Harry Potter - WARNING - READ ONLY IF FINISHED BOOK 6

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I think the book mentions Harry thinking he saw a phoenix rise when Dumbledore's body bursts into flames during the funeral. I don't know if DD will actually come back from the dead, but since he's been such an important presence throughout the series I can see him still present somehow in the last book.

What I can't really see is what's so important about Snape's old schoolbook and nickname anyway for it to figure in the title of the book. It's not like it reveals anything new apart from the fact that he's a half-blood; we already know that he's always been obsessed with Dark Arts and has a major nasty vindictive streak in his character. I don't see why he'd want to hush-hush the fact that the book belonged to him either; compared to the other stuff on his resume it's practically harmless.

A theory's been mentioned that Snape made an Unbreakable Vow with Dumbledore promising to take care of Harry or something like that; I somehow can't really see it though. Can you really call it "trust" when what you basically have is a threat of death hanging over another person's head? It's like, "do what you promised, or else". Almost blackmail, really.
 
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I was walking past a Collins Bookshop today, and thought the precise same thing, re: the title and it's relevance. Virtually nothing came of it in the book, and why it mattered, though it did do what Snape as a teacher had never been able to teach Harry. Anythig I can think of, is nothing but half baked justifications. usually her reasonings are much more succinct and detailed. Clearly though, this book and the next, will be much more closely intertwined than any of the others which have had secondary plots and so on running through them with a definite ending at each finish. This one just left more questions hanging.
 
Yes, definintely! I've been thinking that too, lol.
Something re: all that which has been kind of niggling at me, is Harry's aims to be an Aurora. How much will this book (the Half Blood Prince's notes) help him with that? He almost didnt take the class because Snape didn't pass him well enough, I'm wondering if it will mean something. Or not. I really need to find a spare 6 hours and get these books reread, lol.
 
That little schoolbook was definitely -very- helpful throughout the year... but from reading the book again it does look like Harry got it by pure chance. I wonder if it will make a comeback in the final novel; the last time we see it Harry hides it in that storing room and doesn't have the time to retrieve it.
 
[Q]Josh from Cottenham Village College: Right at the beginning, when Voldermort tried to kill Harry, how did Voldermort and Harry both survive?
****SCHOOLS COMPETITION WINNER****
JK Rowling replies -> That is the crucial and central question and if I answered it there would be hardly any point writing books six and seven... so I won't![/Q]

[Q]MauraEllen: Did the debt Wormtail has to Harry carry over to Voldemort when he sacrificed his arm to restore his body?
JK Rowling replies -> No. Can't say any more than that![/Q]

[Q]SiriuslyLovinSirius: If we ever see Sirius again, what form will he be in?
JK Rowling replies -> I couldn't possibly answer that for fear of incriminating myself.

Kelpie_8: Will the two way mirror Sirius gave Harry ever show up again?
JK Rowling replies -> Ooooo good question. There's your answer.
[/Q]

http://www.quick-quote-quill.org/articles/2004/0304-wbd.htm
 
[Q]MA: We've come up with Regulus Black.

JKR: Have you now?

MA: Uh-oh.

[Laughter.]

JKR: Well, I think that would be, um, a fine guess.

MA: And perhaps, being Sirius’s brother, he had another mirror –

JKR: [drums fingers on soda can]

MA: Does he have the other mirror, or Sirius’s mirror —

JKR: I have no comment at all on that mirror. That mirror is not on the table. [Laughter from all; Jo's is maniacal.]

MA: Let the record note that she has drummed her fingers on her Coke can in a very Mr. Burns-like way.

[/Q]

http://www.quick-quote-quill.org/articles/2005/0705-tlc_mugglenet-anelli-2.htm
 
[Q]ES: Was Dumbledore planning to die?

JKR: [Pause.] Do you think that's going to be the big theory?

MA & ES: Yes. It’ll be a big theory.

JKR: [Pause.] Well, I don't want to shoot that one down. [A little laughter.] I have to give people hope.

MA: It goes back to the question of whether Snape is a double-double-double-triple-

JKR: [Laughs] Double-double-quadruple-to-the-power-of - yeah.

MA: …whether this had been planned, and since Dumbledore had this knowledge of Draco the whole year, had they had a discussion that said, "Should this happen, you have to act as if it is entirely your intention to just walk forward and kill me, because if you don't, Draco will die, the Unbreakable Vow, you'll die," and so on —

JKR: No, I see that, and yeah, I follow your line there. I can't — I mean, obviously, there are lines of speculation I don't want to shut down. Generally speaking, I shut down those lines of speculation that are plain unprofitable. Even with the shippers. God bless them, but they had a lot of fun with it. It's when people get really off the wall — it's when people devote hours of their time to proving that Snape is a vampire that I feel it's time to step in, because there's really nothing in the canon that supports that.

ES: It's when you look for those things —

JKR: Yeah, it's after the 15th rereading when you have spots in front of your eyes that you start seeing clues about Snape being the Lord of Darkness. So, there are things I shut down just because I think, well, don't waste your time, there's better stuff to be debating, and even if it's wrong, it will probably lead you somewhere interesting. That's my rough theory anyway.

ES: What's one question you wished to be asked and what would be the answer to that question?

JKR: Um — [long pause] — such a good question. What do I wish I could be asked? [Pause.] Today, just today, July the 16th, I was really hoping someone would ask me about R.A.B., and you did it. Just today, because I think that is — well, I hoped that people would.

MA: Is there more we should ask about him?

JKR: There are things you will deduce on further readings, I think — well you two definitely will, for sure — that, yeah, I was really hoping that R.A.B. would come out.

MA: Forgive me if I'm remembering incorrectly, but was Regulus the one who was murdered by Voldemort —

JKR: Well Sirius said he wouldn't have been because he wasn't important enough, remember?

MA: But that doesn’t have to be true, if [R.A.B.] is writing Voldemort a personal note.

JKR: That doesn't necessarily show that Voldemort killed him, personally, but Sirius himself suspected that Regulus got in a little too deep. Like Draco. He was attracted to it, but the reality of what it meant was way too much to handle.

[/Q]
 
I almost feel like DD has got to come back simply because he's got a whole lot of explaining to do about what the hell was going on in HBP, :)

I'm really confused what's the deal with that potion DD had to drink in the cave. Why did it make him plead "not to hurt them, hurt me instead", and why did he scream "KILL ME!!" at the end? And if someone else got to the Horcrux already, I presume they had to drink the potion as well in order to get to the locket. So was that liquid DD drunk the exact same replica of the original defense mechanism? It could be that the basin simply refills itself after a while; otherwise R.A.B. would have to be a damn resourceful fellow to be able to replace the potion so well. And is there any deeper significance to the fact that Harry wasn't able to create water and DD was forced to drink from that Inferi-infested lake instead?

I've also read this theory that, since it looked like it's impossible to get to the Horcrux all by yourself, R.A.B. must have had someone else with him to help out. And if R.A.B. was in fact Sirius' brother, could it be that he took Kreacher the house elf with him? And that it is in fact Kreacher who now possesses the real locket?

It's maddening the way that eeeevil woman makes it so completely ambiguous and unclear whether DD knew about Snape's Unbreakable Vow, and whether Snape knew what he was agreeing to help Draco to do when he made the Vow, :huh:
 
Saracene said:
I've also read this theory that, since it looked like it's impossible to get to the Horcrux all by yourself, R.A.B. must have had someone else with him to help out. And if R.A.B. was in fact Sirius' brother, could it be that he took Kreacher the house elf with him? And that it is in fact Kreacher who now possesses the real locket?

That is a tremendously awesome theory. RAB was a Death Eater, and was indeed Serious' brother. Kreacher would have been a likely choice for this mission. I am concerned as to when RAB could have done this mission, since he was killed relatively quickly after telling voldi to piss off.
 
More theories!

I'm re-reading Prisoner of Azkaban now, and yesterday a red flag went ding-a-ding-a-ding in my head when I read the bit where Fudge was talking about the attempt to hide Harry's parents from Voldemort. He mentions that Potters were tipped off about the danger by Dumbledore, who in turn was tipped off by a spy - whose name is never mentioned. Now, could that person be Snape? That would fit the timeline of events perfectly: many people speculated that Lily's death may have pushed Snape to switch sides - but DD said that Snape went back to the good side a short time -before- Voldemort's fall, not after. Suppose Snape realised that it was Lily and James Voldemort was going to go after, and, for whatever reasons, warned DD about it? That would also give DD some evidence to believe that Snape's regret was genuine.
 
Dreadsox said:
Angie, how many hours to reread the series?

:eyebrow:

I speed read, which is a huge pain in the arse. I really have to concentrate to slow down to read things. It's not something I like, trust me.
:(

I read in someone's journal on here a link to www.dumbledoreisnotdead.com . Has anyone seen this site? I'm as convinced as the next person, that this isn't the end of DD. The site lists a fair few weak correlations, but some are fabulous.

And I have to say something which has bothered me from about halfway through these books. Harry in many ways, bothers me. As Snape once said in a fit of venom, Harry is a really ordinary wizard. Hermione is what you'd call brilliant, not Harry, if you go seeking brilliance. Harry is not only a fairly average wizard (a lot of his successes have been luck and unseen 'friends' helping him out) but he is completely naive as to what the real story is with defeating Voldemort. I'm frankly a little tired of the ivory tower everyone places Harry on, constantly restating that he is the one who will defeat Voldemort, that he has the power, the ability, the blah blah...Harry has no idea what he is doing. Dumbledore has obviously known a staggering amount of detail and yet, never let Harry know much. Infact, it seems everyone knows more, even if they are somewhat irrelevant. I reckon McGonagall's little finger has more knowledge than Harry's entire being, yet everyone is expecting this kid with virtually no understanding and no outstanding skill to do something based on what happened, when again more outside influence was what saved his life.
 
I think it's to Harry's credit that all that ivory-tower worship makes him feel uncomfortable, rather than making him believe his own hype and that he's the best thing since sliced bread.

Personally, I always thought it rather ironic that a lot of Voldemort's problems could probably be solved if he took a slightest interest in the despised Muggles and their (or rather our) despised technology - like a long-range rifle, for example, :wink:

I hope there's more Luna Lovegood in the next book. She was one of my favourite things about "Order of the Phoenix" and I love her strangeness and her penchant for saying unpredictable things and uncomfortable truths.
 
Angela Harlem said:
I speed read, which is a huge pain in the arse. I really have to concentrate to slow down to read things. It's not something I like, trust me.
:(

Angie, I have the same problem! If you can call it that. I read so damn fast that I can't keep books around. If I pick up a 300 page paperback, it is done before the end of the evening. the new HP book took 2 afternoons. *sigh* So much for savoring a good thing.

And I have to say something which has bothered me from about halfway through these books. Harry in many ways, bothers me. As Snape once said in a fit of venom, Harry is a really ordinary wizard. Hermione is what you'd call brilliant, not Harry, if you go seeking brilliance. Harry is not only a fairly average wizard (a lot of his successes have been luck and unseen 'friends' helping him out) but he is completely naive as to what the real story is with defeating Voldemort. I'm frankly a little tired of the ivory tower everyone places Harry on, constantly restating that he is the one who will defeat Voldemort, that he has the power, the ability, the blah blah...Harry has no idea what he is doing. ...

Ditto on this as well. I really like Harry and I'm rooting for him. But he's never struck me as particularly gifted or clever. Just damn lucky. :ohmy:
 
Luna! :bow: She's awesome, huh! I'm hoping that DA make some kind of comeback. It was mentioned a few times in book 6 how much the members missed it. If Harry does indeed return to school, I reckon the Army will possibly need to reform! Well, I'm hoping anyway. And for more Loopy Luna, lol.

I'm glad I'm not alone, Sula, as much of a pain as it is. I sometimes think I must surely miss things if my eyes scan it quicker than my brain can store it all. Plus with my altogether woeful memory, I'd rather take 6 weeks to read a book like this.

I guess we've all got about another 18 months, yeah? I'm so intrigued by Snape, not only for the obvious reasons, but right from the start he's been set up for us to await what his deal really is.
 
Yeah, I have a hard time believing the cut-and-dried, Snape-is-the-bad-guy because it is just toooo easy. I'm not a fan of his, he seems pretty mean-spirited, but I think Harry is off-base in his suspicions. I think that Dumbledore had some sort of agreement with Snape and that it involved him keeping his cover as a spy. But then again, I hope that Dumbledore will make like a phoenix and rise from the ashes in the next book.

Long time to wait, tho. Lucky for me, my all-time FAV author Diana Gabaldon is coming out with another installment in her fabulous Outlander series. Something to last me for...oh a couple days anyways. :sexywink:
 
RE Harry: yeah, indeed. He's "ordinary" as a wizard in the sense of being no Hermione. Plus, Hermione has a great deal of non-wizard intelligence. But on the other hand, the book does make it clear that his natural power is quite great--or he would have never survived the attack as an infant. He's just not developed that much. If he'd every study :wink:

What he does have in great amounts, I think, its courage and innner strength, more so with each book. And something else nice I noticed in this last one was that that angry, vengeful side of him, while very much still there, is being a bit more mature and focused. It will make him a more deadly enemy, rather than someone who can be goaded to be rash and do something dumb as he has in the past. :up:
 
Heh, I'm also the fast reader; I gulped down the entire 6 Harry Potter books in one week. I don't always go through the books like a bulldozer, but HP is so extremely readable, :)

I definitely find Snape the most fascinating character in the books, mostly because Dumbledore's absolute trust in him and the times he clearly does good are so at odds with his complete lack of any likeable personal qualities and his complete set of usual villainy traits starting with his appearance. And while he professes scorn for people who "wear their hearts on the sleeve" and is remarkably hard to read most of the times he appears to have zero emotional self-control over everything to do with Harry's father and his friends; in many ways both Snape and Sirius are kinda stuck in adolescence IMO.

I seriously don't think that the last book drew all these parallels between Snape and Tom Riddle (half-bloods, brilliant students drawn to Dark Arts, invented impressive nicknames for themselves, isolated from other people) in order to say, yep, they're exactly the same and evil to the core. And I think it would be a very flat ending if Harry was shown to be right to hate Snape from day one and give no credit whatsoever for the times Snape did do right. I think it would be good for him to learn a more mature attitude of Lupin who also suffered from Snape yet is still capable of feeling gratitude when it's due.
 
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The book was great, but I wasn't crazy about the big "Wha...?" feeling I got at the end. It's driving me insane, so many questions! Book 7 oughta be HUGE!

I was immediately suspicious when Snape killed Dumbledore. It was just too easy, and I really believe Snape is on the good side as it is. Through the whole series, you constantly wonder "Is he or isn't he?" with Snape. I think in book 7, Dumbledore's death will prove to be quite dignified.

I haven't kept up with the news. Has Rowling hinted at anything beyond the 7 book series? With such a huge insane following, it seems almost absurd that she wouldn't continue in some way. Either a continuation of Harry and his adult years, or a spin-off of the other characters. As much as I look forward to the next book, I'll almost be sad to see it come to an end. :(
 
Acrobat_Al said:
Just 2 curious things:

I've just saw the Chamber of Secrets again (DVD), and here's what I found interesting:

1. When Harry is talking with Dumbledore (his last scene with him on his office) there's one part where you can see a paint of Dumbledore in the back of his seat (maybe revealing that he was going to die on book 6)...

So, maybe on the other movies there are clues of what's going to happen on book 7...

2. When Lucius gave a sock to Dobby, and is about to curse Harry... I think that Lucius said "AVADA" before Dobby attacks him...

Just my 2 cents :)

#2. Yep, he sure did. In the theatre during that part I elbowed my husband so hard he yelped (and didn't get what the fuss was about since he hasn't read the books).
 
Anyone think that it was Dumbledore's brother, and not Dumbledore who died?

He is the bartender at Boars Head.
He looks just like DD.
He is a member of the Order of the Phoenix.

Harry commented once that the bartender looked familiar.
 
Saracene said:


I seriously don't think that the last book drew all these parallels between Snape and Tom Riddle (half-bloods, brilliant students drawn to Dark Arts, invented impressive nicknames for themselves, isolated from other people) in order to say, yep, they're exactly the same and evil to the core.

Yeah, perhaps the parallels were drawn to show that although Snape and Voldy are very much the same, one always has the power to choose good over evil and find redemption--Voldy could have but chose not to, and Snape did.

Snape is also way too much of a villian cliche to be an actual villian. I've noticed that people seem to absolutley love his character, I understand it, but at the same time I'm not sure why (maybe they just love Alan Rickman?)

As for the movies giving clues...I don't know how a movie could give clues to a book that hasn't been written yet, unless JKR tells the filmakers her ideas in advance, but I doubt she would.

I also think Dumbledore is dead and not coming back. I'd actually rather he didn't, bringing characters back from the dead seems to be a way too easy--though I really can't say I'd mind a return of Sirius.
 
Dreadsox said:
Anyone think that it was Dumbledore's brother, and not Dumbledore who died?

He is the bartender at Boars Head.
He looks just like DD.
He is a member of the Order of the Phoenix.

Harry commented once that the bartender looked familiar.

Interesting questions. I wonder if the familiarity was another clue.
Lemonfix, it's weird, as JK Rowling has said before it is unsettling (or some other word) how Chris Columbus has put things in the movies inadvertantly that she had no intention of asking him to do. I cant remember the exact quote, but it is very weird!

And you're right on Snape's popularity and the cliche of villain. I think anyone is going to agree that he was absolutely superbly cast in this role, there is no actor anywhere who I think could have done this role as well as he has. Snape's character too, is fascinating in quite a few ways. He is so cold and emotionless, yet as Harry saw in the pensieve that day, he actually has quite a deep well of feeling on many things. Snape's personality contradictions, I think, are what make him so absolutely intriguing. He is very well aware of a great deal of the whole story, that much can be sure, surely. His lifetime of dislike of Harry father and his mates in particular, answers half his bitterness and distaste to Harry now, but does it really explain that clinical iciness he projects? I've never thought so. If someone truly is on the side of good, there surely needs to be a bit more humility and compassion, but Snape lacks it. I dont think all of it can be attrtibuted to the past. I think Snape is playing (and has been all along) a role we aren't even aware of yet, and he is simply coldly focused on it. Perhaps something might come up which will show why he is so adamantly anti everyone.
 
I'm sure Alan Rickman has a lot to do with Snape's popularity, :wink: I gotta say though, I'm creeped out by the fangirls who so obviously go for that whole "bad boy" appeal of him (and Draco too) and try and whitewash the character. It's bad enough that this sort of thing happens in real life where infatuated women are purposefully blind to just how cruel and abusive some men can be. Snape's one of my favourite characters too, but there's no pretending that he's a quite appalling individual.

I don't really think that Snape's been playing a role all that time; to me he seems a case of a bitter I-am-an-island loner who doesn't like people in general. It's true that so far he has shown no evidence of being able to feel empathy or attachment to anyone, and if he is indeed working for the Order he seems to have that double-agent curse of feeling more comfortable around the people he's working against than his own side. However I still don't think it's completely unlikely that there was a tiny handful of people in Snape's life he did care about.

Regarding Harry and his less-than-spectacular wizarding skills: before he even gets around to showdown with Voldemort, he's still got four or more Horcruxes to destroy and there's no way he'll be able to do it without some serious outside help. Destroying the ring Horcrux nearly killed Dumbledore and the locket had major defences about it that only a powerful wizard could have penetrated. It would be a cop-out if the rest of the Horcruxes didn't have similarly strong protections about them, and even Hermione, for all her brilliance, is still a student wizard. With Dumbledore dead now, who is going to give Harry aid, especially since he seems adamant not to disclose anything he discussed with DD to anyone else?

I've read the Spinner's End chapter again and noticed that when Narcissa first asks Snape to make an Unbreakable Vow she doesn't actually ask him to promise to do Draco's job if he fails to. She only asks him to help Draco and see that he comes to no harm, and brings up the third request only during the Vow itself, from which Snape can hardly back out from now (hence his hesitation before agreeing, maybe?) And why does he agree to the Vow anyway? Yeah, Bellatrix was making all sorts of jeering comments about how Snape always stays out of action, but he'd have a full right to say "no". Narcissa's not supposed to ask him for help anyway, and Snape has every reason to refuse to do something that could jeopardise his valuable position as a spy. Unless he's touched for real by her motherly grief... which doesn't gel at all with his unfeeling iciness.
 
This is kind of off-topic, but I wonder if there's more to Snape's relationship with Harry's dad and co than we know about yet. He absolutely loathes Harry, but as far as we know it's only cos his dad picked on him sometimes. Snape seems like a person that would need more than that to be provoked or to show the absolute hatrid he shows Harry.
 
sulawesigirl4 said:

Ditto on this as well. I really like Harry and I'm rooting for him. But he's never struck me as particularly gifted or clever. Just damn lucky. :ohmy:

I think Harry is "average" in many areas - except one, DADA. To conjure up the patronus at his young age proved how exceptional he was in this area.

I also believe this is crucial to the next book, as well. Hermoine may have the all around skills to help Harry, and Harry has tons of friends to help, but it's Harry's outstanding DADA skills that may ultimately help him defeat the DE's and Voldemort.

Also, one has to realize that Harry has indeed faced Voldemort several times - and lived! Not many wizards can say this, in fact, I think the only one who could say it is Dumbledore - and now he's "gone". This also makes Harry exceptional. Some how, some way, he survives. And that unforeseen skill/luck/charm is what also sets him apart.

As for the "dumbledore is not dead" site, I've read it too and found it to be well done! :yes: While some correlations are rather weak, the obvious ones just glare out (and some of them were mentioned in this thread). I really do think DD will make a return - of some sort - in Book 7.
 
I think it's safe to say that the last book is going to have death and revenge galore, :evil: Apart from the obvious one, I think there's bound to be a showdown between Lupin and Greyback (which Lupin damn better win), and Bellatrix is sure to cop it from either Harry or Neville. And whatever side he's on, Snape is definitely a goner. The core three of Harry, Ron and Hermione are pretty safe, IMO; I doubt JKR would ever get things -that- dark.
 
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