I'm sure that the final book will see the result of the wizards' oppression of non-human magical creatures. The fountain of magical brethren was broken apart at the end of Book 5, and I think we have seen the disintegrating relationships get worse since then. There have to be characters who demonstrate to the wizards that it is possible for them to live alongside other magical creatures. I think Rowling is very strongly trying to make the point that, among sentient creatures, you will always get a mix of good and bad. We've seen it with the centaurs and with the house-elves, and now we're seeing it with the giants.

Both were obviously important from the get-go and have had minor plot points. For example, Kreacher is responsible for fooling Harry into going to the MoM when he thinks Sirius is there, and doesn't he also pass information on the Order to the Death Eaters? Kreacher is also important now, because Harry has power over him, and Harry's choices will be critical in this book. We've had Dumbledore and others bashing on about how our choices make us what we are ever since Book 1. By the way, I've just seen the fifth movie, and I think there are hints in there that validate my belief that Harry's compassion for Voldemort will save the day.

I think he's going to have a crucial role in the final book. I hope he will be redeemed - I really think it's possible.

Mundungus Fletcher. I think you're probably right about that.

Do any of you read Harry Potter essays? I read someone's theory the other day that McGonagall is really on Voldemort's side. I don't think I believe it, but it's a nagging idea that keeps coming back to me. Especially since Garner asked about the cat imagery in the books and who it gets associated with, while looking at the kitten-plates on Umbridge's wall in the film. Mind you, cats are also associated with Hermione, Arabella Figg and Argus Filch. So, who knows.

Well, by now everybody has gotten one or two traits, or moments, for whom you could dislike them. Only McGonnagal has remained the same since book one. I don't see her switching sides, either, though.

For anyone interested, here is a link to a HP essays blog that I read from time to time. They vary in quality, but there are a couple of essayists there who always manage to get me thinking, even if they don't convince me. Swythyv is usually worth a read.

Then there's Red Hen and her whole package of well-thought-out conspiracies.

So many of these people will be "jobless" from July on. (As in, having a lot more spare time...)
I've read two very good articles in the online version of one of Germany's biggest newspapers. I always thought of posting a shortened translation.
One of these days maybe.

Grace, that's a cool page. And it spares you a re-read, actually.
I also love this quote:That always bugged me too.
And I never believed no one from his circle of friends and the Order of the Phoenix happened to doubt his guilt all these years, either. Even if he was -as a teenager, before Azkaban- already unhinged enough to risk making one of his best friends (Lupin) a murderer, against his will, for nothing but a prank.

I thought Sirius got hit by an Avada Kedavra and just happened to fall through the veil, which was why his body disappeared?

The locket thief is believed to be Mundungus Fletcher, who is not so much a kleptomaniac as a petty criminal wheeler-dealer, who just can't resist a batch of cauldrons that fell of the back of a broomstick...and who will nick anything that isn't nailed down!

Snape on the side of the angels? Never in this world - or the next! Rowling has built him up so overwhelmingly as a nasty, vindictive piece of work, it would be a serious fault of characterisation to redeem him at the eleventh hour. I think she's a better writer than that.

My theory about who will be killed off, apart from Voldemort (who has to die, or the whole series collapses), is Harry's one remaining parent-figure, Molly Weasley. It is, after all, a literary tradition that the hero only comes of age after he has lost all parental and neo-parental support. In The Order of the Phonenix, when Sirius tells her "You're not his mother", Molly retorts "I'm as good as!"

I don't believe Harry will die, but I do think he will lose many of his powers once he has succeeded in destroying Voldemort.

Roll on the 21st!

I looked it up after I saw that in the film, he was hit by an Avada Kedavra spell. In the book, he probably wasn't -Harry would have recognized it-, he just fell through the veil, and dissapeared, after being hit by "a jet of light" by Bellatrix Lestrange's wand. It is not mentioned what spell it was, but he's still alive when he dissapears through the arc. It read, both back then and today, to me as if he dropped through by a kind of accident. Very "oops".

Well, I'm not necessarily saying he is a nice person deep down, only very misunderstood. Or a "good guy" as such. but I do believe he is not on Voldemort's side, in the end. (For clues, see endless internet discussions. The sites Buzzfloyd linked to offer a lot of material, indeed. )

I think Percy will probably be killed, probably while trying to protect on of his family. About the only way he's likely to redeem himself.

Good point about Percy! I agree that seems very likely.

I disagree (of course)! Just because Snape is horrible, that doesn't mean he's evil. Rowling has gone to a lot of trouble throughout the series to make it clear that you can be on the side of good and still not be a very nice person and vice versa - in fact, half the plot of the first book is based around the fact that Harry suspects Snape of being evil simply because, in Quirrel's words, 'he does seem the type, doesn't he?' Just like any good writer, JKR has set out her stall on that one in the very first book, and maintained the theme since.

Bear in mind also that we only ever see Snape from Harry's point of view, a character who is predisposed to dislike Snape from the outset (he's a Slytherin! My God!) - with one notable exception. I think the Unbreakable Vow scene with Narcissa at the beginning of HBP is very revealing - it shows Snape's compassion and loyalty, two qualities which I think are very important in understanding his later actions in the book, especially in the scene with Dumbledore on top of the tower.

Snape is also playing the role of the classic spy or double agent. He is constantly maintaining an appearance, living completely as though he were what he pretends to be. This is true whichever side you think he's on, and it means we virtually never get to see the thoughts or feelings of the real Snape. Far from portraying a clearly evil or clearly good character, JKR has done very well in portraying a character who could be either - we won't know till the end.

There are any number of essays that attempt to demonstrate Snape is a good guy. There's a brand new one here, from the Harry Potter essays blog, and Red Hen's essay on the subject is thorough and erudite.

I don't think Snape will be bad.He's unlikable but not evil. There are a few reasons why I think this, one don't think it's enough of a reveal. We've been allowed to see Snape in a sympathic light (e.g him getting bullied by Harry's Dad) and I think most importantly Dumbledore trusted him. Dumbledore has consistantly been he savour of the books. Dumbledore knows everything and is never wrong. If Dumbledore believed in Snape it will be for good reason.

I think Harry might die, I agree with Buzz that He will kill Voldemort using love and compassion.But I think that Harry will give his own life to save that of his friends, it will bit some lark about, making the ultimate sacrifice in the name of love being the most powerfull magic of all. The same thing that his mother did for him.

I read a very interesting piece here setting out a literary argument for why Harry won't die - ie an argument from literary convention and JKR's use thereof. My big fear is that Ron is going to die. In my opinion, there are more reasons for it to be Ron than for it to be Harry. He's also the one with a history of sacrificing himself for Harry.

I've re-named the thread (its name is shorter now, and the word SPOILER meets the eye a little better.)

In short, for now: I've read it, and honestly said, after the dust has settled, I grow more and more unsatisfied with the book.

It read rushed to me, not pacing. There are logical loopholes which pointing out isn't even nitpicking - especially in a series where one of the charming things was that when the plot twisted, all the hints and clues had been there and the details had an inner logic to themselves. That has been shamefully neglected during the last two volumes. (At least when these facts fitting, and not contradicting details from the last volume, was always important in that series. In that regard, the HP books are different to those (like DW) where the world and its facts evolved and things in book 25 may contradict a side remark from book 1.)

There has been a lot of out of character behavior, which is somthing different to character development.

There has been sheer silliness, and not of the charming kind of the first four volumes.

The epilogue!? Ouch.

There are other discussable things, I think. I'll write a rather more detailed ran..., er, review tomorrow - I'm really tired now...

But let's put it that way... I am not convinced.

MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED
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I don't know, I found myself to be feeling quite satisfied with the way things ended. That may have just been me being pleased that my Snape theory and my Harry-is-actually-a-horcrux theory proved correct.

I definitely think it bears a second readthrough, but I was on the whole satisfied with the ending of the series upon first read. I think the way Harry 'died' was a twist I was not expecting - always good for someone who reads heavily inside the genre and is rarely surprised by anything in a fantasy book.

A better ending than book six for me, because there was less of the happy-happy 'everyone's getting into these cutesy couples' feeling. Definitely less of that. I didn't really find it rushed, just fast-paced for a greater sense of urgency -- which really there was throughout the story.

I'll probably find some things to be dissatisfied with upon another readthrough, but for now, after a first read, I find myself pleased -- maybe because I'm a sucker for a happy ending, or maybe because I don't have to stalk JK Rowling until I get some answers, or, of course, the happy feeling could just stem from the fact that I knew from the start Snape couldn't be all bad... nothing feels better than being proven right after all...

...or maybe that's just me...

No spoiler wanrings from me, those wandering here have been warned enough!
Well, things I did like to start with, and then a lengthy rant...

Things I did like:

• The redemtion theme, and how it was applied to expected and unexpected characters – Draco, Snape, Dumbledore, his brother, Scrimgeour, even Grindelwald…
• The ministry scenes, where the muggleborns are being registered, even if the historical parallels are a little to obvios, almost… (Nazi Germany, South Africa…)
• The background story about poor Tuney and her letter, and how rejected she felt.
• Side characters, where they were allowed to actually unfold a little (Dumbledores old friend, Dudley, Aunt Muriel, the Delacroix...). Well, all except Daddy Lovegood, but that’s personal taste.
• How Wormtail was killed. Not for reasons of satisfaction, it was just one of those “should have seen it coming but didn't”- bits I missed… And similar scenes.
• See Nr. Eight from my didn't like list.
• That there wasn’t dwelling on things that were already told. No lenghty stuff about the Chamber, not much looking back etc, not much more about the house elfs and the giants, because we already read how what came, came to be. I just would have liked it if the things that looked like they still had to be told or were plain missing hadn't been neglected like that. There seems to be no difference having been made between them.
• The end was thrilling, the last few chapters I mean. It wouldn't have kept me awake that long if it hadn't been.
  

And now, the stuff I didn't like. Sorry if it's geeky, sorry if it's long.

• For a book where so much happened, it was still astonishing how it took 100 pages to take off at all – I think that is when the wedding was interrupted – and spend another good deal of pages sulking around in the forest, that is a lot… Well, more room for the neglected side stories with formerly-important-and-beloved-characters-now-being-canonfodder would have been nice, a few sentences would, in some cases, have made all the difference…

• Logical flaw: It has been pointed out in OotP that Trelawney made two prophecies (the second one to Harry in PoA), and never remembered that she made them or what happened around her during that time. Now, Both Dumbledore in OotP and Snape in DH state the intruder, or eavesdropper, Snape, has only heard the first half of the prophecy (“I told him all, all I had heard!”) If he had told Voldemort the entire prophecy, OotP would never have happened… How can Trelawney remember she was interrupted, and remember who it was, if it happened in the middle of her see-ing induced trance?

• They are droppping like the flies. Well, it is a battle, so that is not astonishing. It is a work of fiction, though, so it would have been in the author’s power to get that across not so much like a shopping list of doom…

• Ron faked parseltongue to get into chamber of secrets. Given how mysterious and unique the gift of speaking Parseltongue was portrayed until that stood in the way of rushing the action, that seems like one of the 1001 deus ex machina effects in the book. There were a few too many of them already.

• Mrs Weasley finishes off Bellatrix Lestrange, while the rest of the crowd merely watches due to respect off dramatic purposes. These wizrding folks firmly believe into the narrative laws, right? Other than that, well, Rowling has a thing for motherly love and its power. Mrs Weasley can here be seen in top form. A hint in one of the earlier six volumes or this one that she is such a powerful fighter would have boosted this scenes credibility, though.

• The side story of Lupin and Tonks, and wether their baby was borned cursed or not (is that even mentioned?), was totally… was there a check list of “things that have to have happened by the end of the series”? This was one of the side stories where just two really good sentences would have helped so much. You end up feeling they only reproduced before being killed off screen so a Lupin could appear in the epilogue and be matched with a Weasley.

• The epilogue… Harry Pooter TNG, anyone? And… those names! Scorpius! *cringes * I also find one thing, well, interesting in a geeky way: Here’s the offspring of our heroes. The cast for future fanfics. And they are all… pureblood… with two wizarding parents…

• “One of the bravest men I ever knew…” Well, Harry always was a forgiving person. I can see him chainging his mind about a person that much. Over the course of nineteen years, and that person being dead, that is. Because Snape would never have become little Albus' second namesake if he had still been alive… And poor Snape deserves to be remembered, even when book 7 portraits him as far too pitiful and fixated for my taste, too soap-ish in his motivations. I am not for romantics, not to that(!) degree at least, but the chapter were Harry sees his memories contains a few heart wrenching pieces where I was reminded of what I liked about the earlier books, how Rowling could get across a lot of backstory in one short description, with a few words. Still, a bit less one dimensional as to motivations, values, etc, of one of the characters many readers had the most questions about, would have been nice. Love of his life. So. But that alone, would that steer anybodys decisions like that even seventeen years after her death? And n