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How do YOU think Harry Potter should have ended?
So. Yeah. Debating,...
So. Yeah. Debating, ranting, and going off topic is welcomed as long as a) we still talk about HP (unless we're comparing it to other books) and b) don't yell and do respect peoples' opinions.
I was pretty happy with the ending in the book. There are, however, some parts I wasn't too pleased with.
For one, the thing where Harry didn't actually die (FOR THE SECOND TIME.) I mean, nothing against Harry, he's an okay character (IMHO) and I guess that from one point of view it makes sense. But it is kind of weird that Voldemort magically loses his ability to duel and magically acquires patience and an ability to listen to Harry's (snoreful) monolouge. And the coming-back-to-life-thing... In short, I think it would have been cool if Snape hasn't actually died and then Harry dies and Neville kills Nagini and then SNAPE duels Voldemort and wins. And Snape kills Voldemort. So yeah.
On the same lines: Bellatrix being killed by Molly. Now, I've got nothing against Bella dying either: the series would feel unfinished otherwise. But by Molly Weasely? Technically, it's thrilling and yes Bellatrix is the 'anti-Molly' or however the Lexicon put it and yes Molly is the anti-Bella and YES Bellatrix tried to kill Ginny (and yes the first swear word I remember in the book follows that encounter even though that's completely irrelevant) but, again, did Voldemort's dueling ability stream into Molly or something? Has Molly actually dueled before in her life? She always struck me as the making onion soup and cleaning houses type, not the kill off a powerful Death Eater type, and seeing that she was extremely emotional due to the death of her son and the worry that one of her children might be killed any moment, her chances of winning should have been very low.
Also, I have an irrelevant question: did Kingsley actually ever become Minister of Magic? Like not temporary, but for real? It's in a bunch of fanfics but has JKR ever said it?
Deaths: don't kill off Fred. Seriously. Fred and George are two of my favorite characters, and killing off Fred... After Fred is dead, it feels like half of them are missing! Did JKR feel like it wouldn't matter much because she had a spare? My opinion: if she had to kill off a Weasely, kill off Charlie. Now, I don't hate Charlie any more than I do Harry. I possibly like him more, especially cause he works with DRAGONS <-- irrational love of dragons. Let's pick things apart and analyze things to death.
Ginny- out of the question. Harry's love interest yada yada yada.
Ron- also out of the question. Harry's best friend yada yada yada
George- that'd be like killing Fred
Percy- I don't love Percy. But I feel like killing him off wouldn't be right, sort of like: MWAHAHA, this is what people who get mistakes get! He was an idiot, and now he will pay for it! So yeah, I've nothing against Percy. He was an idiot, but he came back.
Bill- What'd Fleur do? Wahh!
~~
So, killing Charlie would be the most logical.
About Lupin and Tonks: I actually love them as characters but their deaths never bothered me like Fred's did. On one side, I'd like to keep it as it were, but then half of me (or more) says: what about Teddy?! His parents died probably about a MONTH OR TWO OR THREE at most after he was born! Did JKR even think of him!? Where did he go live? Andromeda, perhaps? Mmm. Maybe. Ted died. I remember that Harry mentioned that he came around for dinner a lot... So in my head he's always lived with Andromeda. Did JKR ever mention that?
Err... I loved Sirius, but there'd be no HBP without Sirius's death. Same for Dobby. But maybe they should have saved Dobby and he was mortally injured?
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I'll continue this later so as not to overwhelm the Admins.
submitted by Tiffany W., age STILL 11!!, I WANT MY BIRTHDAY!
(July 21, 2012 - 6:13 pm)
(July 21, 2012 - 6:13 pm)
I agree. If Harry was dead and Voldemort was still alive with a bunch of Death Eaters to help him torture, kill and maim random witches, wizards and muggles, it would be a much better ending and leave more space (i don't know what else to call it) for readers to imagine what would happen afterwards, and maybe JKR would write another series about what the world was like after Lord V. killed Harry and what happened to his friends and the people who supported him during the final battle at Hogwarts. If that's too apocalyptic and depressing for her, maybe Suzanne Collins would write it.
(August 2, 2012 - 10:01 am)
I don't agree, actually. Sorry, but I never really liked that type of thing.
And Suzanne Collins can't write something that took place in JKR's world, not she'd want to. And if she did, that'd be horrible because JKR is at least a hundred times a better writer.
(August 2, 2012 - 7:39 pm)
I actually do—mostly—like the way the books ended, even if I think the execution could have been handled a bit better.
Harry's sacrifice—while confusingly written—made sense given the context of the books and the earlier emphasis on the power of selfless love. Which I may talk about later if I feel like it but I don't really right now SO.
In regards to Bellatrix's death: Bellatrix is my favorite character. Full stop. HOWEVER, her losing the duel to Molly does make sense, because she underestimated Molly, and Molly's ferocity as a result of Bellatrix's having almost killed Ginny, and as a result Bellatrix wasn't fighting, really, because she assumed that there was no way Molly could beat her.
She died, in short, for exactly the same reason Sirius did. In the Department of Mysteries, Bellatrix was fighting and Sirius was playing, so Sirius died. At Hogwarts, Molly was fighting and Bellatrix was playing, so Bellatrix died. There's a certain symmetry to it and, while I was a bit upset that Neville didn't get a shot at her, I can see why it happened that way.
It should also be pointed out that Molly is in the Order of the Phoenix and she's noted to be formidable when she's angry and she's not exactly the stereotypical stay-at-home-housewife type; she clearly leads the family. And she kept up with Fred and George for seventeen years, which is not insignificant.
(Also, @Tiffany and in regards to the swearing: There's a lot of swearing in the books, earlier, but a lot of it's either (a) very British and far less offensive here in the US or (b) made up wizarding swears, like Merlin's beard/pants/whatever. Yep.)
As far as deaths go, JKR was trying to—and succeeding at—portraying war as horrifying and senseless and an awful waste of life and potential. Which is why tragic things like Fred and Lupin and Tonks and Dobby and anticlimactic!Snape and Moody and so on happened. Killing a relatively minor character like Charlie wouldn't have had the same impact and I think we should really just be glad she decided to spare Arthur after all.
re: Ages: Dumbledore was born in 1882, so he was 115 when he died. Also JKR has admitted that she sucks at math so all her numbers should be taken with a grain of salt.
IF I had been in charge of the Potterverse, DH probably would have ended with a GRIMDARK ending, wherein Voldemort wins and everything is terrible because I happen to like GRIMDARK endings. They make me happy in a twisted sort of way.
Alternatively, the battle comes down to Voldemort v. the Golden Trio. Voldemort casts a killing curse at Harry, and Ron leaps into its path. Both Harry and Hermione kind of collapse in shock and horror, but Hermione has enough presence of mind to get in front of Harry, too, taking a second killing curse. Then Voldemort, being… Voldemort… makes the same mistake he made with Lily, and tries to kill Harry again, only to have the curse rebound for a second time (conveniently killing the Horcrux in Harry's head at the same time). And possibly killing Harry too because the choice to sacrifice themselves was one made only on Ron and Hermione's part, instead of an offer made to them by Voldemort. At any rate, THERE WILL BE NO RESURRECTION HERE.
Also, Tonks and Lupin would not marry, because I ship SnapexTonks and SiriusxRemus. Yeah.
(July 27, 2012 - 11:23 pm)
Yeah, makes sense, but I'm a crazy person who likes my imagined endings....
I thought you shipped SnapexLily? Or are you shipping something else now?
Personally, I just don't get shippings and don't ship anything.
(July 28, 2012 - 8:14 am)
I ship Hogwarts!SnapexLily and Harry-era!SnapexTonks. The Stealing Harry verse made me do it.
(July 28, 2012 - 2:30 pm)
Shipping? What's that?
(July 31, 2012 - 6:00 pm)
As far as I know, shipping is obsessing over some sort of pairing in a book, movie, et cetera, or at least thinking it should have happened. And they're often rather crazy, some things people come up with....
(August 1, 2012 - 8:29 am)
Erm... it's slightly awkward to explain, but it's basically when you think that two characters should be in a relationship. Hence, shipping.
It can either be canon RemusxTonks or not SnapexLily (these are both shippings that I support, although SnapexLily I think works so much better when they were younger), and sometimes, the ships get a little... awkward. Or violent. Or both.
I warn you. Do not join a ship war. EVER. Trust me.
~Ash out~
(August 1, 2012 - 9:21 am)
Greaaat. I'll stay away.
P.S. Don't you hate it when the captcha auto-fills and you press submit without thinking?????!!!!
(August 1, 2012 - 5:30 pm)
But ship wars are the best part of shipping! Especially when people start flinging vitriol and flames at each other for daring to support the wrong pairing! And then there's always the group that likes to claim moral superiority because their ship is truly the One True Platonically Romantic Love of All Time, and anyone who disagrees with them is CLEARLY part of the oppressive secret organization conspiring against them, and THEN there's the people who like the same ship as them but cringe with embarassment whenever they see the OTPRLATs on the horion!
And then you get trolls, and it all goes up in a huge fiery blast of insults and squawking and self-righteous indignation and cries of "BUT IT'S MY OTP!" and "HOW DARE YOU?!"
I mean, that's entertainment.
...Not that I actually participate in them. But I like watching.
(August 1, 2012 - 8:18 pm)
Fandom wars in general, really. I have to laugh at them because otherwise I'd cry.
(Also, "Platonically Romantic" is a slightly awkward way of putting it, don't you think?)
(August 4, 2012 - 8:01 pm)
o.O
You people are making me feel less sad about Fred's death, call me crazy.
Also: I do not want to kill Percy. Whenever people discuss the end of DH, someone usually says 'She should have killed Percy'. Ugh.
Also, I might have gotten carried away and said things I didn't want to say up there.
Anyway...here's a really off topic question for everyone: when (if) you write HP fanfic, what time period is it set in, and, also, is it completely-utterly-Harry-dies-and-Voldy-reforms AU or do you go along with the plot, or does is mostly go along with the plot? And does it use canon characters that we know well, does it use characters that technically exist in canon but we don't know much about, or does it stay away from canon characters as a whole?
I don't typically write fanfic, but when I do, then I usually write post-Harry, which means that I can play around with Harry's kids and make Albus Severus try to murder people, or some era that has not been mentioned in the books at all-- specifically, the Triwizard Tournament in it. Yayyyy.
I am strangely fond of Triwizard Tournaments.
(July 28, 2012 - 8:34 am)
Heck, if I were Harry Potter, I'd go around telling random people about the Horcruxes so if I died, there would be a ton of witches and wizards left to finish dear Voldy off.
(August 2, 2012 - 10:02 am)
That makes sense, you know. Unfortunatly, Harry Potter is incredibly noble so of course he has to do the whole thing himself. Though he only kills one Horcrux. 1.Diary, Harry Potter 2.Ring, Albus Dumbledore 3.Locket, Ron Weasly 4.Cup, Hemione Granger 5.Diadem, Vincent Crabbe 6.Nagini, Neville Longbottom 7.Harry, Tom Riddle
(August 3, 2012 - 11:52 am)
Wow, I never thought about that. It is a little weird.
(August 3, 2012 - 6:04 pm)