Predictions for books six and seven of the Harry Potter series...

[BigJim]

J.K. Rowling has now revealed the publication date for book six: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. It's June the 16th 2005.

Possibly the most hillarious thing to happen in the HP universe yet was the stance taken by members of the Christ Community Church, in Alamogordo, New Mexico. They took part in a mass Potter book-burning , claiming that the stories are an "abomination to God". According to the Church's pastor, Jack Brock,

"Harry Potter books are going to destroy the lives of young people. These books encourage our youth to learn more about witches, warlocks, and sorcerers..."

Could be worse I suppose. It could be J.K. herself they're planning on burning. Certainly seems to match the sort of thing people with this attitude would do. Perhaps the Rennaisance was just something that happened to other people?

It also staggers me how many christians have written and published books on Harry Potter, seeking to imprint or draw a paralell conclusion from the two sets of stories. I can't speak for J.K. obviously, but I imagine she's as much a contemptor of allegory as Professor Tolkein was. But then, who knows?

A number of rumours have been circulating as to the plotlines, the only one of which JKR has confirmed as being true is that more characters will die. Boo SMEGGING hoo! 😡

I have a number of theories about how things are going and how they'll turn out. See if they match yours and post away...


1/ The "Half-Blood Prince" is Godric Gryffindor.

2/ Just as Tom Riddle/Lord Voldemort is the heir of Salazar Slytherin, so Harry Potter is the descendant of Gryffindor. The discovery of this is a large segment of book 6's plotline.

3/ Near the end of book 7 (no name released yet) Harry's life is saved by Professor Snape, who dies in the process of saving Harry. Quite possibly this is done by stepping deliberately into the path of a Harry-bound avada kedavra curse, because he knows Harry is the only one who can kill Voldemort's arse.

4/ Lily Potter (nee Evans) turns out to be much more important than just a muggle-born witch who shacked up with James Potter. Quite how, I'm not sure. I havn't a smegging clue to be honest.

5/ The final confrontation between Harry and Voldemort (say VOLDY, can ya hear me? 😀 - JK hates him being called that) takes place on an island. For some reason I've been seeing this for some time.

I don't know why, but an island battle seems to synch for me. I've always pictured Harry as being 22 or so when this takes place, but I know he'll be just short of his 17th birthday. I've also pictured this event being won by Harry in an overly dramatic and cliched fasion, using an immensely powerful spell that will rob Voldemort - perhaps only temporarily - of his powers (as Imhotep was robbed of his by Brendan Fraser in The Mummy I guess). Harry then skewers Voldy-arse through the heart with the very same sword of Gryffindor that he used to slay the Basilisk in COS. He does this deliberately, because he doesn't trust a magical solution to do the job right. Voldemort already survived having the avada kedavra kill him once, albeit not as spectacularly as Harry did a nanosecond earlier.

Again, don't ask me why, but I have a funny feeling Harry will not survive this. Gripping sagas has a very bad habit of having shitty endings: to wit, The Incredible Hulk, Quantum Leap, Stephen King's Dark Tower series and... the Rocky movies, yeah. 😀



Questions that beg asking...

Just what exactly did Voldemort do that enabled him to survive the rebound of the avada kedavra curse? What were these experimetns in immortality he briefly mentions near the end of GOF?

 

[BigJim]

Another couple of questions that make me curious...


Why did Dumbledore have a "look of triumph in his eyes" when he heard Voldemort had injested Harry's blood during his ressurection at the end of GOF? Does this imply that having part of Harry's essence inside Voldemort will make Voldemort vulnerable to Harry's power? Perhaps this "power he so despises" inside of Harry will be able to leak into Voldemort through this haemo-link?


What does the Hogwarts school motto mean? (For those of you out there in the legal profession or who understand latin from another source, you will piss yourself laughing when you do comprehend it. For those who don't have a picture of the coat of arms and the motto to hand, it's Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus. Quite appropriate considering the company here assembled. 😉



New factoid for book six, after being a complete arse-head and general incompetent, Cornelius Fudge is going to be replaced as Minister of Magic.

 

[BigJim]

Now that I'm flicking through the books, new bloody questions keep springing to mind. J.K. has proven to be an incredibly in depth writer, with things mentioned ephemerally in one book turning into seriously significant plot arcs one or two books later. What is the betting that the two-way mirror - a magical object of humongous possibilities, but barely mentioned in book 5 - will be of greater significance in 6 and/or 7?


Late edit: Why didn't Dumbledore try and kill Voldemort in the Ministry of Magic at the end of OOTP? He was deliberately pulling his punches in their magical duel. When Voldie-arse sneered at him he gave some waffle about there being "things worse than death" if I remember correctly. Does that sound just a tad bullshitty to you too? There's got to be another, real reason why he didn't.

 

[Darconn]

For some odd reason, I imagine Draco Malfo betraying his "death eater" father to help his Harry, despite their rivalry. I dunno why.

 

[desdemona]

The beauty of JK Rowling is that the more I read her books, the more I want to know 🙂

BTW BigJim...are you saying you get the book a month before we poor Americans?? Amazon's announced release date is JULY 16th...and I've already pre-ordered it.

I'm in the process of re-reading/listening to the Book 5 again (Jim Daly is supurb as the voice of the audiobooks). And I was just to the final battle. A few theories...

Dumbledore's comment about "there being things worse than death" - reminds me a lot of Obi-Wan's comment about "becoming more powerful if you strike me down" (please don't shoot me, I'm not that big of a Star Wars guru, so I'm not saying that's an exact quote). Meaning that living in infamy and as a hated villain hasn't exactly been fullfilling...so what if you destroy that which you've created? Like Vader had to face destroying his son?

Voldemort drinking Harry's blood...well...as in Book 5 ,does this in fact make the connection between their thoughts even stronger? I know...Dumbledore's against the mental bond thing...but you may be right, it may somehow make him more vulnerable to Harry's attack.

The Gryffindor connection has got to be big reveal...and I'll bet he's related on Lily's side (just my take on things...the Potter's lived in Godric's Hollow...coincidence? And how did they accumulate all that gold in their vault? Are aurors that well paid??)

I'll have to do some thinking about your other questions. But I love the Wizarding World Press...and their analysis of the 5 books so far. They point out some of the more obscure literary references and the suitability of JK Rowling's choice of names (Malfoy - Bad faith in French...). Interesting discussion Jim...you should keep this one near the top so we can come back to it again as more info leaks 🙂

 

[Haltickling]

Just a flashback to my not-so-serious speculations about # 5, posted in March 03:

"Oooh, I LOVE speculations! 🙂 Now let’s see:

The beginning of Book 5 describes how Dudley finally eats so much that he bursts in a huge explosion that blows up the Dursley’s house. Harry finds a way to get to his friend Ron to spend the rest of the holiday’s there.

On the way to school, the Hogwarts Express runs out of steam because Lord Voldemort has sabotaged it. All the pupils are now forced to tramp to Hogwarts individually, but Ron’s brother Percy (who had become minister of magic meanwhile) picks them up with magic carpets which he had confiscated from a Turkish wizard. That way, Harry escapes the trap that Voldemort had laid out for him on the way.

At Hogsmeade, Harry buys a pack of Berty Bott’s All Flavored Beans and gives a few to Colin Creeves (the boy that followed him around with a camera constantly). Colin dies on the spot because Voldemort has jinxed them with a poison curse. Professor Snape (teacher for defense against dark magic now) accuses Harry of the killing, and Harry has to flee to his Godfather Sirius Black. From him, he learns a lot of new things about himself and his father.

In secret letters to Hogwarts, he writes his memoirs to Hermione and Ron, and Hermione finds all this so fascinating that she starts to write a book about Harry. It’s called “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” and becomes a bestseller. She makes millions by it, buys Hogwarts and fires Snape so Harry can return. Snape joins Voldemort to destroy Harry, but the evil plan fails because Professor Dumbledore knew all about it beforehand.

When the school year is over, Harry can’t return to the Dursleys because they’re still homeless and have become drunkards in their grief about Dudley. So Harry forms a commune with Cho Chang, Ron and Hermione, they wind magic flowers in their hair, smoke weed and sing “Blowing in the Wind”… "

😛

 

[BigJim]

BTW BigJim...are you saying you get the book a month before we poor Americans?? Amazon's announced release date is JULY 16th...and I've already pre-ordered it.

We do indeed get it a month earlier than you. It shocked me rigid to be honest, because you bunch of capitalist pigs always get the good stuff earlier than us. Up with the revolution comrades, J.K. Rowling's going to win us our freedom! 😀

Voldemort drinking Harry's blood...well...as in Book 5 ,does this in fact make the connection between their thoughts even stronger? I know...Dumbledore's against the mental bond thing...but you may be right, it may somehow make him more vulnerable to Harry's attack.

Doesn't exactly drink it, it's an ingredient in the concoction Pettigrew boils up to bring Voldemort back to life.

Dumbledore knows something about the blood. When he heard that something pleased him. We'll find out more in due course, I'm sure.

The Gryffindor connection has got to be big reveal...and I'll bet he's related on Lily's side (just my take on things...the Potter's lived in Godric's Hollow...coincidence? And how did they accumulate all that gold in their vault? Are aurors that well paid??

They didn't live there, they went into hiding there. But you've got to believe the name of the village and the name of the old Knight/Wizard geezer aren't coincidence.

Were the Potters aurors then? It's a pretty safe assumption to make I guess, but they're never mentioned as being aurors in the books. not so far anyway. As for their pay, I don't suppose it would make tem fabulously wealthy, but they wouldn't have been begging for bread either. An auror is the Wizard equivalent of being an FBI agent, so the pay would have been pretty good. Not all the OOTP members were aurors though, although a large portion were. Dumbledore, Snape, Lupin and Arthur & Molly Weasley aren't aurors.

Rowling has said said several times that the Evans's were complete muggles. It would have to be quite a tenuous connection. I dunno...

We'll find out in the end, I'm sure.

I'll have to do some thinking about your other questions. But I love the Wizarding World Press...and their analysis of the 5 books so far. They point out some of the more obscure literary references and the suitability of JK Rowling's choice of names (Malfoy - Bad faith in French...). Interesting discussion Jim...you should keep this one near the top so we can come back to it again as more info leaks 🙂

She does have a good choice in names.

All of the Black family are named after stars, constellations and so on, with the exception of Narcissa. Sirius is named after the Dog Star in the constellation of Canis Major, the great dog. In animagus form he turns into a dog.

Lupin is a werewolf - lupine is the latin root of wolf. Lupine is to wolf as canine is to dog, ursine is to bear, vulpine to fox, and feline to cat. Lupin's first name is also Remus, one of the legendary founders of Rome. Romulus and Remus were brothers who were raised as babies by a wolf.

Dubledore is an old Anglo-Saxin word for Bumblebee. Apparently Rowling named him that because he likes music and she always imagined him walking round and humming to himself.

There's probably more, but I can't be arsed at the moment, 😀

 

[Cav88]

Sounds like each book is has several cliffhangers for the next one.

 

[desdemona]

Ah Jim... I should have known better than to write anything without double checking my facts first. You're way too detail oriented mate (of course, those who pour over the books love the details and clues that she dangles along the way!)

One other aside, your latin quote (and yes, I know how it translates...!) I've always taken as a version of "let sleeping dogs lie." Which in itself isn't exciting...but in context with Hogwarts, I think that with the volatility of the personalities of the four founding wizards, the institution's motto is appropriate - try to preserve peace and harmony as long as possible among the wizarding world.

Peace and happy holidays 🙂 BTW...don't you dare post any spoilers until AFTER July... 😛

 

[BigJim]

Ah Jim... I should have known better than to write anything without double checking my facts first. You're way too detail oriented mate (of course, those who pour over the books love the details and clues that she dangles along the way!)

I know, I know, I'm an awful anorak. I do apologise. We all remember the clever bugger girl from the posh family we knew at school who always sat down the front of the class and got all the questions right. We all knew a Hermione Granger. 😀 I'm the same, just a bloke. lol

One other aside, your latin quote (and yes, I know how it translates...!) I've always taken as a version of "let sleeping dogs lie."

Hmmm, yeah that sounds a pretty appropriate comparison. You of course would know a bit of Latin, but I'm quite proud of my own scanty knowledge, seeing as how I was a dropout from school at 15. You college graduates have an unfair advantage on me. 😛

I'm just waiting to see if anyone else can translate it. They'll understand the irony of it when they do. 😀

 

[Morning Angel]

Two months of Latin classes means I can translate it too! I've always liked that motto😉 I always took it to mean "Don't play with fire" but I like desdemona's meaning too.

I've wondered about Dumbledore's 'look of triumph' too, and my first reaction was that it means Vol can't be killed by Harry and that there was a bit of untapped evil in good ole Albus. But that's not really consistent with the rest of the books, so I have no idea what it means.

 

[desdemona]

Now Jim...just because I'm medical doesn't mean I studied that dead language! Actually, I minored in French (ducking...please, don't throw things!) Which is why I can also add that Voldemort means flight from death 🙂 I picked up the translation in one of the unofficial guides btw.

Late edit: Why didn't Dumbledore try and kill Voldemort in the Ministry of Magic at the end of OOTP? He was deliberately pulling his punches in their magical duel. When Voldie-arse sneered at him he gave some waffle about there being "things worse than death" if I remember correctly. Does that sound just a tad bullshitty to you too? There's got to be another, real reason why he didn't

Well...maybe because of the prophecy? I mean...he doesn't want Harry to die, and Harry's certainly not ready to face Voldemort yet. But like the Star Wars saga, can he override destiny? I'm not really sure...

What is the betting that the two-way mirror - a magical object of humongous possibilities, but barely mentioned in book 5 - will be of greater significance in 6 and/or 7?

JKR says on her website that it will. And she also mentions something about other means of communicating...something we saw put into practice even before we knew about OOTP. Fawkes?? Other ideas?

And I have a question about house elves (since we're going on about weird, unrelated stuff). IF they can apparate and disapparate within Hogwarts (and JKR says they can because they use different magic than wizards)...then why did the MoM detect the hover charm that Dobby used in CoS? If they could detect it, why couldn't they tell the difference?? The weird stuff that keeps me up at night....lol.

 

[Morning Angel]

I want to find out more about that Luna girl from the 5th book. She and Harry seem to have a connection, since people close to them died and they can see those creatures that no one else can. I have a feeling she's going to be important too.

 

[BigJim]

Two months of Latin classes means I can translate it too! I've always liked that motto😉 I always took it to mean "Don't play with fire" but I like desdemona's meaning too.

Heh, I can't hold it in any longer. It means "Never tickle a sleeping dragon."

 

[Morning Angel]

Heh, I can't hold it in any longer. It means "Don't tickle a sleeping dragon".

LOL, that it does. I think technically it's "Never tickle a sleeping dragon" but either way it's solid advice😛 You can tell Rowling had fun writing these books😀

 

[Ticklish_witch]

Going Crazy

You know what? I swear to god if they don't have a Ron/Hermione, Harry/Hermione, Ron/Ginny, Harry/Ginny, Harry/Hermione tickling scene in the 7th book I'm going to kill myself. This is crazy. I just want ONE LITTLE FREAKIN LAUGH just like OMG if I went to Hogwarts and I hung out with the trio, i would experimentally poke hermione in the side, if it didn't tickle id say i was just getting her attention, and if it did Id be all casual and like "I'm sorry, are you ticklish"? 😉 haha OMG you know, if ron and harry just realised hermiones a girl and most girls are ticklish, they would probably be able to tickle a hell of a lot of homework answers out of her.

 

[Limeoutsider]

I think its going to be Neville who defeats Voldermont.

 

[knight]

I think its going to be Neville who defeats Voldermont.

Personally, I think Neville should get Bellatrix Lestrange, the woman who tortured his parents into insanity. Neville deserves that. Let Ron get Malfoy (although after what happened with him in book 6, he may not be as evil as we thought). Let Hermione get Snape (again, if he's evil. The end still blows my mind). But Harry needs to be the one to defeat Voldemort. He's the only one who can. Remember the prophecy.