Harry Potter

[Minerva the Bookwyrm]

I know that there are whole guilds about HP (I'm in one wink ) but there should certainly be at least a thread about it here, so go ahead and discuss! razz

Which book/character was your favourite/least favourite and why?
Did anything in particular shock you throughout the series?
Do you think the movies do a good job of representing the books?  

[SuzelovesJamesPotter]

Okay, my favorite character is... well if you have read my username, you should know. James Potter. I know it's a bit weird that my favorite character has had like 6 scenes (about) in the series and he was a jerk in at least one, maybe two. So why is he my favorite character? Well, if anyone has ever read something marauder era centered, you would know James is loyal, caring, trusting, funny, caring, friendly and Oh my goodness, amazing. Sure he has flaws but what person doesn't? Plus I really enjoy his friend with the marauders and his relationship with Lily. heart

My least favorite character? Well, I guess it depends on my mood. Sometimes it's Peter Pettigrew, other times I'm not sure. It's tied. I just can't believe that a BEST friend would 1) kill one of his friends. 2) Framed another one for a ton of murderes. 3) And left his last best friend all alone because the only friends the werewolf ever had were gone. Other times, it's various people. I guess it dependson my mood.

My favorite book is Deathly Hallows. We learn something about all the marauder era characters and I love the complexity of the plot. It was very fun, yet sad to read. Mt other favorite book is HBP. It is the more comedic and relistic-ish, less battling, then the other books. It was a fun one to read. I love the love potion and the poison on Ron's birthday parts. heart

Anything that shocked me? Hmm.. I read most of the series quite a few years ago and when you reread it, you've already knew what happened so nothing shocks you then. Oh I know. None of the trio died! That shocked me a lot. I thought at least one had to die. I really liked the scene with the resurrection stone (even if I knew he would bring back those people). Molly killing Bella shocked me! Oh and Remus having a kid O.o! Hehe.

I think the movies do an okay job. My favorite parts are always left out. (ie, finding out that Harry's dad was an animagus (stag), SPEW, Quidditch with Ron heart , the more in depth ministry scene (my favorite details were the ones too small sad ) and other things my mind is drawing a blank on xd .) Other then that, I think they run on a basis of the books. (I was very disappointed with movie number 3, PoA, though.)  

[Elf on a Bookshelf]

Ooooh, ooooh! *raises hand* I know Minerva's favourite character! It's...*glances at Minerva's signature*...REMUS LUPIN! exclaim smile

I like the firs two HP films best because they're closest to the books. 3nodding  

[gerp91]

My favorite character would have to be Luna. She is a lot like me and I think we would get along really well!!

My favorite movie would have the be the 5th movie. There is a lot of stuff that they left out, but I dunno, I just really like the movie.

I also love the 5th, 6th and 7th books. They are my absolute favorite. I get so wrapped up in them, even though I have read like a billion-million times. (Not really but I almost know the 5th one by heart XD).

I think that they movies have been really good. I am impressed with them. There is only one MAJOR flaw that just irritates me. It is the outfit and attitude of Dumbledore. They got it PERFECT in the first two movies, but from them on, its been all wrong. He's all serious and his robes aren't all colorful and its just not who Dumbledore is. Other than that, I think they are one of the best movies made out of books when it comes to accuracy.  

[Minerva the Bookwyrm]

Heehee, yeah, Remus is my favourite character. heart He suffers every month, and when people scorn him for it instead of admire him like he deserves, he's still such a wonderful person. All selfless, patient, calm, intelligent, forgiving, and sensitive. *sighs dreamily* I love love LOVE him! exclaim heart

The books I enjoyed most were Prisoner of Azkaban and Order of the Phoenix. I adore PoA because we see Remus so often, and in OotP I had so much fun hating Umbridge. pirate

The characters that I thnk are represented best in the films are McGonagall, Snape, Hagrid, Luna, and Dumbledore (the old actor). I like movies 1, 2, and 5.  

[x_Shut Up And S m i l e]

Gerp, I agree with you. Ever since the first Dumbledore died (May he rest in peace. ;-; ) the other guy just isn't the gay Dumbledore he's supposed to be. Now, he is the totally awesome greatest wizard in the world Dumbledore. If you combined him with the old Dumbledore, oh man, that is your Dumbledore.

 

[FleurEvetteD]

To me the Harry Potter series has always been amazing. There are still many aspects of the vast wizarding world that I wonder about. My favorite book would have to be Order of the Pheonix, it was such a turning point in the series. My favorite character would be Severus Snape and Hermione Granger along with a certian Phelgm (lol, of course).

Then my favorite movie so far would be Order of the Pheonix. I love the battle scene between Dumbledore and Voldemort. Then, of course, theres Snape's memories which always seemed to go to fast for me in the movie, but I love it still. The movies usually do a decent job of the book representation.

The things that shocked me throughout the series were Snape's memories, Dumbledore's death, Deathly Hallows and horcrux discovery, Snape's love for Lily, and Dumbledore's dark art praticipation when he was younger along with being Grindelwald's friend.  

[Minerva the Bookwyrm]

I agree about the memories, Fleur. Snape's Worst Memory is my favourite chapter in the entire series since I like seeing the Marauders as teenagers. They didn't even have teenage Remus in it in the film, and teenage Sirius - who is supposed to be unreasonably good-looking with black hair - had that huge bizarre brown afro. burning_eyes

Really? The only thing that shocked me in the series was Ron's rat being the one that betrayed Harry's parents when we'd thought it was Sirius the entire time. After reading PS/SS, I thought, "I really like Dumbledore. Too bad he's going to die" because the wise mentor almost always dies in fantasy novels. I saw it coming from the start. Of course, i wasn't expecting Snape to kill him. All of my friends hated Snape after that (if they hadn't already) but I never doubted his loyalty for a second. He'd saved Harry oo many times for me to doubt him. I told my mates, "Dumbledore only said, 'Severus, please,' not 'Please save me,' so he was begging to be killed." They all told me that I was mental. After DH came out they all apologised. xd

I knew that Snape loved Lily too. I was so confused in PoA about why Voldemort would offer Lily the chance to live. Then, in GoF we found out that Snape had been a Death Eater and I instantly understood that Snape had loved her. it was obvious because Snape constantly insulted Harry's father and never said one word against his mother. I remember thinking, "Man, that's really lame," but after DH was released I didn't think so anymore. With Snape's childhood memories, JKR pulled it off really well.

Aside from Remus, my fave characters are:
Dumbledore
Luna
George (I love Fred too, but George is better.)
Dobby
Hermione
McGonagall
Snape
Lucius

Dobby's death was my favourite death. It was beautifully done, and it made me cry. I wish JKR had killed off Umbridge. I wanted to dance on her grave!  

[Mistress_of_Kitty_Cats]

Hey I have read (well kinda read) some but I love Luna she is super cool! biggrin But I don't have a favorite character. I know this is really about the books but just for the record in the first through like third Malfoy is the cutest with his hair. Otherwise him and long hair is just, NO! So I like the books I kinda read! So thier's my opinion. biggrin  

[Matelia legwll]

So, Harry Potter... yeah, let me see. I am admittedly obsessed with the series. I absolutely loved the third book... just for the irony. Well, the fact that we got the Marauders out of it, was an added bonus. I love all the Marauders, and yes, even the little rat, Peter. Luna, both Weasley twins, Hermione, and Dobby are some of my favorite characters from Harry's generation. But the Marauders, Snape and Lily... my all-time favorites. Please don't ask me to choose just one. I can't eliminate even one of them from the list.

Jo is actually really good at foreshadowing. Most of the things I was momentarily shocked at, later had me beating myself over the head for not seeing the foreshadowing. Like a couple of important deaths during the last battle. Won't mention names in case anyone has yet to read that far.

As for the movies, Four was ok, Five was awesome, One and Two were all right, if you've actually read the books, but Three disappointed me, just because they didn't explain the irony that I so enjoyed in the book. Don't get me wrong, Three did quite well for an adaptation of a book. It actually made sense within itself, and some of the acting was the best those kids have done. But if only they'd have gone that step further and explained that the adults they were talking about and to were the same ones that made the map, and in essense, when Snape was being insulted by the map, that it was actually Lupin, Black, Pettigrew, and James Potter insulting him; that would have made the movie so much better, IMO. Oh well, what's done is done.

Well, I'm done with the questions Min asked. Here's one for you other Harry Potter fanatics: If you could magically change one thing about the series, whether it be a detail or an entire plotline, what would it be?  

[Minerva the Bookwyrm]

Ooh, that's a fun question, Matelia! I agree that JKR is very good at foreshadowing and leading up to things. However, if she doesn't plan something in advance, then it doesn't work at all.

JKR originally planned on killing Arthur Weasley with the snake attack in OotP. She didn't want Ron to be too mature in HBP, so she changed her mind. Although, she still wanted to kill a parent to make a point that parents die in wars (I don't understand how James and Lily, the hero's parents, don't make that clear enough.), so she had to make someone else a parent just to kill them off.

Nothing between Remus and Tonks indicates attraction in OotP, which is why it's completely random when they get together in HBP. Their personalities aren't compatible romantically; they have no chemistry. In DH their deaths are so obviously inserted that it's pathetic. Seriously, Harry walks by and sees their corpses lying there! EVERYONE else from Remus' generation got a death scene (Sirius, Wormtail, Snape, and James and Lily even got the flashback in Voldemort's mind), thus there is no excuse for it.

If I could change one thing about the series I would have JKR stick to her original concept. Not to make her kill Arthur, but to have Remus and Tonks not get together and have them both live throughout the series, as she herself admitted to having planned from the beginning. JKR is an excellent writer, so I would change that she did something that was sloppily done.  

[SuzelovesJamesPotter]

Quote:

If you could magically change one thing about the series, whether it be a detail or an entire plotline, what would it be?

Hmm.. I wanted more marauder scenes. I don't know how I would work it so I might need to change the answer. Okay, I got it. I had thought since the fourth book Harry's going to die. I figured it would be a trio member and Ron is one of my favorites and Hermions is Ron's future wife. Thus, Harry was the one left. I always imagined the epilogue being Ron and Hermione going to Harry's grave and talking about how everyone's life turned out. I thought that was super interesting and for a while I thought she would do it. Then Harry came back to life. I don't know. I think I might change that. smile (I actually started writing a fanfic on that but I never finished xd .)  

[Matelia legwll]

My initial thought on asking that question would be that I'd just change something minor like the location of the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets (It just doesn't make sense to be in a girl's bathroom; Hogwarts didn't have indoor plumbing when the founders were there.) but Suze and Min got me thinking in a different direction.

I would love it if somehow, someway, Jo had been able to give a better reasoning and logic to Peter Pettigrew's decisions. He is the only character in the whole series that Harry doesn't feel some sympathy for his choices at some time. And since we get everything from the Harry bias, the readers don't feel any sympathy for him. Contrast that to Snape, the other double-crosser. It's so much easier to find people that believe that Snape's motives were in the good, even before DH came out, than any that even pity Peter.

But then again, this lack of sympathy caused me to conduct my own research into his character and come up with a plausible reasoning that worked. So I'm not sure if I'd actually change this or not. ^_^

Maybe I'd just change the nature of Snape's death, give him a more noble end. Or maybe I'd go back to Sirius's death and figure out a way that Sirius could survive. Hm, now I really can't decide what I'd change. ^_^ And it's my own question too. xd
 

[Elf on a Bookshelf]

I liked the few chapters in the beginning of the later books where we got to see the point of view of characters besides Harry's. If I could change something, I would add a few more chapters like that. Luna's perspective would probably be either profound or hilarious! rofl Of course, lots of characters would probably be fascinating, like Neville, Dumbledore, Draco in HBP, or...anyone and everyone really! smile

I'd say "I wish that James and Lily hadn't died," but - as brilliant as those two are - we wouldn't have a series if they'd lived.  

[NannyOgg]

Which book/character was your favourite/least favourite and why?
I absolutely loved Deathly Hallows - it was where everything finally went deep and you really felt how easy it could be to come to the end of everything you know...and then see how some people pushed beyond that and forged a new world.

Did anything in particular shock you throughout the series?
Not in the series...that little blurb in an interview where Jo outed Dumbledore was a bit of a shock. I think it'd have been better left as hinted at in DH. But that's me.

Okay, and Hedwig. I was not prepared for Hedwig.

I was in no wise shocked about Snape and Lily. For one thing, Petunia talking about "that boy" struck an odd note for me - I was pretty sure she wasn't talking about James. For another thing, I've seen the same thing happen too many times both in books and IRL not to make that a pet theory anytime there's a hatred of a child. But I TOTALLY got to do the Victory Dance when it came out in DH and hubby had to admit he was wrong to doubt me. 3nodding

Do you think the movies do a good job of representing the books?
The first couple of movies nailed it. They've gotten progressively more activist and teen-pop as they go on, which I think detracts from the timeless nature of the story. Of course, so does Ron's awful AWFUL hair, but...yeah, I'm with gerp that Dumbledore Mk2 has been just wrong. Which is weird, because as an actor the man could have pulled it off nicely. Dunno why he decided to affect an Irish accent and go all hippie. It's like expecting Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and getting Godspell, complete with goofy clown makeup and afro. Same ballpark, great music, but LOUSY by comparison. I think they'd have done worlds better to keep offering more and more money to Ian McKellen until he finally said yes, y'know? So he was Gandalf. Big whoop. He could've been Dumbledore as well, I'd not have minded in the least.