Book: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

[ChaosK]

Spoilers Ahead

So about five solid hours of reading, and I'm done .

Like everyone else, I'm wondering, why the fuck did they bring in the Deathly Hallows out of nowhere, and then never mention them for another 400 pages? And then suddenly in the end, it's a vital point to the destruction of Voldermart.

Also, am I the only one who's disappointed that Harry never used Avada Kedevera (sp?) on anyone? I would've at least thought he would defeat Voldermart with it, I mean...using expelliarmus in a duel that he knows one of them has to die in?

The book was nicely done though, I liked how since the beginning, the story got darker, I mean, Moody was killed off in the first 50 pages! George freaking lost an ear too. I liked how Voldermart overthrew the minstery and Kingsely told them in the middle of a wedding in a sort of ominous way, ensuing panic everywhere.

But also like eat_toast I felt there were many unnecessary deaths. I mean Hedwig certainly didn't need to die, although I felt Dobby's death was actually very well placed and actually sad. I thought they were gonna kill off Percy but they killed Fred instead. Of course the battle of Hogwarts wouldn't have seemed so dramatic if people didn't die but still, I felt either Lupin or Tonks should've survived...

Must say, the book was much different than I had expected. I thought once they embarked on the journey, it would go to plan (going to Godric Hollow, then finding Horcruxes) and they would only run into resistance from Death Eaters and Voldermart around the Horcruxes, never expected everybody to be on the hunt for Harry.

[Carnage]

Spoiler

I stayed up all night to finish that book from about 12 - 9 am. I savored every little bit!

I thought this was the best book by far. It was completely different from the rest. There were a small number of cliches, but they were very small and bearable. The way Rowling was able to reveal everything and have Harry find the last horcuxes 750 pages was amazing. There was only 1 thing that I thought should have changed, and not to this book but the previous ones:

Unless my memory is failing me and he mentioned before, Grindelwald should have been hinted and more analyzed in at least 2 previous books. Even if it were one of the earlier books, it would be much better than kind of pulling him out of nowhere. The same with the Deathly Hallows. Just a few small hints, maybe even rumors between students, would have been appreciated from the previous books.

But all in all I can definitely say I liked this book best.

@CK: I thought the deaths were necessary to capture the loss in war. I think the reason Rowling could easily kill off the owl (which I thought was a good choice) was because it was something close to Harry yet unusable for the rest of the story. They were on the run so they would never have used Hedwig, and so the perfect opportunity to give Harry even more grief arose.

The point of the expelliarmus spell was that it was Harry's signature move, and so he won his battle his own way, in his own style. Voldemort ended up aiding his death not only by using Harry's blood, but by using a killing spell, otherwise if it were a stun spell that backfired on him he would not have died.

[SK]

Just finished the book, thought it was incredible, by far one of the best I've ever read. Man, I don't think its really sunken in for me yet that its really over. I think I will be able to enjoy it more once some people I know have finished it and we can discuss Horcruxes and Hallows. It was really great though, I don't mind cliches, she was putting the Greek influence in our faces, quoting Aeschylus before the novel even began. The creativity of the entire series and this being the final book made them entirely insignificant for me, I actually appreciated them in some ways. I think its great our generation has a new series of books that uses classical elements in new original ways. Ended very well, gave you the climactic final duel that was you knew was going to come, that could have ruined the series if it did not. I thought Rowling implemented everything very well. One of the top series of all time..

[Carnage]

I want a mind-eraser tool so that I can forget the contents of the book and re-read it all over again. And I want it now!

[darkmetal505]

I want a mind-eraser tool so that I can forget the contents of the book and re-read it all over again. And I want it now!

Points wand at Carnage's head, "Obliviate."

[Honoko]

Book was good. I will now re-read it to pick up details I didn't bother with. Personally, I was rooting for Harry's death but was totally upset when it actually happened... and then realized I still had about 50 more pages to read =P So I guess the length of a book can be a spoiler haha

Btw, I wonder how Griphook felt when he realized Godric's sword was no longer in his possession... nasty shock, I might surmise.

[SK]

I'm not sure about Harry's or any of of the core gang dying, would have been pretty cliche imo.

[rockmanj]

Hmm...did i miss something? How did Neville get the sword, or did he use the replica?

[ChaosK]

Hmm...did i miss something? How did Neville get the sword, or did he use the replica?

I know Harry gave him the sword but I have no idea how Harry got the sword from Griphook...

[SK]

No one can own the sword, it appears to Gryffindors, Neville was able to pull the sword from the Sorting Hat because he was in dire need.

[masamuneehs]

thought it was excellent, was slightly disappointed by some of the absolutely crazy accidents (there's that word again...) that get Harry and crew answers and info... and those Death Eaters really can't seem to win duels when it really counts...

Draco let me down. I kept rooting for him to do the right thing, and there were several moments when he appeared on the verge of doing so, but it never happened... He unwittingly played a vital role (or did the wands not really matter? i think they did...), and really never stepped it up... His mom, on the other hand, was the (lucky) definition of clutch

Brillaint stuff, Rowling totally had me with the 'fake death' thing. Luna and Neville were great (goes without saying for Hermione, that girl is the Harry Potter incarnation of Jack Bauer on the spot improvisation) and I thought even Ron brought more than just comic relief to the tale...

[rockmanj]

No one can own the sword, it appears to Gryffindors, Neville was able to pull the sword from the Sorting Hat because he was in dire need.

yea, i forgot that half the shit at hogwart's just conjures up very convenient things all the time.


edit....i wonder if the room of requirement could make a condom machine....just throwing that out there

[Carnage]

How did they revive the sorting hat? Didn't Voldemort burn in it?

On a side note, Im glad there was a happy ending. A nice change, especially when almost everyone thought Harry would die. The scene with Harry and Dumbledore talking with the squiriming Voldemort behind them was my favorite in the entire series .

[darkmetal505]

They didn't revive the hat. Neville pulled the sword while it was still set on fire.

"In one swift, fluid motion, Neville broke free of the Body-Bind Curse upon him: the flaming hat fell off him and he drew from its depths something silver, with a glittering, rubied handle---"

[ChaosK]

The hat wasn't destroyed, you'll see in the epilogue that the sorting hat is mentioned.

[BioAlien]

Can someone help me?
I have been trying to find this book in the last 2 days in a not so legal way. (No, I am Not asking for a download link or anything of that sort)
3 simple question:

How many chapters is there? (So many fakes out there..)
What is the name of the First and Last Chapters? (So many fakes..)
What is the exact last sentence from the last chapter? (Not many real, and yet they can be incomplete)

I would buy the book.. but i'm poor.. and I can't see a shit if it is writing too small.

[Augury]

Hm, finished the book, then re-read some of the latter portions...

btw BioAlien, it's probably going to be tough to not get spoiled in this thread anymore since we're already a page into discussion (spoilers below)



I'm still a bit confused about why (by what mechanism, and if it was "used up" or not) Harry survived. So Harry has within him his own soul and a portion of Voldemort's (the 7th horcrux). And Voldemort's revived body has a portion of Lily's protection because he used Harry's blood. Voldemort shoots a killing curse and hits Harry, thus destroying the horcrux and leaving Harry's soul & body unscathed.
Why is that the only part that is destroyed?
Is it because he's using the elder wand?
Is it because Harry is "master of death" by uniting the three Hallows?
Would he have survived in the Great Hall if he had not defended himself?
And what is significant about Voldemort using Harry's blood?

Aside from this bit of my confusion, I really enjoyed reading this, especially the entire last quarter where Hogwarts was in constant siege. Parts that stand out for me was McGonagall's brief duel with Snape and Snape's death (totally cold...)

Something else that occurred to me, though, is that despite being in a state of war, the Death Eaters aren't really taking casualties (or if they are, at a much lower rate) because they're the only ones using killing curses. The only way to feasibly defeat them is to either make them run and imprison their stunned or completely wipe them out... Seems like a pretty big disadvantage to me.

[BioAlien]

btw BioAlien, it's probably going to be tough to not get spoiled in this thread anymore since we're already a page into discussion (spoilers below)

The fact that I'm on the Internet, mean that I have already seen every possible spoiler already.. so I don't care about that.. can you answer my questions please?

[rockmanj]

Hm, finished the book, then re-read some of the latter portions...

btw BioAlien, it's probably going to be tough to not get spoiled in this thread anymore since we're already a page into discussion (spoilers below)



I'm still a bit confused about why (by what mechanism, and if it was "used up" or not) Harry survived. So Harry has within him his own soul and a portion of Voldemort's (the 7th horcrux). And Voldemort's revived body has a portion of Lily's protection because he used Harry's blood. Voldemort shoots a killing curse and hits Harry, thus destroying the horcrux and leaving Harry's soul & body unscathed.
Why is that the only part that is destroyed?
Is it because he's using the elder wand?
Is it because Harry is "master of death" by uniting the three Hallows?
Would he have survived in the Great Hall if he had not defended himself?
And what is significant about Voldemort using Harry's blood?

Aside from this bit of my confusion, I really enjoyed reading this, especially the entire last quarter where Hogwarts was in constant siege. Parts that stand out for me was McGonagall's brief duel with Snape and Snape's death (totally cold...)

Something else that occurred to me, though, is that despite being in a state of war, the Death Eaters aren't really taking casualties (or if they are, at a much lower rate) because they're the only ones using killing curses. The only way to feasibly defeat them is to either make them run and imprison their stunned or completely wipe them out... Seems like a pretty big disadvantage to me.

I think what happened was, that Lilly's protection wouldn't allow Harry to kill himself , therefore, the killing curse only destroyed the part of harry that wasn't actually Larry. Or it could also be the case that the elder wand wouldn't actually destroy its master, since Ollivander said that the wands are somewhat sentinent (similar to the golden flames thing in the beginning). So maybe what happened was, that the wand destroyed the foreign element that remained in Harry's body (or soul), and the second time that he attacked harry, the bond between them was broken, and he died from that lack of connection.

[saman]

Hm, finished the book, then re-read some of the latter portions...

btw BioAlien, it's probably going to be tough to not get spoiled in this thread anymore since we're already a page into discussion (spoilers below)



I'm still a bit confused about why (by what mechanism, and if it was "used up" or not) Harry survived. So Harry has within him his own soul and a portion of Voldemort's (the 7th horcrux). And Voldemort's revived body has a portion of Lily's protection because he used Harry's blood. Voldemort shoots a killing curse and hits Harry, thus destroying the horcrux and leaving Harry's soul & body unscathed.
Why is that the only part that is destroyed?
Is it because he's using the elder wand?
Is it because Harry is "master of death" by uniting the three Hallows?
Would he have survived in the Great Hall if he had not defended himself?
And what is significant about Voldemort using Harry's blood?

Aside from this bit of my confusion, I really enjoyed reading this, especially the entire last quarter where Hogwarts was in constant siege. Parts that stand out for me was McGonagall's brief duel with Snape and Snape's death (totally cold...)

Something else that occurred to me, though, is that despite being in a state of war, the Death Eaters aren't really taking casualties (or if they are, at a much lower rate) because they're the only ones using killing curses. The only way to feasibly defeat them is to either make them run and imprison their stunned or completely wipe them out... Seems like a pretty big disadvantage to me.

two of your questions have the same answer. harry survived because voldemort was still alive, who took harry's blood and lily's protection. it seems confusing, but it's really very simple if you think about it. lily died to save harry, and her sacrifice became harry's protection. voldemort took harry's blood, thus taking in some of that enchantment with him. voldemort then tried to kill harry, but since he himself was keeping lily's protection alive within him, harry couldn't die unless voldemort died too. this is the significance of voldemort and harry sharing blood, and why harry survived. and since harry didn't defend himself and faced death head on, he was given a choice of living or dying.

another significance of voldemort and harry sharing the same blood is that it connected the two of them very closely, and when they fought at the end of the fourth book, their wands "echoed the relationship between their masters." the paragraph at the top of page 570 (in my copy anyway) explains it more thoroughly. because of this connection, harry's wand reacted to the presence of voldemort and did magic on its own at the beginning of the book.