and now back to the Count...

[tsukikage]

Finished Harry Potter at about 10:20 last night. I enjoyed it a lot, except the epilogue. Didn't hate it, didn't love it. Just sort of "meh"d it. It reminded me a lot of the FMA kids OVA. And when I have kids, I'm definitely NOT naming them after others. ><;
About Snape... At first I thought we were going to watch Snape die with no redemption. No change of heart, no revelation, and not even a final re-assurance that he was evil. I loved those last moments with Snape, though: "Look...at...me...." I swear, my intense wondering about why Snape wanted Harry to look at him so badly almost got me to feel a bit of a slash moment there. ^^; But seriously... was it wanting Harry to suffer watching the last moments of the teacher he reciprocally hated? Snape wanting someone to remember his last moments? Snape just wanting someone there with him in his last moments? *blubbers a bit*
I will admit that the only time I actually started crying was as Harry was approaching his death. Having the "ghosts" of his family with him was an excellent touch. I mean, it's certainly not the same, but anyone who's had family or loved ones go in with them for some medical procedure they were really afraid of (even something small like getting blood drawn) can understand how much courage that can give, even while at the same time bestowing a little extra sadness. But yeah: Hedwig, Dobby, even Remus, Tonks, and Fred: didn't cry. For Hedwig and Dobby, I just wasn't that attached. They were both pretty "meh" characters for me.
On the topic of Remus and Tonks, why didn't Harry raise Teddy? I mean, isn't that what godfathers are for? To raise the kid if their parents die?
And what the hell kind of a name is "Scorpius" anyway? That seriously made me laugh out loud.
What else... I really liked how no-one was really good in the end. Like, despite my gratitude that Snape was good in the end, it really worked for me that he wasn't loyal to Dumbledore because he thought the cause of Wizards ruling over the Muggles was mistaken: it was because Voldemort killed Lily.
Finally, for some reason I really loved that the final battle between Harry and Voldemort (ooh, and I love how at the very end Harry finally started calling Voldemort by his actual name) happened at daybreak. I mean, maybe it's kind of... obvious... that at the end of a huge war would be the new day, but at the same time, he didn't kill Voldemort, and then the new day came. The new day had already come. The war was over. Ending Voldemort in one way or another was easy, because it was tying up the loose ends. And there was hope for Voldemort, if he had decided to take it.
[EDIT: I think joeyheartbear got it when he said "I like the fact that when Snape met his end he told Harry to look at him. I think he wanted to look into those eyes that are so much like Lily's one last time . . .".]
[EDIT 2: I've decided that I'm gonna name my first-born child Scorpius. :-P]
So yeah, that's my train-of-thought on book 7.
Especially since I've only read each of the books once so far, I'd definitely like to re-read them now that I know the whole story. ^_^

Comments

[firearmofmutiny.livejournal.com]

Naming your kid "Scorpius" only sets them up for many-a "GET OVER HERE!!!" joke. XD

[carve037.livejournal.com]

ROFL Give this man an internet!!

[hitokiridirk.livejournal.com]

lol, I'm naming my first-born Xenophilius :-P

[tiernsshadow.livejournal.com]

why didn't Harry raise Teddy? I've heard this question a lot, and it's down to a matter of poor writing. Teddy, at the point the epilogue takes place in, is 19 years old or a little older. Rowling doesnt' mention explicitly how he was raised, only that now, grown-up Teddy comes over to the Potters' house four times a week for dinner.

It seems like I'm the only person I know who actually liked the epilogue...but apparently I have weird views on what an epilogue is for. I've spent way too much time the last couple of days defending it. (Though I will NOT defend the writing. Sorry, but Rowling is just a shitty editor and this was a scene that she wrote at the very beginning of the series.)

[tsukikage85.livejournal.com]

True... But the "Why don't we just invite him to live with us and have done with it?" made it sound like he hadn't lived with them in the past...
I can buy that the epilogue would have been better with better writing, though.

[jupistrahan.livejournal.com]

It's okay if you like the epilogue. I hate it, but that's my own thing. For the purpose of letting people know "things worked out all right" and if nothing else, for a sense of things beginning anew (sending kids off at King's Cross is like a brick-in-the-face symbol of New Beginnings and such), and that after all this time, Moldy Voldy never came back, so it was a true defeat.

I just never liked Harry being with Ginny. It seems just wrong to me somehow, and I can't accept it. Hell, I could see him with McGonagal before Ginny. But anyway... And the naming of the kids just seemed so corny. I want to say it's okay because he's naming them after people who were important to him, but... Jesus, beat us over the heads with their namesakes, won't you?

Heh. Getting carried away. I'll just pretend there was no epilogue. Yes, I think so. =D

[aikachi.livejournal.com]

I cried when I read the chapter about snape... That chapter made the whole 7 book wait worthwhile C:

[tsukikage85.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it kinda was. ^_^

[ssofdestruction.livejournal.com]

What chapter is that? I haven't even read the book yet. I read the epiloge and didn't really like it that much. I just want to know what was so special about Snape dying that's making people cry. Or...does that chapter require knowledge of what happened in the beginning of the book?

[carve037.livejournal.com]

Why are you reading this spoilery section if you haven't read it yet?! :O

[ssofdestruction.livejournal.com]

It's not like it'll matter. I've still got 13.5 books to read before i'll be reading that so i seriously doubt i'll remember any of it anyway. plus i'm used to my books being spoiled for me...that's what i get when dad and rena finish books before me. it would have been spoiled anyway...why wait i guess?

[aikachi.livejournal.com]

The snape chapter isn't about his death, it's about his life, and you learn quite a bit about him, it was beautiful

[jupistrahan.livejournal.com]

You are SO RIGHT. I squeed the entire time, because he's so goddamn cute AND tragic! Damn his sexy mysterious ways!!

[jupistrahan.livejournal.com]

Note one: Want to know why Severus wanted Harry to look at him? My opinion, in which I'm 100% sure in, is this: Remus says "You look just like your father, except for your eyes. You have Lily's eyes."

I wibble horribly for Fred. His hit me more than anyone else, actually. I think Remus would have been harder for me if I hadn't been so pissed at him throughout this book. Good riddance to Dobby, but he went out well. I sympathize with how Dobby's death hit Harry - Dobby was wholly devoted to Harry, even though Harry only mildly cared about him. That fact makes letting them die for you all the bigger blow.

Think the book as a whole would be better without the epilogue; it's nice to have a 'happily ever after,' but what can I say? I never liked Ginny. I shall happily continue slashing him and Draco. *snark*

[jupistrahan.livejournal.com]

...And now I see the edit from joeyheartbear. Bah humbug!

Yes, Snape rocks my socks clean off. <3<3<3<3!!!