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Underground > Books, Criticism & Writing >

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (SPOILERS)

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Poke it with a stick

08:39 / 28.11.05

Just a quick note - isn't the sorting hat a Gryffindor relic as well?

Keith, like a scientist

12:21 / 28.11.05

I don't believe so. I think it was his idea, but the created it together, and Rowling said somewhere that when the Hat speaks, it speaks with the collective mind of the founders or something.

10:40 / 29.11.05

But all the houses are supposed to unite, aren't they? The impression I got was that Dumbledor was telling Harry that the only reason that Voldermort thinks that Harry can kill him is because he (V) thinks he (Harry) is the chosen one also - and because of all that has happened, because Harry hasn't been drenched in wizard history all his life, he isn't as affraid of V, everything that has happened since has made him both scared but also angry enough to think that he has to confront him. Only when the house unite, or representations of the houses (so Malfoy, Neville, Hermoine and Ron) unite to beat him will they actually succeed - that's what the househat is there for, to keep telling them this again and again.

15:20 / 29.11.05

The Boy was just watching the first movie again and I'm now convinced the seventh book will end with some sort of heroic/deus-ex-machina appearance of the snake Harry liberated on his zoo outing at the beginning of the first book.

20:16 / 29.11.05

It's a rather long thread which I read a good wee while back so I'm not sure, but has anybody mentioned the possibilty that Harry himself is a Horcrux?

Having a shard of Voldemort's soul in him would explain an awful lot of the Harry/Voldemort psychic crossover stuff. It'd be a pretty heavy toll to pay if he wants to rid the world of the big man too.

14:18 / 30.11.05

Thinking back on why Harry Potter works as a detective story I realised it also clearly works as part of The Western genre.

-The Half-Blood Prince contains an excellent pistols at dawn sequence and even an old style shoot out in its conclusion.

-Aside from the obvious wands=guns, brooms=horses analogy (which I'm sure was mentioned somewhere previously) there's also the heavily reinforced revenge structure (present in My Darling Clementine, The Unforgiven to name but two). Voldemort has not only killed Harry's father and mother but later his uncle and Dumbledore. In essence it's "You killed my Pa(and Ma)!" to the power of three.

-The role of Hogwarts can be conflated with that of the community in Westerns. Hogwarts as well as its ideals and self contained law, like the often insular community in westerns, always remains at the centre of conflict. Any unravelling of this society and balance whether from internal or external factors is seen to be of high importance to the story. Time and time again Harry, like the archetypal Western hero, asserts himself as a valid member of this community by combating anything that could endanger its social structure.

-Harry is the epitome of the archetypal Western hero as Yves Kovacs describes it:
"Sheriff, or outlaw, he assumes the condition of an adventurer in spite of himself, with a patient sang-froid, so that he always appears to us to be on the defensive and poses as a witness or a victim of an implacable world".

Our Lady Has Left the Building

19:09 / 30.11.05

Dear J.K. Rowling,

After watching the film of 'Goblet of Fire' I must insist that book seven has the Wyrd Sisters as regular cast members, even to the extent of them lying in wait at Godrics Hollow and killing off Harry, Hermione and Ron chapter one, page one, before doing all that bollocks with the Horcruxes. okthxbye.

23:38 / 30.11.05

regarding Harry being a Horcrux: doesn't it also say Voldemort's horcruxes bear a lightning bolt? Please correct me if I am mistaken. I believe Harry is a Horcrux. But if he is then Voldemort can't be destroyed unless Harry is too. Right? Unless...could it be?
Harry will be saved by love!!!

23:45 / 30.11.05

Please correct me if I am mistaken.

You are mistaken.

14:52 / 01.12.05

Thinking back on why Harry Potter works as a detective story I realised it also clearly works as part of The Western genre.

Which means I mustn't be annoyed by that lonesome-Cowboy-riding-into-the-sunset-ending of HBP anymore???

As for the horcrux-Harry-theory, I'm quite sure that's exactly how it is. The possibility of living beings as horcruxes (Nagini) has already been introduced. And I would really prefer a tragic ending with Harry having to die in order to save the world of the Dark Lord! Then finishing off Voldemort could be left to Neville. That would be cool (but I'm afraid it won't happen).

22:32 / 01.12.05

oh damn. well thanks for the correction :-)

Our Lady Has Left the Building

16:55 / 02.12.05

So, does anyone think that Snape being the Half-Blood Prince actually has any importance in the future, or was that just a largely pointless diversion for this book?

Because I'm extremely dubious that Dumbledore and Rowling would have us believe that Harry is ready to take down Voldermort, D did spoonfeed him all the information about the Horcrux and it was D that took him to where it was... bug on a windshield, unless Dumbledore arranged for a job lot of stupid balls to be delivered to Voldermort HQ on his death.

17:48 / 02.12.05

I think Snape being the Half-Blood Prince is of importance in the respect that it showed us how talented a wizard/potion maker Snape is, which will most certainly be of future relevance. I also think that Snape will play a role of almost equal importance to Potter and Voldemort in the final battle/book.
I'm more cautious as to whether Snape's half-blood status is of importance plot point/prophecy wise though.

Which means I mustn't be annoyed by that lonesome-Cowboy-riding-into-the-sunset-ending of HBP anymore???

Well alot of Westerns did contain that type of man-alone sublimated sexuality. You don't have to like it though.

And if we're talking about living beings as Horcruxes, maybe Snape? Eventhough Snape's intentions are ambiguous he did kill Dumbledore and as far as the books moral/ideological structure seems to go, he must be made pay.

14:02 / 05.01.06

QUITE FRANKLY, I LOVED THESE NOVELS. eEVRY ONE OF THEM. wITH EACH BOOK, THEY GET DARKER, EVEN MORE INTELLIGENT, AND FAR MORE INFORMATIVE. I CAN'T WAIT TO READ THE FINAL CHAPTER OF THIS YOUNG WIZARD, HIS LIFE, HIS FRIENDS, THEIR LIVES, AND THE RESOLUTION, WHICH OUGHTTA BE ONE HELLOVA THING IN THE END.

HAWKSMOOR...FROM THE BLEED.

15:09 / 05.01.06

I'm glad you've read the novels, Hawksmoor. My question is, Have you read this thread? Or, for that matter, the rest of this board? Ever?

14:37 / 10.01.06

What do we know about Snape's family?

Heredity seems really important in these books.

22:53 / 16.01.06

so living beings can be horcrux yes?
I say Dobby is one.

Our Lady Has Left the Building

14:02 / 17.01.06

Why?

21:04 / 18.01.06

You know, I'm still not convinced Sirius is really dead. No corpse, no death, that's what I say...

21:46 / 18.01.06

I believe he´s dead.

To somehow bring him back, would be cheap. Especially after Rowling told her readers, how she cried when she wrote that death.

Maybe that´s her "nice" way of killing of characters. Look of a basilisk, falling through a gateway, green flashes. No blood, nothing too grisly for the young readers.

Goodness Gracious Meme

00:59 / 19.01.06

What do we know about Snape's family?

Heredity seems really important in these books.

Good point. Heredity, love and (chosen) family are the big powers...

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