Harry Potter spoiler thread. MOD tested and approved!

[Triforcer]

A lightbulb just went off.

It's been mentioned many times that V is one of the most powerful wizards known for a long time, and I was going to rebut Dren with this and then point-out that Snape's talent is potions.   A-duh.. it hit me like a ton of bricks, Snape would have been the one to create the potion that Dumbledore drank.

   I wish I could remember any mention of V and how he did in potions when he was in school, but something tells me he wouldn't have cared much for it.  There's always comparisons being made between V and Harry, and Harry doesn't much care for potions, other than needing to know them.   Makes sense to me that V would have been the same way, so he would have turned to his master of potions, Snape, when he needed one for his Horcrux.  This fits-in with the whole 'Snape killed him, but did XYZ as well' theory pretty nicely as well.  It would also be another reason Dumbledore required it be Snape to help him, instead of being taken to the hospital.

Very possible, but I'd like to point out that V was Head Boy, and I think there was some reference to his grades in some book as being stellar in a Hermione sort of way.  I doubt he was an incompetent at Potions, but you are still probably right- when you have the Man in that specialty, why not use him?

On the other hand, if Snape knew about the Horcruxes and was truly on the side of good, why didn't he ever tell Dumbledore?  The Horcrux thing was unknown even to him until book 6.

EDIT: Oh, and my gut is telling me the "Dumbledore comes back" stuff is just wishful thinking.  I know we all like Dumbledore, but do we really want a crappy War of the Worlds Robby is omgstillalive type of ending?  Give his sacrifice meaning and keep him dead.

[Samwise]

EDIT: Oh, and my gut is telling me the "Dumbledore comes back" stuff is just wishful thinking.  I know we all like Dumbledore, but do we really want a crappy War of the Worlds Robby is omgstillalive type of ending?  Give his sacrifice meaning and keep him dead.

It worked all right in Lord of the Rings.

[Triforcer]

EDIT: Oh, and my gut is telling me the "Dumbledore comes back" stuff is just wishful thinking.  I know we all like Dumbledore, but do we really want a crappy War of the Worlds Robby is omgstillalive type of ending?  Give his sacrifice meaning and keep him dead.

It worked all right in Lord of the Rings.

Yeah, but that's different.  They didn't take the time to set up a big formal honking funeral and inform every other person on the planet like they did with Dumbledore, and Gandalf had the classic superhero/supervillain "death" anyways (they never found the body!).  It gets exponentially lamer when someone is clearly dead, buried, and they come back for no apparent reason. 

The only thing that makes me think I'm wrong is that Dumbledore didn't really "sacrifice" himself for  Harry, he was safe and invisible.  He died a lame death while tied up in his tower.  If this was a real death, it may have been more likely to happen during the Dumby/V duel in book 5. 

I'm still 85/15 for real death here though. 

[Paelos]

Dumbledore is coming back as a blue glowie! Just accept that.

[Fargull]

Okay.

Finsished the book yesterday.  Couple of thoughts beyond what has been posted.  I give Dumbeldore a 50/50 chance of coming back; although that raises if Snape really is helping.

I think the potion Dumbeldore drank was actually one of the Horcruxes and thus all the spew Dumbeldore was mouthing was taking on part of Vold's soul.  I also think he purposely had Snape kill him, thus lending the credibility that Snape will pull a Vader.

I liked the book.  Not as well as I liked book four, but so far it is my second favorite.  I agree that Ginny has not given up on the relationship and Potter will learn with an unwavering hand that she controls when the relationship stops or keeps going.

I am unsure if Harry's scar is a Horcurx or not, in someways it would make sense, but honestly I don't think JK will kill Potter.

[Dren]

On the other hand, if Snape knew about the Horcruxes and was truly on the side of good, why didn't he ever tell Dumbledore?  The Horcrux thing was unknown even to him until book 6.

Not that I believe in that particular part of the prediction, but it wouldn't be story breaking if there were certain things Snape could or couldn't say to either side.  They have used the spell that restrains people from saying specific things about places and people before and it could be used from both sides.

Even though Snape might be working for Dumbledor, you can't just assume Snape could leave a meeting with V and tell him everything in exacting detail.  In fact, he might not have been able to tell D exactly what V was planning with Malfoy, but might have given him hints and indirectly told him something was up.

I do believe Snape told D that he had to help Malfoy due to the unbreakable vow and that he wouldn't like the outcome of that.  Later the discussion between the two is overheard and I believe it was D telling Snape that he must do whatever he must to keep his cover and carry on, whatever the cost.  Whether D knew it was his own death or not is hard to tell yet.

Things are left pretty far open at this point.  JK could go a lot of different directions though.

One thing I thought of when Dumbledor's picture showed up at Hogwart's.  Why not go talk to him in the painting?  The other paintings seemed to know everything about their own past and could reveal lots of interesting tidbits in the past books....why not now?  In fact, Negelus (sp) Black talked about how children behaved when he was headmaster in this very book.

Of course he was sleeping in the picture.  Does that mean he's not really dead but somewhere in between life and death a la V in the first two books?  Hrm...

[Pococurante]

Of course he was sleeping in the picture.  Does that mean he's not really dead but somewhere in between life and death a la V in the first two books?  Hrm...

That's my take on it.  I can hardly believe Dumbledore would nap through Harry bringing McGonagall up to speed on things he learned from D a few hours before.  Not to mention the entire embassy zapping in any minute.

He's coming back.

[WayAbvPar]

I would like to think that Dumbledore is coming back, but who knows? I am still waiting for Moiraine to come back, and she disappeared in what, the 3rd book?

[Rasix]

I would like to think that Dumbledore is coming back, but who knows? I am still waiting for Moiraine to come back, and she disappeared in what, the 3rd book?

Apprently all of books 1-7 of mine disappeared.  I have my hardcover 8 and 9.   I'm trying to decide if this is a blessing or not considering I had an urge to reread them last week. 

I'm still about 50/50 on Dumbledore returning just based on the potion he had to swallow looking for that horcrux.  Snape is just that good at potions that this could be part of some gigantic scheme to lure Voldemort into complacency.  After all, just about the very first potion Snape ever mentioned was something that could induce a deep near death-like sleep.

Who knows, but apparently she does.  She had already written the last chapter of book 7 when they filmed a Biography special on her a couple weeks ago.

[Signe]

Don't be silly.  Of course he's coming back!

[Triforcer]

Don't be silly.  Of course he's coming back!

Boba Fett fanboi alert meter condition orange

[voodoolily]

[Yegolev]

Hehehe, voodoolily is my favorite.

[Hanzii]

I can finally read this thread having slugged through the rather boring brick, were all discussing and having managed not to have the intarweb spoil the big surprise, that any intelligent person saw miles away.
After a 50 pages I put down the book and wrote:
"Dumbledore dies. Harry kisses Ginny."
And gave it to my wife, who finished the book two days after release.

This is the second meandering monstrosity she's written in a row that's 90% filler crap with some fireworks at the end.  Mediocre fireworks.

I don't see this one working as a movie at all. The 4th will be bad, but doable, but this? Meandering with a final battle and a funeral to end it all on a happy note? Lucas Kasdan  pulled it off with Empire, but that started with a kickass battle and had action in between - the one important Quiddich match in the book takes place offscreen for gods sakes. O.k. book - sucky movie.

Dumbledore will be back in some form, Draco will redeem himself somewhat and Snape will turn out to be a good guy (of sorts). The final book will be 1000+ pages, Stephen King won't have lived in vain (there's another big ass series I need to finish), but it will be better than the two last ones because Potter will destroy 4 horticulturals (or whatever they're called) and confront Snape along the way.

[Shockeye]

The mysterious R.A.B.

[EDIT] Fixed link

[Merusk]

The link has an extra "L" in .html for those who wonder why it's not working.

I wonder who the 'well-placed source' that confirmed this 2 days ago was.

[ahoythematey]

I've been wondering if Snape is one of Voldemorte's horcruxes, and not Harry.  He seems pretty adamant about not being a coward, and I haven't been taking that as simple lashing back at taunts of cowardice.

[voodoolily]

[WayAbvPar]

I want to teach a course at "Talk Like A Dick" school.