The way JKR wrote it Hermione and Ron were going to end up together and had no other options, I just don't like that she chose that way. I don't see anyone specific for Ron, and when I say who I'd like to have seen Hermione end up with, I get downvoted to oblivion so I'll avoid.
I would have loved to see Harry with Luna, I think their relationship developing could have been really fascinating. Much more interesting than uber predictable Harry+Ginny, anyway.
Ginny, I honestly don't know and don't care. I don't think the character was interesting or important enough that it matters.
While Luna was good for Harry, Harry was not good for Luna. He laughed at her conspiracy theories and didn't respect her imaginary creatures at all. He also didn't find Luna physically attractive, "mad, protuberant eyes" was how he described Luna in his thoughts. You just don't diss prospective romantic partner like that.
Luna was very lucky to have Rolf Scamander joining her on Snorkack hunt.
He also didn't find Luna physically attractive, "mad, protuberant eyes" was how he described Luna in his thoughts. You just don't diss prospective romantic partner like that.
I wanted to chime in here as an English major - the language alone isn't necessarily indicative of Harry's utter disinterest in Luna, or that he found her unattractive. If that was the case, I don't think he would've ever wanted to spend time with her, or found her repugnant - but, as we saw throughout the books, that wasn't the case.
"Mad, protuberant" is simply a more detailed way of saying, "her eyes were bulging with an intense, passionate, creative gleam". Keep in mind that Luna has many parallels to Lewis Carroll's classic British heroine - Alice Liddell of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Luna's Patronus is even a hare.
“But I don’t want to go among mad people," Alice remarked.
"Oh, you can’t help that," said the Cat: "we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad."
"How do you know I’m mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldn’t have come here.”
And also:
“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.”
“The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.”
“The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master—that’s all.”
I'm going to disagree with /u/blue-footed_buffalo, and guess that Sirius's wand is Ebony - at least, based on the films' design. The black wood greatly resembles Ebony in looks.
This jet-black wand wood has an impressive appearance and reputation, being highly suited to all manner of combative magic, and to Transfiguration. Ebony is happiest in the hand of those with the courage to be themselves. Frequently non-conformist, highly individual or comfortable with the status of outsider, ebony wand owners have been found both among the ranks of the Order of the Phoenix and among the Death Eaters. In my experience the ebony wand’s perfect match is one who will hold fast to his or her beliefs, no matter what the external pressure, and will not be swayed lightly from their purpose.
This is beautiful! I think you got Saphira down perfectly. :3 This picture leaves me so satisfied. Good work!
I'm not the artist, but I would encourage you to definitely let them know on their DA page!
They hold a special place in my book collection and memory. As a child I was continuously bullied for reading and being more shy than others. To add some fuel on the fire, my parents were divorced and my father was refusing to see me and even to this day it is so. The books and then the movies allowed me to escape the horrible reality I lived in, and find a hero. I’ll always be grateful to my mother buying the books as a birthday gift to me.
Same here with the being bullied part, only I was (unknown at the time, because it wasn't a thing back then) also autistic.
In my case, according to my mother, I would react badly to any sort of physical contact / affection. I would push people away due to overstimulation, though as my parents didn't understand what was "wrong with me" - why I was different - they stopped "trying" to give me love, affection, or communicate with me altogether.
After a while, my parents poured themselves into their careers and jobs. Because they didn't have time to pick me up from school, my grandparents took over for them a lot. I remember spending a lot of time at my grandparents' house, until my parents would come in the evenings to pick me up.
Sometimes, I would stay the night. I remember distinctly and vividly being an excited 10-year-old at the time, lent her first set of Harry Potter books from Grandma. The year had to have been around 2002. I recall that I was so enthused that I tore through the then-only-three books immediately, waiting eagerly for the release of the next one.
However...
My grandmother had a spare guest room, where she would keep her (very creepy, I might add) doll collection. Something about them just creeped me the hell out, and I started having terrible, awful nightmares whenever I would try to sleep in the guest room bed. Sometimes, I would keep waking up in the middle of the night, for seemingly no reason, sometimes from getting the sense of being watched...or hearing whispers / low talking down the hall, or footsteps, even though my grandparents were fast asleep...
Before long, I started sleeping in her den on a sleeping bag, because that’s where her entire library of books was. All one shelf of it, but still. I also suffered from frequent insomnia and separation anxiety, which would often keep me up at night, reading through books. I also remember counting the chimes of the grandfather clock in the hall every passing hour, realizing that I wasn't getting any sleep…
But the Harry Potter books offered an escape - another world that I could "disappear" into, even for a little while. It helped me forget that my parents were almost never there, that they seemed to care more about money - as D.H. Lawrence once put aptly, "there must be more money" - and that, perhaps, I wasn't entirely alone in what I was experiencing. That I wasn't crazy, or "just imagining things", when it came to the presence I felt around the house...
But Harry Potter was also a way to help my Grandma and I bond - given that, at the time, my autism was undiagnosed, it was nothing short of miraculous. We grew very close, always talking about the books, and I felt closer to her than I did my own mother after a while. I felt that she always had a knack for understanding exactly who I was - and, her being a professional quilter and seamstress, shared my curiosity, imagination... and that "spark" of "something other".
"It" was never spoken about - but it was the same thing that inspired her to produce beautiful, lovely quilts and clothes, the kind that made people so desirous of her work, that she was booked months in advance. Aside from reading Harry Potter, always she spent her time spinning.
(Grandfather, too, was much the same - except with creating stunning works of cabinetry and furniture, and preferring to read Jon Grisham instead of J.K. Rowling. He also collected clocks, including the antique grandfather clock, that was in the center of the house.)
Anyways, I was excited to the point where I even started asking her "when my Hogwarts letter would come". Even though I was old enough and had a lot of maturity for my age, and thus, was able to tell the difference between fiction and reality, I still secretly - desperately - hoped and waited for my 11th birthday to come.
My 11th birthday passed. A letter never came.
Outwardly, I looked fine, but inside, I was crushed. I knew it was absolutely silly, that I would let myself hope for something fictional…but then the voice in your brain goes, "What if there's the tiniest chance that it isn't?"
Even then, my grandmother was always there to comfort me in my time of need. Our bonding would continue to deepen as the years passed. Every time a new book was released at the local bookstore, we would be there, picking up brand new copies, reading and discussing the content.
Unfortunately, she couldn't read nearly as fast as I could, so I would be patient, waiting for her to catch up before talking about it.
(I think my record is devouring Deathly Hallows within less than 24 hours. I stayed up all night, even in spite of being in high school now, willing myself not to sleep.)
Nowadays, Grandma is battling heart disease...and although, for now, she's stable, her health is precarious. A year or two ago, she suffered the collapse of her heart stint, and almost passed away. She's had 4 heart attacks now, and so far, survived all of them - but every moment with her is precious. Even though she's very strong, she won't live forever.
Luckily, I've gotten 4 of the Harry Potter actors to sign the release-day copy of Deathly Hallows that she bought for me as a gift in 2007.
Even though death is ultimate imminent for all of us, the signed book will preserve her legacy for years to come - and, likely, if cared for properly, exist for centuries to come. It can be a family heirloom I can pass down, if I ever have children myself.
Yes, and I've been advocating that Hermione was the good version of Tom Riddle for some time.
In addition, I've been saying that Ginny was the good version of Bellatrix.
So have I. Good to know that there are others who are excellent deducers, and who agree with this view. :-)
As for Bellatrix, I think she reflects aspects of both Hermione and Ginny, and vice versa. Both Hermione and Ginny are powerful witches - in their own ways - and both [likely] have Dragon Heartstring cores, as well as Dark / Slytherin traits.
Bellatrix's wand is Walnut with Dragon Heartstring, whereas Hermione's wand is Vine with Dragon Heartstring, and Ginny's [I presume] is Yew with Dragon Heartstring. So they all likely share the same wand core, and thus, some similar traits.
Pottermore says of Walnut wood:
Highly intelligent witches and wizards ought to be offered a walnut wand for trial first, because in nine cases out of ten, the two will find in each other their ideal mate. Walnut wands are often found in the hands of magical innovators and inventors; this is a handsome wood possessed of unusual versatility and adaptability. A note of caution, however: while some woods are difficult to dominate, and may resist the performance of spells that are foreign to their natures, the walnut wand will, once subjugated, perform any task its owner desires, provided that the user is of sufficient brilliance. This makes for a truly lethal weapon in the hands of a witch or wizard of no conscience, for the wand and the wizard may feed from each other in a particularly unhealthy manner. (Source)
As Hermione is highly intelligent herself, this seems to point to Bellatrix slightly leaning more towards Hermione in terms of similarity than Ginny.
Bellatrix was definitely not a mastermind like Hermione and Tom, same with Ginny.
They were both intelligent though.
We don’t know if Bellatrix was using Walnut wood right from the start because she would certainly lose her wand after being sent to Azkaban. She might have very well used a different wood before.
A key reason why I’m comparing Ginny with her is that both seemed to be fanatical followers with an unhealthy dose of hero worship. They were also extremely devoted to the causes of their heroes.
We don’t know if Bellatrix was using Walnut wood right from the start because she would certainly lose her wand after being sent to Azkaban. She have very well used a different wood before.
Not quite true. Ollivander confirms that he made Bellatrix's wand. As Hermione Granger identified this wand as the one that tortured Alice and Frank Longbottom, it is likely that Bellatrix Lestrange used this wand both before and after her imprisonment in Azkaban, possibly since the age of eleven. (Source: Deathly Hallows)
On a side note, I actually agree with your post made a while back on /r/HPFanfiction.
I love how they're picking up right where they left off, without skipping a beat. I was afraid they'd fast forward a few years to when Jack-Jack is a bit older without showing us how the family deals with his powers.
Oh we're just getting started
I like it all. Very sound.
I do think the darkest spell may actually have been created for another purpose than killing the king she married for political reasons though. In general fiction, the more powerful the spell or magic, the higher the price. So using the heart as leverage is basically putting your life on the line.
Additionally, if we go by the mewberty form info Moon mentioned, about the transformation happening when you really need it to happen, we can expand that thinking a bit to say that the darkest spell and other magic doesn't necessarily work at least in part if you don't need it to. I believe we have seen Marco touch the wand before and not have it transform. But this time he truly needed to be able to do something, at least in his view, and the wand transformed.
So there would seem to be a component of need with magic in the show as well...and I forgot where my train of thought was going connecting the need to the darkest spell... haha
EDIT: Oh I believe my thought process had to do with the break the one who cannot be broken line. I assume Toffee isn't the first of his kind in the sense of some undefeatable enemy. It seems it could have been some sort of situation bringing the monster conflict and Eclipsa and her relationships personally to a head.
And now that I think about it, maybe the heart sacrifice in the spell has to do with destroying someone you love at least originally with the hated foe part being more metaphorical...maybe Eclipsa was forced into killing her monster lover. That's be an interesting twist.
Thank you! You've definitely got an interesting viewpoint yourself as well. Could definitely be plausible at this point, given how little we have to go off of.
I love it! Downright hilarious. Excellent work on this!
Elva or Murtagh.
Came here to say this. Both would offer some interesting, cynical insight as a direct foil / contrast to Eragon's more hopeful, heroic perspective.
This is a much better researched post. I should've asked you to do the original write up.
Thank you so much!
That's a good question, now I can't get the idea of "Edwina Eagleclaw" out of my mind, xD
But also, I just had a sudden realization - all of the house names begin with letters found in the word "Hogwarts" (H)uflepuff (G)ryffindor(R)avenclaw(S)lytherin. So maybe that's why? Though I do doubt it xD
Though in terms as to why the founders did that (as opposed to JK's reasoning) could be that Helena Ravenclaw ran away to and died in Albania which is known as "Land Of The Eagles" so maybe it is because of this, and despite everything that happened, Rowena wished to honour her daughter in this way? It's unknown, after all, when the mascots were chosen.
Also, I find it amusing how no one questions Gryffindor being a lion and not a Griffin/Gryffin. xD
I think it's simpler than that.
The [European golden] eagle is a traditional, European sign of royalty, and Ravenclaw, based on what we know of her character, is heavily implied to have been some form of [I assume Anglo-Saxon] royalty. Her Founders' object is a bejewelled diadem, or crown; and, after all, "Rowena", in lore, was a figure married to King Vortigern of the Anglo-Saxons, who ruled Britain at the time of Hogwarts's founding.
The European golden eagle, Ravenclaw's emblem, is also primarily found in Scotland in Britain, where Ravenclaw was also implied to be originally from. They also appear "bronzer" (or more "golden-brown"), which accounts for Ravenclaw's house colours being "blue and bronze".
As opposed to golden eagles found further east in Eurasia, the adults of this race are a tawny golden-brown on the upper-side. The nape patch is often gleaming golden in color and the feathers here are exceptionally long. (Source)
The eagle could also easily have been Rowena Ravenclaw's Patronus and/or Animagus form, too. It was then used as her emblem, because most of her student would be able to recognize her Animagus form - i.e. like Minerva McGonagall being recognized as a cat Animagus by her students.
Pinging /u/BavelTravelUnravel and /u/Drajons to avoid reposting.
The circus in question is Circus Arcanus, a human freakshow
It has no beast in it
You keep trying to find a Beasts link when they haven't been a defining part of the story yet
You keep trying to find a Beasts link when they haven't been a defining part of the story yet
You keep saying that like I have been - but I haven't. Maybe you should consider a little more respect and less exaggeration when replying.
I absolutely love J.K. Rowling, but I'm a little disappointed she confirmed Queenie and Jacob. It was something I was looking forward to seeing evolve throughout the movies and she just gave it away.
I just re-checked my sources - I was incorrect. She didn't confirm it outright, but merely (strongly) suggested it with the name drop of Quentin Kowalski in her other writings.
We get to ask each other a few questions:
The diamond? - What does it represent?
Why Bat-wings? - Aren't they naturally associated with evil/bad characters, villains and creatures.
Why all the edge(s)? - With all those pointy tips it looks more like a mace than a wand, a bit odd for a safe kid is it not?
My guess:
The diamond / wand shape looks like a map compass.
The diamond in the center looks similar to Glossaryck's Gem in the center of his forehead, or in the center of Baby's. I would assume it's the "center" of Marco's magical power.
The bat wings, in fact, may be dragon wings - i.e. like Nachos, Marco's Dragoncycle, who also has bat wings.
The color scheme and bat wings strongly resemble the color scheme for Toffee, and Toffee's "corruption" of the realm of Magic - including having a distinct, greenish tint to it.
I really wanted to hear more about the magical experiments that go on there. I would love a spinoff series about magical researchers or whatever they call themselves and all their findings
I wrote a homework assignment a while back for r/HarryPotter (won the month for best assignment) for a pitch involving the Time room and time-travelling aspects - "Agents of T.I.M.E.". It was all about the Ministry having a secret division of Unspeakables / agents who worked to "fix" timeline disruptions / stop people who try to mess with the timeline(s).
I'll see if I can locate it and share it for an entertainment read.
I'd like to read that!
Please don't let Marco be half Mewman. I doubt that it's the case, but seeing that his cheek marks are moon shaped, I wonder if it's due to the blood Moon, because Marco did say that their souls were bonded.
It's concerning that the wand has elements of monstrous traits and Marco was influenced by Eclipsa's magic.
Eclipsa's "bib" literally has the same crescent symbol on it.
I fixed Johnny Depp's bleached pineapple face with Colin Farrell's. You're welcome https://imgur.com/6clfBJu
*Rowling
They see me Rowling
They hatin'
Patrolling they tryin to catch me writin' dirty
J.K. Rowling has confirmed that the wizarding / magical gene is "dominant". Other than that, we don't know much about magical genetics, other than that, in most cases, wizard and witch parents tend to pass down magic to their child(ren).
In cases of Muggle x wizard parents - i.e. the McGonagalls, the Sayres-Stewards - children tend to inherit magic around 50% of the time, also indicating a dominant gene, or set of genes. In the case of the Sayres-Stewards, children may also inherit an incomplete copy of the magical gene, making them Squibs (i.e. Martha Steward).
A recent discussion on the topic in /r/HarryPotter brought up a response from a genetics / biology student who stated that the "magic gene" is probably segmented, or multiple genes, treated as a collective. A witch or wizard must inherit all of the magic genes / DNA segments to be able to fully possess magic.
Likewise, it is my belief (after studying biology myself earlier in my schooling) that through centuries of Pureblood inbreeding, and magical population isolation after the implementation of the Statute of Secrecy in the late 1700's, the practice of "only marrying other witches / wizards / Purebloods" eventually caused faults in the DNA of the gene and its replication, resulting in partial, or only part, of it, resulting in more Squibs.
Or, in other words, Squibs are a result of genetic drift within the isolated wizarding community.
And that dilution of those genes wouldn't lead to wizard extinction?
No, because the wizarding isolation is also an example of a population bottleneck.* Other, real-life examples of the effects of a variant of genetic drift - the founder effect* - include the isolated populations of the Mennonites and the Amish in North America, both of which are still around.
A population bottleneck is when a population contracts to a significantly smaller size over a short period of time due to some random environmental event.
In a true population bottleneck, the odds for survival of any member of the population are purely random, and are not improved by any particular inherent genetic advantage. The bottleneck can result in radical changes in allele frequencies, completely independent of selection.
The impact of a population bottleneck can be sustained, even when the bottleneck is caused by a one-time event such as a natural catastrophe. An interesting example of a bottleneck causing unusual genetic distribution is the relatively high proportion of individuals with total rod cell color blindness (achromatopsia) on Pingelap atoll in Micronesia.
After a bottleneck, inbreeding increases. This increases the damage done by recessive deleterious mutations, in a process known as inbreeding depression. The worst of these mutations are selected against, leading to the loss of other alleles that are genetically linked to them, in a process of background selection.
For recessive harmful mutations, this selection can be enhanced as a consequence of the bottleneck, due to genetic purging. This leads to a further loss of genetic diversity. In addition, a sustained reduction in population size increases the likelihood of further allele fluctuations from drift in generations to come.
[...] There have been many known cases of population bottleneck in the recent past. Prior to the arrival of Europeans, North American prairies were habitat for millions of greater prairie chickens. In Illinois alone, their numbers plummeted from about 100 million birds in 1900 to about 50 birds in the 1990s.
The declines in population resulted from hunting and habitat destruction, but the random consequence has been a loss of most of the species' genetic diversity. DNA analysis comparing birds from the mid century to birds in the 1990s documents a steep decline in the genetic variation in just in the latter few decades.
Currently the greater prairie chicken is experiencing low reproductive success. However, bottleneck and genetic drift can lead to a genetic loss that increases fitness as seen in Ehrlichia. (Source)
This is the internet where judgement comes fast and furious and with absolutely no facts to back it up!!!
The court of public opinion, if you will.
"La Mort" (Death) and "La morte" (The dead woman) are two different things. You are not meant to spell it "Vol-de-Morte" because it would mean "Flight of the dead woman". If you spell it without a "-e", it really means "Flight of Death".
"La Mort" (Death) is a noun so you don't add an -e at the end, eventhough you refer it as to be a feminine word ("La"). However, "La morte" is referring to a dead woman so in that case, dead (mort/e/s) can be accorded in gender and number (-e if feminine, -s if plural, -es if feminine plural).
Edit : To clarify, I am French.
Edit 2 : Also, most of the time, the final consonant in French is silent so if you add an -e, you pronounce the last sound. You can then easily understand if you're talking about something feminine or masculine. Here, in "La Mort" (which I said is a noun", the T is silent but you have the determinant "La" which makes you understand it is the noun Death and not the adjective Dead. Then if you say "Le mort", you'll understand you're talking about a dead man because of the masculine determinant "Le". Finally, if you say "La morte", you'll hear the -e as you pronounce the T and you'll understand it's a dead woman you're talking about.
To clarify, I am French.
To clarify on my end, did you have any commentary on my sources? Because I'm fairly sure that given Rowling's background, she took Voldemort's name from Le Morte d'Arthur. And what do you think of the title of the book having a feminine designation for that title?
Of course, the book title is obviously not referring to a dead woman. It literally means "The Death of Arthur", not "The Dead Woman of Arthur".
I was referring to this part
so non-French speakers don't know that Vol-de-Mort, in actually, might also be spelled Vol-de-morte - implying a female, and not a male [like Voldemort. //at least that's how I understood it].
.
Thus, a name that means "flight from death", or using a feminine French word, may be considered feminine itself.
Vol is masculine so Voldemort may be considered masculine using your logic. Anyway it's just grammatical gender.
Vol is masculine so Voldemort may be considered masculine using your logic
Not really, no, because the gender is determined (as I said) by the presence of an "e" on the end if the word or not. "Vol" being present wouldn't change the end part, and therefore, the term would still be considered feminine, if an "e" is on the end.
Where did you hear that?
Various HP fan sites, including SnitchSeeker.com.
It was only a teaser trailer though. Don't think they'll push a trailer out this early. I'd love them too but I doubt it.
Not to mention I don't know if they even have enough material to put together a trailer yet. Last I heard, they were still filming Hogwarts / flashback scenes with young Newt and Leta Lestrange. This heavily implies that they are still midway through filming / production as well, and may not have much (if any) finalized, finished movie material to present yet.
GRRM confirmed that the Red Wedding was inspired by two similarly fucked up events in Scottish history.
Hey! I'm a descendant of James II of Scotland. The fucked-up-ness doesn't stop at the Black Dinner, which James II witnessed, watching helplessly as his two young Douglas friends were viciously slaughtered, when he was just 10.
In fact, the event of the Black Dinner led James II to wage a long, blood civil war against Clan Douglas for decades afterwards - and most of his (short) lifespan and rule was defined by this war. Though James wasn't directly responsible for the Black Dinner, the Douglases militarily retaliated against him anyways.
Supposedly, the king even lured the new Lord Douglas to his castle to confront him about Douglas's supposed political alliance against him - and then proceeded to stab Douglas several dozen times, then throw him out of the window.
Like that scene in "300" with King Leonidas, but replace "Sparta" with "Scotland", and the pit with a window.
According to legend, the king's allies then set upon Douglas, beating his body into a bloody, unrecognizeable pulp with axes.
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Maybe I should have asked if she was more inherently dangerous. I feel like as the more insane of the two Bellatrix is less predictable than Voldemort making her more dangerous, even if there is a difference in power.
As the Joker put it aptly in The Dark Knight: