Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows discussion thread (SPOILERS)

[Bill Murphy]

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Nope. It's already been said, it's a fairly large plothole that house elfs can do all sorts of magic, and yet they're not being used by wizards

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The series is full of these types of holes. Time Turner anyone?

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We could go back & forth on the elfs all day, but JKR realized the Time Turners were a problem and emphasized that they were all smashed in OOTP.

[Bill Murphy]

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I think the idea is the sword only comes to you when you need it, but it was very deus ex machina, as was alot of the book

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eh, i thought she set it up great with neville being able to pull i out. Showed how much his character has progressed into a truly brave wizard, etc. Also i liked the backstory to the hat out of the sword with harry in CoS i think. I agree though that Voldy putting it on his head was pretty weak

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The Hat was another thing V didn't understand or value and therefore wanted to destroy; "There will be no more Sorting..." And he would certainly want to destroy both it and Neville (apparently his bravest foe left) in a spectacular way.

I was wtf at first too about Neville pulling the sword out, but the canon clearly supports it. I also liked Neville killing Nagini instead of Bellatrix. A much more significant task, and I'm sure JKR has enough faith in her readers that they don't need a Chuck Norris/Steven Seagal payback resolution, tho I also thought it was coming.

I do wish she had been explicit about Neville killing Greyback with the sword after Harry sees Neville & Ron take him down.

[Dynasty]

What do you think of this image taken from the film version of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

[RunDownHouse]

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OK Dynasty, I just tarded "shipping" and read the wiki. LOLOLOLOLOL.

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Apparently "shipping" is some form of slang for "relationship between." I'm pretty sure its ok to mention it here, in a thread about the last book, which specifically warns about spoilers.

I can't decide who's a bigger idiot, someone that would use that slang on a non-fan site or someone would would look it up and not post it. Probably Dynasty, though.

[StevieG]

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1) Ron leaving the tent. We have already seen this side of Ron in Goblet of Fire. It was more plausible and real to me in the fourth book.

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When it happened I thought the same thing. However, when Ron had to confront the horcrux and its temptation of him in the chapter "The Silver Doe," there was so much clear emotional weight for him that I gave her a pass for doing the same thing twice.

You can argue that much of the book was doing the same thing over again (some people in this thread have complained that you could see it all coming). That is an accomplishment for a seven book series. The characters actions are consistent (in this case, we know Ron has been insecure about his place in his own family, let alone Harry's shadow, since book 1).

[Jazzy3113]

A lot of people keep posting about plotholes and such. There are no real plotholes in this series and it is one of the many things that make the series great. She created a huge fantasy universe and did a pretty great job writing seven books that all had good twists and that all worked to the same ending. She also left some great clues that devoted fans were able to find and make accurate predictions for the following books. I know that in a fantasy universe it is easy to make up a spell or “rule” to answer questions (like apparition or the floo network) but you can say that of Star Wards and LOTR as well. I do not want to go back and reread all the complaints, but two that came up a lot where the house elves do great magic and are under utilized and the portkey in the triwizard tournament. I also will address the most recent post someone made about things they didn’t like in DH.

Yes, house elves are very powerful and not used by wizards. This is not a plot hole but one of the most obvious commentaries JK makes. She likes to preach and mirror real life events (a half blood leading pure bloods to “cleanse” the world, etc.) Wizards like DD knew how powerful elves were, but the wizarding community as a whole ignored them, just like they ignored squibs. The statue in the ministry showed elves “below” wizards and witches and DD mentions this to Harry several times. Ron, who had grown up in the wizarding world, also didn’t care about house elves and that was how most wizards felt. The point being don’t mistreat others, everyone has talent, etc. I can’t believe you claim this is a plothole, especially pointing out that Vold did not use houseelfs. Have you not been reading the books? They guy’s simultaneous strength/weakness is his arrogance. Why would HE, the greatest wizard of all time, need to employ the help of a lowly elf?

Someone brought up that they did not “buy” the idea of a portkey. That Vold would have had someone “pass” Harry a pair of scissors or something and have him transported to Voldy. I feel that some of you are reading, find something that doesn’t click and then whine about it instead of rereading the book. Harry was at Hogwarts where we find out DD was always keeping out a close eye on him. No one was supposed to know Voldy was back. If Harry magically dies I think that might tip some people off. Also, portkeys have a finite window of time to work. There is a time frame for them, so one could not hand Harry a portkey whenever they felt like it. Pwned.

Someone recently posted they didn’t like ron leaving, the snape story and the epilogue. I have absolutely no comeback for the epilogue. I think JK is a great writer but I think that she is a little too preachy and wants to inspire people. I also think she developed a bond with her characters who have given her so much and couldn’t bear to kill harry. I mean if he realizes the only way to kill voldy is to sacrifice himself is freakin brave and perfect, but I don’t think she could kill him and cause millions of kids to cry. Also, in this day and age I think she wanted to let people know sometimes things turn out allright.

As for Ron leaving, I think you underestimated the power of Sauron’s ring, oops I mean the slytherin locket. Ron was wearing it for 30 percent of the time and it was messing with his mind. He also has shown a propensity to be rash and hot headed, but makes up for it in the end. And the Snape sideplot threw me. I really thought that she addressed the Snape issue in HBP. I thought it was genius making Snape seem evil and then he turns out to be evil, like hiding something in plain sight. Then it turns out he was faithful all along. I thought she did a fine job there, but I wished there was more Snape action. What was life at Hogwarts with Snape as headmaster? He was becoming very powerful and we saw that he learned how to fly as well. Him dueling at then end would have been sweet. I mean I wish he could have tried to fight Vold. I wish there was more behind the Ravenclaw horcrux, life at Hogwarts w/o Harry, Voldemort’s trip to Albania, how Remus and Tonks died, and I wish that JK didn’t have molly wealey kill bellatrix but its not my story.

[tommy2]

I thought everyone would find her thoughts on what happens to the rest of the characters interesting:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070730/...er_s_afterlife

[Morrek]

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What was life at Hogwarts with Snape as headmaster? He was becoming very powerful and we saw that he learned how to fly as well. Him dueling at then end would have been sweet. I mean I wish he could have tried to fight Vold. I wish there was more behind the Ravenclaw horcrux, life at Hogwarts w/o Harry, Voldemort’s trip to Albania, how Remus and Tonks died, and I wish that JK didn’t have molly wealey kill bellatrix but its not my story.

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I agree w/ this. I think there's a small chance we might find out some of these things though in the future(like how was hogwarts with snape, how remus and tonks died, etc) but I woulnd't count on it. I agree w/ most of your post actually and was just too lazy to write something like that up

[Needle77]

Snape knew how to fly? I missed that too. I knew Voldy learned it. I'm assuming that is some really strong magic that someone learns? Just out of curiousity could someone lead me to where it is? I just skimmed over parts and couldn't find it, I'm guessing it's in the snape chapter but didn't see it.

[traz]

I think he was flying on a broomstick, I don't believe we've seen anyone fly on there own except Voldemort

Edit-- maybe I'm wrong (i was thinking of when they attacked Harry near the beginning)