Sunday, June 10, 2007

Harry Potter Theories

---Warning--- If you haven't read through Harry Potter book 6 and you want to, then you might not want to read this for as it contains plot spoilers.

My brother, Nate (aka Chuck) told me yesterday that instead of playing WoW (World of Warcraft, an online game that a few of us are obsessed with) he was obsessed with Harry Potter. He spent a good part of the day looking up conspiracy theories on the Internet about what might happen in book 7. Well, Nate, you inspired me to do the same (I better be quick cause I gotta get ready for church).



Harry Potter book 7 is coming out soon. And we're very very excited. Any there are thousands of theories out there guessing at this or that. There are several going theories. Apparently there are several people (including Lindy's grandmother) who can't bare the thought that Dumbledore isn't actually dead (See Dumbledoreisnotdead.com). I personally think he is. At another website, the writer says:

Often in heroic stories the mentor of the lead character dies before the hero has the final confrontation with the ultimate evil. This is seen time and time again, famously in films like Star Wars (Obi Won killed by Vader - “Strike me down and I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine”), and the Lord of the Rings (Gandalf dies - resurrected, but the hero doesn’t realise this after the quest is complete). There are reasons for this as well. If Dumbledore isn’t dead then he will feel compelled to help Harry in the final battle, likewise Harry will feel he has to protect Dumbledore. The death of the mentor is generally the turning point, the catalyst, it turns the reluctant hero into the ‘enthusiastic’ hero. The death of the mentor is also the signal that the hero has learned everything he needs to, Harry now knows how to defeat Voldemort - he just doesn’t realise it.

This makes sense to me. Harry has to defeat Voldemort alone, he can't have help from his mentor. The question that has been by many conspiracy theorists is the following: Did Dumbledore plead for Snape to save or kill him??

This of course raises the question, is Snape really evil? Well he killed Dumbledore didn't he? Dave Kopel gets a pretty good argument in an article entitled Severus Snape: The Unlikely Hero of Harry Potter book 7. You just have to read the article. They also mention in this article why he thinks Harry has to die at the end of the 7th book. My sister-in-law, Lindy, and I really hope this isn't the case. The whole messianic ending of the 3rd Matrix movie was kind of annoying. I can see how it could happen. I just hate to see the hero die in the end. Errr.



Oh, and here is some commentary on the book cover art for the new book: Judging a book by its cover by David Haber. Interesting.

Anyway, what do you guys think?

2 comments:

Daniel J. Neeley said...

I'm pretty out of the Harry Potter scene, but I enjoy listening to all the zealots. My grandma started a competition among family members to see who could figure out what happens in the next book. I'd share the various ideas, but Grandma won't release them until after everyone has read the book. :)

David Carpenter MBA, CPA said...

Hey I know how book 7 ends. If you want I can ruin it for you? Most people would say no, but I'm sure you can handle it....


-------- dies!! Can you believe it?

yeah I heard someone hacked into the publishers computer and read the final few pages.

-me