|
LooseChanj posted:Am I wrong in disagreeing with the idea that Snape was actually a good guy? All the things he did that supposedly put him on that side of the ledger were done because he had a creepy and obsessive crush on Harry's mom. It's probably just that I really hate it when writers take the "deep cover" thing to such an absurd extent. I'm pretty sure Snape was actually a bad person but not a "bad guy." He was selfish, self-centered and a jerk, but did not actually seem to be aware of the full extent of what he was getting into until it threatened someone he cared about. Basically like Draco Malfoy. I think you could make the "bad person, but on the not-evil side" about quite a few characters. I'd certainly say as much for Sirius or that dude who replaced Fudge too, if to a somewhat lesser extent.
|
#
¿
Sep 20, 2010 23:49
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 16, 2024 00:32 |
|
|
Suprfli6 posted:I don't think either of those are really the same as Snape. Sirius is a bastard to Kreacher and did nasty stuff to Snape back when they were back in school, including tricking him into almost getting killed by werewolf Lupin. In fact, most of what we saw good from Sirius was his connection to James, who was a bit of a twit himself, and he actually tried to goad Harry into doing dangerous things because he wanted excitement. They play this up a bit in the movie where he actually calls Harry "James" at one point, but it's in the books as well. I'm not saying he's a ridiculously terrible person or anything, but I wouldn't call him a good person either. It's just that, unlike Snape, he happened to be someone sympathetic to Harry, so we saw more of the good aspects.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 21, 2010 22:13
|
|
|
Hedrigall posted:I more wanted to meet her parents. They showed up in the second book.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 24, 2010 07:24
|
|
|
She's going to announce a revamped version of the third book where the Time Turner is never introduced and the problems are resolved in a different way so she never has to hear about that again.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 1, 2010 14:39
|
|
|
Fry honestly adds a staggering amount to the books. There are scenes I honestly didn't find very interesting when I read them that his spirit and acting make into engrossing and interesting sequences.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 7, 2010 16:54
|
|
|
IRQ posted:I don't know. Have we ever seen someone evade a killing curse without at least partially taking a hit? Maybe, I don't remember. Yes. When Crabbe (or Goyle, I don't remember) are attacking Ron and Hermione in the Room of Requirement in Book 7, both of them dodge the Avada Kedavra.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 28, 2010 12:56
|
|
|
Quad posted:I just read the whole series for the first time over the last 2 weeks. The Wand doesn't have to pass by murder, it just happens to a lot because people drawn to its power tend to be power-hungry assholes. It passes if its owner is disarmed. Draco disarmed Dumbledore at the top of the tower.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 30, 2010 21:47
|
|
|
The whole "Wizards would lose to guns" thing kind of ignores the fact that Wizards have instant teleportation to anywhere they choose. They'd lose a straight-up fight but I'm pretty sure they could make pretty good use of the ability to suddenly appear inside the home of every single important official in the world. Not to mention that if you're talking about Evil Wizards (or even amoral wizards), they have an army of literally invisible and apparently invincible soul-eating energy-draining Dementors at their beck and call.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 6, 2011 13:58
|
|
|
THE HORSES rear end posted:Also, "Fables". Is that a FanFic or a real novel? It's a comic book series but it got really, really, really bad beyond a certain point. It started out as a kind of "Fantasy characters living in New York" thing and eventually descended into this total mess that went on long beyond when it should have ended.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 7, 2011 00:54
|
|
|
Epi Lepi posted:Is Fables the one where the Big Bad Wolf is a good guy detective and the first comic involves a murder mystery? If so, that poo poo was mad good and I had wanted to read more but never got around to it. Yeah, that's the one. The big bad wolf goes from being a detective to being a minor godling superbeing who is the best at everything and all the characters fawn over him while he spouts the author's viewpoints. It's pretty bad.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 7, 2011 04:57
|
|
|
THE HORSES rear end posted:Would you say that the series was ruined because of his politics or because it lost whatever qualities made it good up until then. I tedn to not really care about the politics of a work. A pro-Nazi, antisemitic film can still be decent in spite of its message. It loses the qualities that made it good in addition to that. The politics just really start seeping in heavily right about the point it starts losing the 'good parts.'
|
|
#
¿
Jul 8, 2011 23:12
|
|
|
Shimrra Jamaane posted:How much difficulty and horror could have been avoided if Harry simply asked an adult for help? The Chamber of Secrets wouldn't have ever become a big deal for instance. To be fair, he did ask an adult for help in The Chamber of Secrets and that adult tried to brainwash him and leave Ginny for dead.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 11, 2011 04:17
|
|
|
Pretty sure Dumbledore himself was the middle brother who could never escape from the memory of his dead loved ones and eventually died because of his longing to see them again.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 29, 2011 05:03
|
|
|
DontMockMySmock posted:Well, you're at least smart enough to recognize that Ravenclaw is the best house. In any event, you don't actually need to be smart to be in Ravenclaw - you just need to value knowledge. If you're not smart then your rear end gets locked out of the dorm every time you leave though.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 20, 2011 22:15
|
|
|
Zore posted:Plus, I never really got the impression he particularly excelled at potions. Every time his strengths were brought up, in flashbacks or in establishing conversations, everyone always talked up his affinity for the Dark Arts and spells in general and he always wants to bail from his Potions job to become the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. Even most of the stuff that Harry learned out of the Half Blood Prince potions book were pretty hosed up spells that Snape either invented or learned from somewhere. He did have a whole bunch of experimental notes but I'm assuming that came with the fact that by his sixth year he had driven off the only friend he had, the older Slytherins who had taken him under their wing a bit had graduated (Malfoy) and he really had nothing to do but make up spells and brew potions. Possibly in an attempt to make himself ready for a position teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts which is about the only job he ever showed any signs of wanting. Yeah, but it's worth noting that the notes Snape put down were improvements over what the book was teaching even years later. If that poo poo had been documented, I'm pretty sure Hermione's response wouldn't have been "Where the hell did you come up with that" every time Harry massively outperformed her. Even if he was experimenting because he was alone/sad/whatever, he was creating massive improvements to potions while he was a teenager in school. The notes he had were good enough that Harry went from Crap to Best of Class just by following them, which implies they were some really god damned good notes. It's also worth noting that for all Snape's complaining, he actually wasn't that good at Defense against the Dark Arts. When he was teaching about the magical creatures he got stuff wrong and taught students the wrong information. (And Rowling points this out in one of the for-charity Hogwarts textbooks.) He was good at curses and dark arts but those were clearly the parts he cared about. It's kind of an evolution of his thing with Lily. He sure wanted her but he was a pretty bad fit.
|
|
#
¿
May 31, 2012 14:33
|
|
|
I think the problem with inventing new spells is that there's probably something for almost everything already. The vast majority of the 'new' spells are pranks/jokes/assholery or serious evil dark magic. Most of the useful stuff is already discovered. That said, man does this poo poo fall apart if you think about it. The Marauder's Map alone is ridiculous. It shows the location of almost every single person in a building, including those who are invisible or disguised or freaking ghosts. It was invented by four kids in school. How the hell is this not a thing? If this is possible you'd think the school would make one up for the night watchman or something if it was possible.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 3, 2012 15:15
|
|
|
I assume that Hagrid wasn't actually trying to raise werewolves, Voldemort's just a racist shithead and that's the first thing that comes to mind when he thought of monsters. He talks the same way about Lupin in the last book.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 5, 2012 16:28
|
|
|
The irony of the ending is that every single thing Voldemort tried to do to improve his chances made them worse. He tried to kill Harry and in turn he created Harry, the one person who could really destroy him. He used Harry's blood to create his new body and in doing so he tied Harry's life to his own, actually granting him an extra layer of protection even as he removed the "can't touch him" protection. He hunted down the Elder Wand to defeat Harry's and in doing so actually ended up with a weaker wand. Pretty much every single thing Voldemort does in the books ends up killing him. If he made even one other choice than Harry probably would have been hosed but so it goes.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 30, 2013 00:03
|
|
|
syphon posted:Yeah but if this concept of wand-loyalty was known by the teachers at Hogwarts (and I have to assume it was), wouldn't someone put two and two together and say "Hey, maybe Neville isn't so terrible after all, and he should try a different wand than his defeated-parents'?" Hogwarts in general seems pretty lovely about helping students. I mean half of their teachers are various levels of terrible or inept. Even ignoring the Dark Arts teachers which were 1 for 7 of not being terrible, you had Snape and Hagrid and the Divination teachers who all shouldn't have been within five miles of a teaching position. ... Wow, and all of them were there because of Dumbledore-based nepotism. Way to go, Albus. ImpAtom fucked around with this message at 23:55 on Nov 11, 2014 |
|
#
¿
Nov 11, 2014 23:41
|
|
|
Also if Harry had been born under a love potion he'd presumably be a lot more Voldemorty as opposed to being defined by his ability to love.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 12, 2014 23:26
|
|
|
Paragon8 posted:James really gets a pretty bad deal from Rowling. A few flashbacks about James and Lily post-Hogwarts would have been some nice development. Well, we get a lot of trustworthy characters saying he was a good person and we saw him sacrifice his life for his wife and child without a moment's hesitation. He was probably still a bit of a shithead but he seemed like an okay guy once he was out of high school.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 13, 2014 00:17
|
|
|
The entire "life debt" thing was straight-up something Dumbledore told Harry as a lie to cover for why the hell Snape would want to protect him. Snape even went "is THAT what Dumbledore told you?" the first time Harry brought it up to him. Snape never cared one iota about James saving his life.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 13, 2014 05:37
|
|
|
Xachariah posted:I guess I didn't go to the places those predictions were happening then. Sorry. They literally say at the end of Book 6 that they're not planning to return to Hogwarts. Ron specifically tells Harry he has to wait to leave until after the wedding or Ron's mom will kill them in fact. This isn't even 'fan discussion' thing. It is literally something stated in the previous book.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 15, 2014 04:29
|
|
|
Variant_Eris posted:So, anyone looked at the Time Turner-Plot Hole critique that was discussed by Jim Butcher and Patrick Rothfuss? I liked how they pointed out the problem with the Time-Turners, and how anyone could go back in time and change events to their liking. The argument about Time Turners is addressed in the first book it shows up in. The time travel is stuff that already happened. You can't go back and change something, you only do things that already happened. If you tried to go back and change the past then you'd inevitably fail because it doesn't work that way. Harry and Hermione only succeeded because they had already succeeded. (Or Harry couldn't have saved himself the first time.)
|
|
#
¿
Nov 24, 2014 02:49
|
|
|
Inveigle posted:Dumbledore even had all three of the Hallows at one time -- why didn't he go defeat Voldie himself? Dumbledore never had all three Hallows at one time. He had the Wand and the Cloak, gave up the Cloak and found the Ring only just before he died. Even despite that he says himself he wasn't fit to wield them, only to possess them, because he was tempted by their power. He literally killed himself in his rush to abuse the Resurrection Stone.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 26, 2014 00:34
|
|
|
QuoProQuid posted:I have a question of my own: Is the Ministry of Magic a part of the British government or its own separate entity? Who determines who serves as the Minister of Magic? Do wizards recognize the queen? Is there any indication in the series as to how the magical government is intended to function? The Ministry of Magic isn't part of the British government as such. We see Fudge talking to the Prime Minister at the start of Book 6 and it's basically a case where they function as their own government but have ties. The position is elected. They mention this a few times.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 1, 2014 05:08
|
|
|
Portkeys vs Floo Powder isn't a plot hole. Floo Powder is a subway, Portkeys are an airplane.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 10, 2014 01:44
|
|
|
Paragon8 posted:Not saying it's a plot hole just an example of Rowling writing for the narrative rather than building an internally consistent world. Well, while that's true, she does a fairly good job of making them distinct and giving them real-world parallels. The Floo Powder Network is specifically written to mimic the lines. (Right down to people getting off at the wrong stop and getting confused.) Portkeys are Airports: Great for travel to a specific place but you have to get there on time. Disapparation is cars: You need a license, it can cause accidents if used incorrectly and not everyone can do it or do so comfortably. There are certainly things I think Rowling didn't think through but the various methods of transporation seem pretty 1-1 with real world transportation.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 10, 2014 03:04
|
|
|
thexerox123 posted:What are brooms in this analogy? Bicycles? Horses? Brooms to be honest always seem kinda lovely in the HP universe outside of magical sports. I guess you could call them the skateboard of the magical universe.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 10, 2014 03:08
|
|
|
Paragon8 posted:Arguably paralleling wizard logistics to muggle logistics hurts the world building despite making the wizarding world more familiar to the reader. Like the rough intent is there but you're basically dealing with three types of near-instantaneous teleportation which is so far beyond muggle comprehension that it sort of defies a direct parallel. It would be nicer to have them be more distinct as is they're sort of messy. But they are distinctive. I'm not really sure what you mean by them not being so. Each one has a pretty clear distinct purpose and their own distinctive gimmick. I mean Floo Powder isn't instant teleportation despite you describing it that way. It's literally like a train. Harry goes through multiple fireplaces at once and accidentally gets off at the wrong stop. (They even describe it as going "one fireplace too far" when he screws up.) The problem with the large crowds at the cup wasn't getting them there, it was getting them there without it being super-obvious something was going on. (Which is mostly played for humor, of course.)
|
|
#
¿
Dec 11, 2014 02:06
|
|
|
Paragon8 posted:Ultimately both port keys and floo become redundant after Apparition is widespread in the series. They don't though. Floo Powder is presented as easier and less dangerous than Apparition and allows you to go to places that Apparition is blocked. Port Keys allow travel over extremely long distances which is specifically something Apparition doesn't. (Even Voldemort has to fly back into range when he goes overseas.) Like your argument appears to be "Apparition outweighs everything" but within the terms of the book that is presented as not true. Floo Powder and and Port Keys both are presented as safer and usable by everyone. I mean even within in the books themselves Ron takes a huge chunk of out of his arm and ends up bleeding out on a forest floor when he makes a mistake. In terms of world building, it makes sense for there to be safe methods of travel to go with the one that can make you lose a leg if you gently caress it up. ImpAtom fucked around with this message at 03:19 on Dec 11, 2014 |
|
#
¿
Dec 11, 2014 03:12
|
|
|
To be honest the thing that always confused me the most was "how the gently caress are the Weasleys so poor?" I mean the answer honestly appears to be that they're insanely lovely with money. "We won the Wizard lottery? Time to blow all that money on a vacation!"
|
|
#
¿
Dec 11, 2014 03:25
|
|
|
Chamale posted:Food is one of the five exceptions to Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration, according to Hermione. You can't turn something into food - although she says you can increase the quantity of food, so maybe a wizard family could avoid going hungry by magically duplicating their pantry. Presumably some of the other laws say that you can't transfigure other things into money, and maybe there's some kind of physical or legal law that prevents transfiguration for profit. I looked it up, and the other exceptions to Gamp's Law are never actually stated in the books. That is probably one of the biggest rear end-covering retcons in the series to be honest. Harry uses a "refilling charm" in an earlier book to refill a cup full of alcohol without problem and you can transfigure inanimate things into living things so it seems kinda hard to argue that you can transfigure a teacup into a rabbit but not into rabbit stew.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 11, 2014 05:11
|
|
|
Pththya-lyi posted:Easy! The refilling charm probably simply transports liquid, it doesn't create any. The cup itself is probably charmed to make it easy for kids in the lower years to get the liquid from a nearby receptacle. It isn't. It's a bottle of alcohol that Slugworth specifically brought and was said to be good rare stuff, and Harry refills it to keep him happy while he's drinking with Hagrid. bobkatt013 posted:I am pretty sure they mention having to steal food during the camping trip. Yeah, that is where the Law of whatever is first mentioned. Ron bitches that they don't just create food and Hermione tells him they can't, his Mom is just bringing out food she already had prepared and stored.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 11, 2014 20:07
|
|
|
It's been almost 8 years since the end of Harry Potter.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 22, 2014 04:43
|
|
|
The thing that most stands out to me about the wizarding world is Acid Pops They sell that poo poo in stores and they literally melt your tongue. I mean I assume it's a quick fix but Jesus Christ.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 28, 2014 22:34
|
|
|
JohnSherman posted:And yet, you've got spells like sectumsempra that work fine even if the wizard casting it has only the vaguest notion of its usage. I generally assume that Harry's natural affinity for dark spells is due to having a chunk of Voldemort in his soul.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 29, 2014 06:55
|
|
|
Chamale posted:Incidentally, this is something that bugs me. If there's no countercurse and no protection against Avada Kedavra, what determines if it kills Moody or not? Is every Killing Curse either effective or not, and the effective ones can't be stopped by anything? Or does their power exist on a sliding scale, which means that a weak Avada Kedavra can be stopped by simply being a powerful enough wizard? I suppose I can't expect accuracy from Moody, since he's really Barty Crouch in disguise. It's probably a case of "If you can't cast it nothing happens." We saw that with other spells where the kids hosed it up and nothing happened. Transfiguration, which is notoriously difficult, seems to be a lot "absolutely nothing happens for a long while, then you gently caress it up, then you get it right." Same with Disapperation. Even Hermione took a while to get that one to do anything but stand in a circle.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 29, 2014 15:37
|
|
|
Paragon8 posted:Yeah exactly. I think it's Dresden where all the wizards sort of make their own incantations up so it makes sense to *them* which is why Dresden just uses lovely latin and other wizards would use ancient greek etc. It's the intent that matters. Well, again, the Voldemort soul piece is convenient there. We already know having Volde's soul in him lets Harry do things he couldn't otherwise. No reason to argue that if Voldemort knew what Sectemsempra does (and it seems like his kinda spell and Snape did legitimately work for him for a while), the soul-piece let Harry do it. Probably not the intended thing but you can use it pretty easily.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 31, 2014 15:19
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 16, 2024 00:32 |
|
|
Variant_Eris posted:Wasn't it stated in one of the books that people do invent their own spells? Or is my mind playing tricks on me? It was. Snape and Dumbledore are two examples. That's discounting actual inventions like Fred and George's stuff. Really though, the craziest thing in the series is the Maurader's Map. A complete and perfect map of Hogwarts that gets past all of its charms and defenses to show the exact location of every single person in the school, ignores Polyjuice Potions, sees through the Invisibility Cloak, can be used from anywhere in the world, and was invented by a group of teenagers in high school.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 1, 2015 01:29
|
|