Harry Potter

*Spoiler Alert* The following blog post DOES reveal central plot points of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows! Don't read this if you are planning to read the book!

I finished the last book of the Harry Potter series last week. It's been percolating in my mind, awaiting a blog post. I have come to the conclusion that I am very content with the book, and with the whole series in general. It's not just that Harry defeats Voldemort and sees his own personal destiny fulfilled, blah blah blah. Harry himself has been a small part of the experience for me. I fell in love with the whole community in the very first book, and I'll tell you why. Those who know me know that I like character books, character movies. Ocean's 11 for example, works for me not because of the cool plot twists and turns; it works because I like the well-cast and eccentric personalities who carry out the heist. I'm all about the internal struggle, personality development and evolution of personal growth. If at the end of a book or movie you can say about a piece of dialogue or action, "oh that is SO Snape" knowing with certainty that it's exactly true to the character, I'm satisfied. I feel like I've met someone. It doesn't bother me if the plot is almost non-existent or can be summed up in one sentence like, "a quietly troubled young man returns home for his mother's funeral after being estranged for his family for a decade" (Garden State). As long as the characters are well-defined and interesting, I can get behind it.

So you can see why the whole HP series was a treat for me. We met so many delicious characters over the course of the series, and not just the main ones either. Secondary players like Bellatrix, Dobby, Neville Longbottom, the Weasley twins, Draco Malfoy etc. all added lots of depth to the plot and were thoroughly enjoyable. In the final book Rowling really gives a lot of respect to each character's individual story arc. I would have been disappointed to find these people discarded in favour of a book that revolved around Harry and Voldemort singularly. Right to the last page I felt that her attention to each person was weighted perfectly, each one seemed to get his or her own due - whether it be a tragic death (Fred, or was it George?), a triumphant victory (Neville) or a whole lot of redemption (Snape).

Ah, Snape. Yes, he redeemed himself in the final hundred pages or so. What a tragic figure he turned out to be. I never believed that Dumbledore was a fool, so I was hoping that the final book would show us exactly why he had such incredible faith in Snape. The previous books had focused so much on the fact that Snape hated James Potter that it never truly dawned on me why - that he was jealous. He hated Harry for being James' son, but protected him out of loyalty and love of Lily. I'm surprised that the romantic in me didn't see that coming, but when Snape lay dying and told Harry "look at me" so that he could see Lily's eyes one last time, I forgave him every nasty detention, and even his questionable hygiene. The best part is that Snape's redemption never compromised his previous actions or his character as we had known it to be up until this point. It wasn't like something happened and then he said "aw, Harry, you're not so bad afterall..." What a fabulously flawed character.

I'm glad that I re-read the last 100 pages of the previous book before I started this one. I could not recall a single plot point from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and when Ozayr said "horcrux" I said "hora-what?" Re-visiting it refreshed me, particularly in respect to Draco Malfoy's role in disarming Dumbledore of the Elderwand, and therefore how Harry ended up with it in the end. Otherwise I would have been a mite confused. While Draco was just a spiteful bully in the beginning of the series, I love where the final books took him. That at one point Draco came *this* close to having all the power that he claimed to want, but was so conflicted over it, was a delightful piece of character development for me. And that he is beholden to Harry for his life -what sweet justice for such a malicious character.

A lot was made of the deaths of certain characters. I was sad when Dumbledore died in book 6. In the Deathly Hallows I didn't really grieve the loss of any character except perhaps Lupin, who was a favourite of mine. But as soon as we learned that Tonks was pregnant and that they would have a baby, I was starting to doubt that he would see the end of the Deathly Hallows alive. Once he asked Harry to be the godfather of his brand new baby boy, I knew Lupin was doomed. Rowling's a big fan of symmetry and I doubted she could resist the echoing of Harry's own life in that storyline.

Speaking of literary prowess, I think the scene where Harry goes to the forest, believing that he needs to give his own life to defeat Voldemort was among my favourite passages of all time. It was insightful and deep and moving. And I loved the last line where Harry asks Dumbledore, is this real, or all in my head? and Dumbledore says "of course it's all your head Harry, but why on earth would that mean it's not real?" And I loved -LOVED - that it was Hagrid who carried the supposedly-dead Harry out from the forest, echoing the way it was also Hagrid who carried him as an infant to the Dursley's. Great writing there, definitely.

There is a lot of grumbling among fans over the neat and tidy epilogue. Usually I don't like novels to end too sweetly, I like a couple of loose ends, some things that are not quite perfect. But I liked this okay. What does worry me it's a bit like Hogwarts: the Next Generation, isn't it, with Ron & Hermione's, Harry & Ginny's, Bill & Fleur's, Lupin's and even Draco's offspring all heading off to school. I hope Rowling won't be tempted to do a spin-off. Leave well-enough alone! I do love a few little intimations in the last few pages that things aren't so tidy though - did you notice that Harry's youngest son, his initials spell out ASP? Snakes are never a good omen in the wizarding world...

I wish I had the time to re-read the whole series, because there were so many loose ends tied up and so many little details whose importance came to light in the end of the series... it would be fun to look at them all knowing the final outcome. But I don't think time permits. I've enjoyed them all and Deathly Hallows certainly did not disappoint. If you haven't read the Harry Potter books yet, what are you waiting for??? Go find one immediately! (though if you've read this post you've basically ruined the whole thing. Poor you.)