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Saturday, July 14

Another eleventh hour theory!

This one covers the final stage of the Ginnymented scenario: Regurgitating Harry's soul into his body.

We have a possible "tutorial" for the necessary magic in the rudimentary body that Voldemort used during Goblet of Fire. I suspect that body was not created from scratch, but was in fact the body of a hapless demented Muggle child.

True, it looked like Voldemort. But so did the back of Quirrell's head. Voldemort's soul creates that kind of an impression. And with the victim's own soul gone, Voldemort would be free to take over the rest of the hardware and make perhaps an even stronger impression.

Here's the connection to the finale of Deathly Hallows: Voldemort invented the spell that made this kind of soul movement (into a demented body) possible. He taught the spell to Wormtail. Now Wormtail can do a favor for Harry after Voldemort has been killed by using the spell again.

The full theory, with more evidence, is on the Leftovers Page in the Predictions section.

Wednesday, July 11

Scuttlebutt had it that Ginny's Patronus is shown in the Order of the Phoenix film as a horse.

Nothing against a horse, of course, assuming, of course, that it is a horse.... But I thought a unicorn was more fitting, so I wanted to test my guess about how it was shown in the movie.

Spot on. Exactly as I predicted: We saw a lot of Ginny's Patronus while it was forming, but as it fully coalesced the head was aligned with the very top of the screen. This can be a unicorn.

Why a unicorn? If you recall, one of the minor parts of the Ginnymented theory suggests that the Harry/Ginny symbiont will raise a monster of a Patronus to drive off the dementors at the conclusion of the final battle.

As long as the forms are going to meld, they may as well both be ungulates, right? Score one for the horse or the unicorn.

A quick glance at some mythls, folklore, and astrology suggests that a horse can symbolize or represent: burial, birth, nobility, independence, talent, sincerity, energy, time, treachery, sexuality, wealth, etc.

So you can get a horse to mean almost anything you want.

But unicorns, now -- they've already been established in Potterland, and here I see a possible connection to the Ginnymented theory:

"The blood of a unicorn will keep you alive, even if you are an inch from death, but at a terrible price. You have slain something pure and defenseless to save yourself, and you will have but a half-life, a cursed life, from the moment the blood touches your lips."
(PS/SS 15 pg 258)

Neither Ginny nor Harry is doing any evil slaying in my end sequence, so I think they're excused from this curse. But Ginny would be saving Harry when he is "an inch from" being demented; Harry would be completely "defenseless"; and from the moment his soul touches her lips, they will each have a kind of "half-life", being two souls in one body.

If that seems like a stretch, lets go back to the Grand Unified Patronus theory. The first time Harry saw his own corporeal Patronus, it was twice compared to unicorns and horses:

Harry opened his eyes. The dementor must have released him....

Harry raised his head a few inches and saw an animal amid the light, galloping away across the lake.... Eyes blurred with sweat, Harry tried to make out what it was.... It was as bright as a unicorn....
(PoA 20 pg 385)

And out of the end of his wand burst, not a shapeless cloud of mist, but a blinding, dazzling, silver animal.... It looked like a horse....

It wasn't a horse. It wasn't a unicorn, either. It was a stag.
(PoA 21 pg 411)

I started a thread in the Ginnymented Forum for OotP Reviews, where I'll be posting a more detailed critique of the film in a bit.

Eleventh Hour Predictions!

Bob has a startling idea about Hagrid's final secret;

And vaudree has put together a convincing case that Amycus and Alecto are werewolves.

Both these were originally posted on the LBaRF thread on HPANA and I've summarized them at the end of the Predictions section (links above).

Monday, July 9

I suppose with the release upon us, I may as well break down and say something about the Harry Potter films.

Actually, I was "inspired" after reading this interview with Daniel Radcliffe from MTV Asia.

Understand, I've always liked the actors (most of 'em, anyway), it is certain directors who have fallen short of expectations. Even so, this interview gave me a whole new appreciation for Dan. For starters, he's very entertaining and had me laughing out loud several times.

He also mentioned one of his favorite theories about book seven:

"I do have theories, but one of my theories is stolen from someone else, who the other day made the very good point that he thought Snape is going to turn out to be the tragic hero. And it's possible J.K. Rowling would have gone down that route, possibly not — possibly he is pure evil..."

I don't think Dan really believes Snape has any chance of turning out to be "pure evil", but as a de facto public voice for the franchise, he's doing the smart thing and presenting a balanced opinion.

My own take on Snape's fate is this: If he and Harry reach an understanding -- that is to say, if Harry finally realizes all the wonderful things he has in common with Snape -- then Snape will probably die. It would be very much like Harry's experience with Cedric Diggory. In the beginning, Harry was buffetted by the 'Gryffindor opinion' that Diggory was a useless pretty boy. He became most angry when he learned that Diggory was dating Cho Chang. Notice the point of contention? Harry and Diggory had something in common -- they both liked the same girl.

New on site:
I've uploaded about a dozen more scans of the colorized chapter art to the Gallery pages. Again, I had no part in creating these pictures, so if you want to use 'em for your own website or anything else, go right ahead.

Monday, July 2

Dirty Harry
Rowling calls Harry "unselfpitying" and we see that attitude from the very beginning of the series. When Harry goes to the zoo with four people who dislike him (the Dursleys and Piers) and is allowed to eat the remnant of Dudley's Knickerbocker Glory, he thinks it's the greatest thing ever.

But on the flip side of this emotional resilence, Harry's "weakness" -- if you can call it that -- is a tendency to dwell on negative associations.

CoS:

Suddenly, something that was nagging at Harry came tumbling out of his mouth.

"Professor Dumbledore... Riddle said I'm like him. [...] I don't think I'm like him!"

[...]

"So I should be in Slytherin," Harry said, looking desperately into Dumbledore's face.
(ch 18 pg 332-333)

Harry would gladly be rid of this powerful ability (Parseltongue) just to be less Slytherin-ish.

PoA:

"I don't want a connection with Pettigrew!" said Harry.
(ch 22 pg 427)

Again, Harry would trade the advantage of the debt just to be rid of the association.

GoF:

...the phoenix feather in Harry's wand had come from the same bird that had supplied the core of Lord Voldemort's.

Harry had never shared this piece of information with anybody. He was very fond of his wand, and as far as he was concerned its relation to Voldemort's wand was something it couldn't help
(ch 18 pg 310)

In this case, Harry is too attached to his wand to want to reject it. So his attitude is a little healthier. Even so, he keeps it secret.

OotP:

He felt dirty, contaminated, as though he were carrying some deadly germ, unworthy to sit on the underground train back from the hospital with innocent, clean people whose minds and bodies were free of the taint of Voldemort....
(ch 23 pg 492)

This passage tells us a lot about Harry. Even with the false notion that he was being Possessed, Harry should have felt dangerous to those around him. Eventually he does, but his first reaction is to his greater fear -- that he is dirty, contaminated, and tainted.

HBP:

I don't care," said Harry again, looking with disgust [at Kreacher]....

[...]

...the idea of owning him, of having responsibility for the creature that had betrayed Sirius, was repugnant.
(ch 3 pg 52)

Deathly Hallows

The most obvious occurrence of Harry's taint-o-phobia will come if (when) he is revealed as a Horcrux. But considering that de-Cruxing is necessary to the defeat of Voldemort, Harry won't be forced into any difficult choices just by the revelation.

He's probably not finished with Kreacher, either. Unlike Voldemort or Pettigrew, Kreacher is what others have made him. Harry will have to keep that in mind when he takes responsibility for the elf.

One character who isn't on the above list is Snape:

"Did you hear [Snape] talking about the Dark Arts? He loves them! All that unfixed, indestructible stuff--"

"Well, said Hermione, "I thought he sounded a bit like you."
(HBP 9 pg 180)

Sooner or later, Harry has to face Snape. It won't be enough for Harry to do what we fans have done by working out a logical explanation for Snape's behavior. Their animosity won't be resolved by calculation. Harry's going to have to deal with the fact that he and Snape have a few things in common.

That's not even the worst part.

In OotP 29, what Harry had seen in the Pensieve was "eating him from inside". But all he saw there was his father being cruel to Snape. Imagine how much worse it will be for Harry to learn that his mother was friendly with Snape!

Now I've just been struck with another crazy idea. Maybe Harry will learn about this before uncovering the issue of Snape's loyalty. His visit to Godric's Hollow could provide a sample of his mother's handwriting. Then a return to the Room of Requirement and a look through that old Potions Book could lead him to a page where Lily wrote something back to Snape, shedding light on the meaning behind all those other notes (i.e., they were written for someobody other than the book's owner).

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