Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Discussion (SPOILERS)

[Sprry75]

There are a couple things I don't get though, that maybe someone can help me out with.

Snape puts a phony sword of Gryffindor in Bellatrix's vault, and gets the real one to Harry.  Ron then uses the real one to destroy the locket, but then Harry barders it to Griphook to get into Bellatrix's vault at Gringott's.

Harry gets the Hufflepuff cup, but Griphook makes off with the sword.

Then, at the end, when the Sorting Hat comes to Neville, Neville pulls the sword out and uses it to cut off Nagini's head.

I don't get it....

Did Griphook accidentally make off with the phony sword in the midst of all the chaos?  Does the real sword go to whomever needs it, through the Sorting Hat?  Anyone got this figured out?

And while I'm asking questions about stuff I don't get, how did Harry determine that one of the Horcrux's would be in Bellatrix's vault?  That seemed a little...random, given the placement of the other Horcruxes.

Bellatrix was pretty shaken up that they had even been to the vault by the sign of the sword showing up...they put two and two together

Okay, but then what's the significance of hiding one of the Horcruxes at Gringott's?  I thought they were all hidden in magically significant places.  Although, I guess it could be said that the deepest vaults of the Goblin bank were magically significant.

As far as the sword, same way Harry got it in Chamber of Secrets.  Neville needed it and got it from the hat...

Okay, but then why bother having Griphook make off with the sword?  I bet that once the Sorting Hat warped it back from Griphook, Griphook got uber-pissed.  I think this officially qualifies as a loose end, in my book.


And oh yeah...Wormtail dies.

[Phrubruh]

So when do we find out that Voldemort was really Harry's father and Hermione was his sister?

[Sprry75]

Wrong series.



 

[Phrubruh]

Oh yeah! I get it!

[jadesfire]

I liked the name of Harry's second son....and what he tells him on his way to his first year at Hogwarts.  All in all, I was surprised at how well Rowling had tied up alot of things (and people) that I had forgotten about and only wonder whatever happened to that old bat Umbridge.

[evenflow]

I just finsihed it. It was good, but the overly happy epilogue was just over the top. Tpp happy for me. The rest of the book was good and a very quick read.

[EdSolo]

So when do we find out that Voldemort was really Harry's father and Hermione was his sister?

Actually, it turns out that Harry and Voldemort were related, albeit distantly.  If you believe Marvolo Gaunt.  Gaunt claimed that the Gaunt's were decended from the family who made the Deathly Hallows, and Dumbledore said that Harry was decended from the youngest brother who made the cloak.

A pretty big loose end, unless I missed something in my reading, is that we never found out who else was at the Potter's house or in Godric's Hollow when Voldemort tried to kill Harry.

[name]

Okay, but then what's the significance of hiding one of the Horcruxes at Gringott's?  I thought they were all hidden in magically significant places.  Although, I guess it could be said that the deepest vaults of the Goblin bank were magically significant.

Well first of all, Riddle didn't leave his Horcruxes in magically significant places....he left them in places that were significant to himself:  his ancestors' home, the cave where he intimidated children from the orphanage, the secret room at Hogwarts....

Knowing that, the the answer you're looking for is on pg 491

"I don't know wheter he was ever inside Gringotts," said Harry.  "He never had gold there when he was younger, because nobody left him anything.  he would have seen the bank form the outside, though, the first time he ever went to Diagon Alley....I think he would have envied anyone who had a key to  a Gringots vault.  I think he'd ahve seen it as a real symbol of belonging to the Wizarding world.  And don't forget, he trusted Bellatrix and her husband.  They were hismost devoted servants before he fell, and they were looking for him after he vanished."

The loose end that remains for me is Lilly's Howler to Petunia from ....either GOF or HBP, don't recall.  "REMEMBER MY LAST, PETUNIA!"

Oh well.

Excellent book!

[Scott]

I thought Dumbledore sent that Howler and it was explained...maybe not though

[name]

maybe....i don't remember

[Matt_Fury]

That howler was explained in OOTP.  Dumbledore sent it to Petunia to remind her of her promise to allow Harry to live there every summer, and thus renewing the protection charm on him.

[Nicklab]

Finished the book this afternoon.  It was incredible!  What a way to end the series.

Harry's sacrifice shed so much light on how Lily sacrificed herself for Harry at Godric's Hollow.  And Harry's choice to go back and finish Voldemort was really inspiring, especially with the way he was able to protect everyone at Hogwart's.

Snape's story was honestly kind of sad.  He became so much more of a sympathetic figure when Harry took his thoughts and viewed them through the Pensieve.  We all knew that Dumbledore trusted Snape, but to finally know why was good.  It just seemed so tragic, but he did the right thing in the end.

Neville shone so much despite his few appearances in the book.  Leading the resistance against the Carrows at Hogwarts, and keeping the DA going.  His Gran coming to help out with the defense of Hogwarts.  And then to have Neville draw the sword of Griffindor from the sorting hat, and destroy the final Horcrux, Nagini?  Neville truly lived up to his family name.  And for him to become the professor of Herbology at Hogwarts seemed perfect.

Most of all?  I'm happy to see that JK Rowling has left the possibility of revisiting the wizarding world open.  Certainly the stakes will probably never be as high in future stories, but I'm sure there might be a wealth of stories left for the future.

[BrentS]

Just finished it last night.  I ended up staying up until 2am, I just couldn't put it down.

I loved just about everything in the book.  I think it was a very fitting end to the entire Saga.  I was probably most pleased that Snape was confirmed to be on the good side.  I just didn't want to believe he was so evil - he was one of my favorite characters in the whole series (and this coming from someone who doesn't gravitate towards the villians!).

[Brian]

Its nice to finally join in this thread now, I've been avoiding it until I could finish up.  Its tougher to find chances to read with a new baby in the house .  Anyways, finished it up yesterday afternoon, and I really enjoyed it.  I can say that I've liked all of the books in this series very much, and I think I liked this one the most.  Everything was wrapped up nicely, the action seemed almost non-stop, and I even liked the epilogue as well - a view of the future of the main characters.

I kept waiting for Snape to be revealed as "actually being good", and it took awhile.  I liked his story though, very tragic, as was mentioned earlier.  The revelations about Dumbledore's past were a bit surprising, and there sure were a lot of deaths.  I'm curious how this one will end up when its brought to the theaters - there's so much to fit into a movie, so many deaths, and a definite darker tone.  It was nice to see Neville turn out to be such a hero as well.  I kind of thought we might end up seeing more of a "heroic turn" from Malfoy (Draco) than we did, although he wasn't as eeeevil as he was in the past.  Like others have said, it was a book I just couldn't put down either.  I'd stay up late reading it, even though I was dog-tired, and just didn't want to stop.  I don't know that I've ever enjoyed reading books more than I have these - kind of bitter sweet to see them end.

[jjks]

I'm in line with everyone else that Rowling did an excellent job of tying the entire story together, when she could have easily mailed this one in with a half-hearted effort. POA has always been my favorite of the series, but I think this one has overstepped it for tops overall.

My only loose end that I wish they would have cleared up was who ended up as Headmaster after Snape. I guess McGonagall would be the logical choice, but would have been nice to know for sure.

All in all I can't wait to see this on the big screen, this one in particular should translate to a movie VERY well. It does make me a little less excited about see HBP, only because that feels like a backstory now leading up to TDH. It's just a little harder to get excited about it now, knowing how much I'll be looking forward to the final movie.