Blog #3

The end of the series left me wishing for more as I said goodbye to characters I had spent, essentially, seven years with. The most poignant moments for me were when we get to see Snape’s memories via his dying tears and when Harry faces Voldemort ready to die.

Snape was a character I had hated throughout the entire series. There were times that I felt sympathy for him but ultimately he was the product of bullying and grew up to become a bully himself. I had no inclination that he was working to protect Harry. When we finally learn of Snape’s true motives I was filled with sympathy for him. His love for Lily was almost as powerful as Lily’s love for Harry. I am not saying that Snape’s motives were unselfish but he spent the rest of his life after Lily’s death trying to protect her son, which included living a double life under the command of both Voldemort and Dumbledore and he was hated by both camps. When we learn that it was Snape’s patronus that lead Harry to the Sword of Gryffindor and that it was the same as Lily’s I felt a pang of heartache. Snape’s life must have been incredibly lonely.

Secondly when Harry accepts his fate and goes to Voldemort sure that he is meeting his demise I was deeply sad. As I was reading it I felt sure that Harry was going to have to die. What bothered me most when dealing with this fact was the idea that Dumbledore knew all along that Harry would have to die, and he helped guide him in the direction of doing so. I understand that it is for the good of the world for this to happen, but it was hard coming to terms with the fact that Dumbledore had been orchestrating these events for Harry’s entire life.

The way Rowling takes both Snape and Dumbledore and radically changes what we know about them is genius and put me through an emotional gamut. It was very interesting that Snape ends up berating Dumbledore for raising Harry up like a lamb for the slaughter when all along we had believed that Snape was rooting for Harry’s downfall.

I felt cheated, of course, that so many characters that I loved had to die and that ultimately Harry didn't  but I believe that in this story Harry survives as an example that good can overcome evil and I can’t of any character that deserves a happy ending more than Harry Potter.

            

El Fin

The ending of the Harry Potter series was a sad thing because it was so wonderful reading the books and it’s always sad that it has to end and I feel that way about most of the series that I read (Thank goodness for fanfiction though.)

I always liked the contrast between Snape and Dumbledore. Snape was always the Dark bad guy and Dumbledore was always the Light good guy. This book flipped that on its head and showed us that Snape wasn’t as bad as we thought and that Dumbledore wasn’t the saint that he was thought to be.

I find that I like Severus a lot more now than I did before. He is just such an interesting character and even when you don’t like him you have to admire him because he is so complicated.

Dumbledore is also a very likeable character in my opion. I wasn’t even mad when I found out all the stuff that he failed to tell Harry because the man was over a hundred years old and there was no way he could tell Harry everything (even if he had wanted to) within the scope of a few years. That is why I think that Harry would have been mad reguardless because Dumbledore didn’t have enough time anyway. Also with Dumledore a lot of people complain that he was too manipulative but I don’t think that he was because no one else seemed too eager to step into the role that he chose to play and a lot of others probably would have made a bigger mess of it than he did. But he did make a mess of it and it was inevitable that he would what with all the varibles but I found that that just made me like him more because it made him more relateable since he was flawed.

Blog 3: The End

It’s always hard finishing a series of books that you have grown up with.  I remember finishing the series and thinking, ‘Now what?’  It has been an emotional journey with these books, and I have loved diving into the wizarding world of Harry Potter.  Overall, I really enjoyed how J.K. Rowling ended the series.  It was handled in such a beautiful and controlled manner that things tied up very nicely.  However, there was one storyline of Deathly Hallows that I did not particularly enjoy. 

            Dumbledore has always been a character that everyone, including myself, could look up to.  He is a wise man with a cooky side that immediately invites you in and makes you trust him.  Throughout the first six novels he has always been that wise wizard that everyone trusts.  He he has been a protector and guide for Harry and he is always there when you need him.  However, when Rowling reveals things from Dumbledore’s past, that changes.  I really hated that his backstory was introduced now or even at all.  We all came to know Dumbledore as an incredibly good person and learning about his power struggles, family drama, and relations with Grindelwald was a disappointment.  I admit it added an interesting element to the final novel, especially seeing Harry begin to doubt his own thoughts on the man he trusted so much.  Even though it’s an interesting element, I felt betrayed in the fact that the wise man many looked up to was not all he was said to be.  I understand why Rowling revealed these aspects of Dumbledore’s life, but I think they could have been left out.  Though I do not like this aspect of the novel, there is one that I truly enjoy. 

            Learning Snape’s true demeanor in the final novel is something that I tip my hat off to Rowling.  Snape has been that character for six whole books that everyone has loved to hate.  However, when we learn that all the decisions he has made have been out of love for Lily, Harry’s mother, you can’t help but look at him in a different light.  Lily has been his one motivation to stay out of the dark and in the light.  Rowling could have gone in so many different directions with Snape’s character, but she tied it up so beautifully that it’s heart-breaking. 

            Harry Potter will always have a special place in my heart.  I have grown up with the series and have learned to love reading because of these books.  Though I have things I love and hate about them, they will always be dear to me no matter what.  

The End of the Journey

Overall, I thought that the ending of the Harry Potter series was fantastic, and I do not want to appear as though I am dismissing J.K. Rowling's writing abilities because she is, after all, a literary goddess.

 

I do, however, feel like the "double-bind" excuse for why Voldemort was unable to kill Harry Potter seemed like a huge cop-out.

1. "Neither can live while the other survives." - Ooh, that sounds ominous. Go on.

2. "Guys, guys, guys, we should totally, like, spend almost a year walking through Europe with no particular destination in mind and try to find a few random, obscure objects and destroy them because they each contain a bit of Voldy's soul." - AND THEY ACTUALLY GO ALONG WITH IT.

3. A few destroyed Horcruxes later...

4. "Let's endanger all of our friends by returning to Hogwarts in pursuit of the last Horcrux!"
"Yeah, Harry, that sounds like a great plan! Let's do it!"

5. My beloved Alan Rickman Professor Snape dies and I cry hysterically for about an hour.

6. "I DEMAND THAT HARRY POTTER SURRENDER HIMSELF OR I WILL KILL ALL OF YOU." - And Harry complies.

7. Harry dies, but not really. The actually-dead Dumbledore decides that NOW, of all times, is the appropriate time to have a lengthy chat with Harry, during which he explains that Voldemort can't kill Harry because he used Harry's blood to reincarnate himself. What Voldemort actually killed was the last Horcrux that resided within Harry.

8. Harry regains consciousness, is carried back to Hogwarts, and kills Voldemort.

I feel like someone as brilliant and creative is Rowling could have come up with something a little less... paradoxical for the ending. /end rant

In an effort to make this not seem all negative, I would like to allude to my favorite story arch throughout this entire saga with the following image:







Rowling wrote a better love story in one chapter than Stephenie Meyer wrote in 4 (god-awful) novels and E.L. James wrote in 3 (even more god-awful) novels. The depth with which Severus Snape loved Lily throughout his life is simultaneously heartbreaking and inspiring. Granted, I am one of the few who adored Snape from the very first book, and I was continuously annoyed that Dumbledore never (well, not until the sixth novel) gave him the bloody Defense Against the Dark Arts teaching position (HE WOULD HAVE BEEN SO GOOD AT IT, THOUGH! WHYYYYY?)

All of that being said, every time I finish Deathly Hallows, my heart breaks all over again. It certainly doesn't help, either, that Rowling keeps publicly toying with the idea of writing more Harry Potter novels. Uh, the Cruciatus Curse is unforgivable, Joanne.