Question re Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows (SPOILERS

[Buttmonkey]

If you haven't read the latest Harry Potter book, STOP READING! SPOILERS AHEAD!

Can someone explain to me how the bleep Neville ended up with Gryphindor's Sword at the end of the book? The last time we saw it the goblin had it and I don't recall Rowling ever explaining how it got from there to Neville. Did I accidentally skip a page in the book or something?

[Tadhg]

Buttmonkey wrote:
Can someone explain to me how the bleep Neville ended up with Gryphindor's Sword at the end of the book?

Magic!
Haha, yeah I didn't see anything mentioned. It's either an editing mistake or JK left it out there for us to debate!
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"Enjoy a 'world' where the fantastic is fact and magic really works!" ~ Gary Gygax

"By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes:" - Macbeth

[moriarty777]

You can probably chalk that one up to the fact that the sword always appears to the one that needs it most (or something along that line -- I'm paraphrasing here).

Overall, I enjoyed the book very much.

Moriarty the Red
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[Tadhg]

Well, since you started a spoiler post, I'll look back at my predictions to see how I did:

Rhuvein wrote:
Random HP7 thoughts:

Harry will not die.

I'm not so sure Dumbledore is really dead.

Snape will turn out to be a good guy and mebbe save Harry - and will thus die.

Hermione and Ron will not die.

One of the Weasley's could be one of the one's who dies. Ginny or a twin?

Dudley will grow up and become a paper shuffling civil servant.

JK will return to HP/Hogwarts and the magical world in the future and write more books.

Oh yeah, Voltemort will die!

Correct predictions:

Harry - check

Dumblydore - check (physically gone, but could still magically

communicate with HP)

Severus - check

Hermy/Ronald - check

Wesley death - check (after re-reading HP 6, I know it wouldn't be Ginny)

Dudley - unknown - but there was some love there, as their departure

JK - unknown (if she does write again, we may learn the fate of Dudley)

Tom Riddle - check

Hmm, not bad!!!
It was a tremendously well written book and was everything I hoped for.

The epilogue was just awesome.
_________________
Count Rhuveinus - Lejendary Keeper of Castle Franqueforte

"Enjoy a 'world' where the fantastic is fact and magic really works!" ~ Gary Gygax

"By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes:" - Macbeth

[gideon_thorne]

It's called a 'fade out'.
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"We'll go out through the kitchen!" Tanis Half-Elven

Peter Bradley

[Tadhg]

Buttmonkey wrote:
Can someone explain to me how the bleep Neville ended up with Gryphindor's Sword at the end of the book? The last time we saw it the goblin had it and I don't recall Rowling ever explaining how it got from there to Neville. Did I accidentally skip a page in the book or something?

Haha, just remembered something - page 733 helps but doesn't explain.
_________________
Count Rhuveinus - Lejendary Keeper of Castle Franqueforte

"Enjoy a 'world' where the fantastic is fact and magic really works!" ~ Gary Gygax

"By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes:" - Macbeth

[Buttmonkey]

I was a little disappointed with the fade out/epilogue. I wanted a little more closure via info about the characters. Not to mention the discovery that Harry was a bit of a wanker as a godfather. After losing his own parents (and his godfather, for that matter), I had assumed he would have taken his godchild in and effectively adopted him. Instead, he has him over for dinner 4 nights a week and isn't officially a member of the family. What the bleep? Maybe "godparent" means something different in the UK?

Otherwise, the book was pretty solid. The first half was not particularly fun -- there was a serious lack of humor in this installment. The last 200 pages were fantastic.

[gideon_thorne]

Rhuvein wrote:
Correct predictions:

I should add my own that was in the other HP thread. Genius that I am about pegging the Horcrux thing dead on.
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"We'll go out through the kitchen!" Tanis Half-Elven

Peter Bradley

[jamesmishler]

Buttmonkey wrote:
Can someone explain to me how the bleep Neville ended up with Gryphindor's Sword at the end of the book? The last time we saw it the goblin had it and I don't recall Rowling ever explaining how it got from there to Neville. Did I accidentally skip a page in the book or something?

It is Godric Gryffindor's sword, and cannot be given or sold. As mentioned by the Minister, it was not Dumbledore's sword to give away, it belonged, if to anyone, to Hogwarts. Methinks it "belongs" to itself, really, and is tied to Godric and Gryffindor House. Too, the Sorting Hat was Godric's hat; perhaps it is enchanted so that Godric or his "house heirs" can pull the sword from the hat at need, regardless of who may have the sword at the time.

I think it also puts paid to the Goblin ideal of ownership. However he got it, by hook or by crook, by paying for it in gold or in blood, it was Godric's sword, not the Goblins.
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[Tadhg]

gideon_thorne wrote:
I should add my own that was in the other HP thread. Genius that I am about pegging the Horcrux thing dead on.

Yes, I did immediately think of your post, when reading that section of the book!
_________________
Count Rhuveinus - Lejendary Keeper of Castle Franqueforte

"Enjoy a 'world' where the fantastic is fact and magic really works!" ~ Gary Gygax

"By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes:" - Macbeth

[Buttmonkey]

jamesmishler wrote:
It is Godric Gryffindor's sword, and cannot be given or sold. As mentioned by the Minister, it was not Dumbledore's sword to give away, it belonged, if to anyone, to Hogwarts. Methinks it "belongs" to itself, really, and is tied to Godric and Gryffindor House. Too, the Sorting Hat was Godric's hat; perhaps it is enchanted so that Godric or his "house heirs" can pull the sword from the hat at need, regardless of who may have the sword at the time.

Rowling really should have taken a paragraph to explain this issue. I'll have to reread the key sections of "Chamber of Secrets" to see if she says something about the Sorting Hat's power to summon/produce the Sword at will.

[gideon_thorne]

Buttmonkey wrote:
Rowling really should have taken a paragraph to explain this issue. I'll have to reread the key sections of "Chamber of Secrets" to see if she says something about the Sorting Hat's power to summon/produce the Sword at will.

"Only a true Gryffindor could have pulled this from the hat..."

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"We'll go out through the kitchen!" Tanis Half-Elven

Peter Bradley

[serleran]

It was the monkeys. Those rat bastard winged monkeys.

I'm disappointed Snape was a good guy. How awfully normal.

[gideon_thorne]

serleran wrote:
It was the monkeys. Those rat bastard winged monkeys.

I'm disappointed Snape was a good guy. How awfully normal.

Well, he wasn't a 'good' guy per say. Just harshly pragmatic considering his lot.
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"We'll go out through the kitchen!" Tanis Half-Elven

Peter Bradley

[Buttmonkey]

Rowling telegraphed Snape's good nature from the first book and went to great pains in Half-Blood Prince to make it clear he was reluctant to aid Voldermort. I was really hoping that Rowling was going to reveal him to be genuinely evil in the last book. That would have cut against the foreshadowing and avoided cliche.

[gideon_thorne]

*chuckles* Its a series for kids. Avoiding cliche is not a likely goal.
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Peter Bradley

[Treebore]

Good call on the Horcrux, Peter. I haven't read the book, but my kids have, so I am hearing things ahead of time. I'll read it in the next day or two.
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[gideon_thorne]

Treebore wrote:
Good call on the Horcrux, Peter. I haven't read the book, but my kids have, so I am hearing things ahead of time. I'll read it in the next day or two.

There's some good stuff in that series. ^_^

A 7 part phylactery is just mean though. Twould make a good epic campaign however.
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"We'll go out through the kitchen!" Tanis Half-Elven

Peter Bradley

[Geleg]

I actually thought Rowling dealt with Snape pretty well, and in ways that were not utterly cliched. The cliche would have been that Snape was really a guy with a heart of gold who was playing Voldemort so as to help Dumbledore's goals. In fact, [SPOILERS] he appears as one twisted mo-fo, whose desperate love for a long-dead woman trumps any living relationship. I sure didn't see that coming, even if I suspected he was not pure evil.

[gideon_thorne]

Snape wasn't altogether bad, Dumbledore wasn't altogether good. Harry Potter, as Dumbledore put it, 'is the better man', and Voldemort ended up beyond redemption.

All in all, an entirely human set of characters.

Thats what impressed me the most about the series, the genuine characterizations of the cast as it were.
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"We'll go out through the kitchen!" Tanis Half-Elven

Peter Bradley

[Geleg]

Quote:
All in all, an entirely human set of characters.

QFT. Probably why I liked the series as much as I did.

[Tadhg]

gideon_thorne wrote:
All in all, an entirely human set of characters.

Thats what impressed me the most about the series, the genuine characterizations of the cast as it were.

Absolutely ~ well said!

JK has a great backdrop, good plot, interesting subplots, puzzles and you throw in well developed characters that people can relate to ~ you've done it. The characters are outstanding and you got all types - good, bad, wacky, weird, evil, nasty, hilarious etc.

I think Snape was one of the best. An antagonist who constantly drove the story and action forward. Evil -sometimes, nasty - oh yes and always in the thick of things and somehow part of so many of the goings on at Hogwarts. But you always wondered what his angle was. Why did Dumbledore trust him? Why did he seem to hate Harry? Why this, why that? It was "brilliant" as Harry or Ron would say.

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Count Rhuveinus - Lejendary Keeper of Castle Franqueforte

"Enjoy a 'world' where the fantastic is fact and magic really works!" ~ Gary Gygax

"By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes:" - Macbeth

[gideon_thorne]

Snape is actually the best sort of adversary. The author let him be intelligent.
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"We'll go out through the kitchen!" Tanis Half-Elven

Peter Bradley

[Dyne]

gideon_thorne wrote:
I should add my own that was in the other HP thread. Genius that I am about pegging the Horcrux thing dead on.

*Shakes fist*

I actually really enjoyed the ending of the book, though there were a few rough parts in the beginning. I was originally revolted by the idea of Harry being a Horcrux, but J.K. Rowling pulled it off magnificently. I'm sad at how many characters died (especially poor Dobby...), but I can get over it as it's just a book. But now, I have no idea how I'm gonna get through seeing all of them murdered in the movie....

[Tadhg]

Dyne wrote:
*Shakes fist*

I actually really enjoyed the ending of the book, though there were a few rough parts in the beginning. I was originally revolted by the idea of Harry being a Horcrux, but J.K. Rowling pulled it off magnificently. I'm sad at how many characters died (especially poor Dobby...), but I can get over it as it's just a book. But now, I have no idea how I'm gonna get through seeing all of them murdered in the movie....

Heh, yeah making a movie of this book is going to be seriously challenging and an emotional roller coaster ride!
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Count Rhuveinus - Lejendary Keeper of Castle Franqueforte

"Enjoy a 'world' where the fantastic is fact and magic really works!" ~ Gary Gygax

"By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes:" - Macbeth

[serleran]

They won't show it happen, just like they didn't show nearly any of the fighting at the Whatever of Mystery and refused to explain any twatting hole about the Order of the Phoenix. It'll be glossed over... you'll just not see certain characters later, though if they want to "make a point" they'll show someone get offed; remember, Hollywood has this thing against showing kids get killed on screen... they can die in movies, but they only very rarely show it happen.

[Tadhg]

serleran wrote:
They won't show it happen, just like they didn't show nearly any of the fighting at the Whatever of Mystery and refused to explain any twatting hole about the Order of the Phoenix. It'll be glossed over... you'll just not see certain characters later, though if they want to "make a point" they'll show someone get offed; remember, Hollywood has this thing against showing kids get killed on screen... they can die in movies, but they only very rarely show it happen.

Yep, absolutely and it would be the right way to handle it. But so far, I think they've a good job. And also, much of the lose of friends and others in the latest book was handled "out of book" or behind the scenes. So yeah, no skin sizzles or guts and gibblets flying every which way after a wand blast/curse, right?
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Count Rhuveinus - Lejendary Keeper of Castle Franqueforte

"Enjoy a 'world' where the fantastic is fact and magic really works!" ~ Gary Gygax

"By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes:" - Macbeth

[gideon_thorne]

*chuckles* Course, its kind of funny that Harry does end up being Slytherin's Heir after all.

Who else caught that?
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"We'll go out through the kitchen!" Tanis Half-Elven

Peter Bradley

[Treebore]

Are you sure? I took it as Harry was completely purged of his "share" of Tom Riddle's blood/soul. Wouldn't that totally negate him from even being able to be the heir?

Yes, my wife and 3 kids finally finished reading the book, so I have now finished it as well.

My only thing about the "ending" is I wish there had been much more about exactly what they had all done with their lives other then have a slew of kids.

Maybe she did that on purpose in case she ever does want to come back to these characters. Won't lock herself into anything other then who married who, who had how many kids, etc...

I do wonder if Mcgonegal (sp?) was still alive and the headmaster of the school. Or did they, and I missed it?
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[Treebore]

Oh! I loved the crystal ball sling missile! I got a good laugh out of that!
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