason, I discarded it, thinking that I had been influenced by Arthur Weasley’s name, the first with ‘A’ that sprang to mind. But who would have known, eh? What was really creepy regarding the locket was its influence on the Trio’s moods; it made me think of the One Ring.
Hufflepuff’s Cup: I don’t think anyone could have guessed where it was hidden. Of all the mysterious places in the world, it turns out it was in a vault, at Gringotts. How mundane. Still, Hermione and Ron’s going back to the Chamber of Secrets, and his faking of Parseltongue - which, I have to say, seems possible to me: there was a related reference, in GoF, where Dumbledore speaks Mermish, and if such a language can be learned by a human, I’m positively sure that Parseltongue can be, as well - was something predictable, and obvious, once they were at Hogwarts, and effective, luckily.
Ravenclaw’s Diadem: it was mentioned in HBP, and it jumped at me a few times, as suspicious. The scene where it’s found is good, and it marks an important event in Harry’s quest: his overlooking of an enemy’s misdeeds against himself in order to save his life. And Crabbe’s death by burning was unexpected, but effective, as he took with himself the diadem. About ‘Fiendfyre’, though, did anyone else had the impression that JKR was in a ‘screw latin and greek roots, I’m just going to put two words together and change the spelling’ mood? And regarding the destruction of the diadem, cup and snake, I feel like it was too rushed, compared to the locket, but then, a few chapters on each would have made the book much, much longer, not that us fans would have minded, but still, the story might have suffered for it.
Voldemort’s Snake: pure stroke of brilliance and bravery from Neville. Not much to say about it, except that it’s fitting that he was able to extract Gryffindor’s sword from the Sorting Hat, since both objects belonged to Godric, and they might have been enchanted for him to be able to carry his sword around in his hat, to draw whenever needed. Again, too quickly done, even if appropriate. Things seemed to become easier as time went by, huh?
The ‘something from Gryffindor’: Harry. I can say that I was thwarted by the ending; I had believed Harry would sacrifice himself in order to destroy Voldemort. Me and my boyfriend had the theory that he was, indeed, an accidental Horcrux, which explained his link with the Dark Lord, and that, in order to destroy him, he would have to destroy himself. And it made sense: his own sacrifice to save the whole Wizarding world, just as his mother had sacrificed herself for him, is what the series is all about. But still, I hadn’t expected that he would be able to come back like he did; it makes everyone right, the ones that said he dies, and the ones that said he lives. He did both!
And since the Diary and the Ring were already destroyed, all that was left that the highly-unstable bit of soul in Voldemort. His death scene was pathetic, from a Team Evil perspective. Held off for long enough to be ridiculed by a teenager, and then finished off by his own backfiring curse? That has got to be the Most Embarrassing Moment for a Villain Ever.
Voldemort
Ah, Voldie. He’s been brought down gradually to the point that, in the end, he’s called Tom Riddle by the third-person omnipotent narrator, which ought to depict how he’s fallen from invincible Dark Lord to defeated evildoer. Bit by bit, we’ve been told how misled he has been, in his quest to conquer death, and in this book, his blindness can finally be glimpsed. Although the fact that Harry slipped through his fingers remains slightly mysterious - and awkward and seemingly flawed, because, just how does he do it, every time? First time round it’s explained, because of the whole new information about wands, but I’m a little suspicious about the one at Bathilda Bagshot’s house. Voldemort was right there, and Harry simply Disapparates away, just like that. Neither Nagini, nor Voldemort are able to get a hold on him. Are those flaws on the story, or marks on how the Dark Lord seem to be slipping, blinded by his obsession with the Boy Who’s Made Him Look Like An Idiot Yet Again?
In the end, Harry pulls a MacGyver on him. Through a long exposition of the highly-contrived - or was it Destiny’s Hand? - way in which he finally remained the one and only master of both the wands pointing at each other, Harry wins over the final hand by simply replying with a Disarming Charm to the Killing Curse sent at him for the umpteenth time.
In the subject of the wands, though, I have my doubts. Why did Voldemort manage to hit him with the Killing Curse the first time, and not the second? Was it because Harry replied the second time? There are some pretty fishy things regarding spells that chose to work or not to work when Voldemort uses the Elder Wand: for example, two Unforgivables, which, let’s assume, must be on the same or adjoining levels of difficulty. The Killing Curse works the first time, and Harry’s blood bond to Voldemort brings him back, but the second time, it backfires at its caster, finishing him off, seemingly rebounding on Harry’s Disarming Charm. So, why didn’t the Cruciatus Curse work? It had nothing to stop it, so it reached Harry, but is it not doing what it should was due to the fact that Harry was its true Master? And on the topic, Harry won over Draco’s own wand back then; did it mean he was the true Master of all his wands? Doesn’t seem so, judging from what Ollivander has to say in the matter: ‘where a wand has been won, its allegiance will change’, ‘the conquered wand will usually bend its will to its new master’. It does seem to me that he was only referring to a single one, the one used in the duel, rather than all the wands whose allegiance the losing dueller has won.
But as Ollivander might say, ‘wandlore is a complex and mysterious branch of magic’, so who can know for sure?
So, back to Voldie; if there’s a special hell for Evil Overlords, he’s going to be quite the laughing stock. Even though he stuffed himself with an unbelievable amount of knowledge - apparently - he was thwarted by his own conviction that he was unequalled. He thought he could conquer Death and no longer be human, but he got that one wrong, and as human nature fails by default, his odds weren’t good from the beginning, because he chose to hear only his own advice, and probably that of those similar to him, which draws up a paradox regarding his quest: if he had chosen to follow advice from people who thought differently, would he have gone that far in the evil path?
The Malfoys
The Malfoys were largely absent. It was a let-down to see Lucius inactive in most of the book, and Draco being forced to carry on horrifying tasks for the Dark Lord, but they all had it coming. Narcissa was just as passive, her hands tied up and the uncertainty of her son’s fate at Hogwarts eating her up from the inside, and apparently sharing said feeling with her husband. Someone already commented that, had Voldemort chosen Lucius to check on whether Harry was alive or dead, the scene would have unfolded just as it did, so far beyond caring about their group’s objectives the two of them were. I believe Draco still had some pondering and maturing to do, after the battle was over, because, even after seeing what evil and horrifying deeds were bound to become the usual in Voldemort’s reign of terror, he still sought to reconcile and find glory in the Dark Lord’s eyes by antagonising Harry once more in the Room of Requirements, from which he and Goyle needed rescue from the very same they had gotten in to capture. And later on, he still picks the wrong side and gets his life handed back a second time, along with a well-deserved punch from Ron. So, it’s clear that he remained the coward he has always being, and he knows it, because he and his family can’t really be at ease in the final celebrations.
Assorted Death Eaters (Bellatrix, the Carrows, etc.)
There were a lot of Death Eaters that were no more than a name and a curse. The Carrows were a little more, with their role at Hogwarts, but not much. Bella, the faithful lieutenant was the most prominent, I think, especially considering she lent her vault at Gringotts to her Lord, but who wouldn’t have? She had a well-deserved death at the hands of Molly Weasley, and I doubt anyone would cry for her. Don’t have much to say about her, except that, according to Hermione, she tastes awful.
Although, I do wonder now. There isn't a 'Parkinson' Death Eater, is there? One would think that her parents would be like the Malfoys and Crabbes and Goyles and stick to the fight, or at least be mentioned. I'm thinking that maybe Pansy is an orphan, and lives with an aunt or something; I doubt she's a Muggleborn (duh), or even Half-blood. But that's another story.
Next: Miscellaneous stuff
Horcruxes
The cup, the locket, the snake, something from Ravenclaw or Gryffindor, etc. Incidentally, there was both something from Ravenclaw and something from Gryffindor, counting Harry, which made, what? Seven Horcruxes, as opposed to the six initially contemplated?
Slytherin’s Locket: it was the thing people caught first. It was too obvious, R.A.B., that some people had guessed even before finishing the book. I really can’t remember if I did, but I do remember reading - or thinking up - that the second name might be Arcturus. For some reason, I discarded it, thinking that I had been influenced by Arthur Weasley’s name, the first with ‘A’ that sprang to mind. But who would have known, eh? What was really creepy regarding the locket was its influence on the Trio’s moods; it made me think of the One Ring.
Hufflepuff’s Cup: I don’t think anyone could have guessed where it was hidden. Of all the mysterious places in the world, it turns out it was in a vault, at Gringotts. How mundane. Still, Hermione and Ron’s going back to the Chamber of Secrets, and his faking of Parseltongue - which, I have to say, seems possible to me: there was a related reference, in GoF, where Dumbledore speaks Mermish, and if such a language can be learned by a human, I’m positively sure that Parseltongue can be, as well - was something predictable, and obvious, once they were at Hogwarts, and effective, luckily.
Ravenclaw’s Diadem: it was mentioned in HBP, and it jumped at me a few times, as suspicious. The scene where it’s found is good, and it marks an important event in Harry’s quest: his overlooking of an enemy’s misdeeds against himself in order to save his life. And Crabbe’s death by burning was unexpected, but effective, as he took with himself the diadem. About ‘Fiendfyre’, though, did anyone else had the impression that JKR was in a ‘screw latin and greek roots, I’m just going to put two words together and change the spelling’ mood? And regarding the destruction of the diadem, cup and snake, I feel like it was too rushed, compared to the locket, but then, a few chapters on each would have made the book much, much longer, not that us fans would have minded, but still, the story might have suffered for it.
Voldemort’s Snake: pure stroke of brilliance and bravery from Neville. Not much to say about it, except that it’s fitting that he was able to extract Gryffindor’s sword from the Sorting Hat, since both objects belonged to Godric, and they might have been enchanted for him to be able to carry his sword around in his hat, to draw whenever needed. Again, too quickly done, even if appropriate. Things seemed to become easier as time went by, huh?
The ‘something from Gryffindor’: Harry. I can say that I was thwarted by the ending; I had believed Harry would sacrifice himself in order to destroy Voldemort. Me and my boyfriend had the theory that he was, indeed, an accidental Horcrux, which explained his link with the Dark Lord, and that, in order to destroy him, he would have to destroy himself. And it made sense: his own sacrifice to save the whole Wizarding world, just as his mother had sacrificed herself for him, is what the series is all about. But still, I hadn’t expected that he would be able to come back like he did; it makes everyone right, the ones that said he dies, and the ones that said he lives. He did both!
And since the Diary and the Ring were already destroyed, all that was left that the highly-unstable bit of soul in Voldemort. His death scene was pathetic, from a Team Evil perspective. Held off for long enough to be ridiculed by a teenager, and then finished off by his own backfiring curse? That has got to be the Most Embarrassing Moment for a Villain Ever.
Voldemort
Ah, Voldie. He’s been brought down gradually to the point that, in the end, he’s called Tom Riddle by the third-person omnipotent narrator, which ought to depict how he’s fallen from invincible Dark Lord to defeated evildoer. Bit by bit, we’ve been told how misled he has been, in his quest to conquer death, and in this book, his blindness can finally be glimpsed. Although the fact that Harry slipped through his fingers remains slightly mysterious - and awkward and seemingly flawed, because, just how does he do it, every time? First time round it’s explained, because of the whole new information about wands, but I’m a little suspicious about the one at Bathilda Bagshot’s house. Voldemort was right there, and Harry simply Disapparates away, just like that. Neither Nagini, nor Voldemort are able to get a hold on him. Are those flaws on the story, or marks on how the Dark Lord seem to be slipping, blinded by his obsession with the Boy Who’s Made Him Look Like An Idiot Yet Again?
In the end, Harry pulls a MacGyver on him. Through a long exposition of the highly-contrived - or was it Destiny’s Hand? - way in which he finally remained the one and only master of both the wands pointing at each other, Harry wins over the final hand by simply replying with a Disarming Charm to the Killing Curse sent at him for the umpteenth time.
In the subject of the wands, though, I have my doubts. Why did Voldemort manage to hit him with the Killing Curse the first time, and not the second? Was it because Harry replied the second time? There are some pretty fishy things regarding spells that chose to work or not to work when Voldemort uses the Elder Wand: for example, two Unforgivables, which, let’s assume, must be on the same or adjoining levels of difficulty. The Killing Curse works the first time, and Harry’s blood bond to Voldemort brings him back, but the second time, it backfires at its caster, finishing him off, seemingly rebounding on Harry’s Disarming Charm. So, why didn’t the Cruciatus Curse work? It had nothing to stop it, so it reached Harry, but is it not doing what it should was due to the fact that Harry was its true Master? And on the topic, Harry won over Draco’s own wand back then; did it mean he was the true Master of all his wands? Doesn’t seem so, judging from what Ollivander has to say in the matter: ‘where a wand has been won, its allegiance will change’, ‘the conquered wand will usually bend its will to its new master’. It does seem to me that he was only referring to a single one, the one used in the duel, rather than all the wands whose allegiance the losing dueller has won.
But as Ollivander might say, ‘wandlore is a complex and mysterious branch of magic’, so who can know for sure?
So, back to Voldie; if there’s a special hell for Evil Overlords, he’s going to be quite the laughing stock. Even though he stuffed himself with an unbelievable amount of knowledge - apparently - he was thwarted by his own conviction that he was unequalled. He thought he could conquer Death and no longer be human, but he got that one wrong, and as human nature fails by default, his odds weren’t good from the beginning, because he chose to hear only his own advice, and probably that of those similar to him, which draws up a paradox regarding his quest: if he had chosen to follow advice from people who thought differently, would he have gone that far in the evil path?
The Malfoys
The Malfoys were largely absent. It was a let-down to see Lucius inactive in most of the book, and Draco being forced to carry on horrifying tasks for the Dark Lord, but they all had it coming. Narcissa was just as passive, her hands tied up and the uncertainty of her son’s fate at Hogwarts eating her up from the inside, and apparently sharing said feeling with her husband. Someone already commented that, had Voldemort chosen Lucius to check on whether Harry was alive or dead, the scene would have unfolded just as it did, so far beyond caring about their group’s objectives the two of them were. I believe Draco still had some pondering and maturing to do, after the battle was over, because, even after seeing what evil and horrifying deeds were bound to become the usual in Voldemort’s reign of terror, he still sought to reconcile and find glory in the Dark Lord’s eyes by antagonising Harry once more in the Room of Requirements, from which he and Goyle needed rescue from the very same they had gotten in to capture. And later on, he still picks the wrong side and gets his life handed back a second time, along with a well-deserved punch from Ron. So, it’s clear that he remained the coward he has always being, and he knows it, because he and his family can’t really be at ease in the final celebrations.
Assorted Death Eaters (Bellatrix, the Carrows, etc.)
There were a lot of Death Eaters that were no more than a name and a curse. The Carrows were a little more, with their role at Hogwarts, but not much. Bella, the faithful lieutenant was the most prominent, I think, especially considering she lent her vault at Gringotts to her Lord, but who wouldn’t have? She had a well-deserved death at the hands of Molly Weasley, and I doubt anyone would cry for her. Don’t have much to say about her, except that, according to Hermione, she tastes awful.
Although, I do wonder now. There isn't a 'Parkinson' Death Eater, is there? One would think that her parents would be like the Malfoys and Crabbes and Goyles and stick to the fight, or at least be mentioned. I'm thinking that maybe Pansy is an orphan, and lives with an aunt or something; I doubt she's a Muggleborn (duh), or even Half-blood. But that's another story.
Next: Miscellaneous stuff