Harry Potter, Deathly Hallows (spoilers allowed)

I completely disagree on both of these points.
First, how does Snape's death make him a hero? Him risking his life for 16 years does, but I also think he EARNED a hero's death. He didn't get that.
As for the deaths, if Rowling thought her readers could handle Sirius and Dumbledore dying, why did she think they couldn't handle Harry's death?
Really, I'd bet Dumbledore is a more popular character (as is Fred, or was it George? Whichever twin died), so that argument makes no sense to me.
And I don't think she was writing for "kids." She had moved well beyond that stage, and she knew it. Kids' books aren't nearly as dark as the last three were.
At worst, she was writing for young adults. Most of them have experienced death in their own lives.

 

I disagree that he was a hero, largely because JKR said as much on the Today show. He was brave, she said, but if not for his love of Lily he would never have switched sides.

He looked out for Harry because of his love for Lily but despised the boy because he saw in him his dad's arrogance ... even when it wasn't present in Harry.

 

I guess it comes down to your definition of a hero.
To me, a man who risks his life for 16 years fighting for the good, even if he does so for selfish reasons, is a hero.
It would have been easier for him to simply kill Harry or let him be killed, cast a spell on himself to make him forget Lily, etc.
As Dumbledore said, Snape had to choose between doing what was easy and what was right. At great risk, he took the latter.
To me, that's a hero.

 

Well said, Okie!

 

Well said (and much much better than I ever could have). On top of that, he did the right thing with no public recognition and allowed himself to be reviled and mistrusted.

 

I don't think Snape doing the right thing because he loved Lilly is any different than Harry doing the right thing because of his love for Ron, Hermione and their families.

 

Love is what saved Harry's life as a baby. It seems to be the one thing that Voldemort never understood and the one thing that could defeat him.

 

I disagree, primarily because yes, Snape loved Lily, but we never got any indication that he truly believed in the cause she was fighting for. He loved her in spite of it.

To me, Snape is neither hero nor villain -- every action he took over the course of the seven books was about balancing his karmic ledger, because while he loved Lily, he was also directly responsible for her death.

 

You, and Lisa in the post above, make great points. It's a good argument.

I tend to side with Lisa because Snape was basically serving a penance (did I spell that right?) ... his guilt motivated his heroics. Then again, Okie's point is correct. Your definition of hero decides whether he served that penance or not.

 

I never got around to posting here. I thought it was really outstanding, by far the best book, and better than I imagined it could have been. I didn't find the middle slow at all.
Nitpicks:
- I didn't like the epilougue. You don't have to do it, but if you do, do it right. Give us some more than that.
- I didn't love the resurrection, though I did call Harry as a horcruz, here in fact, and said that she could figure out a way not to kill him anyway.
- How did Neville get the sword from the hat? Was it like in #2 where the hat just gives you what you need?
- Unlike most of you, I didn't like Molly Weasley's explosion. She goes 6 books & 740+ pagers with the least kid-friendly word being "snog", and she has to have her most wholesome character drop a "bitch"? Totally inconsistent with her tone.

Defenses of attacks I've seen here:
- Snape may have earned a hero's death, but the point is that evil doesn't care about that. Cruel, bad people kill when they want to. I thought it was great.
- Snape was the big character to die, once he's good. He's bigger than Fred or Lupin. I'm stunned that Hagrid made it.
-The magic fire wasn't much of a cop=out, because once they were in the school & had it, they could have gone back to the chamber of secrets.

Can't remember anything else right now. I'm sure I will later.

 

Neville pulling the sword from the hat is actually something I saw coming.
I can't explain why, but there just appears to be a connection between those two items. Dumbledore kept them together in his office and he told Harry only a true Gryffindore could have pulled the sword out of the hat. Neville is clearly one, so when he reached into the hat, that's what he got.

You can call Snape's death big, but it is also the one I thought was almost unavoidable. Whenever I had to predict who would die, he was always at the top of my list, because you knew, good or bad, he had played too dangerous a game to survive.

 

Finally finished, terrified Boom would read the last two pages and tell me what happened.

--NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH is the best line of the entire series...there should be tshirts and mousepads.

--What was the simpering moaning blob creature in the is-he-dead Harry/Dumbledore scene? I didn't get that. Thought it was Volde, but doesnt seem right.

--Wish the story of Dumbledore's life had been a bigger part of another book.

--Agree with DDown about the lack of Ginny's character development...needed more snogging there, or something.

--Epilogue, trite...but appropriate for its intended audience. Happily Ever After.

--Openly wept when Harry realizes he is supposed to die, and he asks his dead parents/friends to stay with him. Very well done.