Harry Potter and
the Deathly Hallows
It's hard to know where to start with this book. The task left to Harry was one that could've realistically taken "years" and possibly three or four more books to finish. But instead it's wrapped up in one book over the course of another school year believably and without moving too fast. The use of previous concepts combined with a new concept unique to this book brought the saga to an exciting and dramatic conclusion. A lot of ideas were bridged from the beginning to the end as well to give the reader a sense of continuity and closure. For example, the characters are challenged to help care for a baby dragon in the first book, then Harry has to evade a nesting dragon under controlled conditions in the fourth book, and finally they have to face a full grown dragon in this last book. Of course, the happy twist is that Harry doesn't actually combat the dragon, but frees it and uses it to his advantage. Harry's ability to speak Parseltongue was an unwelcome but useful surprise in Chamber of Secrets but it's mostly forgotten about until it's needed to listen in on conversations in Half-Blood Prince and lastly to destroy a horcrux in Hallows. The long space of time for everyone to forget about Parseltongue was skillfully used as the three main characters wondered for weeks about how to open the locket when the solution was actually pretty obvious. The impenetrable and imposing figure of Gringotts that loomed in the background for six years was finally brought to the forefront as the one thing that was said to be madness to do in the first book - rob the bank- became the very thing they needed to do to further their quest. Godric's Hallow, casually mentioned in the beginning and never very much again until the end when it becomes the intersecting point for the lives of many of the characters, past and present, is another great bridge as well as the oft mentioned name of Bathilda Bagshot who becomes an important figure in the over all story. The story of the night Harry's parents were killed seen only in snatches of memory and second hand accounts up until now is finally witnessed in full through the memory of Voldemort. Aiding prominently in Harry's upset victory was Snape's own sad, unrequited love story which explains his resentment of Harry from day one and proves Dumbledore was right about everybody he trusted no matter how many times the characters doubted his judgement throughout the series. It's also notable that Harry was saved from death twice by a mother’s love. His own mother in the beginning and Malfoy's mother in the Forbidden Forest. Yes, all the puzzle pieces fall neatly into place in this final installment. Most importantly, the "how" of Harry's scar that connects him to Voldemort is explained simply in book one, elaborated on in book five, and then the "why" of it is divulged in the seventh book as we learn that Harry is the seventh horcrux that neither he nor Voldemort knew about. The way the connection between them is used was developed over the series from Phoenix to Hallows, first to Voldemort's advantage then to Harry's, was one of the reasons why he was able to make a lot of progress in his mission in such a short period of time. Another reason is that the possibly dubious life of Albus Dumbledore is dumped into Harry's lap via post-funeral stories from his friends and a scandalous tell-all book written by the nefarious reporter from Goblet of Fire. Trying to understand Dumbledore's past along with the Dumbledore's continuing help from the grave via Tales of Beedle the Bard given to Hermione to occupy her time gave Harry the much needed insight to stay precariously one step ahead of the game.
The Hallows themselves bridge concepts relating personally to Harry from the beginning that also give him an advantage against Voldemort. Although the idea that "the wand chooses the wizard" applies to all of them, Harry's journey is the most important one displayed with Ollivander's shadow cast across every peculiarity of Harry's wand - when he first bought it and learned that his wand shared a core with Voldemort's, when the twin cores canceled each other out making both of their ambitions harder to accomplish, and when Harry, unknowingly at first, is chosen to wield the power of the Elder Wand. Harry's invisibility cloak seems at first to be a convenient plot device for a kid that needed to do a lot of sneaking around in school. But in this book it is discovered to be "the real thing" as it were handed down from descendants of the three brothers mentioned in the tale of the Hallows making Harry, strangely enough, related to Voldemort as well. The Tale of the Three Brothers is a story from a book of fairy tales of the magic world. It opens the character's minds to the fact that sometimes real legends are cloaked in myth and validates the characters of Luna Lovegood and her father. Though they are mostly used for comic relief in the series, we find out that the unbelievable Xenophelius Lovegood was onto something real in his pursuit of the Hallows. Having to accept the word of the most eccentric person they'd ever met teaches them more about deep and different kinds of magic. And the conflict of having to choose between using Hallows or Horcruxes to bring and end to Voldemort was the wonderful main thrust for this story which ended with them being used together in an intriguing way. Indeed, this complex story was worth the wait through six books and the slow development of all the characters primary, secondary, and peripheral.
Since Harry could no longer be seen in public, this book moves away from the primary setting of the school and takes a tour of previously seen places as they search for the horcruxes, adding more details to them as well. Sirius' and Regulus' bedrooms in Grimmauld Place... Umbridge's office in the Ministry of Magic which they got into through the staff entrance this time... The deepest vaults of Gringotts with all of the extra security measures in place to trap them... The Ravenclaw common room at Hogwarts. And there are many new places as well with all the forests that they camp in while on the run, Godric's Hollow featuring Harry's childhood home, Malfoy Manor, and Shell Cottage. And although Bill and Fleur's wedding took place at the Burrow it was another different and creatively painted scene and one of the vignettes of happiness to offset the tragic deaths that would follow. Hedwig, Moody, Dobby, Fred, Lupin, Tonks, Colin Creevy, Snape. Did she go too far and kill off too many? Was the ratio of good guys killed to bad guys killed fairly balanced? It's all a matter of opinion of course. Rowling has stated that there was a special meaning behind the death of each good character, but even if I hadn't known that I could still see that each one was chosen for the end of their own personal story and as catalysts for Harry's actions. None were picked out gratuitously just for shock value - no red shirts in this series. So, even though a few of them seem terribly unfair, I can still approve from a writing standpoint. This book is the end of an emotional roller coaster that affords many opportunities for tearing up even for people like me who don't cry much at books and movies. There are victorious moments such as the transformation of Kreacher, Ron's return after Christmas, the escapes from the Ministry and Gringotts, the heroism of Neville Longbottom and Molly Weasly on display, the final defeat of Voldemort by Harry's simple, signature disarming spell, and the last conversation with Dumbldore and his portrait that are just as emotionally charged as the demise of so many beloved characters. But my personal moment of totally losing it was when Harry said the name of his youngest son at the end. That got to me more than any of the soaring highs or the heartbreaking lows.
This is one of the greatest book series ever written. I fully believe it will go down in history as a classic like the Lord of the Rings set and others and will be studied one day as an exercise in excellent creative literature. Having re-read the series now after a few years I can see some minor inconsistencies and plot holes that I hadn't noticed before, (like how does he get the Maurader's Map back after Goblet of Fire?) but all in all the books are nearly perfect and I'm glad I got to experience them as they were being published instead of years in the future. They've been a joy to read. I haven't read any of the companion pieces. Not because I haven't wanted to, but just because I haven't had the opportunity. Part of me doesn't want to because I think it would be hard to replicate this kind of magic (no pun intended.) I'll probably read the Hogwart's Library set because they were written in concert with the main seven, but I don't know about Cursed Child. Maybe. I like a good solid ending in a long epic tale which this series has. I think adding to it may be overkill, but I could be wrong. At any rate, I recommend this series to any fan of magic and fantasy.
It's hard to know where to start with this book. The task left to Harry was one that could've realistically taken "years" and possibly three or four more books to finish. But instead it's wrapped up in one book over the course of another school year believably and without moving too fast. The use of previous concepts combined with a new concept unique to this book brought the saga to an exciting and dramatic conclusion. A lot of ideas were bridged from the beginning to the end as well to give the reader a sense of continuity and closure. For example, the characters are challenged to help care for a baby dragon in the first book, then Harry has to evade a nesting dragon under controlled conditions in the fourth book, and finally they have to face a full grown dragon in this last book. Of course, the happy twist is that Harry doesn't actually combat the dragon, but frees it and uses it to his advantage. Harry's ability to speak Parseltongue was an unwelcome but useful surprise in Chamber of Secrets but it's mostly forgotten about until it's needed to listen in on conversations in Half-Blood Prince and lastly to destroy a horcrux in Hallows. The long space of time for everyone to forget about Parseltongue was skillfully used as the three main characters wondered for weeks about how to open the locket when the solution was actually pretty obvious. The impenetrable and imposing figure of Gringotts that loomed in the background for six years was finally brought to the forefront as the one thing that was said to be madness to do in the first book - rob the bank- became the very thing they needed to do to further their quest. Godric's Hallow, casually mentioned in the beginning and never very much again until the end when it becomes the intersecting point for the lives of many of the characters, past and present, is another great bridge as well as the oft mentioned name of Bathilda Bagshot who becomes an important figure in the over all story. The story of the night Harry's parents were killed seen only in snatches of memory and second hand accounts up until now is finally witnessed in full through the memory of Voldemort. Aiding prominently in Harry's upset victory was Snape's own sad, unrequited love story which explains his resentment of Harry from day one and proves Dumbledore was right about everybody he trusted no matter how many times the characters doubted his judgement throughout the series. It's also notable that Harry was saved from death twice by a mother’s love. His own mother in the beginning and Malfoy's mother in the Forbidden Forest. Yes, all the puzzle pieces fall neatly into place in this final installment. Most importantly, the "how" of Harry's scar that connects him to Voldemort is explained simply in book one, elaborated on in book five, and then the "why" of it is divulged in the seventh book as we learn that Harry is the seventh horcrux that neither he nor Voldemort knew about. The way the connection between them is used was developed over the series from Phoenix to Hallows, first to Voldemort's advantage then to Harry's, was one of the reasons why he was able to make a lot of progress in his mission in such a short period of time. Another reason is that the possibly dubious life of Albus Dumbledore is dumped into Harry's lap via post-funeral stories from his friends and a scandalous tell-all book written by the nefarious reporter from Goblet of Fire. Trying to understand Dumbledore's past along with the Dumbledore's continuing help from the grave via Tales of Beedle the Bard given to Hermione to occupy her time gave Harry the much needed insight to stay precariously one step ahead of the game.
The Hallows themselves bridge concepts relating personally to Harry from the beginning that also give him an advantage against Voldemort. Although the idea that "the wand chooses the wizard" applies to all of them, Harry's journey is the most important one displayed with Ollivander's shadow cast across every peculiarity of Harry's wand - when he first bought it and learned that his wand shared a core with Voldemort's, when the twin cores canceled each other out making both of their ambitions harder to accomplish, and when Harry, unknowingly at first, is chosen to wield the power of the Elder Wand. Harry's invisibility cloak seems at first to be a convenient plot device for a kid that needed to do a lot of sneaking around in school. But in this book it is discovered to be "the real thing" as it were handed down from descendants of the three brothers mentioned in the tale of the Hallows making Harry, strangely enough, related to Voldemort as well. The Tale of the Three Brothers is a story from a book of fairy tales of the magic world. It opens the character's minds to the fact that sometimes real legends are cloaked in myth and validates the characters of Luna Lovegood and her father. Though they are mostly used for comic relief in the series, we find out that the unbelievable Xenophelius Lovegood was onto something real in his pursuit of the Hallows. Having to accept the word of the most eccentric person they'd ever met teaches them more about deep and different kinds of magic. And the conflict of having to choose between using Hallows or Horcruxes to bring and end to Voldemort was the wonderful main thrust for this story which ended with them being used together in an intriguing way. Indeed, this complex story was worth the wait through six books and the slow development of all the characters primary, secondary, and peripheral.
Since Harry could no longer be seen in public, this book moves away from the primary setting of the school and takes a tour of previously seen places as they search for the horcruxes, adding more details to them as well. Sirius' and Regulus' bedrooms in Grimmauld Place... Umbridge's office in the Ministry of Magic which they got into through the staff entrance this time... The deepest vaults of Gringotts with all of the extra security measures in place to trap them... The Ravenclaw common room at Hogwarts. And there are many new places as well with all the forests that they camp in while on the run, Godric's Hollow featuring Harry's childhood home, Malfoy Manor, and Shell Cottage. And although Bill and Fleur's wedding took place at the Burrow it was another different and creatively painted scene and one of the vignettes of happiness to offset the tragic deaths that would follow. Hedwig, Moody, Dobby, Fred, Lupin, Tonks, Colin Creevy, Snape. Did she go too far and kill off too many? Was the ratio of good guys killed to bad guys killed fairly balanced? It's all a matter of opinion of course. Rowling has stated that there was a special meaning behind the death of each good character, but even if I hadn't known that I could still see that each one was chosen for the end of their own personal story and as catalysts for Harry's actions. None were picked out gratuitously just for shock value - no red shirts in this series. So, even though a few of them seem terribly unfair, I can still approve from a writing standpoint. This book is the end of an emotional roller coaster that affords many opportunities for tearing up even for people like me who don't cry much at books and movies. There are victorious moments such as the transformation of Kreacher, Ron's return after Christmas, the escapes from the Ministry and Gringotts, the heroism of Neville Longbottom and Molly Weasly on display, the final defeat of Voldemort by Harry's simple, signature disarming spell, and the last conversation with Dumbldore and his portrait that are just as emotionally charged as the demise of so many beloved characters. But my personal moment of totally losing it was when Harry said the name of his youngest son at the end. That got to me more than any of the soaring highs or the heartbreaking lows.
This is one of the greatest book series ever written. I fully believe it will go down in history as a classic like the Lord of the Rings set and others and will be studied one day as an exercise in excellent creative literature. Having re-read the series now after a few years I can see some minor inconsistencies and plot holes that I hadn't noticed before, (like how does he get the Maurader's Map back after Goblet of Fire?) but all in all the books are nearly perfect and I'm glad I got to experience them as they were being published instead of years in the future. They've been a joy to read. I haven't read any of the companion pieces. Not because I haven't wanted to, but just because I haven't had the opportunity. Part of me doesn't want to because I think it would be hard to replicate this kind of magic (no pun intended.) I'll probably read the Hogwart's Library set because they were written in concert with the main seven, but I don't know about Cursed Child. Maybe. I like a good solid ending in a long epic tale which this series has. I think adding to it may be overkill, but I could be wrong. At any rate, I recommend this series to any fan of magic and fantasy.
No comments:
Post a Comment