Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix (film)

Marie · #1 07-20-2007, 04:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lyrelyre

J.K Rowling says on her site that Harry didn't actually witness the death of his parents. He was in his "cot" and only saw the flash of green light. He did not actually witness death until Cedric was killed. Further, he didn't see them on the way back to the Hogwarts Express during his fourth year because he didn't fully appreciate Cedric’s death. Thus, he couldn’t see them until OotP.

As a side note...I feel like we give J. K. Rowling too much credit. I mean it has again and again been repeated that he remembers the flash of light and heard his mom screen. Luna can see them (and I don't believe that she witnessed her mother's death), and Neville can see them when his parents aren't even dead. J. K. just slipped up a little on this one. That's cool, but it surprises me that she can pull any explanation out of her azz, and folks are like "Oh ok...genius how you planned it that way."

**This is not directed at you, lyrelyre or CutiePie2000**

Glitter650 · #2 07-20-2007, 04:40 PM

I kinda wish they would've had a couple of scenes at St. Mungos... in the film... I feel like they kinda worked really hard to make it less dark than the book, because the book was really the darkest, and saddest of them all IMO...

MysticCat · #3 07-20-2007, 04:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marie

As a side note...I feel like we give J. K. Rowling too much credit. I mean it has again and again been repeated that he remembers the flash of light and heard his mom screen. Luna can see them (and I don't believe that she witnessed her mother's death), and Neville can see them when his parents aren't even dead. J. K. just slipped up a little on this one. That's cool, but it surprises me that she can pull any explanation out of her azz, and folks are like "Oh ok...genius how you planned it that way."

Umm, no, she's assuming you actually read the books and can reason a little.

Seeing a flash of green light and hearing his mom scream =/= seeing her die.

Luna never says one way or the other whether she actually saw her mother die, although her comment that "it was rather horrible" can give rise to the inference she saw it. Since that scene in the book comes after the scene where it's explained that "the only people who can see thestrals are people who have seen death" (p. 446, US hardback edition), you're reaching to find some inconsistency and afterthought explanation.

As for Neville:

Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 21 ("The Eye of the Snake") (p. 449, US hardback edition):

"You can see the thestrals, Longbotton, can you?" [Umbridge] said.

Neville nodded.

"Whom did you see die?" she asked, her tone indifferent.

"My . . . grandad," said Neville.

Maybe she's giving some readers too much credit.

christiangirl · #4 07-20-2007, 05:48 PM

Hmm...now that I've reread OotP, I realize that Luna never really did say she saw her mother die...Harry merely asked, "Who did you know that died?" and that's quite different, isn't it? Hmmm....in any case, I still feel that Harry should've been able to see them at the end of GoF, even if Cedric's death hadn't processed yet. That's not one of the conditions, is it? You've got to have seen death to see thestrals, not have seen it and come to grips with it as well. That was definitely a shoddy job of smoothing over, but she's done too much genius writing for me to really hold that one against her.

Alright, I'm peacing y'all out! I'm boycotting the net until Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is properly read!

MysticCat · #5 07-20-2007, 07:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by christiangirl

Hmmm....in any case, I still feel that Harry should've been able to see them at the end of GoF, even if Cedric's death hadn't processed yet. That's not one of the conditions, is it?

Not to be flippant about (okay, maybe I'm being a little flippant), but if JKR says its one of the conditions, than its one of the conditions. She created thestrals, so she can make the conditions whatever she bloody well wants to.

In any event, I find it interesting that when Hermione answers Hagrid's question about why some people can't see the thestrals, she does not say that it's because "the only people who can see thestrals are people who have seen someone die." What she says is, "the only people who can see thestrals are people who have seen death." Is there a difference between seeing someone die and seeing death? I don't know.

Quote:

Alright, I'm peacing y'all out! I'm boycotting the net until Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is properly read!

Same here!