Tuesday, July 17, 2007

The Boy Who Lived


It seems like everything in the Universe is rushing toward midnight of July 21, when Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will be released.

In these last few days, as the excitement builds, here a few blurbs to keep you guessing.
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WOMBATS
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I took a test on J.K. Rowling's site a month ago and I just checked to find my results are in! I received an Acceptable, which means I am, in the words of my certification, in good stead to "join any of our more prestigious wizarding firms" (and Flourish & Blotts, the Nimbus Broom Company, and Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes are all currently recruiting).
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My WOMBAT certificate. I passed.



The test is no longer available, sadly, but believe me when I say it was hard. The questions were like "Select one or more of the following twelve events for which the infamous wizard Garfinok Bagglegor was not responsible."

And according to Rowling's rumor book, passing the test is not a shue-in. It's a hard test, and a lot of people failed. (Of course, others got outstandings and higher honors than myself, but I'll take what I can get, Harry-Potter style).

Surprise Ending?

I'm aware that actual spoilers are starting to creep out on the Internet; I'm doing my very best to avoid those. This is not related to those.



Jim Dale, narrator of all seven Harry Potter books.


Jim Dale, head villain of Pete's Dragon and narrator of all seven Harry Potter audio books, would not (thankfully) give away any details of the final book, but did state that the book has a surprise ending.


This really doesn't say much, because all of the books have had twists of one sort or another. I think Book 3 had the biggest surprise ending, with Sirius turning out to be a good guy (although Book 1 had a similar twist), and Book 4 was quite surprising as well, in my opinion. Will Book 7 have an ending comparable to those, or will it be a surprise twist on the entire series? For example, will Harry wake up to discover it was all a dream? (No) Will Voldemort turn out to be a good guy? (No) Will Harry end up ditching Ginny at the last moment to go after his seven-year secret crush, Hermione? (Yes).

The Movie Before the Storm

Jocelyn and I both agree that Movie 5 was the best yet. We've talked with others who disagree, but we've decided that people who appreciate film as much as they do literature (as Jocelyn and I seem to) will likely enjoy the film more than those who only see it because they're fans of the books.

Movie 5, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, is very cinematical. They took cinematical liberties in its scripting and in its artistic direction. The result is a good movie. It's not the same experience as reading the book, but it's not supposed to be. If it were the same experience, then "BORING" is all I can say. That's sort of how movies 1 and 2 were for me. They were too much like the book, only not as entertaining.

Last Words

I've been spreading this theory around for a while. I want to get it on record before the book actually comes out.

I think Harry will live. He was called "The Boy Who Lived" continually in Book 1, and I think that phrase will be applicable to him again toward the end of this book.

I think Harry will be willing and ready to sacrifice himself in order to rid the world of Voldemort (If Harry is a horcrux, then he'll have a good excuse to do so), but will be able to escape death at the last moment while still vanquishing Voldemort. I heard on a mugglenet.com podcast recently that since Dementors can suck out souls, a Dementor could suck the Voldemort horcrux (essentially part of a soul) out of Harry. Pretty ingenious if you ask me.

But in all honesty, I still have no clue exactly what will happen, and am thereby waiting in intense anticipation for the release of Book 7. We'll be in Bear Lake at the time, so we're planning on driving to Logan to pick up a copy at WalMart.

Oh, and don't forget to check out this clip of Poor Man's Hogwarts. A little irreverent (and it might swear; I can't remember), but hilarious all the same.

(-Robert)

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