Today I went for my usual run in Forest Park when I jogged right onto a movie set! It turned out to be a shoot for something on the History Channel called Lost Worlds. Hmmm. Let's consider this, shall we: History Channel + "Lost Worlds" + Forest Park = big bowl of whaaaat? As you may know, Forest Park is not exactly unvarnished wilderness. In fact, the set was on the main drive, which goes over a highway. But, then I noticed big lights set up deeper into the "forest" section of Forest Park. I also saw an actor getting made up with dirt all over his outfit, and there were fake car or plane seats by the side of the road, leading me to conclude that this is some sort of disasterous "lost in the wilderness!" special, only why is it on the History Channel and why is it called Lost Worlds? Pressing questions! Too bad I have to work tomorrow so I can't stalk the crew.
Yesterday I re-read Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. (DANGER, WARNING for the cheap seats in the back: Do not continue reading if you do not wish to be spoiled!)
I think it may be only the second time I've read it, and besides leaving me with that "I want Book 7 and I want it now" feeling, I am also forced to conclude that Dumbledore is truly dead. J.K. Rowling is very clear about it: "He had known there was no hope from the moment that the full Body-Bind Curse Dumbledore had placed upon him lifted, known that it could have happened only because its caster was dead..." "Dumbledore was dead, gone..." I think maybe I was in denial the first time I read it, because I definitely came away from it thinking there was some sort of mistake and Dumbledore couldn't be dead. But because I've always been under the impression that J.K. Rowling takes her own characters very seriously, I hope there's no miraculous resurrection in the tradition of Buffy the Vampire Slayer or The X-Files or Lord of the Rings. I think Dumbledore's portrait might be back to offer some advice, but that's all. The real burning question for me now is: What's the deal with Snape?! Evil...woefully misunderstood...or caught up in some genius master plan? I remember thinking the first time I read it that the darkest thing about the sixth book wasn't just Voldemort's killing sprees and Dumbledore's death, but the cold hard truth that sometimes the people (or wizards) you most look up to are wrong about who to trust, and they pay for it with their lives...a theme that hearkens all the way back to the death of Harry's parents when they swap Secret-Keepers. For six whole books, it's been like, "You may think the villain is Snape...but you're wrong again! Here is proof over and over that he's actually on the right side!" So if it turns out that Snape really is still in league with Voldemort, I think it's a brave thing of J.K. Rowling to do. (On the other hand, if there's some shocking revelation about his true intentions, I'm sure she'll pull it off masterfully.)
Meanwhile, the seventh book is going to have to be enormously long. Harry has to (a) find the four Horcruxes; (b) in the process of finding one of them, the locket, figure out who R.A.B. is (Regulus Black? I thought I was so clever when I speculated that, only to find out that every other careful reader in the world has done so as well); (c) return to the Dursleys one more time; and (d) oh, yeah, destroy Voldemort once and for all. Personally, I think killing off Harry, Ron or Hermione in the final book would be cheap, and I don't think J.K. Rowling will go that route, but perhaps Neville or Luna or one of the Weasley brothers will bite it -- I can't see ending the series without at least one more major casualty. I wouldn't be surprised if Draco Malfoy and Harry end up on the same side, somehow, and maybe Draco will be the one to die. (Remember when the fourth book was about to come out, and all we knew from the press releases was that Someone Will Die?)
Plus, it's a big risk setting the seventh book entirely outside of Hogwarts, without the rhythm of the school year that typically accompanies the books -- we're down to the dark, deep Quest to Save the World meat of the storyline now, without Professor Flitwick's homework and Dobby the house-elf to detract from all the evil. (At least I hope Dobby the house-elf isn't around to detract. If there's one quibble I have with the Harry Potter books, it's those damned house-elves.)
Anyway! I want the seventh book, and I want it now. Or, you know, perhaps in a few years. Do you know that I once read a story about this little girl who was very sick and she knew she would die before the fourth book came out, and J.K. Rowling called her on the phone and read passages of it to her and told her what would happen so she could find out before she died? Sad!
Bonus random wild speculation: Someone will Apparate within the grounds of Hogwarts. You know, just because they're always telling us how it can't be done. In any case, I have an enormous amount of faith in J.K. Rowling (except for the disappointment of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, my least-favorite). A lot of my favorite television series (serieses?) have zoomed downhill over time, but it seems like, unlike on TV when characters change because of ratings stunts or because the actors are quitting or because the writers have obviously forgotten the back story to their own scripts, she really puts tremendous thought into her characters and storylines, and I firmly believe that she has a plan and that I will not be disappointed. I think the most amazing thing is that by the time the last book comes out, it will probably be nearly ten years since the publication of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. People who were in elementary school when they read the first book may be in college by the time they read the last one, and on the day of its release we'll all still be dying to get our hands on it. Hooray!
"The truth. It is a beautiful and terrible thing, and should therefore be treated with great caution." --Albus Dumbledore
Monday, June 05, 2006
One last golden day of peace
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5 comments:
This wouldn't be the first time Harry has threatened not to go back to Hogwarts in some fashion. I thought it happened at the end of another book as well, but there's also the book where he blows up his aunt and tries to run away. Probably a few more instances of that as well. I think their will be an extended summer section of chapters, but somehow Hermoine or new headmaster McGonnical (sp?) or some other influential character will convince him he needs the Hogwarts library or maybe the Horcruxes are in Hogwarts cause Riddle was weird like that or something. And somehow Malfoy will be there.
I liked Order of the Phoneix better than Prisoner of Azkaban, and probably better than Chamber of Secrets. But I agree that it's not her best work.
I also defiantly tried to believe that Dumbledore was still alive for a while after my first read of the 6th book. Similarly, I think you are trying to ignore the fact that the "major causalties" continue to escalate through the books (a minor character in Cedric to a suddenly major character in the Godfather to a fully major character in Dubmledore). I think it's gonna be worse than any of us can imagine. Something like Malfoy kills Ron, Hermoine kills Malfoy, Voldermorte kills Hermoine, Harry kills Voldermorte.
And I still that damn cat is gonna do something to make everyone flip out.
1. I had a bet with myself that either Mike or Caitlin would be the first to respond. Looks like I won!
2. I'm surprised that you liked Order of the Phoenix better than Prisoner of Azkaban. At first I thought I'd just given it a bad rap because it was a letdown after all those years of waiting for it, but then I reread it before Half-Blood Prince came out and nope, I still dislike it.
3. I have definitely noticed the escalation in casualties. But, I think in a sense there are competing themes that run throughout the series; one is that, as Harry thinks at the end of the sixth book, "people who cared about him had stood in front of him one by one, his mother, his father, his godfather, and finally Dumbledore, all determined to protect him; but now that was over. He could not let anyone else stand between him and Voldemort; he must abandon forever the illusion he ought to have lost at the age of one, that the shelter of a parent's arms meant that nothing could hurt him. There was no waking from his nightmare, no comforting whisper in the dark that he was safe really, that it was all in his imagination; the last and greatest of his protectors had died, and he was more alone than he had ever been before." On the other hand, though, there's the fact that Harry's greatest defense against Voldemort, according to Dumbledore, is his ability to love, and that love will be the thing that saves him.
4. Crookshanks is hardly in Half-Blood Prince at all. Either he's dropped or you're onto something.
5. As for Harry returning to Hogwarts, he does tell the Minister of Magic at the end of the sixth book about how Dumbledore "will only be gone from the school when none here are loyal to him," and there is the fact that Dumbledore's portrait is on the wall in his old office (which presumably now belongs to Professor McGonagall).
6. J.K. Rowling has a website where she addresses rumors: www.jkrowling.com. But I don't want to read even speculation or rumors about the seventh book, because I prefer to remain completely in the dark.
Carrie's prediciton: Snape isn't evil! I've been saying it for years! You'll see! He'll show you all!
i second carrie. i have more to say on the subject, but not enough time now.
Hey what a great site keep up the work its excellent.
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