GoF stuff

[donnaimmaculata]

Listening to GoF during the past few days, I realised that it is probably the HP novel that annoys me most. (I kinda liked OotP, because the form corresponded with the plot quite perfectly: the loose endings, the illogical actions, the annoying behaviour of the characters serve to emphasise the stagnation and frustration the characters experienced. In a way, Rowling made most readers feel quite as frustrated as the characters do, and while I don't think she did it on purpose, it worked quite well for me. Plus, I very much appreciate that she didn't have the characters forget their petty old grudges (yes, I'm looking at you, Snape) and stand united against their mutual enemy. But I digress.)

So, there are quite a few things that annoy me about GoF (even if I ignore the completely preposterous Triwizard Tournament frame story). But before I come to them, here's a random theory:

In book six or seven, Ron will be put under the Imperius Curse.

Ron will be put under the Imperius Curse because of the spiders: In Moody's class, Moody makes the spider tap-dance to illustrate the Imperius Curse. In PoA-the-movie, Ron wakes up from a nightmare in which spiders wanted to make him tap-dance. Rowling said in the DVD extras that Cuarón unknowingly foreshadowed many events from the upcoming books. - Namely, Ron's being put under the Imperius Curse. (<-My elaboration, not Rowling's.) (This would also neatly encompass the theory that Ron will turn traitor. He will, but not because he wants to.) Farfetched? Possibly. But fun.

• Why do Bill and Charlie have to go to bed when Ginny is tired? Arthur sends them all to bed when, after the Quidditch game, Ginny falls asleep over her cocoa. Now, Bill is at least 10 years older than she is, and from all that we know about him, he seems like the sort of guy who would go out and party all night. Just a minor detail, but one that made me roll my eyes.



• Why are the Veela mascots? That doesn't sound very... respectful. Certainly not as though they were considers equals of the wizards. Arthur (I think) refers to them as "creatures". Hm. If they are "creatures" rather than "humans", does this affect Fleur in any way?



• One of the Top Five of Annoying Issues from all five novels and one that makes me froth at the mouth each time I reread it: Why are the Heads of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang not allowed to know about the dragons? Dumbledore knows. His staff know. But Madame Maxime and Karkaroff are to be kept in ignorance, because - as Charlie says - "The champions aren't supposed to know what's coming - she's bound to tell her students, isn't she?" I mean, WTF? Why is she bound to tell her students (which she does to get the plot rolling), while Dumbledore, Hagrid and Moody are considered trustworthy? I am so not surprised that Maxime and Karkaroff were royally pissed off when Harry was accepted as the fourth champion. They way they were treated throughout the whole event, they could probably count themselves lucky they weren't put into custody as to not interfere with the smooth procedure of the Tournament. (Awarding Harry full points for "moral fibre", I ask you!)



• Re: the Floo network. Sirius is able to speak to Harry through the common room fire, using the fireplace in some wizarding household or other. It follows logically that all wizarding parents should be able to speak to their children directly through the common room fireplaces. Why bother with owl post, then? Oh dear. Logic. (Not to mention that the fireplaces could be used for travelling to and from Hogwarts, but I'm willing to assume that there are different forms of terminals, those which are used for transport and communication and those which work only as communication channels.)

I think there are more points, but I didn't write them down while listening. I might be back with more eye-rolling and WTF-ing as the re-listening progresses.

And something else that occurred to me: After Moody transfigured Draco into a ferret, nothing that McGonagall says indicates that this is actually forbidden:

"Moody, we never use Transfiguration as a punishment!" said Professor McGonagall weakly. "Surely Professor Dumbledore told you that?"
"He might've mentioned it, yeah," said Moody [...]
"We give detentions, Moody! Or speak to the offender's Head of house!"

It sounds to me as though this was Dumbledore's choice not to transfigure students and not a legal regulation of any kind.

Comments

[inathunderstorm.livejournal.com]

Yay! I agree with you. Voldemort is going crazy and the Death Eaters
with any sense should depose him and regroup.

Also, perhaps you can answer this cunundrum for me: Remember in
Sorcerer's Stone, how the mirror of erised was the final thing
guarding the stone, right? The v. last thing? But the Mirror was in
that room for Harry to find, and then it was moved, c.f. Dumbledore.

what, I ask you, was guarding the stone BEFORE the mirror was put
there, which happens halfway through the book after there has already
been ONE attempt to steal it?

I have always wondered this.

[donnaimmaculata.livejournal.com]

You're right! I've never thought about this. I generally ignore most of the logical lapses in the first two books, which do target a children audience and therefore follow certain rules (i.e. the mentor always stands aside to give the kids the opportunity to prove themselves), but this is quite a big one. Maybe Dumbledore only came up with the idea around Christmas, while he was standing in front of the mirror looking longingly at the socks his reflection was holding? Or something? Before that, he merely made sure that the more competent members of his staff thought of some means of protection.

[inathunderstorm.livejournal.com]

Yay! I like your idea. Of course, anytime you have to think this hard about something usually indicates it was a plot hole. I mean, I write so I know I would hate to have this kind of scrutiny on *my* work, but I am forgiven because I did not inspire a world-wide phenomenon. Hee.

[donnaimmaculata.livejournal.com]

JKR didn't expect it to become a world-wide phenomenon, either. You might want to watch out!

I'm sure if I ever wrote a novel, it'd be full of plot holes and lapses in logic. Especially if I created an entirely new universe. I don't mean to say Rowling's novels suck. But it's interesting to see how other fans explain away the various inconsistecies.