don't even try to imagine what's next
Jul. 23rd, 2005 02:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
aruanThat's largely what I learned from The Unofficial Guide to the Mysteries of Harry Potter, Books 1-4. While reading, I kept wanting to smack myself in the head for not seeing things before they happened because she's given us every hint to figure them out; but hindsight is always 20/20, and really, unless you're fluent in mythology and a dozen other books and television series, not to mention a cunning linguist (I can't believe I just had occasion to use that in a proper sense), you're better off just reading and leaving the analysis for after you close the back cover.
Now, many of the ideas posed are merely speculation and theory, but man. The book was written in fairly elementary language, but if you can roll your eyes, it's an intriguing read, as evidenced by the kind of highlighting and in-margin writing for which bookstores won't buy textbooks back.
Besides teaching a great guideline to reading between Rowling's lines and cultivating an appreciation for the intricacy of her foreshadowing events that will happen books and books from when they're first hinted at, the book made surprisingly decent cases for:
-Neville having been hit with a particularly powerful Memory Charm (that or being hit too young) and that being the culprit for his bumbling now. What if Bellatrix and company tortured the Longbottoms first, either for the information to the Potters' whereabouts, their own knowledge of whatever the Potters knew and had to go into hiding because of? Or a hundred other things, but Neville, being as young as he would've been he still could've remembered some things, like Harry, saw/overheard something? Or maybe he was zapped as a precautionary measure, so he wouldn't become powerful prophecy or no. Or maybe a member of the Order did it to erase the horror of watching his parents suffer?
-Snape being a vampire. From Lupin's ostensibly retaliatory essay on vampires to Quirrell looking for a vampire book, and at least two references to his being like/able to transform into a bat (yes, kind of cliched and conventional of her, but stay with me) with one of those references coming from a joke Ron made (which are usually right on the nose, like Hermione's analyses [but only if her emotions aren't involved]), his physical appearance, that he lives in the dungeons (though he can be out in the daylight, see: Quidditch games)... It seems like the easy answer is my only reason for questioning it. That and I've read fic in which here's a vampire, and it's never good.
-Lupin being James Potter. Yeah, I know, this is one you'll have to follow me on. What if Lupin and James decided to take their own precaution in case anyone found out about the Fidelius Charm, not because they doubted Sirius, but because they wanted to make sure that a descendent of Godric Gryffindor (James being from that side of the family is not in question) survived? Or whatever reason, but Lupin's willingness to sacrifice himself wouldn't strike me as odd, even if it turns out we never really knew him at all. And something like, say, an incredibly complex Switching Spell would mean they could change just bodies, so James would essentially be Lupin, werewolf included, in every other way.
In the books, Lupin freaks on Trelawney when she offers to crystal-gaze for him, which isn't about his being a werewolf because the entire staff was told that before he arrived. He is surprised when Harry tells him that he hears his dad's voice ("You heard James?" said Lupin in a strange voice) in his Dementor-induced flashbacks. Saying "now that we could all transform" when he's telling the story of how the Marauders came to be instead of saying "now that they could all transform," as Lupin didn't have a choice and wouldn't have worded it like he did. Lupin has "no hesitation" asserting what James would think at another point. And finally, Lupin's first name, Remus, is a mythological character murdered by his brother or his followers - i.e. their best friend Pettigrew. There are other clues offered by the book, but those I could either explain in some other way or dismiss.
The wrench in that equation is, as always, Sirius. Of all people, he'd be able to tell the difference between James and Lupin lickety-split. Is that a secret he could keep? He could see the logic - heck, he might have been solely responsible for the switch to Pettigrew at the last minute, his own way to ensure that anyone who thought he was the Secret-Keeper would be useless to Voldemort's minions.
Argh.
As an aside, all evidence considered, I can't see how Snape could be spying for the Order as a Death Eater. Maybe as an Animagus, though Voldemort is fucking uncanny with his ability to smell deception, even that's a sketch prospect.
But then, I continue to believe, through my own interpretations of events and numerous conversations with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
walkingshadow, that Dumbledore is an evil puppetmaster who's pulling everyone's strings without regard for the body count, or who those casualties may be, even though there's been no explicit evidence that any or all of that is true (keeping in mind that I haven't read Book Six).
In any event, a second look at Book Five and copious note-taking to see if I've learned anything is next up for the afternoon's pleasures.
Now, many of the ideas posed are merely speculation and theory, but man. The book was written in fairly elementary language, but if you can roll your eyes, it's an intriguing read, as evidenced by the kind of highlighting and in-margin writing for which bookstores won't buy textbooks back.
Besides teaching a great guideline to reading between Rowling's lines and cultivating an appreciation for the intricacy of her foreshadowing events that will happen books and books from when they're first hinted at, the book made surprisingly decent cases for:
-Neville having been hit with a particularly powerful Memory Charm (that or being hit too young) and that being the culprit for his bumbling now. What if Bellatrix and company tortured the Longbottoms first, either for the information to the Potters' whereabouts, their own knowledge of whatever the Potters knew and had to go into hiding because of? Or a hundred other things, but Neville, being as young as he would've been he still could've remembered some things, like Harry, saw/overheard something? Or maybe he was zapped as a precautionary measure, so he wouldn't become powerful prophecy or no. Or maybe a member of the Order did it to erase the horror of watching his parents suffer?
-Snape being a vampire. From Lupin's ostensibly retaliatory essay on vampires to Quirrell looking for a vampire book, and at least two references to his being like/able to transform into a bat (yes, kind of cliched and conventional of her, but stay with me) with one of those references coming from a joke Ron made (which are usually right on the nose, like Hermione's analyses [but only if her emotions aren't involved]), his physical appearance, that he lives in the dungeons (though he can be out in the daylight, see: Quidditch games)... It seems like the easy answer is my only reason for questioning it. That and I've read fic in which here's a vampire, and it's never good.
-Lupin being James Potter. Yeah, I know, this is one you'll have to follow me on. What if Lupin and James decided to take their own precaution in case anyone found out about the Fidelius Charm, not because they doubted Sirius, but because they wanted to make sure that a descendent of Godric Gryffindor (James being from that side of the family is not in question) survived? Or whatever reason, but Lupin's willingness to sacrifice himself wouldn't strike me as odd, even if it turns out we never really knew him at all. And something like, say, an incredibly complex Switching Spell would mean they could change just bodies, so James would essentially be Lupin, werewolf included, in every other way.
In the books, Lupin freaks on Trelawney when she offers to crystal-gaze for him, which isn't about his being a werewolf because the entire staff was told that before he arrived. He is surprised when Harry tells him that he hears his dad's voice ("You heard James?" said Lupin in a strange voice) in his Dementor-induced flashbacks. Saying "now that we could all transform" when he's telling the story of how the Marauders came to be instead of saying "now that they could all transform," as Lupin didn't have a choice and wouldn't have worded it like he did. Lupin has "no hesitation" asserting what James would think at another point. And finally, Lupin's first name, Remus, is a mythological character murdered by his brother or his followers - i.e. their best friend Pettigrew. There are other clues offered by the book, but those I could either explain in some other way or dismiss.
The wrench in that equation is, as always, Sirius. Of all people, he'd be able to tell the difference between James and Lupin lickety-split. Is that a secret he could keep? He could see the logic - heck, he might have been solely responsible for the switch to Pettigrew at the last minute, his own way to ensure that anyone who thought he was the Secret-Keeper would be useless to Voldemort's minions.
Argh.
As an aside, all evidence considered, I can't see how Snape could be spying for the Order as a Death Eater. Maybe as an Animagus, though Voldemort is fucking uncanny with his ability to smell deception, even that's a sketch prospect.
But then, I continue to believe, through my own interpretations of events and numerous conversations with
walkingshadow, that Dumbledore is an evil puppetmaster who's pulling everyone's strings without regard for the body count, or who those casualties may be, even though there's been no explicit evidence that any or all of that is true (keeping in mind that I haven't read Book Six).In any event, a second look at Book Five and copious note-taking to see if I've learned anything is next up for the afternoon's pleasures.
