Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (SPOILERS)

[dragonfly80]

twodollars said:

Wow, I loved this book. And I was shocked by how many characters got killed off in this series, especially since it was written for kids initially. I was expecting JK to chicken out like the Lord of the Rings, Buffy, or The Sopranos.

Here's the list of major/minor characters killed in the series (am I missing anyone):
1. Cedric
2. Sirus
3. Dumbledore
4. Hedwig
5. Mad-Eye Moody
6. Dobby
7. Fred
8. Tonks
9. Lupin
10. Colin
11. Snape
12. Bellatrix
13. Voldemort
14. Wormtail

I think I was most thrilled with Neville and Luna stepping up to fight. I also liked that JK showed us how Dudley's experience with the Death Eaters affected him. I did like that she didn't redeem Petunia, Vernon, Luficus or Draco.

This is going to make a kick-ass movie. I can't wait to see the fight defending Hogwarts.

The muggle studies teacher was killed in the first chapter, I think her name was Charity. Rufus Scrimgeour was killed, right after talking with Harry at the Burrow. Also Tonk's dad died.

[kateln]

Even though I was spoiled for it (I also used to open Christmas Presents early) I LOVED it when Mrs. Weasley stepped up and kicked Bellatrix's ass (and called her a bitch!) I was like "Damn!"

I found myself feeling bad for George--not Fred, but George who has to live without Fred his other half. Then I found myself feeling silly for that because they're fictional characters.

The Epilogue was a bit fan-fictiony--not horrid, but like she hired someone of the internet to write it for her.

[Deleted]

I am just really sad that it is over.

I finished this morning at 1:45, and I cried like a baby, but I am going to use Thingamajig's pregnancy hormone excuse. Rowling has done such a fantastic job of creating this complete other world, I would hate to never visit it again.

It did drag in places, count me in with those who think the on-the-run part was way too long. After reading it a couple of times, I decided that I like the epilogue, I had read that JK was very afraid that someone would write sequels to the story after she died, and I thought that was her way of still controlling what happened to Harry in the future. I guess I just wanted more. It was somewhat jarring to jump that far in the future.

The Snape and Lily parts tore me up. I just thought that it was so sad, and explained so much. What was the blue stuff that came out of his mouth when Voldemort killed him? I think that I was more upset by Hedwig dying than Fred, although I loved the twins. Did she really have to kill the owl?

Anytime Rowling has written about Harry's parents, I have cried, because she does such a fantastic job of conveying how much he missed them. Tears me up.

I know these are childrens books, but this one seemed incredibly chaste. These were teens, but Merv the Perv here wanted a little more than a bit of kissing here and there.

All in all, it was my favorite of the 7, and I am really hoping that one of these days JK revisits these characters, I am just kinda depressed right now that after 6 and a half years of reading these books, it is over.

[pepper67]

I got the book yesterday and finished it last night. Wow!

I really enjoyed it. Hedwig's death gave me a shock - probably because I expect pets to be immune. I was really sad that Fred died - poor George, especially. I cried over Dobby as well, but loved Kreacher coming roaring into the fight with the other house elves. When Harry, Hermione and Ron had to abandon 12 Grimmauld Place, I worried what would happen to him, especially as he'd finally started coming around. That whole wandering in the woods thing could have been far shorter, but I guess JKR wanted to show them gradually getting more and more irritated with each other and the situation. If Ron had upped and left in a huff after one paragraph of it, it would have been totally weird. I'm glad he came back though - and got to be the hero.

Umbridge having Mad-Eye Moody's eye on her door was so typical of her - petty and mean. What a bitch. I hope she got killed off or stuck in Azbakan. When the trio went to Diagon Alley and Harry noticed a guy with a bloody bandage over one eye, I was hoping that was going to turn out to be Mad-Eye. It wouldn't have surprised me if he'd taken the opportunity to fake his own death and work at defeating the Death Eaters from another angle.

I'm glad Snape was shown to be a good guy. His death seemed almost pointless though.

As for Dumbledore being less straight-forwardly good, I wasn't surprised. I think he knew that Harry could survive it all - hence the sudden plot about the Hallows - but I think he was prepared for anyone to die to defeat Voldemort. At least Dumbledore recognised that he couldn't handle power and stayed away from it. Poor Harry seeing his mentor had feet of clay, but it helped him grow up.

The epilogue was very over the top, but it was nice to see so many of them get a happy ending. JKR said that she wrote that years ago, and I think it showed in the quality of writing. Her writing's improved over the books, so she really should have rewritten it.

I really liked that Draco didn't get a full on redemption, though I was expecting him to turn to helping Harry at some point. I think he was too scared to, plus, if the good guys won, he'd just be ordinary Draco Malfoy as opposed to his family being high up in the ranks of power. I was surprised that Draco's mother lied about Harry being dead in order to get into Hogwarts, but I loved them just running through the battle, searching for Draco, not caring who won.

I really loved Draco's little snotty nod to Harry at the end as he's seeing Scorpius (what a name!) off.

ETA: Borokat, wasn't the silvery blue stuff supposed to be Snape's memories? It was the only way he could tell Harry what was really going on and what was going to happen. Poor Snape.

Someone else wondered earlier (can't remember who, sorry) who'd raised Lupin and Tonks' baby as Teddy didn't live with Harry and Ginny. I think it must have been Tonks' mother.

[bklynred]

For the death list:

Don't forget Crabbe, who had one of the most deserved yet gruesome deaths ever in the Room of Requirement. Dude totally lost his mind.

[pepper67]

That served him right! Draco and Goyle were lucky the trio didn't leave them to it.

[Deleted]

I really thought that they were toast in that room, but I guess it was fitting that the trio saved them. I guess.

[thesurlymermaid]

Anyone else think Snape's final words were "Look at me" because Harry had Lily's eyes and that was the last thing Snape wanted to see as he died?

*bursts into tears*

eta: I think the reason everyone doesn't lose possession of their wands after being Expelliarmused in the earlier books is that the taker has to use the wand he's taken.

[dragonfly80]

thesurlymermaid said:

Anyone else think Snape's final words were "Look at me" because Harry had Lily's eyes and that was the last thing Snape wanted to see as he died?

*bursts into tears*

Honestly I didn't think that at all but I've read it a lot of places. It almost seems a wee bit too emo/fanfic for me to handle. I like to think it was so Harry could look into his eyes and know that the memories he was giving him were genuine and that he had genuine remorse for what happened to Lily and what was facing Harry.

And I think the stuff that came out of Snape was just like when they tap the wands to their heads to release the memory to store in the pensive, he was releasing his memories for Harry to view.

[thesurlymermaid]

I think it's true though just because JK has always harped on Harry having Lily's eyes.

I see the "it's too fanfic" argument a lot....I've seen it complained about with the release of every new book. Many people spend their interim free time in between books reading or writing fanfic so when a new book comes out they are almost too used to the fanfic, which is constantly there. It's no real surprise. I avoid fanfics like the plague so I never have that issue.

eta: Okay, this wand thing is intriguing. Harry says just holding and using the new wand isn't enough. It has to choose you as well. So I guess there's a complex bit of magic that goes along with it.