Where Have I been?

[hobgoblinn]

Which Hogwarts house will you be sorted into?

Well, I'm moved, though there is still an impressive mountain of boxes in my living room. If I've missed anything vital, please let me know. If I'm flaking on something I promised, please e-mail me or comment here and I'll get the message. I've had some technical difficulties, some real life distractions, and a whole lot of brains sucked out by Harry Potter fanfic over the past couple of weeks, when I have been able to get online. Kudos to clavally for her fic recs list (see her journal sidebar), which I have exhausted now. Didn't read all the Harry Potter ones, but I started most of them and was pleased with the new ideas and fantastic writing. I was also humbled to find that my two long fics also made her list under Buffy recs-- thanks! (I'd read most of the Buffy ones and add my voice to hers-- go check them out.)

I saw antennapedia's predictions, so I'll also make some Harry Potter DH predictions behind the cut, for your mocking pleasure:


Snape is not evil, and his experience fighting his way back to the light when he was Harry's age will be instrumental in Harry's own coming to terms with his power, and his own darkness. I'd love to see JKR explore ways Harry might help Snape with his remaining darkness, (not in a sexual way) but that kind of complexity is a bit beyond her, I think. I'll look forward to the fanfic there. But there's just too much groundwork laid for this, and some thematic things that don't make sense if she doesn't flesh this out in some way-- either Harry making the connections himself from clues/ memories left behind, or in some confrontation with Snape that finally reveals the truth.

Of course Harry himself is a horcrux. Also of course, Dumbledore's portrait and/or memories will make clear Snape's actions were on his orders and inescapable due to the magical contract, possibly more than one (Narcissa/Snape, Dumbledore/Snape).

Snape will die, probably in some last sacrifice giving Harry his shot at Voldemort. So will McGonnigal, Hagrid, and Harry himself. Some member of the Weasley family will also die, possibly more than one. I'm hoping Remus lives, and Tonks, but with JKR's perversity, we can't be sure.

I think Percy is evil. Though I'm not sure I care if he is or not, he's so bloody sanctimonious.

Ron and Hermione will be left to carry on. Hopefully, Ron will get fleshed out into enough of an equal partner/ counterpoint for Hermione, but again, that's a little much to hope for. Having read way too much Hermione/Snape fanfic lately, I have a hard time with the canon pairing. There's an inherent inequality to Ron and Hermione-- she's just so much brighter than he is, and he's had such a struggle taking second fiddle to really everyone in his life. He's noble and good, but I still have a hard time seeing it, and I don't think JKR is going to help us much there, if only because that's not where her interest lies. But the life going on motif would make the most sense from the two of them, loyal friends left to honor the fallen by rebuilding the world.

We'll get more historical background about Harry's parents. Snape will fit into this in some fashion. We'll also get why Snape changed sides, and why he took the Mark to start with. Again, the thematic groundwork for that has already been laid.

That's enough for the moment. I'd be interested to hear what questions you'd like the final book to answer (spoilerish or not). I apologize for the lack of comments of late, and hope everyone is well. I also hope, and somewhat fear I won't be able, to write my Summer of Giles something soon-- time is getting close and I really have nothing worth sharing yet. Meta, anyone?

Hob

(by the way-- the new Harry Potter soundtrack Rocks! As does the itunes store.)

Comments

[antennapedia.livejournal.com]

I think Percy is evil. Though I'm not sure I care if he is or not, he's so bloody sanctimonious.

Heh. Yes. I keep expecting him to turn up evil. He might just be a younger Fudge, however: not exactly evil, but a stooge doing evil's bidding.

I am rather with you on the Ron and Hermione getting together question. I have been Hermione, and I worry that Ron doesn't value what she values. In real life, they'd date, break up at Christmastime following their first semester of college apart, hate each other for a few years, then be fast friends.

The historical information was my favorite part of the last book, and I'm excited by the idea of more. I love it when she fleshes out her world.

[clavally.livejournal.com]

I've suddenly found myself up in the air about whether Snape is good or evil. Like you, too many fanfics have clouded my vision. I really want Snape to be good, because it will be a good story, but I don't think JKR is that good of a writer. She's said soooo many things in interviews about Snape that seem to point towards evil. Most importantly, I don't think she likes the character of Snape.

I'm not sure if he dies or not. There's certainly an air of, "The sky is falling." in all the SS/HG fandom groups. She did say one person that was supposed to die got a reprieve. Maybe it was him. On the other hand, it might be Hagrid, because I think Hagrid was supposed to die from the beginning because of the alchemical process of purification. If he does die, it will have to be in the front of the book, because Harry will have to process his death before the final meeting with Voldemort.

Anyway, I think I'll wait to finish HBP again and then make predictions. Thanks for your rec of my rec list, lol. Glad you enjoyed the stories. Did you read "Soul Searching"? If you need a plot bunny for your summer of giles story, I've always thought it'd be nice to have a Buffy story that has an archive book with all Buffy fic in it....*shrug*

And yeah, the soundtrack is great, bought it this morning!

[hobgoblinn.livejournal.com]

I went and looked at some interviews with JKR that mention Snape, and I think it's more she doesn't get the sexual/ romantic attraction some fans seem to have for him. Which, speaking as a divorced-with-good-reason woman myself, I can understand-- however interesting he may be as a character, and however noble he may be under the surface, he's not stable lover material at all. She's assuming the attraction is the "bad boy" persona, and I can see where that would be disturbing to her.

As I've said, though, I think she has invested too much in Snape and in the themes of redemption/ choices to leave Snape "evil." I also think she tends to try too hard to misdirect sometimes, and HBP definitely falls into that category for me. After spending all of book 1 trying to get you to buy Snape as the bad guy, I don't trust her when I see her up to the same thing in book 6.

We'll find out soon enough, I suppose. Assuming wee hob cleans his room and gets his summer camp stuff organized and ready to pack, we're going to see HP5 tomorrow afternoon. I can't wait!