Upon Completion of Half-Blood Prince

[tealin]

Done! DONE! At long last I can wander around the internet without fear of running into spoilers! And because I am utterly soulless, I already have two ideas for gag sketches.

More later, but for the moment, a couple of things:
1. Once it picked up a plot, it got really good! Imagine that.
2. I figured out who the H.B.P. was about fifteen pages before it was revealed. HAH! Last minute deductions are grand.

11:00 pm

So. My thoughts. As best as I can collect them.

Now that I have finished the book, I feel comfortable in saying that our dear Ms Rowling seems to be back on track. The last two have been kind of ... wandering ... and this one started out the same way (with better pacing and writing, in my opinion) but once it picked up a plotline and events of the story fell into step with it, it was really enjoyable to read. It moved along, I got swept up in what was happening, I was concerned for the characters ... good stuff. Unfortunately, this happened about 2/3 of the way through the book. But at least it happened somewhere. Yay, plot! Never underestimate the power of plot. Not only was there a nice throughline, as opposed to the very episodic nature of the first part of the book, but there was a nice build in tension to a climax and there was a denouement! Plot structure! Plot structure and character, reuntited at last! Goblet had character but little in the way of structure, and Phoenix had structure (though with a fundamental flaw, which I may go into if prompted) but curiously half-hearted characters – but Prince (or at least the last bit of it) had both. The developments regarding the search for the Horcruxes leave me very optimistic that the last book will have a unifying throughline right from the beginning – instead of dawdling in soap opera territory, there will be a purpose to the story right from the beginning. Thank goodness.

Aha, now onto the sticky subject of romance. Okay, I appreciate the previous comments about how it is an accurate reflection of adolescent life, but ... it just seemed ... kind of pointless, half the time. I mean, food, sleep, acne, growing pains, and going to the bathroom are realistic concerns as well, but they aren't given attention. One of the rules about subplots is that they ought to contribute to the main plot in some way, but most of the romances were distractiing tangents. And at that point in the book, there wasn't a main plot, it was just a tangled mess of unrelated subplots, which was not very captivating. On top of this, none of the romances seemed convincing. All of a sudden Harry's in love with Ginny – where'd that come from? We never find out why he likes her, we just know he likes her because the narration tells us so, and there isn't even any lead-up to it.¹ When they do get together, there's no chemistry. I just ... don't believe them. Their time together is only alluded to, and for something that ought to be so important to Harry, this seems short shrift. Hermione and Ron were probably the most realistic 'couple' with their bickering and reluctance to acknowedge their attraction to one another (though I'm grateful that, through this, JKR made mention of how romance has the potential to ruin a friendship ... too few people realise this until it's too late). Some of the other ones seemed slapped together, though ... Filch and Mme Pince? Puh-leez. Lupin and Tonks just sort of dropped into the plot out of the blue.² It's like JKR is going through her character list, finding the loose ends, and tying them together so they don't inconveniently flap around.³ I did like Fleur's arc, though. Who'd have thought she had integrity like that? That was one last-minute thing I did believe, oddly enough ... the reconciliation between her and Mrs Weasley was rather sudden but there was something more believeable about it than any of the other spontaneous flips.

Speaking of romance: I do really really hope that the events in this book will pour some cold water on the rabid Snape fan set. There will always be the core group that goes for the evil people in some sort of rebellious snook-cocking gesture, but really, folks, can you still love him after that? I would like to think there'll be a defection from the Malfoy camp as well, but it's more likely his fanciers will just take pity on the poor manipulated victimised boy who's being coerced into evil ways.

Um, yeah, R.A.B.? Does anyone not know who this is? Or could it be a red herring? Ms Rowling is not as cruel as Mr Snicket so I suspect she'd be honest about this one, but you never know.

Stan Shunpike is still in jail! Somebody get him out before he goes for the cannonballs! (Funny, this is one thing the movies have done for me... I never cared about him before. Mad. I am mad, I tell you! Good thing the third movie came out before this book, eh? Tra-la! Goodness, what did my sister put in that frappucchino...?)

I may add to this as recollections resurface. But that's it for now.

¹Does anyone else see anything Freudian in this?

²It appears Tonks is the only unmarried female in the series with taste, good judgement, and observational skills. I am speaking entirely impartially, of course. Oh yes.

³As a perpetually loose-end-by-choice who spent my teenage years railing against a society that viewed singlehood as a state of being as desirable as insanity or incarceration, I resent this.

12:02 AM
I am with Gabby on this one: Bring on the THUD! Yeah!

THERE ARE SPOILERS IN THE COMMENTS, DEAR LIZA, DEAR LIZA; THERE ARE SPOILERS IN THE COMMENTS, DEAR LIZA, SPOILERS!

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I think it's Regulus Black, and if you check OotP you'll see that, whilst waging war on The House they toss out a heavy locket that cannot be opened...
Ooh, it's gonna be hard finding it...

Mundungus involved?

[(Anonymous)]

Haha, but that would be too simple! Now, knowing JKR as well as we think we do, it would be most liek her to have Harry go back to Grimauld Place for the locket, then find that it wasn't there. He would remember that Mundungus had stripped the palce, THEN two days later Dung would turn up dead. That just seems so like her. But, I think theres significance to Dumbledores portrait being on the wall. All the other portraits can talk and stuf liek before, so most likely, Harry will still be able to communicate with Dumbledore! And what about the Dumbledore chocolate frog card in first year...hrm...or am I reading TOO much into this?

COME ON!

[miss-ida.livejournal.com]

im 100% on that Dumbledore's dead

wouldnt it be too mad if they buried him ALIVE!
1) hes 150 years old
2) Hes weakned by the potion
3) Snape cursed him with Avada Kedavra
4) He fell down from the highest point on hogwarts
5) they BURIED HIM!!!

THe odds isnt good eh?

Re: A Horcrux

[(Anonymous)]

YES!! Order of the Phoenix, p108 uk version. It's pretty certain that Regulus got it somehow. But, he wasn't all that good a wizard, how did he find out about Voldemort's horcruxes? Hmmm. Well, all the same, it could have been another Black couldn't it? So if the locket in Sirius's drawing room was a horcrux, either Mundungus, one of his customers, Kreacher or the dustbin has it. I'm hoping on Kreacher, he'd have to give it back. Maybe if the stuff was thrown out, it was sold or detroyed? In which case Harry's job is done for him.
_________
Rainbowchild

[kyla-grievous.livejournal.com]

hello tealin! well, I must say I'm one of the rabid snape fans, and I am sure he couldn't be evil. He way the only grey character, and now, he is supposed to be all black? I mean, that would be a really stupid thing for JK to do. What was interesting in the HP books and making them so adult was the fact nothing ever was totally black or white. I would be quite disappointed if Snape was a stereotyp like "the guy who wears black and who's ugly and who's been bullied and never loved anybody is the bad guy"
With Rowling, nothing is what it seems. I'm sure there will be a complicated twist in book six and I really gave HBP a lot of thinking. Snape is not completely evil and is on the way to redemption...
By the way I've got some potter fanarts on my livejournal, also animation inspired, if you are interested. As you always have, you rock. And your stuff really gained in maturity and personality.

HBP

[(Anonymous)]

I agree.......it would be a very easy-way-out that Snape was completly evil....and he is a very good actor...maybe he was on Dumbeldore's orders to do what he must in order to convince teh Death Eaters taht he was on thier side. Oh....that's a sticky situation...It just seems to....easy that he would be completly evil....or mabye I just have an over-active since of I-must-figure-this-out syndrome....but I can't belive he's dead......now with my favorite charaters gone...btu to me ..dumbledore's dead seemed far more real than Sirius's....I guess cause there is no way he can come back.....oh well... all we can do is speculate for the next 2-3 years before teh last book comes out...

[cantatrix05.livejournal.com]

Hi there. Another rabid Snape fan here (came over after a rec by [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com]. Nothing is ever what is seems, just you wait and see. But I wouldn't mind foolong around with Lupin while Snape's away.

Great art on your main site. Can't wait for the HBP stuff (even if you don't love Snape!)

Might be good to read this

[(Anonymous)]

May be good to have a read of this (http://www.livejournal.com/community/hp_essays/68860.html) then (though you dont have to believe any of it ;)). I too almost gave up on the chara until I took another look. & if you need any further evidence, (1) when someone gave Jo the "Snape is evil" line in an interview just after the HBP release, she just smiled & went cryptic. That means she's got something else in store & we are thinking in the direction she wants us to think in. Also, someone mentioned somewhere that when Alan Rickman was asked to play Snape, he wasnt sure about the role because he was sick of being typecast as a villian - and he accepted after being told a couple of things about him that no'one else (except Jo) knows. I'd say wait until book 7 before you make him walk the plank ;)

Re: WARNING- SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[(Anonymous)]

the whole tonks and lupin thing- oh dear god?!? i didnt like it either, just seemed... meh. yeah, i was a snape fan too but i hadnt thought about harry potter for a year so snape being a total arse wasnt such a blow!
i like the idea of dumbledore and snape planning the whole thing sounds interesting... but if i was dumbledore i wouldnt have wanted to be killed! *cries* i'm a coward!
and i never even thought of sirius' brother... i'm also dumb. :)
emily xxx

Horcruxes and Art

[flamestone.livejournal.com]

OK, just spreading my wonder at your artwork (wow, this stuff is great), and adding a HBP comment in here...
Me and my friends went to school on Monday after reading HBP, met up and literally the first thing we said to each other was (guardedly of course!) "Harry's a thing!" Now, if you aren't all on the same wavelength as me and my trusty friends, let me explain -
Voldemort made the Horcruxes with a part of his soul in each, to keep him alive. Now, isn't it possible that when he tried to kill Harry, when the spell went wrong he accidentally made Harry a horcux? We all know that some part of Voldemort is in Harry (and we assume that that is what makes Harry able to speak parceltongue), and wouldn't it make sense for it to be part of his soul?
Sadly, this would mean that in order for Voldemort to die, Harry must find a way of destroying that part of his soul. But we think it's a good theory!
R.A.B. definitely sounds like Regulus Black, but I myself will hold out for someone else (I haven't yet thought who). It doesn't quite ring true to me...
Anyway, yes, great artwork, I really love the HP and the Pratchett stuff you've drawn, and would love to see some more of Vimes! I too think he looks like Richard D. Anderson.

Re: Horcruxes and Art

[(Anonymous)]

Wow! That's some great thinking you've got going on! You know? I wouldn't be at all surprised if that somehow happened now that you've pointed it out! That's a really good theory and now that I've read it it's probably all I'm going to be thinking about as I read about Harry's Horcrux Quest in the next book! Just thought you'd like to know that your thought will now be stalking some fellow Harry Potter fan that you don't even know, lol.

Just Stuff About the Book

[cerridwen666.livejournal.com]

Glad to say I'd pinned Sev' as the half-blood Prince when Harry got the book. I had a nice laugh with my friend over Severus's girlish handwriting and than proceeded to read further. I agree with Tealin on the romance. Most of it seems so thrown together and just 'Here I Am Shippers! Gloat!' feel to it that I found irksome. As for Severus being a traitor. I have a few theories on this that combines several others opinions, cutting some from one and taking from another that could prove Severus's as a not evil guy...wow, back to first grade today. He's a git, but not an evil git.

Also, I can remember several times in the book where I found myself going 'Oh my god! I recognize that name/place/incident/etc. Where is it?' and found myself tearing through the other books to find it. I even lost my place once when Remus mentioned Fenrir and I had to go back to the beginning and find him. Took me ten minutes to find my place again.

[salamandersoup.livejournal.com]

Did anyone notice the description of the HBP's handwriting at the end of Ch. 9? "Cramped", I believe, was the adjective used. If you'll remember back to when Harry saw Snape's worst memory, he noticed that Snape's handwriting on his OWL's was ... cramped. After I read that, I kept thinking the HBP was Snape, and kept notes all through the book that proved my theory correct.

I just feel very proud of this and wanted to share ...

[(Anonymous)]

My friend thinks that that locket must be in the case of stuff Mundungus took, otherwise, why would JK have mentioned it? It's an interesting theory; I like it.

Cheers! Kibeth.

SNAPE IS NOT EVIL!!!

[carstares.livejournal.com]

People, people! We mustn't ignore things that are casually mentioned by other characters. I believe it's Hagrid that tells Harry that he accidently heard Snape and Dumbledore having a fight, that Snape said he "didn't want to do it", and Dumbledore said he had to. No doubt in my mind, folks: Dumbledore ordered Snape to kill him.

And although I'm not exactely sure why Dumbledore wanted to die at this point, I have a few theories(and no, I don't think it all had to do with Malfoy. Little git.) Okay, this may be corny, but in Star Wars, just before Obi-Wan Kenobi is killed by Darth Vader(teacher and student, a student eventually reclaimed from the dark side, hmmm, anyone see a connection here?), Kenobi says that if he dies, he will become more powerful than ever. Because he's part of the Force. And since the Force is just another name for the energy of the universe, it's safe to assume that Dumbledore is now part of that energy, and therefore all around. "He will only be gone from the school when none here are loyal to him" - literally true.

Also, Dumbledore's familiar was a phoenix! Rebirth! (in some capacity, anyhow)

And, although I know it's not quite the same, Dumbledore is in the Headmaster's office, in a portrait on the wall. I truly don't think he'll be sleeping all through the next book.

Umm, okay, on another note:
Although it was pretty thrown together, I just have to say this - TONKS AND LUPIN ARE SO DARN CUTE! I hope we see a little more romance between them, although I don't have high hopes.

The Prophecy

[sparrowofjack.livejournal.com]

OK, this has been bugging me for a while, and I want to see what everyone else thinks of it.

Look back to the prophecy. You know the lines that say,

"...and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives."

We all assumed that this fortold an ultimate showdown between Harry and Voldemort... but does it? It was spoken, so you don't know where the capitals go, but here's my theory. Instead of the above quote, what about:

"and either must die at the hand of The Other for neither can live while The Other survives."

Maybe I'm reading too much into this, but JKR stated at some point that she worded the phopecy very carefully, so as not to give anything away, right? Well, if it seem so obvious to everyone that Harry has to take on Voldemort, that can't be what she meant, now can it? I think there's a third party/person here. What do you all think?

Re: A Horcrux

[(Anonymous)]

Call me crazy, but I just had a theory. Ravenclaws are known for outstanding intelligence. Voldemorts last Horcrux has to be something from Ravenclaws, cause Gryffindors only heirloom was the sword in Dumbledores office, that Riddle never knew off. On page 446 this conversation happens: "Why?" said Harry at once, looking up into Dumbledore's face. "Why did he come back? Did you ever find out?" "I have ideas," said Dumbledore. "But no more than that." "What ideas, sir?" "I shall tell you, Harry, when you have retrieved that memory from Professor Slughorn," said Dumbledore. "When you have that last piece of the jigsaw, everything will, I hope, be clear...to both of us." Now, it would make very much sense if Dumbledore had been in Ravenclaw during his time at Hogwarts, and maybe, he was a descendent of Ravenclaws, which would explain his great powers and love for Hogwarts. What if DUMBLEDORE is the object of Ravenclaws. If he's the other Horcrux, and he didnt stop Draco cause he knew he'd have to die in order to be rid of the horcrux. It seems so Voldemortish to do that. On another note, Miss Hepzibah SMITH was a descendent of Hufflepuffs. Who else do we know with the last name SMITH who's in Hufflepuff? ZACHARIUS SMITH. Could voldemort have turned the cup into aq horcrux, then returned it to the Smiths? Could Zacharius's family have the cup?

Re: COME ON!

[blumcsi.livejournal.com]

I found these interesting so I thought I'd just pop it in:
http://www.dumbledoreisnotdead.com

What do you think???

Re: A Horcrux

[blumcsi.livejournal.com]

Dumledore was a Griffindor student, I read it in the j.k. rowling website ( as far as I remember,but I might be wrong)

Regulus IS the R.A.B.?

[miss-ida.livejournal.com]

I've found an interessting line in OotP
where Harry and the others clean up in Grimmauld place...think its where they clean the drawer

Thats what they also found: "A dusty old locket, none of them could open."

think its the Horcrux and Regulus hide it in his home...after destroyed the horcrux inside.

Re: COME ON!

[miss-ida.livejournal.com]

I still think hes dead...but how could thye bury him and they all saw dumbledores dead body..

Re: SNAPE IS NOT EVIL!!!

[such-things.livejournal.com]

my theory is that Dumbledore knew he was going to die (or had to die) and though he may not have known exactaly when or how, but he made Severus promise to do it if Draco's plans developed into a situation that denoted it...

but, it is also a really big coincidence that Dumbldore drug Harry off to the cave the night Draco brought the Death Eaters in, forcing Snape to do the deed that "maybe he didn't want to do [it] anymore".

Re: COME ON!

[coin.livejournal.com]

You got me. That site convinced me. I dunno if it's just me that's completely gullible, but that site is extremely convincing! Now I'm a DUMBLEDORE IS NOT DEAD believer. Haha.

chocolate frogs

[coin.livejournal.com]

I have to reply to this on a sudden spur. I think the Chocolate Frog thing is cheap. The people who make Chocolate Frogs are buisnesspeople, therefore they don't want to spend money. And Colin Creevey said you have to make some kind of potion to make the pictures move. The buisnesspeople probably put a cheap version of the potion on the cards to make them able to move, but not strong enough to talk. And I'm positive Harry will still be able to talk to Dumbledore. What else are the portraits for? Anyway, that whole rant was rather pointless.

Re: The Prophecy

[coin.livejournal.com]

Ooh, this is interesting. Strange what a little capitalization can do. Any guesses as to who the Other might be?