walkingshadow (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
walkingshadow) wrote2005-07-30 11:46 pm
walkingshadow) wrote2005-07-30 11:46 pm
Entry tags:
we can make believe that Kennedy is still alive
Oh my god, am I only just now noticing that "Dark Mark" rhymes? I mean, it sounds . . . marketable. Like a water gun. "The Dark Mark 3000! Impress your friends! Inspire fear and panic in the hearts of your enemies! Cadre of Death Eaters to back you up not included."
I haven't finished reading A Feast in Azkaban, but I got a good way through it last night and holy shit you need to read it too. It's Sirius in Azkaban, but it's also Sirius's life, and this is *my* Sirius, even if he's not as much fun as Sirius can be; these are his darkest moments. It gets him and it gets the ethos and atmosphere of the books, how sad they are and how tragic.
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silentfire has been trying to get me to write fic for something like three years, and for three years I've been rebuffing her easily by saying that I have no stories to tell—and that if and when I find a story, I'll write it. I have the horrible suspicion that one has found me. There's a text file called "proto-fic" on my desktop. It consists of an outline and references to passages and many notes to self. I have raided my mother's classroom and am now in possession of all six books. I have no idea what I'm getting myself into.
And now I bring you some Book 7 spec, partly based on HBP, partly on John Granger's alchemical theory of HP interpretation, which I'd never even heard of until a few days ago, but everyone's talking about it like it's old hat. Am so out of the loop omg. Anyway, I think it's absolutely fascinating and completely plausible and just the kind of thing JKR would do. It explains a lot, if not everything. The only problem I have is that the author and everyone else naturally fingers Rubeus Hagrid as the symbol of the third (rubedo or red) phase. His name and his relationship with Harry certainly made him the obvious choice, but this article was written post-OotP, prior to HBP, and I'm not sure why everyone who's familiar with the alchemical theory isn't automatically assuming now that the seventh book will turn on Rufus Scrimgoeur. As I mentioned in my post-HBP write-up (all information courtesy of google), "Rufus" means red or red-haired, the Felix rufus or Lynx rufus is the bobcat (commonly mistaken for the mountain lion) and we're told fourteen times that he looks like a lion. From the article: A common symbol of the red work and the Philosopher’s Stone is the red lion. So, yeah. Rufus. I expect we'll be seeing a lot more of him. He was also referred to (at least) once in OotP, so casually you never would have cared:
This is all just to say that JKR knows *exactly* what she's doing and always has. There are no wasted movements in her books, no unnecessary introductions or settings, as much as everyone complains about the word count. To my mind, it's more evidence for Regulus as the mysterious R. A. B. and that he'll play a large role in Book 7 (from beyond the grave or otherwise). Why go to Grimmauld Place at all in Book 5? Sure, the Order got a headquarters and it set up Sirius's backstory, but we didn't actually do anything with his backstory. We gained understanding of his character, but nothing came of it except his life (and death) was even sadder than we'd thought before. But the house he grew up in is the same house Regulus grew up in, and that might be significant. (Plus we saw the locket in OotP; I don't put it past her to set up the house and the family and the pedigree just to bury the locket inside it, but it's a lot less efficient than she usually is.) Consider also that Sirius and Regulus are (or were) brothers, and in a series centered around what Granger calls doppelganger relationships (others include: James and Harry; Harry and Ron; Harry and Draco; Harry and Sirius; James and Sirius; Harry and Voldemort; Voldemort and Dumbledore; Ron and Hermione; Slytherin and Gryffindor; Lily and Petunia; Harry and Neville; George and Fred; the Weasleys as a whole; Snape and James/Harry/Voldemort (that was *not* an invitation to a threesome, though I don't doubt it's been written), etc.) theirs has gone relatively unexplored. I think we've been set up for more exploration of it, based on what we learn of Regulus in OotP and the fact that he's mentioned again in HBP.
Something else of interest Granger mentions:
Well, that doesn't happen. Okay, they go to the Slug-fest together, but just as friends. Luna actually seems to end up with Neville. Who still wants to bet that Neville is going to be the true chosen one? Granger's article mentions that Neville and Peter are "a cross-generational pair of look-alikes" and that doesn't happen accidentally in JKR's world. As Peter's doppelganger, what is the opposite of a traitor? Also, Lily and Luna are alchemically synonymous.
And while I'm behind a spoiler cut, let me just say that whoever said Harry had been drugged in HBP was spot-on. He's on fucking tranks. It's especially obvious after re-reading just the first hundred and fifty pages or so of OotP where the characters speak in entire paragraphs of all-caps. But he went from one extreme to the other. Even if JKR had gotten rid of the caps-lock (which is basically a typographic issue), she could have kept his shouting, his anger and emotional reactions. In Chapter 3 of HBP (p. 50) Dumbledore comes to Privet Drive and tells Harry Sirius has left him Grimmauld Place, etc. but there might be complications with the will, meaning Bellatrix would inherit: Without realizing what he was doing, Harry sprang to his feet; the telescope and trainers in his lap rolled across the floor. Bellatrix Lestrange, Sirius's killer, inherit his house? At which point we expect an all-caps EXPLOSION. Instead we get this: "No," he said. Just let it out, Harry, there you go.
I haven't finished reading A Feast in Azkaban, but I got a good way through it last night and holy shit you need to read it too. It's Sirius in Azkaban, but it's also Sirius's life, and this is *my* Sirius, even if he's not as much fun as Sirius can be; these are his darkest moments. It gets him and it gets the ethos and atmosphere of the books, how sad they are and how tragic.
silentfire has been trying to get me to write fic for something like three years, and for three years I've been rebuffing her easily by saying that I have no stories to tell—and that if and when I find a story, I'll write it. I have the horrible suspicion that one has found me. There's a text file called "proto-fic" on my desktop. It consists of an outline and references to passages and many notes to self. I have raided my mother's classroom and am now in possession of all six books. I have no idea what I'm getting myself into.And now I bring you some Book 7 spec, partly based on HBP, partly on John Granger's alchemical theory of HP interpretation, which I'd never even heard of until a few days ago, but everyone's talking about it like it's old hat. Am so out of the loop omg. Anyway, I think it's absolutely fascinating and completely plausible and just the kind of thing JKR would do. It explains a lot, if not everything. The only problem I have is that the author and everyone else naturally fingers Rubeus Hagrid as the symbol of the third (rubedo or red) phase. His name and his relationship with Harry certainly made him the obvious choice, but this article was written post-OotP, prior to HBP, and I'm not sure why everyone who's familiar with the alchemical theory isn't automatically assuming now that the seventh book will turn on Rufus Scrimgoeur. As I mentioned in my post-HBP write-up (all information courtesy of google), "Rufus" means red or red-haired, the Felix rufus or Lynx rufus is the bobcat (commonly mistaken for the mountain lion) and we're told fourteen times that he looks like a lion. From the article: A common symbol of the red work and the Philosopher’s Stone is the red lion. So, yeah. Rufus. I expect we'll be seeing a lot more of him. He was also referred to (at least) once in OotP, so casually you never would have cared:
Lupin glanced at Harry, then said to Tonks, "What were you saying about Scrimgeour?"
"Oh . . . yeah . . . well, we need to be a bit more careful, he's been asking Kingsley and me funny questions. . . . " (OotP, 122)
This is all just to say that JKR knows *exactly* what she's doing and always has. There are no wasted movements in her books, no unnecessary introductions or settings, as much as everyone complains about the word count. To my mind, it's more evidence for Regulus as the mysterious R. A. B. and that he'll play a large role in Book 7 (from beyond the grave or otherwise). Why go to Grimmauld Place at all in Book 5? Sure, the Order got a headquarters and it set up Sirius's backstory, but we didn't actually do anything with his backstory. We gained understanding of his character, but nothing came of it except his life (and death) was even sadder than we'd thought before. But the house he grew up in is the same house Regulus grew up in, and that might be significant. (Plus we saw the locket in OotP; I don't put it past her to set up the house and the family and the pedigree just to bury the locket inside it, but it's a lot less efficient than she usually is.) Consider also that Sirius and Regulus are (or were) brothers, and in a series centered around what Granger calls doppelganger relationships (others include: James and Harry; Harry and Ron; Harry and Draco; Harry and Sirius; James and Sirius; Harry and Voldemort; Voldemort and Dumbledore; Ron and Hermione; Slytherin and Gryffindor; Lily and Petunia; Harry and Neville; George and Fred; the Weasleys as a whole; Snape and James/Harry/Voldemort (that was *not* an invitation to a threesome, though I don't doubt it's been written), etc.) theirs has gone relatively unexplored. I think we've been set up for more exploration of it, based on what we learn of Regulus in OotP and the fact that he's mentioned again in HBP.
Something else of interest Granger mentions:
[Harry's] new friend Luna is another alchemical symbol. "Luna is the bride, the white queen, consort of King Sol. She is the moist, cold, receptive principle which must be united with Sol, the dry, hot, active principle in the chemical wedding." A girlfriend for the hot and dry—burned to a cinder—Harry? Luna "symbolizes the attainment of the perfect white stage, the albedo, where the matter of the Stone reaches absolute purity." (Look for Harry and Luna to be a couple in the sixth book—much to Hermione’s and Professor McGonagall’s disgust.)
Well, that doesn't happen. Okay, they go to the Slug-fest together, but just as friends. Luna actually seems to end up with Neville. Who still wants to bet that Neville is going to be the true chosen one? Granger's article mentions that Neville and Peter are "a cross-generational pair of look-alikes" and that doesn't happen accidentally in JKR's world. As Peter's doppelganger, what is the opposite of a traitor? Also, Lily and Luna are alchemically synonymous.
And while I'm behind a spoiler cut, let me just say that whoever said Harry had been drugged in HBP was spot-on. He's on fucking tranks. It's especially obvious after re-reading just the first hundred and fifty pages or so of OotP where the characters speak in entire paragraphs of all-caps. But he went from one extreme to the other. Even if JKR had gotten rid of the caps-lock (which is basically a typographic issue), she could have kept his shouting, his anger and emotional reactions. In Chapter 3 of HBP (p. 50) Dumbledore comes to Privet Drive and tells Harry Sirius has left him Grimmauld Place, etc. but there might be complications with the will, meaning Bellatrix would inherit: Without realizing what he was doing, Harry sprang to his feet; the telescope and trainers in his lap rolled across the floor. Bellatrix Lestrange, Sirius's killer, inherit his house? At which point we expect an all-caps EXPLOSION. Instead we get this: "No," he said. Just let it out, Harry, there you go.