Harry Potter denouement, analyzed (revisited)

The release of the latest Harry Potter movie reminded me of a conversation I wanted to revisit. My friend was very into the HP books and we discussed them at length when the final version came out 3 years ago. Also I wanted to review some of the plot points, since my normally superhuman reading retention/comprehension is compromised by the fact that I tended to finish the HP books in 24-48 hours (total elapsed time, not total time reading). If you look at this post and say, wow, that's a lot of words, well, you should see the books.

This is a narrative about which many people have Strong Feelings, and I'm surprised by how many readers I talked to loved the epilogue. I was not one of them. I did enjoy the strength of Neville, though. While Harry was a bumbling, idealistic bore, it was deeply satisfying to see Neville make good in the end.

Here then is our conversation from July 2007, in it's entirety. (Pls ignore typos):

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me:
what did you think? were you pumped when Mrs. Weasley took it to Bellatrix? did you say, WTF! when harry took a 30 minute time out to hang out w/ the pensieve and snape's memories? were you moved when you realized that snape was a repressed, jilted, bigoted, errr... hero? did you smile when Neville killed Nagini, because you had predicted big things for him (although you overshot the mark a bit)?

I thought the epilogue was cheesy. except for the last line, it was a family sitcom. pass out. tell us something about what they had become: aurors, teachers, whatever. Instead they're parents. it was a letdown after some good storytelling in the final chapters. also, the book was about 150 pages too long. that part in the woods added nothing to the story. overall, it was very well done.

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okay, let's see.

Mrs. Weasley was bomb, that was awesome.

sort of expected more from Harry chilling in the pensive. Snape loved his mama...okay. it was still his fault that she was killed, and he had no problem handing over harry and james. also, he was a jerk to harry who had no parents and no family, bc, why? jealousy? school boy grudge? eff that. i am not that impressed. [My friend] steph took the other side, incredibly moved by snape's pain, sacrifice, whatev. me, not so much.

neville's part was cool. what got me was when he pulled the sword out of the hat. he was a true griffendyor hero.

also, Narcissia Malfoy willing to sacrifice herself for her son got me pretty good. tears are stinging my eyes just thinking about it. she was the same as harry's mom.

i still really like the epilogue. i told you the reason i get so into the books it that i like hanging out with the characters, so i was excited to know how that worked out.

i had a few issues. i had expected a bigger twist/revelation. i had hoped for bigger turn arounds from snape, draco and maybe petunia.

i thought harry dying and coming back was lame. he either dies or he doesn't. too easy to make up a middle ground.

i also didnt like that harry was so perfect in the end. i would have preferred him more flawed. in particular, he didn't actually kill voldemort, he never had to confront the challenge of committing murder. he was still innocent/pure blah. not a real character. dumbledore and his lust for power/struggle not to take it was much more engaging and relatable.

overall, i liked it a lot too. it would have been pretty hard to screw up.
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my take:
Harry was not much of a hero. no flaws, and every time he was in serious trouble he was rescued by someone else. example: in the ravenclaw house when searching for the diadem, he gets knocked down and Luna saves him. laaaaaame. maybe it's part of the fact that he wasn't supposed to be anything special as a wizard. voldemort was right when he said it was luck and circumstance, although we're led to believe at the end it's V's own bad choices that lead to his demise (linking himself to Harry). He was The Boy Who Lived, not The Boy Who Did Anything Much. He stands up to V, but it's Vs protective elements inside him that protect him. Harry stood tall in previous books, but in this book, not so much.

One point I really liked was when Harry stood up for McGonagall (shortly after Luna saves his bacon). Where was that guy the rest of the story? missing Ginny? feeling sorry for himself in the woods? punk.

re: Snape, enh, i was unmoved. he was an interesting character, but his resolution was unsatisfying for me. he did it all for love? are you kidding? he wasn't in love. he was obsessed. and he was an unremitting jerk who couldn't let go of a) his "love" for lily, or b) his bullying at the hands of James. get over yourself. move on. it's not noble, it's pathetic. if you say he was in league w/ Dumbledore, well, fair enough. It was interesting that Dumbledore was pulling the strings and that he was every bit the egomaniac that V was. It was his ambition that killed him in the end. There's a lesson there...

i missed the narcissia sacrifice. i will review that again. you were right, that is a key turning point.

when Neville pulled that sword out of the hat and killed the snake I almost wept for joy. i wanted to cheer for him. he came further than any other character. i said, f yeah, that's how you handle business. I was also much pleased when Harry gets back to school and they decide they're going to fight. Harry tries to talk them out of it (again, and again, and again, does Rowling just Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V these sections?) and they say no, they are there for him, and they are taking a stand. That was nice. And I wept a little when Dobby showed up w/ the house elves to turn the tide. A pleasant touch, i figured they would be left out.

lastly, I think there was too much made in the book of Harry's unwillingness to sink to the DE's level. He should have had more edge. Instead, he comes off as weak. Lupin chastises him for it in the early pages, but HP refuses to make the hard choices (unlike Dumbledore). You could argue that is why D died and HP lived, but i think HP would be a more triumphant character if he could make the hard choices and survive. If you have to wrestle a snake, you're gonna get dirty. It's how you clean up after that matters. (At least in my fantasy world.) :)

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and the last word from katie:
i agree with you about harry. he is a weak character. more of a conduit to the rest of the story than anything else.

i was very excited for neville in this book. as you know i had even higher hopes for him, but i do not hold him responsible for those not happening. he is one of the best characters. not in that i like him the best, but that his story is probably the most touching and heartbreaking of anyones. in the first book, when he gets house points for standing up to harry, he is triumphant. in the fifth when he is visiting his parents at the hospital and harry, ron and herm come across him, it is the most heart wrenching scene in the entire series. he has suffered as much, if not more than, harry, but is not "the boy who lived" and thus no one really knows about his pain and no one offers him their support the way they do harry. he is much stronger than harry.

harry has always been obnoxiously repetitive. him trying to convince others not to help, trying to protect ron and herm, refusing to go to authority figures who could help him at the appropriate time, etc. i think the three central characters all have the same essential problem of not growing throughout the series. they lack character development.

i completely agree with your last paragraph. you gonna get rid of death eaters by stunning them over and over again? obviously not.

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