Harry Potter recap to date
Apr. 26th, 2007 12:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jackThe obvious thing to do is trace the plot to date, both from the point of view of our knowledge now and our knowledge at the time that part of the backplot was revealed.
I'll assume stated reasons (for magic or motivation) are plausible, even if they don't seem so, as nitpicking probably won't produce anything useful[1], but look for any actual holes. In other words, no "why didn't" but lots of "why did".
N. = nitpick. Where I think a rationalisation is logically insufficient, but true within the context of the books.
Q. = a fact check. Someone remind me what happened?
O. = Outstanding. A hole that might be important.
[1] I remember trying to analyse the ending of Matrix II. My analysis was way off, but in a sense accurate, in that I started by discounting the possibility Neo had acquired power over machines in the real world unless the third film way going to throw away all common sense and the strengths of the first one.
Young Voldemort
Voldemort is born Tom Riddle, to Merope (descendant of Salazar Slytherin), and Tom Riddle Sr (rich muggle). He grows up in an orphanage where he shows large magical talent and cruelty. At 11, Teacher Dumbledore brings him to Hogwarts, where he hides his darker side and becomes successful and popular.
However, he continues to experiment and learn about dark magic in secret, and forms a cadre of friends who support him. He learns about Horcruxes from Professor Slughorn. He learns how to open Salazar Slytherin's chamber of secrets, affirming his heritage and using the monster to kill muggle-borns.
However, when the school is threatened to be closed, he frames Hagrid for opening the Chamber. Hagrid is expelled, and Tom desists. While still at school, he creates horcrux (i), a diary, embodying his opening of the chamber.
N. Did he need to frame Hagrid? He could just have stopped the attacks. He'd only need the frame if he thought he might be caught, which didn't seem the case. Did he just do it for spite to hurt Hagrid?
Q. Was that then, or later on?
Q. Apparently he keeps this with him, and gives it Lucius Malfoy after he leaves Hogwarts, intending him to slip it into the school to try to shut it down. Is that right?
Voldemort rise to power
Voldemort graduates, works for B&B, collects several vital magical artefacts he intends to use as horcruxes -- his grandfather's ring (ii) found with Morfin at his grandfather's old house, Slytherin's locket (iii), that his mother sold, and was sold on to an old witch, and Hufflepuff's cup (iv) which she also had.
He acquires followers, disappears for a time, and then comes to Hogwarts wanting to teach. When rejected, he begins gaining power in earnest. This period isn't quite clear in my head, something like a civil war, I suppose.
Harry's parents
Q. I'm not sure, Voldemort seems to have been imminent but not quite there when they were at school -- contemporary people became death eaters, but the school wasn't under siege then.
James Potter, Sirius, Lupin and Pettigrew were great friends. James and Snape hated each other. James was popular and successful but a prat for a long time. Snape was unpopular and dark. Lily initially hated James, but they got together by the last year.
Sirius tricked Snape into seeing Lupin transform, when he might have been mauled or killed. James brought him back. Q. I'm not sure how much James risked himself in this, or how Snape felt about it at the time.
After graduation, when Voldemort becomes prominent, James and Lily join the Order of the Phoenix, and Snape becomes a Death Eater.
The prophecy
Snape and Trelawney go to meet Dumbledore in the Hog's Head interviewing for teachers' positions. Snape overhears her prophecising a child who could defeat Voldemort, but not the rest of the prophecy, and tells Voldemort.
Voldemort assumes this means Harry, son of Lily and James Potter, and wants to kill him. Snape defects back to Dumbledore, possibly because of this, and becomes a spy.
Q. I can't remember. Wasn't someone supposed to have warned Dumbledore that Voldemort wanted to kill young Harry? I assumed that was Snape. But if he knew Snape knew the prophecy and then became a death eater, wouldn't it be obvious that'd be what V wanted to do?
Lily and James hide, with Pettigrew, but supposedly Sirius, as secret keeper. Peter betrays them. Voldemort goes there (alone?) and tries to kill Harry, but the curse rebounds and kills him. Sirius tries to kill Peter in revenge, but Peter tricks him and goes into hiding.
Harry at School
In year one, Voldemort possesses holidaying professor Quirrel, and tries to steal the Philosopher's Stone to return to real life, but is defeated by Harry. In year two, Harry finds and destroys the diary. In year three, Pettigrew, hiding as the Weaslys' family rat, is unmasked and returns to him.
Q. Note, Dumbledore is entirely blind to Quirrel.
Q. Pettigrew would probably have been happier trying to hide as a rat again.
In year four, Voldemort discovers Crouch Jr, and in an extremely convoluted plot, kidnaps Harry and uses him in a rite to return to his full power.
Book five
Voldemort engages in another extremely convoluted plot to kidnap Harry, this time to retrieve a copy of the prophecy hidden in the Department of Mysteries in the Ministry of Magic. This fails, and he is revealed and banished by Dumbledore.
Book six
Dumbledore finds and destroys the ring horcrux. He and Harry discover Voldemort's history. They find the locket, but it has already been stolen.
Draco joins V and is ordered to kill Dumbledore, which he tries very half-heartedly. His mother asks Snape to make an unbreakable vow to help him or do so in his place. Draco lets death eaters into the castle, Snape joins them, and kills Dumbledore.
I'll assume stated reasons (for magic or motivation) are plausible, even if they don't seem so, as nitpicking probably won't produce anything useful[1], but look for any actual holes. In other words, no "why didn't" but lots of "why did".
N. = nitpick. Where I think a rationalisation is logically insufficient, but true within the context of the books.
Q. = a fact check. Someone remind me what happened?
O. = Outstanding. A hole that might be important.
[1] I remember trying to analyse the ending of Matrix II. My analysis was way off, but in a sense accurate, in that I started by discounting the possibility Neo had acquired power over machines in the real world unless the third film way going to throw away all common sense and the strengths of the first one.
Young Voldemort
Voldemort is born Tom Riddle, to Merope (descendant of Salazar Slytherin), and Tom Riddle Sr (rich muggle). He grows up in an orphanage where he shows large magical talent and cruelty. At 11, Teacher Dumbledore brings him to Hogwarts, where he hides his darker side and becomes successful and popular.
However, he continues to experiment and learn about dark magic in secret, and forms a cadre of friends who support him. He learns about Horcruxes from Professor Slughorn. He learns how to open Salazar Slytherin's chamber of secrets, affirming his heritage and using the monster to kill muggle-borns.
However, when the school is threatened to be closed, he frames Hagrid for opening the Chamber. Hagrid is expelled, and Tom desists. While still at school, he creates horcrux (i), a diary, embodying his opening of the chamber.
N. Did he need to frame Hagrid? He could just have stopped the attacks. He'd only need the frame if he thought he might be caught, which didn't seem the case. Did he just do it for spite to hurt Hagrid?
Q. Was that then, or later on?
Q. Apparently he keeps this with him, and gives it Lucius Malfoy after he leaves Hogwarts, intending him to slip it into the school to try to shut it down. Is that right?
Voldemort rise to power
Voldemort graduates, works for B&B, collects several vital magical artefacts he intends to use as horcruxes -- his grandfather's ring (ii) found with Morfin at his grandfather's old house, Slytherin's locket (iii), that his mother sold, and was sold on to an old witch, and Hufflepuff's cup (iv) which she also had.
He acquires followers, disappears for a time, and then comes to Hogwarts wanting to teach. When rejected, he begins gaining power in earnest. This period isn't quite clear in my head, something like a civil war, I suppose.
Harry's parents
Q. I'm not sure, Voldemort seems to have been imminent but not quite there when they were at school -- contemporary people became death eaters, but the school wasn't under siege then.
James Potter, Sirius, Lupin and Pettigrew were great friends. James and Snape hated each other. James was popular and successful but a prat for a long time. Snape was unpopular and dark. Lily initially hated James, but they got together by the last year.
Sirius tricked Snape into seeing Lupin transform, when he might have been mauled or killed. James brought him back. Q. I'm not sure how much James risked himself in this, or how Snape felt about it at the time.
After graduation, when Voldemort becomes prominent, James and Lily join the Order of the Phoenix, and Snape becomes a Death Eater.
The prophecy
Snape and Trelawney go to meet Dumbledore in the Hog's Head interviewing for teachers' positions. Snape overhears her prophecising a child who could defeat Voldemort, but not the rest of the prophecy, and tells Voldemort.
Voldemort assumes this means Harry, son of Lily and James Potter, and wants to kill him. Snape defects back to Dumbledore, possibly because of this, and becomes a spy.
Q. I can't remember. Wasn't someone supposed to have warned Dumbledore that Voldemort wanted to kill young Harry? I assumed that was Snape. But if he knew Snape knew the prophecy and then became a death eater, wouldn't it be obvious that'd be what V wanted to do?
Lily and James hide, with Pettigrew, but supposedly Sirius, as secret keeper. Peter betrays them. Voldemort goes there (alone?) and tries to kill Harry, but the curse rebounds and kills him. Sirius tries to kill Peter in revenge, but Peter tricks him and goes into hiding.
Harry at School
In year one, Voldemort possesses holidaying professor Quirrel, and tries to steal the Philosopher's Stone to return to real life, but is defeated by Harry. In year two, Harry finds and destroys the diary. In year three, Pettigrew, hiding as the Weaslys' family rat, is unmasked and returns to him.
Q. Note, Dumbledore is entirely blind to Quirrel.
Q. Pettigrew would probably have been happier trying to hide as a rat again.
In year four, Voldemort discovers Crouch Jr, and in an extremely convoluted plot, kidnaps Harry and uses him in a rite to return to his full power.
Book five
Voldemort engages in another extremely convoluted plot to kidnap Harry, this time to retrieve a copy of the prophecy hidden in the Department of Mysteries in the Ministry of Magic. This fails, and he is revealed and banished by Dumbledore.
Book six
Dumbledore finds and destroys the ring horcrux. He and Harry discover Voldemort's history. They find the locket, but it has already been stolen.
Draco joins V and is ordered to kill Dumbledore, which he tries very half-heartedly. His mother asks Snape to make an unbreakable vow to help him or do so in his place. Draco lets death eaters into the castle, Snape joins them, and kills Dumbledore.
no subject
Date: 2007-04-26 02:38 pm (UTC)Yes, but I'd assume he gave it to Malfoy immediately before Malfoy gave it to Ginny.
"Q. I'm not sure how much James risked himself in this, or how Snape felt about it at the time."
By being in human form near a werewolf, James risked his own death or being turned into a werewolf. The terms of a "Life Debt" are that someone must risk their own life, when they have a choice of not risking it, to save someone else's, and succeed at saving the other person. James qualifies because he could have turned into an Animagus and been at no risk, but he transformed to human, risking his own life, to save Snape. If another non-Animagus student had gone with Snape and, perhaps, grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the way, it wouldn't have qualified because they would have been at risk too.
"Q. I can't remember. Wasn't someone supposed to have warned Dumbledore that Voldemort wanted to kill young Harry? I assumed that was Snape. But if he knew Snape knew the prophecy and then became a death eater, wouldn't it be obvious that'd be what V wanted to do?"
Snape was already a Death Eater at the time he heard the prophecy.
It's unclear in canon, but somewhere near this time-- as in, within a matter of a few days-- is when Snape defected.
The full prophecy actually indicated only a child born at the end of July-- that could be either Harry or Neville. Voldemort either (a) guessed it would be Harry or (b) had plans to take out Neville next, which were foiled by his defeat at Harry's crib.
no subject
Date: 2007-04-26 06:22 pm (UTC)Though about q1, wasn't lurking somewhere abroad disembodied in the second book? I thought he'd given LM the diary years ago before he was "killed" the first time.
no subject
Date: 2007-04-26 06:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-26 07:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-03 02:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-17 03:05 pm (UTC)