There is no such thing as a happy ending, because nothing ever ends.

[readingredhead]

A mere sixteen hours ago, I was a different person.  Then, the copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows had never touched my hands.  But now it has passed through my grasp, an experience unique as only the first time can be, and in as best a way as feeble words can work, I strive to immortalize the experience.

Things I did like

• Lupin got his guts back and agreed to marry Tonks.
• Snape was good.  Not only that, but we got to learn a bit of his story, and see exactly why Dumbledore trusted him in the first place.  I thought that the scene in the penseive was one of the most touching ever.  I am happy that he finally received his just desserts, even if he had to die in order for that to be.
• Hermione and Ron didn’t die.  Honestly, I think I would have been more frustrated by their deaths in the long run than I would have been by Harry’s, because theirs would have had a different poetic significance.
• This book tied itself up rather nicely.  It touched upon basically everything I think I ever would have needed to know.  The loose ends that might have inspired people to go off and write their own stories seem to have been neatly woven in.  I wouldn’t mind if J. K. Rowling decided to write other stories in the same universe as Harry Potter…but somehow I’m not as eager to see her do this as I was before.  The one thing I really would’ve liked to read about was Dumbledore’s defeat of Grindelwald—but of course, the author has beaten me to it!  I’m sure billions of people will continue to write fanfiction, but I’m not sure I need to continue with reading it.  Knowing that it’s all over, knowing that the real story’s been fully told, makes me feel a bit like I should give it the respect it deserves and not bother with poor imitations.  I may enjoy reading fanfiction, but none of it is anywhere near as good as the original—how could it be?  So I might as well not waste my time.
• The DA came back!  Sort of, at any rate.  I never understood why they didn’t continue throughout the course of the sixth book—was Snape a better teacher than Umbridge?  Was Voldemort suddenly less dangerous?  So needless to say, I was quite glad to hear that Dumbledore’s Army survived him to fight again!
• The amount of background given about Dumbledore.  This is one of those specific areas of knowledge where I’d considered myself lacking before I read this book, but now I feel like I know enough about him to let him rest in peace.

Things I didn’t like

• Tonks and Lupin died.  Really, was that necessary?  I mean, no death is really necessary…but when the narrative mentioned that they were lying next to Fred on the floor, looking as though they had just gone to sleep, I was reading fast enough that I thought they were just sleeping.  I backtracked because I read their names.  That was the first time I really started to cry, hard.  Especially as they’d just had a child…though if the epilogue can be trusted, at least little Teddy grew up all right.
• Harry was a Horcrux.  Honestly, I’d heard this theory bandied about so much, and while it did seem clever, it always seemed too predictable.  This was the reason I first had for dismissing this idea, when I initially heard the theory discussed: J. K. Rowling is many things, but predictable is rarely one of them.  I guess I spent so long defending her for being able to pull of something better than that and now I’m disappointed that she didn’t.
• Harry didn’t actually die.  I mean, I didn’t want him to, and I think the most gut-wrenching scenes in the entire book were the ones where Harry walked toward the forest, knowing that he faced certain death (there were parts where I couldn’t read any further because I was crying too hard).  But again…it feels a bit cheap, leading all of your readers to assume that their hero has to die, and then letting him out of it at the last moment on a technicality!  I understand the reasoning behind it, and I don’t fault any of that…but I’m realizing that this book will never read as well as it did for the first time.  Every book changes as it’s re-read, and maybe I will come to cherish this one as a repeat, but that scene where Harry believes he must die will never move me to tears again, because I know that he doesn’t.
• Pettigrew’s death.  Honestly, I thought it was pretty lame.  He strangles himself with the silver hand because he felt a moment of mercy toward Harry?  I guess I was expecting some more fireworks.  I’m not saying that his death isn’t any less tragic, but it wasn’t at all what I thought it would be.  I certainly thought it would be closer to the end of the book.
• Lupin’s fight with Harry near the beginning of the book seemed present for the sole purpose of informing the audience that Tonks was pregnant.  I was annoyed to be carrying a less-than-sterling picture of Lupin in my head throughout a large portion of the tale, especially considering how he met his end.

Things I guessed

• R. A. B was definitely Regulus!  I called that one the day I finished the sixth book over two years ago!  (Also, I was really astonished when it turned out that his middle name was Arcturus, because in my head that was always what I had assumed the “A” stood for, though I’d had no way at all to be sure.)
• Pettigrew died to save Harry.  Not in the way I guessed, but for the right reason.
• Snape was good.  I’ve been saying that from day one, also.
• Aberforth was the barman at the Hog’s Head.  Honestly, how many times can she reference goats and expect us not to notice?

Times I cried

• After Dobby died
• After Fred died
• After Lupin and Tonks died
• When Harry thought he was going to die
• When my dad came into the room and said, “Well, your childhood is over now.  Come and let’s start paying your college tuition.”  (I know he didn’t mean for it to make me sad, but that’s the part of this that has me the most frightened of it all.)

There are, sadly, a few too many casualties for me to mourn individually.  But I have always maintained that, fictional or not, characters are certainly real.  As Dumbledore has so wisely articulated from beyond the grave, the fact that something exists in one’s head does not preclude it from being real. 

 

But more so even than the individual characters are real, more so than the people who lived and breathed and laughed and learned and died upon those pages are real, their spirit is real.  These dead may not exist in the conventional sense, but the aims for which they fought and died are not much different from the aims for which still we fight and die today.  If the warriors of today fight with weapons other than wands, against evils more impersonal, it does not make them any less worth the remembrance.  So to all those who have died for the greater good—died so that others might live, and live in a world of freedom unencumbered—rest in peace, and know that, because of you, in even the smallest portion of the world you sought to defend, “All is well.”

 

To those who have died:

still in our hearts,

living today.

Requiescat In Pace

 

It is hard for me to part with the boy who, along with his friends, has been my childhood, plain and simple.  But as I realize this feeling, I also remember something I once wrote, years ago, as an intended end to a story I had barely even begun to write:

 

And with this, the telling of the tale is done.  But do not be disheartened, for the tale itself goes on, and you never know when you may stumble onto a piece of it within your life.  Know that the story told within these pages is only a small part of the story of the characters that have lived it, and know that, while this appears to be an end, many ends are merely mistaken beginnings.

 

Then, by my own words, I must celebrate this day—not as the end of something great, but as the start of something even greater.

Comments

[pentaverse.livejournal.com]

This book was my favorite... so much so that the other books look like unnecessary plot setups for this one.

What are you talking about? Of course Harry died. He just didn't pass on. He's the Boy Who Lived-- twice! It's the story of Ra. Funny relationship between accident and worth, isn't it? The first time (or even several times, if you count his narrow encounters in the first three books) he lived, there was no doubt it was by accident he survived. Here, Harry proves his worth, yet I can't help but wonder how much he meant to happen... Like Harry's been saying all along and Ron discovers, that saving your life and destroying Voldemort's soul stuff isn't all the fun.

ALSO, for as much as I was impressed by the depth of the good characters (the reason for the security, there can be no mistake, was the story relies heavily on characterization and PLOT), the evil characters felt like plot devices. Hey! The Malfoys have depth! Voldemort/Riddle, on the other hand is pure evil... WEEEAK. Do you know why he's evil? Someone help.

[readingredhead.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the more I talk about it with others the more I realize that the end is nothing short of ingenious. I wanted to be frustrated with it because I felt like JKR had tricked me, and the rest of the readers...but now I realize that we had to feel that way, because if Harry hadn't been absolutely certain that he was approaching his death, then he would have actually died! (I then spent a moment hating her for being so damn good. I'd say it's not fair, but I've learned long ago that complaining doesn't help.)

Some of the evil characters did feel like plot devices, I'll agree, but some of the good characters really made up for it. I love that we found out more about Dumbledore; my sister was kind of disappointed in him, but I thought it made him much more human. Also, Neville's part might have been small, but I thought it was so good! I wanted to hear more from him, actually, as well as Luna and Ginny. I wish she'd included more about their characters...

But there's a reason she's the writer and I'm not. That's what I have to tell myself. I might think she could have done better, but she doesn't think she could have done any better, and the writing is hers first and foremost. You would think I would have learned by now that writers have the final say.

[pippins-smile.livejournal.com]

I just can't get over how DIFFERENT this entire book was...