Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (SPOILER THREAD) — Page 11

Is it possible that this last book takes place over a couple years? I maybe be going insane, but I thought I read an interview with Rowling where she said that one of the students (and not one we might expect) may return as a teacher to Hogwarts but not next year. If this is the last book she is writing how would we know who might or might not return?

I doubt Voldemort will be the victor. I think this not just because I want it to happen, but because there would be no resolution. Yes, Harry would be dead, but Voldemort will still be causing terror and nothing would have changed.

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You know how many people will be PISSED OFF if Voldemort wins (myself included)? Also, if Voldemort wins, that will be completely against all that she has written about Love conquering all.

I finished the book Tuesday and I have to say that it is now placed as my second favorite book, behind PRISONER OF AZKABAN. I just could not stop reading it. It was unbelievable. I hope she doesn't take 50 years to write the next one as she did BLOOD PRINCE.

Priest--I was talking to my friend about what you said about hoping Snape redeems himself by either sacrificing himself for Harry or some other noble deed........ I too hope he does this. For some reason I just can not believe that Snape protected Harry so many times just for the heck of it. Also, my wife and I also had a discussion about whether or not Snape would have killed Dumbledoor if he wasn't bound by that "Unbreakable Vow." I mean, if he did not kill Dumbledoor, Malfoy surely would not have done it and he and his family would have been killed which would have resulted in Snape dying from breaking the vow to protect Malfoy. What is your take on that?

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Updated On: 7/21/05 at 05:45 PM

I got this link to a Rowling interview from LJ.
The Leaky Cauldron

Spider--The one thing that is puzzling me about Snape's killing of Dumbledore is the line "Snape gazed for a moment at Dumbledore, and there was revulsion and hatred etched in the harsh lines of his face."

That, to me, is the most troubling and puzzling mystery in the entire book. I just find it so hard to doubt that Snape HAS to feel a deep since of gratitude and love for Dumbledore. Snape, unlike Voldemort, still has the ability to love, and that is what I think will save him in the end. I just can't accept the fact that Snape has enough hatred in him to kill a man who trusted him when no one else would unless he absolutely had to.

I don't know if the death was pre-planned by Snape and Dumbledore, but I think, at least, maybe they both understood what Snape had to do.

But that one line, the one about the revulsion and hatred in Snape's face when he looked at Dumbledore seems to discredit all of the theories that the death was pre-planned. But maybe Snape is just a really good actor.

And making it even more confusing is that fact that Snape does not throw any curses at Harry as he is fleeing, he merely reflects the ones that Harry throws at him. And he seems to be shouting out hints to harry as he flees.

And, also, you can't forget about the events toward the end of Order of the Phoenix. When Umbridge catches Harry and Herminone in her office trying to contact Sirius, Snape comes and Harry yells, in code, that Sirius is, or at least Harry thinks, at the Ministry being tortured by Voldemort.

Snape warns the Order of this, and informs them of the trap to lure Harry to the Ministry to obtain the prophecy. Now, if Snape was TRULY on Voldemort's side, he would have acted as if he didn't know what the hell Harry was talking about. But Snape might have saved Harry's life by alerting the Order.

But of course, all of this is just thrown into a jumble with the events in HBP.

I really don't know where Snape stands, but I can say that he is one of the most fascinating literary characters I've ever encountered and he may not be my favorite character in the series, but I think he is the most interesting.

I just hope Rowling doesn't make him truly 100% evil. She has done such an amazing job with his character, and I think that would be such a waste.

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Updated On: 7/21/05 at 06:32 PM

I think that Snape's look was hatred because Dumbledore was forcing Snape to kill him. The only person who trusted him for the past 15 years was making him kill him. I would be pretty mad if I was in that situation too, wouldn't you?

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I agree that hte revulsion was probably a redherring - that the revulsion was actually at the act of killing Dumbledore and towards Voldemort, not at Dumbledore himself.

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I definitely think it's possible to look at the look of revulsion within the Dumbledore's-death-was-planned theory. I think of it as Snape being disgusted with himself and/or the task he is being forced to do.

If you really want to take the dive into the dangerous world of fanfiction, I would suggest Checkmated (https://www.checkmated.com). It's a R/Hr archive, technically, but allows anything that doesn't disagree with that and there's an abundance of fanfiction that doesn't necessarily center on Ron and Hermione. Best of all, all of the work there has to go through a beta process so they're all at least readable, if not incredible. You can't say the same for fanfiction.net. You can check at https://www.checkmated.com/authors.php?name=taryn&cat=favstories for my favorite stories there, although my reading is very limited. It's really only a small handful.

The best place for JKR interviews is Quick Quotes Qill at https://www.quick-quote-quill.org/index2.html. There's a link under News and Recent Additions right on the front page to the newest interviews that have just recently come out. The best one is the first on that link, the interview done by the founders of The Leaky Cauldron and Mugglenet, two of the biggest Harry Potter fansites. There's only two parts transcribed so far--out of approximately ten or so--and it's awfully fascinating.

If you want a page that collects the tidbits and facts JKR has stated in interviews, you can take a look at Madam Scoop's at https://www.madamscoop.org/.

TGIF, I doubt we'll see numerous years collected in book seven. JKR has said the last chapter is an epilogue discussing what happens to everyone (who survives, at least).

I'm still convinced that Harry will defeat Voldemort, but will have to sacrifice himself to do so. I love tragedy, but not quite enough to want Voldemort to win.

I'm really intrigued by the whole "Harry is an accidental Horcrux" theory.

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Maybe it's just the fact that I love tragic heroes that draws me to that theory.

Because if it was true, then Harry would have to die for Voldemort to TRULY die also.

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