Re: Showdown at Hogwarts

In article <5roct21h2fq3cm9ei2ve8k0m9f51aeo8r6@xxxxxxx>, gjw@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

On Fri, 16 Feb 2007 17:35:04 +0100, cwlNO@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Green-Eyed
Chris) wrote:

In article <ek0at257856oou6q52miqf4p7e97gkni9m@xxxxxxx>, gjw@xxxxxxxxxxx
wrote:

<snippus majorus>

When it comes to
religion she appears to waffle in her interviews:

http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/MTarchives/003774.html:

Is she a Christian?
"Yes, I am,'' she says. "Which seems to offend the religious right far
worse than if I said I thought there was no God. Every time I've been
asked if I believe in God, I've said yes, because I do, but no one ever
really has gone any more deeply into it than that, and I have to say that
does suit me, because if I talk too freely about that I think the
intelligent reader, whether 10 or 60, will be able to guess what's coming
in the books.''

I always found that last sentence a very strange one. How would
discussing Christianity allow readers to guess the ending of the
series? I hope she isn't planning on a death and resurrection....

Agreed. I did a thread on it. I find it disturbing because it indicates
that she might have some type of religious deus ex machina in the works
after having avoided any serious references to the subject for six books.

I agree that it would be inconsistent. The most she has acknowledged
in the Potterverse is that there appears to be an Afterlife (ghosts,
the Veil, etc.), and that Dumbledore personally sees death as a "great
adventure".

However, I suppose she could resurrect Harry in some manner which
didn't involve a deity (yet which could have christian metaphorical
overtones) - this is, after all, a story about magic. However, that,
to me, would be a breaking of her promise that "magic can't bring the
dead back to life"... it would be cheating readers, because they
relied on her assurances when they were trying to figure out the
puzzle.

Precisely. I could, however, well imagine a deathlike state (Draught of
Living Death; Deathly Hallows) coming into play. In this connection,
Snape, the warbling healer, comes to mind.

In HBP, Ch. 24 we read:

"The door banged open behind Harry and he looked up,
terrified: Snape had burst into the room, his face livid. Pushing
Harry roughly aside, he knelt over Malfoy, drew his wand and
traced it over the deep wounds Harry¹s curse had made,
muttering an incantation that sounded almost like song. The flow
of blood seemed to ease; Snape wiped the residue from Malfoy¹s
face and repeated his spell. Now the wounds seemed to be
knitting."

When I first read "muttering an incantation that sounded almost like
song", it sounded to me as if Snape might have been using a forgotten
language or even a piece of ancient magic. It was not the same as Tonks
simply saying "Episkey" to mend Harry's broken nose (Harry later using the
same spell to heal Demelza Robins' fat lip) or Lockhart charming Harry's
broken arm. Later, before entering the cave, DD healed the deep cut he had
made in his arm by simply passing the tip of his wand over it.

I wonder why JKR, after five books, has given Snape this mysterious power
all of a sudden. I can see two reasons for it in HBP:

1) Draco's bleeding was so profuse that something had to be done
immediately. Obviously, having invented the Sectumsempra spell, Snape knew
the counter-spell. There is also the possibility that Snape was trying to
protect Harry from expulsion by minimizing the damage he had done to Draco
before taking the latter to Mme. Pomfrey for further attention.

2) We already knew, from DD in HBP, Ch. 23, that "Snape¹s timely action"
when he returned to Hogwarts, desperately injured, helped save his life.
I, for one, had simply assumed that Snape's potions were superior to Mme.
Pomfrey's concoctions. DD, in HBP, Ch. 13, had already made the point that
"Professor Snape knows much more about the Dark Arts than Madam Pomfrey".
But now, having established Snape's healing powers, JKR has a further
device to explain why DD insisted upon seeing Snape after drinking the
green liquid in the cave. Keeping Snape's motivation ambiguous, she wants
us to believe that DD wants Snape to heal him rather than deliver him from
his agony.

I also see the very strong possibility that JKR is setting us up for some
development yet to come in DH, especially if Snape was indeed using
ancient magic:

A) We have seen the power of ancient magic before and know what did it do
to LV. We might just see something like that again at the ~final showdown~
from Snape.

B) Should Harry land in a deathlike state, Snape might just be the one
with the power to ~resurrect~ him, or "stopper death", perhaps even by
sacrificing himself.

C) There is the remote possibility that JKR is hinting at some background
information on Snape. We have a few missing years between the time he
finished his schooling at Hogwarts, presumably June '78, and the time he
was hired to teach at Hogwarts sometime before September, 1981. He might
have been a "Trainee Healer" at St. Mungo's during that time. We know from
OotP, Ch. 29 that the qualifications would be "at least ðEÐ at NEWT level
in Potions, Herbology, Transfiguration, Charms and Defence Against the
Dark Arts".


Not that it matters, but I assume that her private wedding was a civil
ceremony and I haven't heard of her children being baptized.

I know nothing about Rowling's church attendance, but I don't think
it's particularly relevant. These are fictional characters she is
writing about, and don't have to share her own beliefs (or lack of
same). When she tells me that the Potters risked their lives to sneak
out with Sirius to get Harry baptized, I assume the obvious: that
baptism was important to one or both of Harry's parents.

That is what makes AFHP so interesting. Potterverse is all things to all
people. I hope that, one day, JKR may approve an annotated edition or let
someone edit her notes into a book.

Yes, that would be great. But I hate to even think of the huge size
of such an annotated volume. ;)

Sounds like your hard disk could use more capacity. ;P


But what might he have done
with Pettigrew had he been conscious? Would he not, at least, have joined
in the accusations that Sirius and Remus were making and revealed his
desire for vengeance? I have never heard this aspect of the scene
mentioned, but it isn't worth a separate thread.

Unfortunately, we can't be positive that Snape did not already know
about Wormtail being a traitor (although he may have been surprised to
find out he was still alive.) Bear in mind that Snape was working for
Voldemort until after Wormtail spilled the beans about the Potters.
Since Voldemort captured Wormtail and convinced him to betray the
Potters, and since Snape was with Voldemort at the time (in the
general sense of the word), there's a pretty good chance that Snape
was aware of Wormtail's betrayal.

I don't know what you mean by LV capturing Wormtail

LV didn't capture Wormtail immediately before he betrayed the Potters,
but it appears that he did get his hands on Peter about a year earlier
and coerced him into becoming his spy. Peter was, of course, too
cowardly to die rather than work for Voldemort. (At least, that is
Peter's story in PoA.) Sirius assumed that when Peter found out about
the Potters' hiding place, he went running to his master to tell him,
and he may well have. Or Voldemort may have twisted his arm a little
once the Potters disappeared. We'll probably never know for sure.


but the whole complex
is wide open and we definitely need the background story. I don't think
that we will be visiting the Pensieve as often as you seem to believe.
I certainly expect a lot from Aberforth and also expect some of the older
characters to start talking once Harry comes of wizarding age.

The reason Rowling has used the pensieve so often is that it is a
great way to reveal information about the past in a dynamic manner.
In the TV biz, they used to talk about the problem of "talking heads",
that is, people simply sitting and discussing matters. It's boring.
Likewise, lengthy explanations of what happened (and why) are also
boring when a character in a book just sits and talks. It breaks the
writer's rule of "Don't tell it, show it." The pensive allows Harry
(and us) to actually travel back in time (so to speak) and witness the
events as they take place. Normally, an author might just use a
flashback to do the same thing - but since we see almost everything
through Harry's eyes, the flashback has to involve Harry - and the
pensieve does a good job of permitting this in instances where Harry
was not originally present when the events took place.

Don't get me wrong. I think it's a great vehicle. But I also think that it
is to JKR's credit that she tries to be inventive and not repeat her
tricks too often as with Time-Turners or Polyjuice Potion. DD keeps
memories because he is getting forgetful. Snape removed his thoughts to
keep Harry from seeing them. It can be presumed that he returned them
after the ~lessons~ were terminated.
--
Chris
.