see kyle draw

July 29, 2005

[i solemly swear i am up to no good] ^{3:56 AM}

By clicking the enterance to Dumbledore's office, you're entering the spoiler haven for Half-Blood Prince for the purposes of review and commentary. Tread at your own risk.

Do I think...

Snape is the Half-Blood Prince?
I do, but I don't think (for obvious reasons) Snape was the first one to own that potions book. I wouldn't doubt a hand-me-down, obviously from his mother, who may have in turn gotten it from someone else.

that Snape is really a practicing Death Eater?
Part of me thinks Snape is still a double-agent. As much as I'm ready to totally hate him, and as much as Dumbledore admits to making grave errors, I don't think Severus is one of them. So do i think...

that Dumbledore meant for Snape to kill him?
Yes. First of all, it "spares" Malfoy from being a murderer, proves Snape's loyalty to Voldemort, and allows for some serious venting in the final book.

that Dumbledore will rise again like Fawkes?
That depends...if Snape WAS indeed meant to "kill" Dumbledore (as in, it was planned)...didn't we spend most of the book learning about silent spell-casting? Don't we know you have to MEAN it for the Avada curse to work? Is Dumbledore playing dead? If he IS indeed dead, which he very well could be ... well, there's always his portrait, and the ever popular Obi-Wan Kenobi ghostly resurrection. I mean, Harry's parent's are D-E-A-D, and how many times have we seen them?

that R.A.B. is Regulus Black?
I hope so. Sirius was my favorite.

that Keira Knightley should play Tonks?
Yes.

this is the best book so far?
For the moment, yes. Most people hold Goblet as their favorite, while I retain Azkaban as my favorite classic Potter. I love this one simply for the tangled web of Voldemort's past and the adolescence of the characters. It's like Clueless meets Silence of the Lambs!

that Oliver Wood should come back naked?
Yes. He's legal now.

Are Horcruxes the coolest idea ever?
Fuckin' A, and it's getting harder and harder to impress me.

7 is a magical number. 7 is the number of Horcruxes Voldemort is said to have created. 7 is the number of books ... coincidence?
I don't think so. Part of me strongly believes that we've seen all 7 horcruxes before, or perhaps at least 6. One in each book (the obvious ones being the ring in 6, the diary in 3, and maybe the actual locket, maybe seen in 5?)

Didn't Umbridge get trampled to death at the end of 5?
Apparently only in my dreams.

We saw an AWFUL lot of Peeves in this book...
Gee, wonder how Peeves died and what information he may have to spill if he stopped being a jackass? I mean, look at how Moaning Myrtle figured into things..,

I simply love how everything is coming together, and I can't WAIT to see what happens when Harry, Ron and Hermione invade the Dursley household once more...

Peeves is a poltergeist, not a ghost, so in the normal parlance (notwithstanding certain 80's movies) he had no past as a human, but has simply always been a spirit, unless JKR defines poltergeists differently than the classic interpretation, which is possible.

Interesting thought on the horcruxes being things we've already seen, I'm told that the locket was one of the things cleaned out of Sirius' house by the Order in 5, but don't have the book with me to check. The snake was introduced 4 right? That just leaves what might be seen from books 1 and 2... Did Quirrel have something of Voldemort's that allowed him to channel part of his soul? It may be time for a re-read....

Posted by: Cully at July 29, 2005 11:22 AM

Yea, i just completed the book last night..

Harry seems to be a great place to shove in 1/7th of a soul. i think that when he went to kill Harry, he was unable to kill him so he horcruxified him.

As such, Harry's a parselmouth, the sorting hat saw some Slytherin in him, he has a connection to Riddle etc.. So then Harry is the Griffindor horcrux.

Don't forget that Riddle heard the prophecy and knows that only one of them can live. by horcruxifying Harry he assured himself that either
1) Harry dies and he survives, or
2)Harry kills the physical Riddle, but still has 1/7th of his soul in him, making Riddle still alive within Harry.

Mmmmmhmmmm.

Posted by: Rob at August 9, 2005 3:45 PM

oliver wood should definitely come back naked but have you seen the previews for goblet of fire?! stanislav ianevski as viktor krum is delicious (and he's @ least 18 in the book don't know about in reality) and robert pattinson as cedric diggory isn't half bad either (also legal) disagree on the book, maybe it deserves a second read. too predictable... but the insights are intriguing.

Posted by: Derrick at July 29, 2005 9:52 AM

Ooh. Great summary, Mr Cummings. I hope hope /hope/ that all the things in your first four paragraphs turn out to be true - Dumbledore's death as some kind of non-verbal mercy-killing would be just ace.

I'd forgotten about Wood. I'm off to do some research to, ahem, "remind" me...

Posted by: Matt at July 29, 2005 10:14 AM

I'm still holding out for great things from Neville... for someone who's so obviously a major character, he's always stayed pretty much on the perifery so far...

Posted by: PJ at July 30, 2005 1:56 PM

July 29, 2005

[i solemly swear i am up to no good] 3:56 AM

[i solemly swear i am up to no good] ^{3:56 AM}