Writing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

[Darren]

Maybe I'm just a shallow reader and I don't take time to think about what the words mean... But I was too excited to finish it, so that's probably the case. Even looking back though, I still can't think of it

So I need some help: What was the significance of Harry's eyes? J.K. said that they were important and that it would become clear in the 7th book, but I'm still just as confused. Probably moreso because I found myself with more questions than answers...

Also, she said that the 2nd book was a great forshadow of the 7th, but besides the obvious, I didn't see anything that related the two. In fact, I found the 5th book closer to it than anything... So maybe someone could clear that up for me

It's kind of a let down for me really... Because at the end of each book, we're given all the secrets, so I guess when I waited for the final book to come out, I was expecting the revealing secrets to be so much better... But really, all the stuff that has been said would be cleared up hasn't been... Maybe :animesigh

[Gavin]

[quote name='Darren']So I need some help: What was the significance of Harry's eyes? J.K. said that they were important and that it would become clear in the 7th book, but I'm still just as confused. Probably moreso because I found myself with more questions than answers...[/QUOTE]

[SIZE="1"][spoiler]It had to do with the fact that Snape loved Lily, and I'd guess by extention anything that reminded him of Lily. Apparently Snape asking Harry to look at him before he died was so he could see Lily's eyes one last time.[/spoiler][/SIZE]

[eleanor]

[quote name='Gavin'][SIZE="1"][spoiler]It had to do with the fact that Snape loved Lily, and I'd guess by extention anything that reminded him of Lily. Apparently Snape asking Harry to look at him before he died was so he could see Lily's eyes one last time.[/spoiler][/SIZE][/QUOTE]

[font="trebuchet ms"][spoiler]I never realized that before. Now I have to go cry for another ten minutes over how heartbreaking this is. :animedepr [/spoiler][/font]

[Gavin]

[quote name='Lunox'][font="trebuchet ms"][spoiler]I never realized that before. Now I have to go cry for another ten minutes over how heartbreaking this is. :animedepr [/spoiler][/font][/QUOTE]

[SIZE="1"]Heh, sorry Lunox, still though [spoiler]it was nice to see there was a bit of humanity left in Snape, even if it was buried for the most part.[/spoiler][/SIZE]

[Nerdsy]

[quote name='Lunox'][font="trebuchet ms"][spoiler]2) Everyone in Slytherin is evil and there is no redemption, except for Slughorn (who is awesome lol). I just didn't get why everyone in Slytherin has to be a supporter of Voldemort. Ok, yes, it is Canon that everyone in Slytherin is pure-blood:

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

For instance, Slytherin
Took only pure-blood wizards
Of great cunning, just like him...

But it was lame that ALL of them left for Voldemort during the battle. Seriously, what was all this stuff about the Houses coming together and defending Hogwarts, and then not a single Slythering defends Hogwarts? And I think CUNNING implies that at least some of them were INTELLIGENT, and if they were AMBITIOUS, they would be AMBITIOUS to SAVE THEIR LIVES and not want to end of in a spiky cage being interrogated by the MOM and then sent to Azkaban. It's weird that Rowling likes to give everyone dimension...except the Slytherins.[/spoiler][/font][/QUOTE]

[color=deeppink]That's not entirely true. [spoiler]Not everyone in Slytherin is pure-blood; neither Voldemort nor Snape were pure-blood, and yet they were accepted.

And besides Slughorn, there are other Slytherin's who are far from beyond redemption. Snape, of course, and Phinneas Nigellus Black, both of whom worked to bring about the downfall of Voldemort. And let's not forget Regulus Black, who sacrificed himself in an attempt to destroy a horcrux. There's also strong evidence that Tonks' mother, Andromeda, was a Slytherin.

As for the Slytherin's all running... Phinneas himself said in OotP that a Slytherin will always choose to save his or her own neck. While this is certainly not absolute, it's a good rule of thumb; the Slytherin's didn't fight because they either didn't want to put their life on the line or didn't think Voldemort could be defeated. I'm not sure why you think the Ministry of Magic would interrogate retreating Slytherins and then throw them all into Azkaban; I doubt the Ministry would do that just because someone chose not to fight, especially with Kingsley in command. [/spoiler][/color]

[eleanor]

[quote name='Nerdsy'][color=deeppink]That's not entirely true. [spoiler]Not everyone in Slytherin is pure-blood; neither Voldemort nor Snape were pure-blood, and yet they were accepted.

And besides Slughorn, there are other Slytherin's who are far from beyond redemption. Snape, of course, and Phinneas Nigellus Black, both of whom worked to bring about the downfall of Voldemort. And let's not forget Regulus Black, who sacrificed himself in an attempt to destroy a horcrux. There's also strong evidence that Tonks' mother, Andromeda, was a Slytherin.

As for the Slytherin's all running... Phinneas himself said in OotP that a Slytherin will always choose to save his or her own neck. While this is certainly not absolute, it's a good rule of thumb; the Slytherin's didn't fight because they either didn't want to put their life on the line or didn't think Voldemort could be defeated. I'm not sure why you think the Ministry of Magic would interrogate retreating Slytherins and then throw them all into Azkaban; I doubt the Ministry would do that just because someone chose not to fight, especially with Kingsley in command. [/spoiler][/color][/QUOTE]

[font="trebuchet ms"][spoiler]You're right about the blood situation, but I was mostly talking about the students. I guess it's silly of me to expect something more from Rowling when she barely mentions other Slytherin students other than Draco and his gang... I thought a unity theme was going on, and the Slytherin students' betrayal of Hogwarts was slightly off to me.

The last part of my post was a joke, although not one well portrayed. :L [/spoiler][/font]

[Nerdsy]

[quote name='Lunox'][font="trebuchet ms"][spoiler]You're right about the blood situation, but I was mostly talking about the students. I guess it's silly of me to expect something more from Rowling when she barely mentions other Slytherin students other than Draco and his gang... I thought a unity theme was going on, and the Slytherin students' betrayal of Hogwarts was slightly off to me. [/font][/spoiler][/quote]

[color=deeppink]Oh, yeah, I was going to say this but forgot. [spoiler]Centuries of inter-house prejudices aren't going to dissapear because a hat tells them to "stick together!" ; )

I should point out that Harry does take steps at the end of the book to start the mending process.[/spoiler][/color]

[quote]The last part of my post was a joke, although not one well portrayed. :L [/QUOTE]

[color=deeppink]Fair enough, heh.[/color]

[Laborpilot86]

I think that the best book in the series is Order of the Phoenix, the weakest being Chamber of Secrets.

Deathly Hallows deifenitly has the best line in all of them, courtesy of Mrs. Molly Weasley. Its brilliant.

[Flo]

[COLOR="DarkSlateBlue"][SIZE="1"]I just finished the Deathly Hallow today! Finally I know the ending and I just have to say, wow J.K Rowling was quite graffic in some parts. But alas, I think the best part is Snape, I've turned around completly with him. Well maybe not entirely the guy needs to learn some hygenie, but still I was almost in tears for him. As I was with Sirius, but this was different. Somehow...@.@

[spoiler]I really like how I finally got to know Lily Evans, I think that chapter is one of my favorites in the entire series of books. And there was some depth to Petunia as well, I mean after The Order of the Phoenix I did start looking at with a new light but this really opened me up. And Snape, once again, who would of thought? Not me at least! His obsesion was shocking yet sweet, it showed that he did have a heart at one time and wasn't like most Slytherin. Tough I do feel like James Potter is still a mystery, I mean all I've seen of him was his trouble-making, and bull-headed times. But, that's just mean. Oh and I would like to add, why must J.K Rowling kill off all the cool people. I mean Sirus, George, Lupin and freakin' Tonks! Not cool J.K., not cool at all.[/spoiler][/SIZE][/COLOR]

[Sandy]

[B]Breaking news: Dumbledore was gay![/B]

And that's for real. J.K. Rowling revealed this intriguing fact about the famed Hogwart's Headmaster's private life yesterday in an interview. She said that the scriptwriters of the next Harry Potter movie had tried to put a reference to a lady friend of Dumbledore's to the script, but Rowling had denied that, saying frankly that Dumbledore is a homosexual.

Having read the Deathly Hallows it should've been obvious to me [spoiler](Rowling said that Grindelwald was the love of his life)[/spoiler], but for some reason my gaydar failed me on this. :/ I reckon it was because [spoiler]I saw Dumbledore as a bearded old man even in the flashbacks of his youth[/spoiler]. XP

[Doublehex]

Well, that was, well, err, an interesting development. I never would of suspected that.

Well, this is another thing for those radical Christians to bash Harry Potter with. *sigh*

[Gavin]

[SIZE="1"]Hmm, seems my thinking Ian McKellan was the best to play Dumbledore was even more apt than I thought.

Seeing as he was over a hundred, I think his sexuality really makes no difference...at least I genuinely pray it made no difference. :animeswea[/SIZE]

[James]

[color=#606060]It shouldn't really make a difference regardless...even if he was straight, I wouldn't like the idea of him having sex at his age, lol. I could not view Dumbledore as anything but a wise old man and as such, sex doesn't come into it at all. lol

Still I think it's interesting...and now a few things do tie together. I actually think it's a shame that the relationship between Dumbledore and Grindelwald wasn't explored further, if only in terms of the potential for the whole tragic love story angle.

I think mostly it helps to explain why Dumbledore had such a complex relationship with someone who, on the surface, should have just been his enemy. You often sit there and think "Why did he get so many chances?" and stuff. Obviously if love was involved, it was a different scenario for Dumbledore.

So yeah, I think it does make sense when I think back on the story...and I admire Rowling for having the guts to announce this. My respect for her just went up even higher, lol.[/color]

[Aberinkula]

[COLOR="Olive"]James don't you mean magic love triangle? But yeah, imagining Dumbledore having sex with a gilr is nasty, let alone a man. Ugh, shivers just ran down my spine as the image of Dumbledore doing Jessica Simpson crossed my mind. Jessica isn't that hot as to make you feel fine about her doing an old man.

Well at least we know why Dumbledore asks Harry to his quarters so often.[/COLOR]

[James]

[color=#606060]Huh? Jessica Simpson? lol

What has Dumbledore's sexuality got to do with Harry? Dumbledore is an old man and Harry is a boy.

I would imagine that Dumbledore views Harry almost as a grandson, more than anything else. His approach to Harry is very fatherly in nature.[/color]

[Shinmaru]

I thought the timing of the announcement was sort of strange, but in a way it's kind of nice that JK isn't really making a huge deal of this. It's like, "Dumbledore was an awesome wizard, and, oh, he's gay btw" rather than, "DUMBLEDORE IS GAY READ MY BOOK."

And, yeah, like Sandy I always imagined Dumbledore as an old man even when reading flashbacks about his younger days, haha. I don't think I could ever imagine him in a sexual relationship with anybody, man or woman lol. It's too strange.

[Dagger]

[url=http://callmecaito.livejournal.com/87357.html#cutid1][u]This hilarious LJ entry[/u][/url], posted in response to people's complaints that JKR should have outed him in the books or not at all, has a list of Potter quotes tweaked just a little. For instance:

"And now, Harry, let us step out into the night and pursue that flighty temptress, adventure. But not romantically, I don't dig the ladybits."

~Dagger~

[eleanor]

[font="trebuchet ms"] Hate to be the wet rag, but I wonder why she didn't put it in her book. I know people will say that it's because being gay isn't supposed to be a big deal (but seriously, it would be in such a hugely popular series) and that it wasn't essential to the plot, but I thought it would have been nice for her to put in [i]Deathly Hallows[/i]. Not for my gratification, because either way I don't care, but it could have influenced a lot of the younger readers of Harry Potter.

So my respect/love for JK Rowling stays the same. :]
[/font]

[Gavin]

[quote name='Lunox'][font="trebuchet ms"]but I thought it would have been nice for her to put in [i]Deathly Hallows[/i].
[/font][/QUOTE]

[SIZE="1"]I don't know, I think if she was going to do it, revealing it at his funeral [that white coffin makes more sense now too :animesmil] would have been the most appropriate place to do so.

As for Dagger's link, here's my favourite.

[QUOTE]Chasing the Quaffle for the other team[/QUOTE]

It made me laugh so much.
[/SIZE]