Reader's Commentary III

[tealin]

CHAPTER 22
My my, it's all getting very Indiana Jones around here, isn't it? Seeking out powerful artefacts, fighting Nazis ... dude. SOMEBODY MAKE A RIDE!

CHAPTER 23
So ... Peter doesn't kill Lupin with his silver hand. I like Lupin and all but ... seems kind of a waste of a setup. Huh. I have more to say on the subject of Peter but it'll have to wait till Enchanted comes out...

Summoning Voldemort seems kind of like the Rite of Ash-k'Ente (or however it's spelled) ... I wanted him at some point to be in the middle of something and then he gets summoned and, impossible to resist, the last words in the passage are 'OH BUGG—'

Haha, Dobby. Oh, Dobby. At least the way you died was less annoying than the way you lived.

CHAPTER 24
Um ... if Bill and Fleur use magic for everything, why would they have a spade? Did it come with the house?

Okay, they have three spades? How deep is this hole? They want to make sure Dobby stays dead! (I'm horrible.)

Harry inscribes Dobby's headstone with THAT FONT THAT I'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR (which I believe is called Herculaneum) ... but now it's getting so common that it's getting cheap, kind of like CasablancaAntique (the Les Mis/Snicket font) ... Um, yeah, geeking out. Stopping now.

Not to be morbid, but ... Wouldn't Dumbledore be rather decayed by the time Voldemort took his wand?

CHAPTERS 25-28
Rather unremarkable, in that breaking-into-Gringotts-and-escaping-on-a-dragon kind of way ... or at least I didn't write any notes on it.

CHAPTER 29
Um ... a tunnel from the room in the upstairs of the Hog's Head? That is completely ridiculous and also AWESOME. Way to suspend disbelief, JKR!

I love Neville's Gran. And Neville, for that matter!

CHAPTER 30
A Snape-shaped hole in the window? I've watched too many cartoons for this...

Oh boy oh boy lots of work for visual effects companies! They're going to have to hire every VFX shop in the WORLD to get this movie done.

HAHA PERCY! Awesome. He's gonna die.

Lupin's showing baby pictures. He's gonna die.


CHAPTER 31
Pansy's betrayal leading to the expulsion of all Slytherins ... man, that sort of thing drove me CRAZY in school. One idiot makes the whole class suffer.

HAHA! GRAWP THREW HAGRID INTO THE SCHOOL! That is like ... wow. Hilarious and cool. Sounds like something a storyboarder would come up with.

Did Harry put a wig and tiara on a statue? I don't remember. [checked after finishing] He did! But not in a roguish jokey way. Okay.

Uh oh, Tonks has arrived ... look's like Harry's going to have a kid on his hands by the end of the book.

Okay, no one can get on my case about being against romance on principle because Ron and Hermione's kiss TOTALLY ROCKED.

Aberforth is very much Michael Caine's character in Children of Men. Maybe they can get him for the part to make up for ignoring him when casting Moody.

There should have been a quip after 'Accio Diadem':
'Why should that work this time?'
'Well, you never know...' (I am not a comedian)

Goyle has a LINE?! A whole paragraph!

So they bring Malfoy out of the burning room but then they just ... leave him there? Good grief, stupefy him or something! Don't you know what's good for you?

Huh, ya knew one of the twins had to go ... they're disposable! (being horrible again)

CHAPTER 32
Um ... what happened to Malfoy? Where did he go? [didn't bother to go back and check]

Haha, there he is, on page 645, getting into trouble again.

... 'Hogwartians'? Better than 'Hogwarters' I guess...

Giants fight like elephant seals.

Crookshanks ... that's right, whatever happened to him?

In the Shrieking Shack: Now would be a good time for Snape to redeem himself and then die (in forecast grand anime cliche style).

Prediction: Harry will have to kill Snape and then HE will take the Elder Wand!

... um ... time for you to redeem yourself, Snape?

CHAPTER 33
A curse to the hand that will eventually spread and kill the owner? A little Mononoke, n'est-ce pas?

'Would you like me to do it now?' asked Snape, his voice heavy with irony, 'Or would you like a few moments to compose an epitaph?' Or, in other words, 'Should I kill you now or wait till we get home?'

Aha, so it's reversed: Snape dies, THEN redeems himself (mostly). You don't see that often.

Wow, I didn't think she had enough guts to destine Harry to die. Cool.

CHAPTER 34
Harry leaving the office with his fatal knowledge and walking through a castle deserted even of the subjects of its paintings is SO COOL. And so filmic. I imagine sound designers would have lots of fun with this sequence.

Oh no, the bad guys aren't going to be defeated by a glowing army or resurrected people, are they?

Gaw, she didn't have the guts to kill Hagrid. Because ten million angry spiders wouldn't? Urgh. Angry spiders.

CHAPTER 35
I am not following Dumbledore at all, but Harry seems to have no problem. I need a Helping Hat. (I reread it. It made slightly more sense.)

'Those who are best suited to power are those who have never sought it.' Mirroring a passage in The Bromeliad which I parrot at will, about not wanting to rule making you the best person for the job.

CHAPTER 36
GO NEVILLE KILLA SNAKE!!

BELLA VS MOLLY OMG SHE WROTE THAT FOR YOU MAKANI!!!

'The skin around Voldemort's eyes whitened...' Um ... isn't it as white as white can be already?

EPILOGUE
PERCY DIDN'T DIE?!

SCORPIUS???

Neville ended up the coolest of the lot.

This sounds like bad fanfic full of Chibi versions of the adults. Blarg. Yet somehow I don't really care.

P.S. I LOVE LOVE LOVE Mary GrandPré's cover now! It's genius! The way the thing that is the focus of the scene isn't in the frame and you don't even know the focus isn't visible until you've read the scene! Wow.

To be honest, from the fifth book on, I was expecting the series to sort of fizzle out. But I am immensely satisfied, and it's OK that it's over.

I've made notes for a few drawings (and more than a few gags) but you probably won't see any until I get back home where I have a better scanner and a computer with a tablet.

Comments

[zfiledh.livejournal.com]

Um ... a tunnel from the room in the upstairs of the Hog's Head? That is completely ridiculous and also AWESOME. Way to suspend disbelief, JKR!

THAT'S what was bothering me! *jawdrop*

[octaveleap.livejournal.com]

Um, that's not exactly a spoiler-safe icon you're using... to comment on someone's journal who hasn't read the book. Not cool.

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

'sokay, I'm looking at replies in Gmail which cuts out the images. But thanks for the backup!

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

(Having seen it now) I would have had no idea who they were if I hadn't read the book...

[zfiledh.livejournal.com]

Sorry

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

No, I mean, if I hadn't read that part ... ah, nevermind.

[zfiledh.livejournal.com]

Fixed

[atreic.livejournal.com]

I don't get the icon. :-(

[zfiledh.livejournal.com]

Not this icon. When I commented here, I was using a spoilerrific icon from potterpuffs.

[bonisme.livejournal.com]

Dear madam:
Sorry to be completely random, but what can you do...I first came across your Potter illustrations loooong ago and enjoyed them, and somehow found you again more recently. I just had a question, really, since I know you're also a fan of Pratchett. Now that there is a hole in my heart which the Harry Potter series used to fill, I thought I'd start on some other series, and since I'd been considering Discworld for a while, what better time, eh? Really, I just wondered if there was any type of order that's best to read them in. I'd assume chronologically, but as I don't really know, I figured I'd ask. Sorry if I'm being creepy, and thanks! Enjoy the rest of DH.

Also, when I was picturing the Snape-shaped hole in the window, his nose in profile was clearly visible. Oh, Snape.

[fani.livejournal.com]

There is a website that has anin-depth explanation to that: http://www.lspace.org

[bonisme.livejournal.com]

Aha, thanks!

[moondog.livejournal.com]

They could always magic up a spade, or three. I can't imagine that Fleur likes getting her hands dirty in the garden.

I was all over the nazis there, but I didn't think of Indiana Jones. Yes!

[poisonedwriter.livejournal.com]

Okay, so I sobbed over Dobby's death for about five minutes. Some people proclaimed the ultimate Bellatrix pwnage, some people were glad to be rid of him (points fingers at you, madam), but by the end, I felt really proud of Dobby. He was always acting in Harry's best interests (even if he really sucked at it), and he faced his ultimate fear in order to help those he treasured most. I cried and cried.

[harbek.livejournal.com]

1) JKR confirmed AGES ago that Peter WOULDN'T kill Lupin with his hand, even though she thought it was a neat idea.

2) Well, either they magically make a spade, OR they actually use spades to dig, just, the digging is usually done magically. Yanno, like cooking and carving stuff.

3) Oooh, rotten Dumbles. Yum. Don't think Voldy cares much. I mean, werewolves, trolls, inferi, dementors; he's not unfamiliar with creepy (sometimes dead) icky stuff.

[tannhaeuser.livejournal.com]

Wouldn’t Dumbledore be rather decayed by the time Voldemort took his wand?

[iamabutterfly.livejournal.com]

:(

Dobby's death was so sad. It really had me crying.

[colour-me-troll.livejournal.com]

"Um ... if Bill and Fleur use magic for everything, why would they have a spade? Did it come with the house?

Okay, they have three spades?"

Haha, Lol'd.
But seriously... good point.

[bellatella.livejournal.com]

SCORPIUS???

Yeah! WTF? She could have chosen some better astronomical name, like Arcturus or Antares or something. It's almost as bad as Albus Severus.

:P

[soloproject.livejournal.com]

I had hoped he would go for something subtle and worshipful like NARCIUS? XD

[jessikablack.livejournal.com]

Well, perhaps his parents were being uncreative and just chose to name him after his zodiac. *lol*

"Uh oh, Tonks has arrived ... look's like Harry's going to have a kid on his hands by the end of the book."

That's just what I thought, my father smiled in a very creepy way every time I mentioned her name and I knew she was finished. -.-

Comments on the comments!

[hyel.livejournal.com]

Re: Spades: Maybe they make the spades dig by magic, like Molly does her laundry - she has the tools, she just doesn't do the work.

And about the grave, I was actually wandering why it wasn't more work - wasn't this still early spring, with the ground half-frozen?

:D Suspend disbelief? In Potterverse? WHAT disbelief?

Re: Comments on the comments!

[fani.livejournal.com]

Re: Spades:
1 spade for digging, 1 spade for killing people (just in case) and another one for reasons you don't want to know.

[soloproject.livejournal.com]

Hahaha hm.........Ron/Hermione's mid-battle snog vs. Will/Elizabeth Swann's POTC mid-battle snog....hmmmmmmmmmmm....

[tehladyelbereth.livejournal.com]

"Wouldn't Dumbledore be rather decayed by the time Voldemort took his wand?"

I thought that too, although the more pressing thought I had at that moment was what kind of retard who knew that he was going to die (I was still going with that thoery, and I was right) would allow himself to be buried with that thing? If he meant the wand for either Harry or Snape he must have known that neither of them was going to go fiddling about in his grave.
*sigh* Am I the only one who hated it, really?

[atreic.livejournal.com]

'Those who are best suited to power are those who have never sought it.' Mirroring a passage in The Bromeliad which I parrot at will, about not wanting to rule making you the best person for the job.

But surely that comes from Hitchikers long before Pratchett?

quote-like

[chairstacker.livejournal.com]

When I first read it, it made me automatically think of W.S.'s 12th Night, "Some are born with greatness, others have greatness thrust upon them."

[aspectabund.livejournal.com]

I don't think Dumble's body would be TERRIBLY decayed... it hadn't even been a year yet after all. Perhaps a bit... gooey... and rather stinky... :P

Yeah, the Epilogue was retarded. I pity Albus Severus Potter. I mean... ouch. He's going to be teased something fierce.

[ravenclaw-eric.livejournal.com]

Digging up dead Dumbledore: It would have served Voldey right if DD had opened his red eyes, sat up, grabbed Voldey by the hand, and snarled: "That potion you made has a funny side-effect on those who drink it---vampirism!" before sinking fangs into Voldey's neck. (Come on, you've all seen enough horror movies to KNOW what happens to people who open coffins!)

The Battle of Hogwarts looks like it was written with the movie in mind---the CGI people are going to be stretched to the limit.

Draco calling his kid Scorpius gave me an idea for a fic about ten years after that Epilogue, where the kid's terrorizing San Francisco to get the city to pay him a hundred thousand dollars, and they call in this cynical, sarcastic police detective to deal with the situation...

[tulanoodle.livejournal.com]

Ehrm, I kinda figured since she made a point of saying he wasn't that decayed that his magical goodness has allowed him not to decay. Like saints and stuff?

[azvolrien.livejournal.com]

I laughed at the Snape-shaped hole in the window. Just the mental image, similar to the pineapples in Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell.

[rumblecake.livejournal.com]

Scorpius was even worse than Albus Severus.

[tehladyelbereth.livejournal.com]

I know... You know Snape is turning his grave at the idea that James Potter's grandson is named after him. It's an affront to his memory... :D Made me smile that, to think that even in death Harry Potter can annoy Snape, he'll never truly be gone.

[ledygrey.livejournal.com]

regarding epilogue: check this out --> http://tkp.livejournal.com/70244.html <-- tres creepy

and, i don't get the cover of the book? is it supposed to be in the great hall?

[creednick.livejournal.com]

"I am not following Dumbledore at all, but Harry seems to have no problem. I need a Helping Hat. (I reread it. It made slightly more sense.)"

I imagine, when you are mostly dead, that Dumbledore makes much more sense. I've always had a bit of trouble following him. Old berk.

[pyri-prongs.livejournal.com]

"Haha, Dobby. Oh, Dobby. At least the way you died was less annoying than the way you lived."
HAHAHAH, oh my god hilariously frank. I thought Harry's reaction was sad but then you remembered this was all for Dobby.

Wooow, prophetic in your prediction of the Lupins' deaths.

Crabbe having a personality=random.

I could not figure out what the heck the american cover was illustrating but now it's been explained it's amazing. Damn you, boring uk cover.

[fleetingsmile.livejournal.com]

I don't understand the book cover.
:(