Thursday 26 July, 2007

Terrible News!

The interfering, nanny-state perpetuating, busybody mandarins at the I&B Ministry have banned this ad.

Saturday 21 July, 2007

Unanswered questions at the end of Deathly Hallows

  • What is the significance of Harry having his mother's eyes?
  • Why was Voldemort going to allow Lily to live after he killed James at Godric's Hollow?
  • Is Sirius actually dead? Is there more to the curtain that Sirius fell through in Order of the Phoenix? What lies beyond the veil in the Department of Mysteries?
  • What "worst memory" did Dudley experience when he was attacked by dementors in Order of the Phoenix?
  • Is Bill Weasley a full werewolf?
  • Did Voldemort go to Godric's Hollow alone the night he tried to kill Harry? If so, how do people know the events of that night? If Voldemort lost his body at Godric's Hollow, then who retrieved his wand?
  • What was the "gleam of triumph" in Dumbledore's eyes at the end of Goblet of Fire?
  • How will Peter Pettigrew repay his life debt to Harry?
  • If Dumbledore and Petunia were in contact before Harry was taken to Privet Drive, then what were they discussing in their letters?
  • Who was "that awful boy" who Petunia referred to in OOTP? Was it James, or was it somebody else?
  • What were Lily and James' occupations?
  • Where did Fawkes go at the end of Half-Blood Prince?
  • How exactly did the Potters and the Longbottoms "thrice defy Voldemort"?
  • What about Florean Fortescue?
  • What's behind the locked door in the Department of Mysteries?
  • How did Dumbledore know the details of Lord Voldemort's murder of Lily - how LV offered to spare her life and how the charm that protects Harry was formed - if no one else was there to witness it? Was Dumbledore actually there to witness it?
  • What happened in the period of time between baby Harry's rescue from the ruins of Godric's Hollow and being left the NEXT DAY at the Dursley's doorstep?
  • In Chamber of Secrets, Lockhart says that he transformed a werewolf back into a man using the "immensely complex Homorphus Charm." Now we know that Lockhart didn't actually do this, but he did steal the story from another wizard. So, is there a way to cure Lupin?
  • Will the giants and goblins take a firmer position about the war? Will they ever choose a side?
  • Will the house-elves' rights be improved by the end of the series? And what will become of all of the house-elves that we know so far in the series?
  • What are the twelve uses of dragon's blood that Dumbledore discovered? Will these discoveries be important to the story in any way?
  • JKR said that someone will manage magic very late in life in Book 7: who will it be? Filch, perhaps?
  • Did Hagrid have to be able to see thestrals in order to train them? If so, whose death did Hagrid witness?
  • What was the potion that Dumbledore had to drink in the cave?
  • If Hogwarts is opened again in the seventh book, who will be Head Boy and Head Girl?
  • Do we know the full reason that Voldemort decided to try to kill Harry instead of Neville?
  • How did Hagrid retrieve Harry from the ruins of his parents' house if he was not told the location by the secret-keeper?
  • Where did the Potter family's wealth come from?
  • What truly determines whether or not someone becomes a ghost? Is there more to it than what Nearly Headless Nick said there was? Why do some people become ghosts when they die and others do not?
  • When Dumbledore is explaining to the Dursleys that the magic protecting Harry will cease to operate on his 17th birthday, each of the Dursleys reactions are given, and the book says that Aunt Petunia "was oddly flushed." What is the significance of her reaction? Does she know something more?
  • And in Deathly Hallows Ron becomes a Parselmouth just by copying Harry? Really?
  • How did Gryffindor's sword come out of the Sorting Hat for Neville when the goblin Griphook had taken it?
  • How come Voldemort has no clue about the Deathly Hallows?
  • Why would he have created a horcrux in Nagini? One of the earlier books mentions that Voldemort survived in Albania living in other animals. That shortens the life of the animal.
  • And most importantly Voldemort intended to create seven horcruxes. Harry turned out to be the unintended seventh. But Voldemort never knew about Harry having a part of his soul. In Deathly Hallows Voldemort kills Harry. Why would he do so if he knew Harry to be a horcrux? So shouldn't there be an eighth horcrux?

JK also borrows heavily from real life. The Nazis tried to morally justify their ideology. So did Dumbledore and his erstwhile friend Grindelvald of the right of wizards to rule. Auschwitz Concentration camp had Labour Liberates written over the entrance. Grindelvald's prison had For The Greatest Good written over its entrance.

There are lots of other such instances. Art imitating life.