notes and observations on HP #1
Jun. 23rd, 2007 08:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
salixbabylonRemember how I said I was going to re-read all the books and would post so people could diccuss the books one by one? Well, here's the first:
Things I noted On This Reading
1) I forgot how bloody long it takes for Harry to get to Hogwarts – fully one-third of the book. And then once there, times flies by – Halloween, then the first Quidditch game, then Christmas, and then it's time for end-of-year exams. Frankly, it's always annoyed me how JKR just skips over half of the academic year.
2) Harry is content to ignore Draco in his day to day life. Draco goes out of sway to pick fights and make sure Harry notices him. Obsessed much? Definite ground for H/D.
3) Harry is a sarcastic little brat sometimes, and he's incredibly disrespectful of rules and adults in general. Also, despite being the Boy Who Lived, the other kids seem to mostly ignore him. He's not very popular, which seems illogical based on my experiences at schools when a famous or name-recognizable student suddenly arrives. No reason for the other students mostly ignoring him is given. Odd.
4) There are definite grounds for evil!Ron in this book (as I've read in some fics), at least until the famous self-sacrificing chess game. He really is a jealous and insensitive (and occasionally outright cruel) little boy. And while Draco initiates more of their fights verbally, Ron is irrationally easily provoked.
5) Because I am a big geek and a witch and a librarian-type, I looked up the woods that Harry and Voldie's wands are made of, to see what their meanings/uses were:
Holly is for protection, luck, and dream magic. Protection against lightening, poisons, evil spirits, evil sorcerers, and wild animals. Holly has several medicinal uses, particularly as a non-toxic emetic.
Yew is for raising the dead. It's highly poisonous to humans and animals alike. Old Wives Tales warn not to fall sleep under yew trees because they will suck up your soul as you lie sleeping. They often grow in graveyards and are said to drink the juices of the dead.
Sound familiar to anyone? *g*
6) Hints of Snape reading minds are all the way back in this first book. Alan Rickman definitely made Snape sexier than in the book, IMO, but -- Snape is described with lanky hair and a hooked nose, but not one ever says he's ugly, just mean. I think it's the "ugly personality" that colors future insults from Harry and past insults from the Marauders. I'm still holding out that Snape is one sexy bastard, damn it.
Mistakes/Loopholes/WTF Questions
1) If Charlie's friends can just fly in on brooms to pick up Norbert the dragon, why can't Voldie and the DEs just fly in?
2) If Voldie is possessing Quirrell in his body, how is he a spirit when he's drinking the unicorn blood? Did he leave Quirrell to go drink the blood?
Nevermind – when I got to the end of the book, it's made clear that Voldie is in Quirrell's body. He's only a spirity-thing during the blood-drinking scene in the movie version.
3) Is Dumbledore fucking insane? The way he sets Harry up with the cloak and the mirror is just mad. Plus he totally ignores Harry 90% of the time, as do the other teachers. If he knows about the bloody prophecy, why isn't he guiding Harry from the very beginning? His manipulations and machinations are "educational," but Jesus fucking Christ! They're underhanded and totally undermine any sense of trust Harry could be developing for Dumbledore.
4) Why doesn't Draco do anything about the dragon, if he knows about it for two weeks? What the fuck is he waiting for? I call OOC.
5) What the fuck is with that detention at 11pm at night, to make four eleven-year-olds go find some creature that's killing unicorns? Yeah, plot device, but still. I'm willing to suspend disbelief for Roald Dahl/Dickensian stuff like the Dursleys giving Harry 50p for Christmas, but come on – a detention like that is a bit much.
6. If Hagrid borrows Sirius' bike to take baby!Harry to the Dursleys/Dumbledore right after James and Lily are killed, then how the fuck can anyone ever think Sirius is the one that killed them? Especially Hagrid and Dumbledore and Minverva? Why would he have saved Harry? What was the exact timeline on those events that night?
OK, GO! Offer your own observations, comment on mine, answer my questions, argue, discuss, debate with each other!
I have to hunt down book #2 (loaned it to a friend) but hopefully I'll get it tomorrow and will read/post by Wednesday.
Things I noted On This Reading
1) I forgot how bloody long it takes for Harry to get to Hogwarts – fully one-third of the book. And then once there, times flies by – Halloween, then the first Quidditch game, then Christmas, and then it's time for end-of-year exams. Frankly, it's always annoyed me how JKR just skips over half of the academic year.
2) Harry is content to ignore Draco in his day to day life. Draco goes out of sway to pick fights and make sure Harry notices him. Obsessed much? Definite ground for H/D.
3) Harry is a sarcastic little brat sometimes, and he's incredibly disrespectful of rules and adults in general. Also, despite being the Boy Who Lived, the other kids seem to mostly ignore him. He's not very popular, which seems illogical based on my experiences at schools when a famous or name-recognizable student suddenly arrives. No reason for the other students mostly ignoring him is given. Odd.
4) There are definite grounds for evil!Ron in this book (as I've read in some fics), at least until the famous self-sacrificing chess game. He really is a jealous and insensitive (and occasionally outright cruel) little boy. And while Draco initiates more of their fights verbally, Ron is irrationally easily provoked.
5) Because I am a big geek and a witch and a librarian-type, I looked up the woods that Harry and Voldie's wands are made of, to see what their meanings/uses were:
Holly is for protection, luck, and dream magic. Protection against lightening, poisons, evil spirits, evil sorcerers, and wild animals. Holly has several medicinal uses, particularly as a non-toxic emetic.
Yew is for raising the dead. It's highly poisonous to humans and animals alike. Old Wives Tales warn not to fall sleep under yew trees because they will suck up your soul as you lie sleeping. They often grow in graveyards and are said to drink the juices of the dead.
Sound familiar to anyone? *g*
6) Hints of Snape reading minds are all the way back in this first book. Alan Rickman definitely made Snape sexier than in the book, IMO, but -- Snape is described with lanky hair and a hooked nose, but not one ever says he's ugly, just mean. I think it's the "ugly personality" that colors future insults from Harry and past insults from the Marauders. I'm still holding out that Snape is one sexy bastard, damn it.
Mistakes/Loopholes/WTF Questions
1) If Charlie's friends can just fly in on brooms to pick up Norbert the dragon, why can't Voldie and the DEs just fly in?
2) If Voldie is possessing Quirrell in his body, how is he a spirit when he's drinking the unicorn blood? Did he leave Quirrell to go drink the blood?
Nevermind – when I got to the end of the book, it's made clear that Voldie is in Quirrell's body. He's only a spirity-thing during the blood-drinking scene in the movie version.
3) Is Dumbledore fucking insane? The way he sets Harry up with the cloak and the mirror is just mad. Plus he totally ignores Harry 90% of the time, as do the other teachers. If he knows about the bloody prophecy, why isn't he guiding Harry from the very beginning? His manipulations and machinations are "educational," but Jesus fucking Christ! They're underhanded and totally undermine any sense of trust Harry could be developing for Dumbledore.
4) Why doesn't Draco do anything about the dragon, if he knows about it for two weeks? What the fuck is he waiting for? I call OOC.
5) What the fuck is with that detention at 11pm at night, to make four eleven-year-olds go find some creature that's killing unicorns? Yeah, plot device, but still. I'm willing to suspend disbelief for Roald Dahl/Dickensian stuff like the Dursleys giving Harry 50p for Christmas, but come on – a detention like that is a bit much.
6. If Hagrid borrows Sirius' bike to take baby!Harry to the Dursleys/Dumbledore right after James and Lily are killed, then how the fuck can anyone ever think Sirius is the one that killed them? Especially Hagrid and Dumbledore and Minverva? Why would he have saved Harry? What was the exact timeline on those events that night?
OK, GO! Offer your own observations, comment on mine, answer my questions, argue, discuss, debate with each other!
I have to hunt down book #2 (loaned it to a friend) but hopefully I'll get it tomorrow and will read/post by Wednesday.
