Not to be outdone, a guild named "TwentyFifthNovember" managed to get at least 25 raiders to 80 and then cleared all of the current expansion raid content less than three days after the launch.
This is Slsshdot, but I expect people to at least read the summary...
Overall, this sounds like an amazing computer for school. About 2 pounds? That small? Awesome. However, I've got a few questions.
How easy is it to install additional programs? I'd assume they'd attempt to limit that in the basic interface, with only a few choices from preselected packages. With the advanced interface though, can you install anything you want? Do you get access to the terminal? Is there apt, yum? Something similar to Synaptic so you don't have to use the terminal? Only packages approved by Asus, or can you access any repository you want?
It says that the laptop is Windows compatible. I assume this means that the user can install another OS by themselves. With lack of an optical drive though, will it boot from the USB to install? What about drivers, such as for the webcam?
All in all, it sounds like a great deal. The small screen bugs me a bit, but what do you expect for the size?
Does anyone know how this laptop compares to Asus's 3ePC? The latter is supposed to be out in August, but i haven't heard anything since the initial announcement...
I think Lily's was a doe because she was Lily, not because she married James, and so Snape's patronus changing to a doe in conjunction to his feelings for Lily had nothing to do with James.
While this may be true, I just find it too much of a coincidence that Lily just happened to be a stag. I wish JK Rowling would have gone into more detail about Lily.
This one got to me too, until I talked to my wife and she pointed out that in the Chamber of Secrets, Dumbledore points out to Harry that any true Gryffindor in need can pull the sword from the sorting hat. So, that one was set up books ago.
But summoning it through all the protections of Gringotts?
Yeah. This was the one thing that bothered my wife. What did Harry do for a career? Ron, Hermione? ANYONE but Neville, who obviously is the potions professor at Hogwarts. I suspect that Ted was raised by his grandmother, which was who he was left with when Tonks and Lupin left to join the battle at Hogwarts.
Basically, yeah. If she did anything at all, she should have done more.
Ted living with his grandmother makes sense. Didn't occur to me when I read it.
That makes sense. Another question is why did he make up his name if he didn't want anyone to say it?:)
Probably a temporary measure until all resistance was destroyed. However, I'd imagine he'd be a bit peeved if no one said the name he invented for himself.
Harry tried to sacrifice his life to save the people under attack at hogwarts. He invoked the same ancient magic his mother did and all the people at hogwarts got the immunity. Hence non of the Death Eaters and Voldie's curses had any effect (as Harry says in his "Do you feel lucky punk?" speech to voldemort.
That makes sense.
Perhaps he did. Perhaps Gryffindors magic was more powerful than Griphooks.
That's some powerful magic. It may have just been Griphook's magic, but I'd expect it to be all of Gringott's protections as well. Goblins even have something to counter all magical concealment.
The thing that annoyed me is that it's not actually Gryffindor's sword, but a goblin one. I expected a goblin to have it in the end.
file this in the same section as the time turners plot holes.
Heh.:)
He was immune to any harmful magic Voldemort did.
Didn't catch him not feeling pain the first time around.
Why does knowing all this matter? All we need to know that Harry made it possible for these people and institutions to continue on as always. They lived, they died, they did good, they made mistakes. Normal life went on. The epilogue was pointless (except for the shippers). Harry ruminating on a sandwich was an excellent point to end the series on.
We read all the books, and some of us got close to the characters. I would have been perfectly happy without an epilogue at all. But what she gave us was so little, it annoys me. If she didn't write it, we could have imagined what would happen. But she pissed off half her readers with the ships. I don't hate H/G R/Hr personally, but plenty of people do. Basically, if she gave us something, I expected her to give us more. It seems the epilogue was just an afterthought she put in to avoid writing more books.
I admit that I glanced at the epilogue in the beginning, and it pissed me off. It may have made me not like the book as much as I could have. That doesn't make my criticisms any less valid.
Let me get this straight. It's probably meant to be funny, and it made you laugh. What's your problem here? It's not as if there weren't a number of characters around that made the killing possible.
While laughter is great, I'd rather it make sense as well. Seeing that Bellatrix was taking on 3 witches at once before confronting Molly, it makes no sense to me that Molly was able to kill her. Let me clarify, it makes me laugh at the absurdity of it.
Erm. Not much to say here. It ain't that difficult to figure out. You really just didn't want to enjoy this, did you?
It is difficult to figure out. Did you even read what I wrote? Why would Snape's Patronus be the same as Lily's? If anything, Lily's Patronus represents James, and I doubt Snape cares about James. The idea of a person taking a Patronus form of another is not known anywhere else. Before you bring up Tonks, I doubt Lupin's Patronus was a wolf, since a full moon was his greatest fear.
While I understand that it makes it easier for the reader to understand, I would have preferred it if Lily's personality was expanded on, giving her some kind of animal. I just feel that JK Rowling was just lazy on this part. While she has the right to be lazy, with all she has wrote, I still have the right to not like it.
Erm, this has already happened in a previous book. It's not even deus ex machina. You don't like the style, that would be one thing (you really didn't want to enjoy the book, did you?), but the mechanics were already there for you to see this coming.
It's one thing to summon the sword from the Headmaster's office. It's another thing to summon it from Gringotts under all those protections. Yes, I don't like the mechanics.
The whole Voldemort thing is dealt with at length. Also the fact that wizard fairy tales are not known to Muggles etc. But I'm forgetting, you just really didn't want to enjoy this...
No, I don't like it. What are the chances that Voldemort didn't know about the Deathly Hallows if he knew about Horcruxes? Even if he didn't know about them then, he should have known when he heard about the Elder Wand. Hmm, didn't I make a Horcrux of a ring once? Maybe it's the stone? I have no idea where the wand is, but let's go check out the ring.
Or perhaps there's a reason it's called "The Taboo" and not "a Taboo" i.e. only one word can be monitored. Or the sheer logistic stupidity of having alarms go off any time a not-particularly-significant phrase like "Death Eater" is uttered.
How about one of the Unforgivables? If you want to teach a lesson, get permission in advance. While I admit having to say "He was put under the pain curse" is more cumbersome than "He was cruciod", it's not that much trouble. I'd think the benefit of finding out where and when an Unforgivable is cast would be well worth it.
The only good explanation I have heard is that only Voldemort knows how to cast the spell.
- It says he felt no pain. Not only did you not enjoy it, did you read it?! The whole connection between Harry and Voldemort, or maybe you stop feeling pain after someone'e tried to kill you twice, or you can't truly mean Crucio if you believe the guy's dead. There's plenty of potential explanations. It wasn't even a plot point, so if it was a real problem it could just have been written out.
I admit it, I didn't look at it too closely.
You're serious, aren't you? Nineteen intervening years for anything to happen, a werewolf's kid probably far better off in the wizarding world than the Muggle world, and yet this actually bothers you?
From what I read, I believe that Ted never lived with Harry, since he never had a room in his home. However, this is a minor detail. It
While I understand what you're saying about making it easier for the reader to comprehend, it doesn't mean I like it. I would have prefered it if LIly's personality would have been further explained, and perhaps a different animal form attributed to her. Having her form and James's form that similar is just too coincidental and not seen anywhere else. JK Rowling wrote a great series, but I feel she was just lazy on this part. Of course, she has the right to be lazy in some parts. Again though, that doesn't mean I have to like it.
Tonk's patronus changed to a wolf to represent Lupin. Did JK Rowling ever mention Lupin's patronus? I doubt his would be a wolf though, since a full moon is his greatest fear.
In OOTP, Tonks' patronus changed form when she was upset about her relatioship with Lupin. It seems likely that the patronus can match those of others under that circumstance.
My question is why does a doe represents Lily?
Tonk's patronus changed to a wolf to represent Lupin. I doubt Lupin's patronus is a wolf though, since the full moon is his greatest fear.
Ted was just born when the real fighting began and the epilogue picks up ninteen years later. Ted as a ninteen year old man is old enough to take care of himself at that point.
From what James said about not minding sharing a room, I don't believe Ted stayed with them even when he was younger.
I understand that Snape's Patronus is supposed to represent Lily. My question is why a doe represents Lily. Sure, she's James's wife. I doubt that Snape wants to associate her with James though.
As for Molly, I always suspected she had a lot of powerful magic hiding up her sleeve. Similar to Arthur, whom we are repeatedly told could have been promoted if he had the desire, I always figured Molly was an extremely powerful witch in her own right. That being said, I was a little disappointed that Neville didn't take out Bellatrix as revenge.
Powerful I can understand. But being able to take out one of the most feared dark wizards after Voldemort? I agree that Neville taking out Bellatrix would have been better. Then again, that was the expected ending.
I think that Tonks's Patronus explains Snape's. Tonks loved Lupin, and so her Patronus, as she grew to love him, became a wolf.
I read the Snape-Lily situation as Lily's Patronus was a doe. But that's just my interpretation. Maybe she, like James, became an Animagus or something?
Lily may have been an animagus, but we don't know. Of course, the idea of James, Sirius, and Peter all becoming animagus annoys me as well. Seven people have registered as animagus throughout the entire century. Unless animagus's are seriously under registered, what are the chances that 3 school kids can do it?
Lily's patronus meant that she cared about something that was symbolized by a doe. But why would Snape care about the same thing? If anything, the doe would symbolize James. I doubt Snape cares about James.
Probably because the Wizarding World would have been even worse than the camera-laden Britain we hear about? I mean, talk about invasion of privacy and abridging the freedom of speech! I thought the book painted a very clear picture of how dispicable it was to use "Taboo Tracing" or whatever you want to call it.
That sounds like a reasonable argument. While I would have liked it to be used to detect Unforgivables, I see you point. It could have been used for much wider purposes once it was accepted for one.
That's the easiest question. The Sword presents itself to a true Gryffindor in time of need, as we learned in Chamber of Secrets.
In CoS, the sword was at Hogwarts. I'm assuming Griphook stored the sword in Gringotts under who knows how many protections. That's one powerful charm to summon it to the Sorting Hat. While I'm sure Gryffindor was a powerful wizard, I don't like the fact that it was just summoned. Also, I'd like to find out what happened to Griphook. His rightfully gained possession was just stolen from him. I'm sure goblln-human relations would fall a bit.
I can't really fault her. I can't quite imagine writing that much fiction and having it all hang together.
I agree that it is a monumental task. and woven together very well. The diadem in HBP? The diary in CoS? The locket in OotP? The Invisibility Cloak in PS? Having all those hints in the previous books is amazing.
However, I'm a nitpicker.:)
another thought on the doe: maybe Lily's patronus was the doe, and James chose his stag form based on that, whereas Snape just tried to mimic?
Could you expand on this a bit more? I thought that a person couldn't chose their animagus form? Of course, we don't really know that much about animagus forms. Also, why would Lily even have a Patronus at that age? Was the war that bad? Were the dementors free? If they were free, why did the Ministry just put them back into Azkaban without any safeguards for the next Dark Lord?
While I understand that, I feel that is a weak answer. I'd assume that the sword would be in Gringotts, so someone just summoning it out of all those protections just annoys me.
Ah. I didn't catch that on my first run through. However, I still feel that the whole wand changing ownership thing is just a way for Harry to beat Voldemort. No one ever mentioned this before? See here to see my problems with it.
Yeah, I thought that was a bit contrived too but at the same time I guess there's nothing from preventing your patronus to be the same as the one you care about?
Doesn't a patronus represent something you care about though? Lily's was a doe to represent James. Why would Snape care about James?
Harry's and Ginny's patronuses weren't the same. Nor were Ron's and Hermione's. And I doubt Lupin's patronus was a wolf, something he feared and hated.
Well, that one's explained in the book by Dumbledore - for all he knew Voldemort really didn't know about them, but even if he did, he would at best have cared about only one of them - the wand.
If he knew about Horcrux's, a way to avoid death, I'd assume he knew about the Deathly Hallows, a way to conquer death.
Even if he didn't know about them when he made his Horcruxes, he would have found out when he learned about the wand. Wouldn't he remember his Horcrux? I would think he'd go and look at it when he found out about the Hallows to confirm. I understand why he would want the wand more, but I still think he'd be interested in the ring. He knew where it was, so it would be much easier to find than the wand, even if he didn't want the ring that badly.
I think this is just because Harry is the actual master of the wand - it won't hurt him, like in the battle soon after
Reading it again, I see that he felt no pain. While that makes sense, he is the master of the Elder Wand, I still feel that the whole wand picking a new master thing was just added to let Harry beat Voldemort. A weak plot device that was added in the last minute, something we have never heard of before? So, in every duel, a wand picks a new master? Flitwick must be a master of hundreds of wands then. And a single defeat grants all those wands to the winner? Theoretically, Snape is the master of hundreds of wands since he knocked out Flitwick in HBP. Not to mention that he's the master of Harry's wand since he beat him as well.
Why didn't the Crucio come back at Voldemort? Also, why did the first AK "kill" Harry? Because Harry wanted it to? So, not only does the wand read minds, it can't be taken from its master if the master wants the wand to be taken? So, if Dumbledore wanted Snape to kill him, and Draco hadn't taken the wand before, the wand would always belong to Dumbledore, even if he was dead?
If memory serves me right, I think, sometime after the first or second book this rumour made the rounds that Rowling had already written the last chapter of the last book and that it was locked away in a safe somewhere. Reading the epilogue, it is so detached from anything that happens in the book and the writing style seems cruder too - I think that rumour must have been right and I guess all the things you missed from the epilogue had simply not even been thought about by her at the time.
That makes sense. Still, I'm annoyed at her for not revising it. Since she changed the last word from scar recently, I'd assume she looked at it again. The epilogue doesn't feel like a good ending at all.
While the series is enjoyable overall, there were some major problems that ruined my enjoyment of the books.
Molly Weasley kills Bellatrix Lestrange. One of the most feared duelers on Voldemort's side is killed by Molly Weasley? Sure, she's a member of the OotP, but the only spells she had shown in the previous books were household charms. It shows JK Rowling's opinion of a mother's love. But that is going too far in my opinion. Made me laugh when I read it.
Snape's patronus is a doe. I understand that Snape loved Lily, but why does a doe represent Lily? Sure, James (secret!) animagus form was a stag, but that would imply that Snape cared about James. Lily's patronus was a doe, but why would Snape's be the same? I assume Lily's was a doe to represent James (even though a stag would make more sense), but again, that implies that Snape cared about James.
Gryffindor's sword in the Sorting Hat. I thought that Griphook took it? If he cared so much about it, why wouldn't he protect it in some way?
The Deathly Hallows. JK Rowling introduces some super powerful items in this book that have never been mentioned before. The Invisibility Cloak was around since the first book, but it was never noticed that it lasted much longer than normal? I'd assume Hermione would read up on it at least. Voldemort made the ring a Horcrux without knowing its abilities? With his quest for power, I'd assume he would have at least heard of the Deathly Hallows. The wand? An unbeatable super weapon was introduced in the last book in order to defeat Voldemort since Harry couldn't outduel him. And the concept of a wand changing owners was introduced to make sure that Harry owned it? None of this was ever mentioned before? Come on.
The Taboo. So the Ministry can detect when and where a certain word is said throughout the whole country? Why didn't they use it before to find out when someone used the Unforgivables? Or when someone mentioned Death Eaters? Or plenty of other ways it could have been used.
Harry not moving when Voldemort cast a Crucio on him? I understand not screaming, since the pain can be resisted somewhat. But not even twitching?
The epilogue. If she insisted on doing an epilogue to destroy any future books, couldn't she have at least mentioned what happened to the other characters? The Ministry? Weasely Wizarding Wheezes? It mentioned that Ted Lupin wasn't living with Harry, but where else would he live if not his godfather?
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Not to be outdone, a guild named "TwentyFifthNovember" managed to get at least 25 raiders to 80 and then cleared all of the current expansion raid content less than three days after the launch.
This is Slsshdot, but I expect people to at least read the summary...
Overall, this sounds like an amazing computer for school. About 2 pounds? That small? Awesome. However, I've got a few questions.
How easy is it to install additional programs? I'd assume they'd attempt to limit that in the basic interface, with only a few choices from preselected packages. With the advanced interface though, can you install anything you want? Do you get access to the terminal? Is there apt, yum? Something similar to Synaptic so you don't have to use the terminal? Only packages approved by Asus, or can you access any repository you want?
It says that the laptop is Windows compatible. I assume this means that the user can install another OS by themselves. With lack of an optical drive though, will it boot from the USB to install? What about drivers, such as for the webcam?
All in all, it sounds like a great deal. The small screen bugs me a bit, but what do you expect for the size?
Does anyone know how this laptop compares to Asus's 3ePC? The latter is supposed to be out in August, but i haven't heard anything since the initial announcement...
I think Lily's was a doe because she was Lily, not because she married James, and so Snape's patronus changing to a doe in conjunction to his feelings for Lily had nothing to do with James.
While this may be true, I just find it too much of a coincidence that Lily just happened to be a stag. I wish JK Rowling would have gone into more detail about Lily.
This one got to me too, until I talked to my wife and she pointed out that in the Chamber of Secrets, Dumbledore points out to Harry that any true Gryffindor in need can pull the sword from the sorting hat. So, that one was set up books ago.
But summoning it through all the protections of Gringotts?
Yeah. This was the one thing that bothered my wife. What did Harry do for a career? Ron, Hermione? ANYONE but Neville, who obviously is the potions professor at Hogwarts. I suspect that Ted was raised by his grandmother, which was who he was left with when Tonks and Lupin left to join the battle at Hogwarts.
Basically, yeah. If she did anything at all, she should have done more.
Ted living with his grandmother makes sense. Didn't occur to me when I read it.
Harry said that he would let James and Albus share a room when he wanted the house destroyed. I assume the house is still standing. :)
That makes sense. :)
Another question is why did he make up his name if he didn't want anyone to say it?
Probably a temporary measure until all resistance was destroyed. However, I'd imagine he'd be a bit peeved if no one said the name he invented for himself.
Harry tried to sacrifice his life to save the people under attack at hogwarts. He invoked the same ancient magic his mother did and all the people at hogwarts got the immunity. Hence non of the Death Eaters and Voldie's curses had any effect (as Harry says in his "Do you feel lucky punk?" speech to voldemort.
:)
That makes sense.
Perhaps he did. Perhaps Gryffindors magic was more powerful than Griphooks.
That's some powerful magic. It may have just been Griphook's magic, but I'd expect it to be all of Gringott's protections as well. Goblins even have something to counter all magical concealment.
The thing that annoyed me is that it's not actually Gryffindor's sword, but a goblin one. I expected a goblin to have it in the end.
file this in the same section as the time turners plot holes.
Heh.
He was immune to any harmful magic Voldemort did.
Didn't catch him not feeling pain the first time around.
Why does knowing all this matter? All we need to know that Harry made it possible for these people and institutions to continue on as always. They lived, they died, they did good, they made mistakes. Normal life went on. The epilogue was pointless (except for the shippers). Harry ruminating on a sandwich was an excellent point to end the series on.
We read all the books, and some of us got close to the characters. I would have been perfectly happy without an epilogue at all. But what she gave us was so little, it annoys me. If she didn't write it, we could have imagined what would happen. But she pissed off half her readers with the ships. I don't hate H/G R/Hr personally, but plenty of people do. Basically, if she gave us something, I expected her to give us more. It seems the epilogue was just an afterthought she put in to avoid writing more books.
I admit that I glanced at the epilogue in the beginning, and it pissed me off. It may have made me not like the book as much as I could have. That doesn't make my criticisms any less valid.
Let me get this straight. It's probably meant to be funny, and it made you laugh. What's your problem here? It's not as if there weren't a number of characters around that made the killing possible.
While laughter is great, I'd rather it make sense as well. Seeing that Bellatrix was taking on 3 witches at once before confronting Molly, it makes no sense to me that Molly was able to kill her. Let me clarify, it makes me laugh at the absurdity of it.
Erm. Not much to say here. It ain't that difficult to figure out. You really just didn't want to enjoy this, did you?
It is difficult to figure out. Did you even read what I wrote? Why would Snape's Patronus be the same as Lily's? If anything, Lily's Patronus represents James, and I doubt Snape cares about James. The idea of a person taking a Patronus form of another is not known anywhere else. Before you bring up Tonks, I doubt Lupin's Patronus was a wolf, since a full moon was his greatest fear.
While I understand that it makes it easier for the reader to understand, I would have preferred it if Lily's personality was expanded on, giving her some kind of animal. I just feel that JK Rowling was just lazy on this part. While she has the right to be lazy, with all she has wrote, I still have the right to not like it.
Erm, this has already happened in a previous book. It's not even deus ex machina. You don't like the style, that would be one thing (you really didn't want to enjoy the book, did you?), but the mechanics were already there for you to see this coming.
It's one thing to summon the sword from the Headmaster's office. It's another thing to summon it from Gringotts under all those protections. Yes, I don't like the mechanics.
The whole Voldemort thing is dealt with at length. Also the fact that wizard fairy tales are not known to Muggles etc. But I'm forgetting, you just really didn't want to enjoy this...
No, I don't like it. What are the chances that Voldemort didn't know about the Deathly Hallows if he knew about Horcruxes? Even if he didn't know about them then, he should have known when he heard about the Elder Wand. Hmm, didn't I make a Horcrux of a ring once? Maybe it's the stone? I have no idea where the wand is, but let's go check out the ring.
Or perhaps there's a reason it's called "The Taboo" and not "a Taboo" i.e. only one word can be monitored. Or the sheer logistic stupidity of having alarms go off any time a not-particularly-significant phrase like "Death Eater" is uttered.
How about one of the Unforgivables? If you want to teach a lesson, get permission in advance. While I admit having to say "He was put under the pain curse" is more cumbersome than "He was cruciod", it's not that much trouble. I'd think the benefit of finding out where and when an Unforgivable is cast would be well worth it.
The only good explanation I have heard is that only Voldemort knows how to cast the spell.
- It says he felt no pain. Not only did you not enjoy it, did you read it?! The whole connection between Harry and Voldemort, or maybe you stop feeling pain after someone'e tried to kill you twice, or you can't truly mean Crucio if you believe the guy's dead. There's plenty of potential explanations. It wasn't even a plot point, so if it was a real problem it could just have been written out.
I admit it, I didn't look at it too closely.
You're serious, aren't you? Nineteen intervening years for anything to happen, a werewolf's kid probably far better off in the wizarding world than the Muggle world, and yet this actually bothers you?
From what I read, I believe that Ted never lived with Harry, since he never had a room in his home. However, this is a minor detail. It
None of the explanations make sense to me.
While I understand what you're saying about making it easier for the reader to comprehend, it doesn't mean I like it. I would have prefered it if LIly's personality would have been further explained, and perhaps a different animal form attributed to her. Having her form and James's form that similar is just too coincidental and not seen anywhere else. JK Rowling wrote a great series, but I feel she was just lazy on this part. Of course, she has the right to be lazy in some parts. Again though, that doesn't mean I have to like it.
Tonk's patronus changed to a wolf to represent Lupin. Did JK Rowling ever mention Lupin's patronus? I doubt his would be a wolf though, since a full moon is his greatest fear.
In OOTP, Tonks' patronus changed form when she was upset about her relatioship with Lupin. It seems likely that the patronus can match those of others under that circumstance.
My question is why does a doe represents Lily?
Tonk's patronus changed to a wolf to represent Lupin. I doubt Lupin's patronus is a wolf though, since the full moon is his greatest fear.
Ted was just born when the real fighting began and the epilogue picks up ninteen years later. Ted as a ninteen year old man is old enough to take care of himself at that point.
From what James said about not minding sharing a room, I don't believe Ted stayed with them even when he was younger.
Did it ever say that James's patronus was a stag though? His animagus form is known, but I don't recall any mention of his patronus.
I understand that Snape's Patronus is supposed to represent Lily. My question is why a doe represents Lily. Sure, she's James's wife. I doubt that Snape wants to associate her with James though.
As for Molly, I always suspected she had a lot of powerful magic hiding up her sleeve. Similar to Arthur, whom we are repeatedly told could have been promoted if he had the desire, I always figured Molly was an extremely powerful witch in her own right. That being said, I was a little disappointed that Neville didn't take out Bellatrix as revenge.
Powerful I can understand. But being able to take out one of the most feared dark wizards after Voldemort? I agree that Neville taking out Bellatrix would have been better. Then again, that was the expected ending.
I think that Tonks's Patronus explains Snape's. Tonks loved Lupin, and so her Patronus, as she grew to love him, became a wolf.
I read the Snape-Lily situation as Lily's Patronus was a doe. But that's just my interpretation. Maybe she, like James, became an Animagus or something?
Lily may have been an animagus, but we don't know. Of course, the idea of James, Sirius, and Peter all becoming animagus annoys me as well. Seven people have registered as animagus throughout the entire century. Unless animagus's are seriously under registered, what are the chances that 3 school kids can do it?
Lily's patronus meant that she cared about something that was symbolized by a doe. But why would Snape care about the same thing? If anything, the doe would symbolize James. I doubt Snape cares about James.
Probably because the Wizarding World would have been even worse than the camera-laden Britain we hear about? I mean, talk about invasion of privacy and abridging the freedom of speech! I thought the book painted a very clear picture of how dispicable it was to use "Taboo Tracing" or whatever you want to call it.
That sounds like a reasonable argument. While I would have liked it to be used to detect Unforgivables, I see you point. It could have been used for much wider purposes once it was accepted for one.
That's the easiest question. The Sword presents itself to a true Gryffindor in time of need, as we learned in Chamber of Secrets.
In CoS, the sword was at Hogwarts. I'm assuming Griphook stored the sword in Gringotts under who knows how many protections. That's one powerful charm to summon it to the Sorting Hat. While I'm sure Gryffindor was a powerful wizard, I don't like the fact that it was just summoned. Also, I'd like to find out what happened to Griphook. His rightfully gained possession was just stolen from him. I'm sure goblln-human relations would fall a bit.
I can't really fault her. I can't quite imagine writing that much fiction and having it all hang together.
:)
I agree that it is a monumental task. and woven together very well. The diadem in HBP? The diary in CoS? The locket in OotP? The Invisibility Cloak in PS? Having all those hints in the previous books is amazing.
However, I'm a nitpicker.
another thought on the doe: maybe Lily's patronus was the doe, and James chose his stag form based on that, whereas Snape just tried to mimic?
Could you expand on this a bit more? I thought that a person couldn't chose their animagus form? Of course, we don't really know that much about animagus forms. Also, why would Lily even have a Patronus at that age? Was the war that bad? Were the dementors free? If they were free, why did the Ministry just put them back into Azkaban without any safeguards for the next Dark Lord?
While I understand that, I feel that is a weak answer. I'd assume that the sword would be in Gringotts, so someone just summoning it out of all those protections just annoys me.
Ah. I didn't catch that on my first run through. However, I still feel that the whole wand changing ownership thing is just a way for Harry to beat Voldemort. No one ever mentioned this before? See here to see my problems with it.
That makes sense. Still, she could have mentioned that at least. :(
Yeah, I thought that was a bit contrived too but at the same time I guess there's nothing from preventing your patronus to be the same as the one you care about?
Doesn't a patronus represent something you care about though? Lily's was a doe to represent James. Why would Snape care about James?
Harry's and Ginny's patronuses weren't the same. Nor were Ron's and Hermione's. And I doubt Lupin's patronus was a wolf, something he feared and hated.
Well, that one's explained in the book by Dumbledore - for all he knew Voldemort really didn't know about them, but even if he did, he would at best have cared about only one of them - the wand.
If he knew about Horcrux's, a way to avoid death, I'd assume he knew about the Deathly Hallows, a way to conquer death.
Even if he didn't know about them when he made his Horcruxes, he would have found out when he learned about the wand. Wouldn't he remember his Horcrux? I would think he'd go and look at it when he found out about the Hallows to confirm. I understand why he would want the wand more, but I still think he'd be interested in the ring. He knew where it was, so it would be much easier to find than the wand, even if he didn't want the ring that badly.
I think this is just because Harry is the actual master of the wand - it won't hurt him, like in the battle soon after
Reading it again, I see that he felt no pain. While that makes sense, he is the master of the Elder Wand, I still feel that the whole wand picking a new master thing was just added to let Harry beat Voldemort. A weak plot device that was added in the last minute, something we have never heard of before? So, in every duel, a wand picks a new master? Flitwick must be a master of hundreds of wands then. And a single defeat grants all those wands to the winner? Theoretically, Snape is the master of hundreds of wands since he knocked out Flitwick in HBP. Not to mention that he's the master of Harry's wand since he beat him as well.
Why didn't the Crucio come back at Voldemort? Also, why did the first AK "kill" Harry? Because Harry wanted it to? So, not only does the wand read minds, it can't be taken from its master if the master wants the wand to be taken? So, if Dumbledore wanted Snape to kill him, and Draco hadn't taken the wand before, the wand would always belong to Dumbledore, even if he was dead?
If memory serves me right, I think, sometime after the first or second book this rumour made the rounds that Rowling had already written the last chapter of the last book and that it was locked away in a safe somewhere. Reading the epilogue, it is so detached from anything that happens in the book and the writing style seems cruder too - I think that rumour must have been right and I guess all the things you missed from the epilogue had simply not even been thought about by her at the time.
That makes sense. Still, I'm annoyed at her for not revising it. Since she changed the last word from scar recently, I'd assume she looked at it again. The epilogue doesn't feel like a good ending at all.
While the series is enjoyable overall, there were some major problems that ruined my enjoyment of the books.
Molly Weasley kills Bellatrix Lestrange.
One of the most feared duelers on Voldemort's side is killed by Molly Weasley? Sure, she's a member of the OotP, but the only spells she had shown in the previous books were household charms. It shows JK Rowling's opinion of a mother's love. But that is going too far in my opinion. Made me laugh when I read it.
Snape's patronus is a doe.
I understand that Snape loved Lily, but why does a doe represent Lily? Sure, James (secret!) animagus form was a stag, but that would imply that Snape cared about James. Lily's patronus was a doe, but why would Snape's be the same? I assume Lily's was a doe to represent James (even though a stag would make more sense), but again, that implies that Snape cared about James.
Gryffindor's sword in the Sorting Hat.
I thought that Griphook took it? If he cared so much about it, why wouldn't he protect it in some way?
The Deathly Hallows.
JK Rowling introduces some super powerful items in this book that have never been mentioned before.
The Invisibility Cloak was around since the first book, but it was never noticed that it lasted much longer than normal? I'd assume Hermione would read up on it at least.
Voldemort made the ring a Horcrux without knowing its abilities? With his quest for power, I'd assume he would have at least heard of the Deathly Hallows.
The wand? An unbeatable super weapon was introduced in the last book in order to defeat Voldemort since Harry couldn't outduel him. And the concept of a wand changing owners was introduced to make sure that Harry owned it? None of this was ever mentioned before? Come on.
The Taboo.
So the Ministry can detect when and where a certain word is said throughout the whole country? Why didn't they use it before to find out when someone used the Unforgivables? Or when someone mentioned Death Eaters? Or plenty of other ways it could have been used.
Harry not moving when Voldemort cast a Crucio on him?
I understand not screaming, since the pain can be resisted somewhat. But not even twitching?
The epilogue.
If she insisted on doing an epilogue to destroy any future books, couldn't she have at least mentioned what happened to the other characters? The Ministry? Weasely Wizarding Wheezes? It mentioned that Ted Lupin wasn't living with Harry, but where else would he live if not his godfather?