Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (SPOILER THREAD)

[Plum]

Actually, the Harry-as-Horcrux thing can still work depending on the nature of Horcruxes. Let's say all the Horcruxes are destroyed, and Harry kills Nagini thinking it's a Horcrux, too. Then Voldemort gets blown to smithereens. Now, he could continue to live through the Harry-Horcrux...or maybe he couldn't. Dumbledore said Voldemort couldn't possess Harry without going through a world of agony, so maybe he can't use the Harry-Horcrux and he'll just dissipate.

And we don't know if the locket-Horcrux was destroyed; just that RAB took it from the lake. It might be the unopenable locket the kids found in Sirius' house, in which case it's quite likely it was pawned off by Mundungus.

[CatieElphie1]

I just hope that the last book comes out when it's supposed to. Was it the fourth or the fifth one that kept getting pushed back farther and farther? I can't remember for sure, but I remember after reading the 1st book, I sat down and figured out how old I would be when the last one came out. I was supposed to be a high-school junior. Now I'm going to be going to college when it comes out.

[rKrispyt]

As Taryn was saying, JKR NOW (she didn't for the first 4 I believe) has an official agreement with her publisher that there is no set deadline for her to write under - she hands in her stuff when she's done with it now as opposed to having it ready by a certain date the publisher sets for her. She says in an interview she felt rushed with the first 3 (or possibly it was the first 4, I can't remember off-hand) and so she made this stipulation for 5 and from then on, which is why it took a bit longer - first one she wrote that she was on her own time, not someone else's deadline and she wanted to do it right.

She HAS said in interviews since last week that she's anticipating only 2 years til the final book, and is going to start working on it in Jan I believe (sometime late 05/early 06) after she spends some time with her new baby girl.

[jasonf]

OK, I admit I didn't read through this whole thread because I just finished reading last night and I'm too excited to post my thoughts - some of which might have already been said.

1) I am STILL convinced that Snape is not evil. Dumbledore was a sacrafice he had to make because of the vow. Whether he regrets that or not, I don't know. If he was evil, he would have killed Harry and not TOLD him in the middle of the fight to close his mind. I think he hates Harry because he hated James, but I still think he's working for the good guys. This leads me to another point (see no. #3)

2) Dumbledore did NOT beg at the end to get killed. All he said was "Severus" and "Severus...please" This could be taken as a command to kill him because D knew that he had to die to empower Harry. It's a whole Obi-Wan thing (the Star Wars parallels are becoming more and more obvious - right down to the black hand).

3) I believe that Harry is "the object from Gryffindor." I did notice others saying this on the board, but it makes perfect sense. I wasn't clear if the Horcrux has to be present at the time of the death, but isn't it possible that when James and Lily were killed, Voldemort used the baby, thus creating the scar? I think that Snape will ultimately be the one to get rid of that last piece of V's soul -- it will look like he's attacking Harry, and maybe he will have to in order to destroy the soul, but it does fit with where the books are going.

4) How could they NOT go back to school next year? Rowling's been talking about how the series covers "seven years" at Hogwarts - she's not suddenly going to drop that, along with nearly all of the characters we've grown to know over the past six books!
Anyway, those were my thoughts as I finished. What a great book!

[Tsuppi]

[Very very very VERY new; just joined]

Like many others, I've not read the whole thread, but I shall be as crazy as to read the whole thing. For now, I've only read the last and 1st page... Mm'kay, dears? (Hoho, creepiness...?)

Other matters aside, I have to say that - though I don't remember much of anything of reading the other 5 books, being young and not quite... lucid - I enjoyed reading Half-Blood Prince, heartily diving into Harry's world for hours at a time.
I also encountered (and only on the 1st and last pages, albeit) a great web of speculation and 'mystery solving' and expectations... [i.e. some whose brainpower and devotion to the book I admire brought them to have the whole book figured out in less than 5 chapters] ...It's strange - and I'm being semi-metaphorical here, so look out!=I - how someone wandering unknowingly ( inhibitions and expectations aside ) for a movie enjoys it much better than a learned critic.
Truth be told, I didn't have the will - nor the thought to do so - to figure the small mysteries out to a fuller extent! I mean, I at first thought that Draco was ordered to obliterate Harry ( now that I think about it..."Potter belongs to the Dark Lord" - to battle, o'course ); I first thought that the Half-Blood Prince was Sir Voldie ( quite strange, the other theories... and I also love that nickname for Voldiemort - I think I'll use it for as long as I can ); I took the relationships in as I went, I didn't really have any theories as to who was hooking up wit' who... H/R was obvious, though... =D

I'm babbling, lookie me. ^.^ I might appear to be quite, well, for lack of a better word CLUELESS throughout the whole book, but I've not remembered an experience so close to the effects of the 'Euphoria-Enducing Potion' mentioned... I can't help but believe that expectations cause so much unecessary disease... Wake up, people! =D ( But do as you please, whatever it may be... "Live and let live, eh?" )

Cheers to Dumbleedore - yes, love is all there is! - and Harry-n-gang - we're all with yeh, Harry! - and Rowling! May many more tears be shed - whether of grief and happiness - 'cause damn, reality can't do that in the vicinity of one sitting! XD

XDXD,
Tsuppi//Signe