HP and the Half Blood Prince (Book 6)

[Kribu]

I almost think I won't order book 6 .. did that with book 5, figuring it'll be a while until anyone bothers to start selling it here (the English edition; Estonian one took a few months anyway) and then of course it was out the same day as everywhere else, with me ending up sitting and waiting for my damn Amazon order to arrive.

Not to mention that now I have book 5 in English and the first four in Estonian .. will need to complete the series in both languages at some point. Still haven't been able to get my mother to give them a try, damn.

As for who is going to die .. I don't want to know! Especially if it's going to be my Snapey.

 

[hypatia]

We'll have to start a Snape fan club.

 

[Quagmire]

Snape didn't necessarily show his hand in PS. Voldy could have assumed that Snape was keeping Quirrel away from the stone in order to steal it for himself.

Dumbledore dying makes sense both as the kind of archetype he is and story wise. Wise mentors met along the way just aren't there at the end in myths like these. The heart of the story is coming of age and Harry simply can't have someone so powerful around to save him/correct his mistakes if he's to complete his journey. Dumbledore dying also ratchets up the peril/drama/tension around Harry and what author worth her salt could pass that up.

I wouldn't pay any attention to rumors on the internet. Often kids speculate on what they want to happen not what would be likely to happen. Some adults fall prey to this as well.

 

[hypatia]

I think the wild speculation is great fun.

Maybe the end of the Harry Potter series will be the end of magic in that "universe".

The only way to control it is to eliminate it.

Maybe lots of things. But it will be interesting to see.

The pre-orders for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince I think recently broke all records.

Kids reading.

 

[admiraldave]

Can't wait for HBP. It's gonna be awesome.

RE: deathwatch.

I think the trio is safe for the moment. I'd worry more about the other Weasleys. There are so many of them, and it'd hit pretty close to home for Harry.

 

[Sindatur]

Can't wait for HBP. It's gonna be awesome.

RE: deathwatch.

I think the trio is safe for the moment. I'd worry more about the other Weasleys. There are so many of them, and it'd hit pretty close to home for Harry.

I agree, the trio is safe throughout book 6, they're all gonna be in book 7. And like you said, the Weasleys are all directly involved in the war, and the odds that all of them will get through unscathed, are astronomical in my view. I will be really surprised if a Weasley doesn't die, and it may indeed happen in book 6, and I have a sinking feeling Molly may be the one. Molly's death will no longer damage the story's power to move forward, but, her death would be gut wrenching for the characters as well as the readers.

 

[hypatia]

This is wild speculation with a bit of detail from the "Goblet of Fire" book. Is spoiler warning needed?







A Weasley other than Ron does make sense. But as others have pointed out, if an attack on Hogworts is coming, Dumbledore almost has to go, doesn't he?

And am I the only one (sorry, Kribu) who thinks Voldemort might be more than a bit miffed at Snape at this point? After all, he didn't return when he was called. I would think that'd put him right up there on the list of "could be in big trouble in book 6"

 

[Sindatur]

And am I the only one (sorry, Kribu) who thinks Voldemort might be more than a bit miffed at Snape at this point? After all, he didn't return when he was called. I would think that'd put him right up there on the list of "could be in big trouble in book 6"

Yep, from what we know, Snape ought be in a very big pile of it at the moment.

1. He ratted out Voldemort when he went to kill Lily and James
2. He stopped Quirrel from obtaining the Philoshoper's/Sorceror's stone
3. He worked against Crouch Jr.
4. Dumbledore told him at the end of GoF, "You know what I need you to do, and I realize how dangerous it is" {paraphrased}
5. Voldemort said "One has left me forever, one was too cowardly, and one is my most faithful servant". Snape is the odds on favorite for having left him forever, Karkaroff the cowardly one, and Crouch Jr the most faithful one. But JKR is a master at deception, so those roles may be interpretted differently. If Crouch wasn't the most faithful one, someone else is, and if it's not Snape, there's still a spy at Hogwarts.
5. In Book 5, Snape was doing something very dangerous (spying on Voldemort?)

So, yes, Snape is most definitely ankle deep in it.

 

[channe]

But Snape won't die.

Even more than Dumbledore, he's crucial to the story.

He'll be around in the final scene of book 7. I bet you anything.

 

[hypatia]

I do hope so, personally. So I hope you're right about that. Now, next speculation: do you suppose he'll stay on Dumbledore's side, or switch back to Voldemort's?

 

[A_Ranger]

I preordered mine...importing it from England I like my Harry Potter in it's true form, with brit lingo intact! Well, at least ever since book 5 came out while I was in London for the summer

 

[Sindatur]

I preordered mine...importing it from England I like my Harry Potter in it's true form, with brit lingo intact! Well, at least ever since book 5 came out while I was in London for the summer

Actually Book 5, was exactly the same in England as in every other English speaking country. The earlier books were translated from English into American English to remove "Britishisms" that us Americans wouldn't understand, but, that tradition ended with Book 4, so anywhere you get Book 6 English version, there should be no difference.

 

[Quagmire]

The Philosopher/Sorcerer religious pandering was annoying but the rest was ok and didn't really compromise anything. Despite this it really shouldn't be that big of a problem picking up the brit slang. I admit I had no clue what a jumper was the first time I read it but you can look it up easily enough.

 

[Sindatur]

The Philosopher/Sorcerer religious pandering was annoying but the rest was ok and didn't really compromise anything.

. Religious Pandering??

 

[hypatia]

Some people seem to think, very seriously, that the "Harry Potter" book series is a kind of an attack on Christianity.

I would like to hear what some of the reading-loving and book-writing-loving people around here thing about that. But I am afraid in some of the more socially conservative and religiously extreme areas consider the series... whatever they call it.

I guess I'm just still stuck on level 1:

"you mean JKR has actually gotten massive quantities of kids to be interested, eager even, to READ??

I say bless that woman's soul. If it exists, can't do any harm here. And she is doing such a massively great thing here.

Children are actually eager to read.

 

[Sindatur]

Yea, I know about that Hyp, but, it sounded like Dr. Gonzo was implying something in the manner of religious pandering with regards to the American Version of The Sorceror's Stone, as compared to the British Version which was called The Philosopher's Stone.

If that was your intention Dr. Gonzo, if you were referring to just the title, my understanding was that the American Reader was thought to be too ignorant to get the title as "The Philosopher's Stone", so they changed it to "Sorceror's Stone", so we could get the title and it would sell comparitively over here.

 

[Quagmire]

No I was referring to the title. I didn't think it had anything to do with ignorance of American readers, after all how many Brit kids know much about the search for the Philosophers' Stone or that Flamel was a real person. I had the impression that the change was made in anticipation of American religious wackiness, connecting the book straight away to what would be considered a historical black art instead of magic in the purely fantastic sense. Once the books became so popular the crazies started to make wild accusations without reading the book, it's what they do, but not until then.

By the way, "American readers were too ignorant", wtf?

 

[Sindatur]

Whoa, slow down trigger, I certainly wasn't insulting Americans, I'm about as American as they come. The American Entertainment Industry sees the American public as having short attention spans (the struggle for Arc Driven TV most of the time, as well as sequels that the industry expects to be self contained, since we can't possibly remember back to how the first one ended) and being quite ignorant and incapable of comprehending foreign things. The movie and TV industry especially, will change the names of things to appeal to the "supposed ignorance" of the American audience.

I've been an HP reader since early 2001, and I have always heard that the name was changed from Philosopher's to Sorceror's because the American audience wouldn't understand the British title. Until you mentioned it, I had never heard anyone say they believed it was changed to hide from the Religious Whackjobs. Besides, Sorceror is probably much easier for a religious whackjob to see as being related to magic, than Philospoher.

 

[hypatia]

Bingo: if "Philosopher" is going to set off someone, I'd think "Sorcerer" would do so even more.

I suppose "Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer" is something that is considered to magical too, then.

I think it's a damned miracle that J.K. Rowling not only got kids to read, but to be insanely eager to do so.

She should get a medal.

 

[Sindatur]

She should get a medal.

Actually, I think she has. She's been flooded with honors (another reason I think some authors seem offended by the success of the HP series). I think she got something from the Queen in the steps towards Knighthood, she's been honored by many organizations, and she was even given an honorary college degree.

Of course I believe she deserves it all, like you said to get kids to read and be so excited about it, is unprecedented. Especially considering the size of books 4 and 5. When I was young, I would never contemplate trying to tackle a book anywhere near as large as those two are. Heck, as much as I did like to read, you wouldn't catch me reading a book of much more than 100 pages without forcing me to when I was younger.