HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS
Jul. 21st, 2007 09:02 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
featherwizardWhy don't people like the epilogue?
The series needed to end. You couldn't honestly think there wouldn't be an epilogue. Structurally speaking and publishing-wise, an epilogue was definitely needed. I think JKr struck a nice balance between crushing any further Harry Potter publications and not crushing Harry Potter fanfiction. And if you did not expect that ending...where have you been for the past seven books? The anvil-sized hints? Everyone knew H/G and R/Hr was go back in book 5. It's an alchemical deep-magic myth-type story. The story's a pretty standard type.
The epilogue's not badly written; it's simply not as spare as the rest of the book. Which is as it should be. This is normal life now, not fighting a desperate guerilla war to defeat an evil oppressor. There should be more details, less wrenching emotion, and the fact that the scene was more reminiscent of the beginning chapters was entirely appropriate.
As for the names...Percival. Ginevra. Bilius. Arcturus. Narcissa. Five names, Dumbledore had. These are not your standard Western names.
Dumbledore's a real person now, instead of some slightly-creepy cult/mentor figure.
I think the very last line perfectly sums up Harry's view of his life. The shadow that destroyed his youth and childhood is gone. Life is good. The fact that people don't like the actual Harry's point of view isn't surprising though, given how many fics completely rearrange his personality.
Lament! For I have only gone to one Harry Potter publishing-date party, and can never do so again. Lament! An icon of the modern age is over, and I must find something new to look forward to in my life. Lament! Lament, Lament.
I loved the epilogue.
The story needed an ending. This series has been building, and building, and building. It needed closure to keep it vital and alive; to do other than write an epilogue would leave a bleeding wound draining the life out of the books into esoteric reams of fic. This is the Story that Never Ends; It Just Goes On and On, my friends.
The books ended just like they began. Harry through Harry's eyes, without really noticing what else is going on around him. After they leave the station, he'll find out what Hermione and Ginny were talking about, and who Ginny saw on the way in and what they wre doing and who said what about whom - Harry wasn't paying attention to that just then, just like his kids and the ]I]entire station[/I] was completely ignored. I've been saying it for years: Harry is an unreliable narrator. He doesn't see everything, we don't get told everything he sees, and what he thinks he sees isn't necessarily the way things really are.
I believe that Snape was loyal to the ideals of the good. He was a bitter, petty, vengeful, spiteful little man, whose final acts were to ensure that
1) Wizarding Britain would survive intact,
2) Harry's questions would all be answered, and
3) He (Snape) would get some recognition.
That suggests some pretty serious dedication to the light.
You don't kill your mentor because of a long-dead obsession. Snape's had a decade and a half to grow up since Lilly's death. There was doubtless some maturing in that time. His affection for Dumbledore (look carefully at that seen where he heals Albus up. That's love and friendship) and his desire to stop Voldemort (whom he betrayed of his own initiative; he wouldn't have done that if he actually believed what Voldemort was spouting. Snape's whole Death Eating career sounds a lot more like being abandoned by other avenues than anything else) were probably quite strong as well.
All the earlier characteristics - pride, bitterness, a need to prove himself - are there too. But in the memories Snape gave Harry, Snape's relationship with Lilly was the most important factor, because Harry needed to understand why he betrayed the Dark Lord, and why he kept on betraying him. The other characteristics that Snape displayed earlier simply weren't as important right then.
Characters are not as two-dimensional as a single situation portrays them, just as your behavior at work is not the only way you behave. The whole spectrum of experiences has to be considered.
I've been up for nearly 24 hours now, so I'm going to be so I'm coherent for D&D at 3 today.
The series needed to end. You couldn't honestly think there wouldn't be an epilogue. Structurally speaking and publishing-wise, an epilogue was definitely needed. I think JKr struck a nice balance between crushing any further Harry Potter publications and not crushing Harry Potter fanfiction. And if you did not expect that ending...where have you been for the past seven books? The anvil-sized hints? Everyone knew H/G and R/Hr was go back in book 5. It's an alchemical deep-magic myth-type story. The story's a pretty standard type.
The epilogue's not badly written; it's simply not as spare as the rest of the book. Which is as it should be. This is normal life now, not fighting a desperate guerilla war to defeat an evil oppressor. There should be more details, less wrenching emotion, and the fact that the scene was more reminiscent of the beginning chapters was entirely appropriate.
As for the names...Percival. Ginevra. Bilius. Arcturus. Narcissa. Five names, Dumbledore had. These are not your standard Western names.
Dumbledore's a real person now, instead of some slightly-creepy cult/mentor figure.
I think the very last line perfectly sums up Harry's view of his life. The shadow that destroyed his youth and childhood is gone. Life is good. The fact that people don't like the actual Harry's point of view isn't surprising though, given how many fics completely rearrange his personality.
Lament! For I have only gone to one Harry Potter publishing-date party, and can never do so again. Lament! An icon of the modern age is over, and I must find something new to look forward to in my life. Lament! Lament, Lament.
I loved the epilogue.
The story needed an ending. This series has been building, and building, and building. It needed closure to keep it vital and alive; to do other than write an epilogue would leave a bleeding wound draining the life out of the books into esoteric reams of fic. This is the Story that Never Ends; It Just Goes On and On, my friends.
The books ended just like they began. Harry through Harry's eyes, without really noticing what else is going on around him. After they leave the station, he'll find out what Hermione and Ginny were talking about, and who Ginny saw on the way in and what they wre doing and who said what about whom - Harry wasn't paying attention to that just then, just like his kids and the ]I]entire station[/I] was completely ignored. I've been saying it for years: Harry is an unreliable narrator. He doesn't see everything, we don't get told everything he sees, and what he thinks he sees isn't necessarily the way things really are.
I believe that Snape was loyal to the ideals of the good. He was a bitter, petty, vengeful, spiteful little man, whose final acts were to ensure that
1) Wizarding Britain would survive intact,
2) Harry's questions would all be answered, and
3) He (Snape) would get some recognition.
That suggests some pretty serious dedication to the light.
You don't kill your mentor because of a long-dead obsession. Snape's had a decade and a half to grow up since Lilly's death. There was doubtless some maturing in that time. His affection for Dumbledore (look carefully at that seen where he heals Albus up. That's love and friendship) and his desire to stop Voldemort (whom he betrayed of his own initiative; he wouldn't have done that if he actually believed what Voldemort was spouting. Snape's whole Death Eating career sounds a lot more like being abandoned by other avenues than anything else) were probably quite strong as well.
All the earlier characteristics - pride, bitterness, a need to prove himself - are there too. But in the memories Snape gave Harry, Snape's relationship with Lilly was the most important factor, because Harry needed to understand why he betrayed the Dark Lord, and why he kept on betraying him. The other characteristics that Snape displayed earlier simply weren't as important right then.
Characters are not as two-dimensional as a single situation portrays them, just as your behavior at work is not the only way you behave. The whole spectrum of experiences has to be considered.
I've been up for nearly 24 hours now, so I'm going to be so I'm coherent for D&D at 3 today.
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no subject
Date: 2007-07-21 02:28 pm (UTC)JKR tends to be realistic in her charecterisations but the end is so far from real life it is laughable.
I apoliguise for my spelling, I'm aware it makes my argument less convincing.
no subject
Date: 2007-07-21 10:43 pm (UTC)The epilogue was about Harry. It focused on the things important to him. Family. Friends. A lack of danger. We see through the eyes of someone who does not care about exposition and has no interest in satisfying others' prurient curiosity about his life. He is what he is and we are being shown a single moment. Just like so much else in the series, JKR is leaving the development to the subtle realms of connotation and inference; in other words, to us. Most of the realistic characterization that JKR does is only realized after people go back and read the books over. She's a very plain writer, but not a blunt one.
I think people are mainly reacting to the fact that the series is over and everyone feels kind of let down. But you know what? Our lives will go on too. Fics can certainly be written about all this. And you don't have to worry about changing things when the next book comes out.
Canon is completed! Long live the fanfics!
no subject
Date: 2007-07-25 11:04 pm (UTC)More topically - I don't like the epilogue much, personally, as all it really says is "Everyone got married and had kids" and you knew that would happen anyway, but it does give fandom some new characters to play with. And I do not understand why people would wonder why Draco Malfoy would name his son Scorpius.
So, sorry to just barge in here! Just wanted to let you know.
no subject
Date: 2007-07-30 06:01 pm (UTC)I agree with you about the epilogue - it doesn't say anything we didn't know was going to happen. But I don't think that warrants a value-judgement. In a way, the epilogue's existence was more important than its content, because it shut down possible (published) books and cemented canon. Fans will keep writing AU, but this keeps other authors from turning HP into anever-dying conglomerate like Star Trek/Star Wars, and finishes the mythical plot structure.
And yes, all the people complaining about "weird names," etc, have just left me giggling helplessly. And Teddy's backstory begs to be written.