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Musings #2:
Analysis of JKR's responses
by Matthew Vines
October 4, 2004
Unless you've been under a rock for the past few hours, you will have already read all of the F.A.Q. updates made to JKRowling.com this afternoon - there's quite a few this time! Although it seems fairly obvious that many more characters will kick the bucket in the next two books, it's still a touch disappointing to receive confirmation from Jo Rowling herself - hopefully Bellatrix Lestrange is one of them! (Oh, and don't forget Voldie!)
An analysis of some of the F.A.Q. answers:
Warning: As these analyses are written by Matthew, any theories brought up in them are most likely wrong.
- What did Dumbledore's Howler to Aunt Petunia mean? ('Remember my last'?)
In her response to this question, Rowling mentioned that this was an 'interesting' answer, meaning that there is more to it than meets the eye (however, this phrase applies to every sentence in the books). "Dumbledore is referring to his last letter...the letter he left upon the Dursleys' doorstep when Harry was one year old....Why did he say my last letter? Why, obviously because there were letters before that..." Responses like that make a fan go crazy!
We can safely presume that Petunia's sister Lily received an admissions letter from Hogwarts on her eleventh birthday, but it sounds as though other letters were written by Dumbledore to Petunia. At the Edinburgh Book Festival in August, Rowling stated that Petunia is not a squib...so why would Dumbledore have bothered to contact Petunia before Harry was left on her doorstep? We're left by our lonesome selves (actually, there's several million of us) to ponder the true meaning of his Howler.
- Will there be two chapters in the sixth book called 'Lupin's Papers' and 'The Lovegoods in Court'?
Sorry, but how can anyone fall for that (and I'm saying this after admitting that I fell for the Pillar of Storgé rumor)? Even if Lupin's "papers" and the Lovegoods being tried in court is part of the Half-Blood Prince plot, we can trust our beloved author to come up with slightly more creative chapter titles.
- You say that people cannot Apparate or Disapparate within Hogwarts and yet Dobby manages it, why is this?
Jo's response states that house elves are different from wizards and "have their own brand of magic" - I stand by my theory that the house elves will play a major role in the upcoming wizarding war.
- Are you going to kill any more characters?
As I said a few paragraphs ago, her response was predictable; what isn't entirely predictable, however, is who will die. With Order of the Phoenix, Jo narrowed the candidates down to 'one of Harry's fans' - but with this book, she's left the playing field wide open and has excluded no one. Well, she has technically excluded Harry, as she previously stated that he 'would live to book seven.' Going through a list of every character in the books would be extremely time-consuming and virtually pointless, as there is little evidence supporting anyone's death - merely speculation. To me, it seems logical that Remus will die in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (I stated my reasoning in my first column), but we really are left clueless. A very plausible reason explaining why she chose not to narrow it down this time is because several characters on both sides will meet their demise. It's unfortunately fairly safe to assume that members of the Order will die, but a large chunk of Voldie's crew will most likely meet "their termination" as well.
- How did Colin's camera work inside Hogwarts if it was a Muggle camera ("Chamber of Secrets")?
The way in which she responded to this question is thought-provoking - instead of merely stating "yes" or "no," she responded defensively: "Who says it worked? Colin never got to develop the film, so he never knew whether he had taken pictures correctly or not. All we know is that the insides of the camera were scorched when the Basilisk looked into the lens." You would think that Colin, at some point in his first year at Hogwarts, would attempt to develop the film (after all, he did get a picture of himself with Harry). But it seems as though Jo wants to keep the mysteries of the camera a secret for the time being - or perhaps she didn't want to admit a mistake.
- If a teacher is head of a house, can we assume that they were sorted into those houses when they were students at Hogwarts? Is that also true for the house ghosts? So was Snape a Slytherin?
Not the most 'must-think-of-new-theories-now' answer, but I do have one bit of speculation regarding this answer (which was affirmative all the way around, by the way). Although most characters this applies to have already shown the quality that defines their house (brave McGonagall, evil Snape, caring Sprout, smart Flitwick, evil Bloody Baron, etc.), one character might have something left to show: Nearly Headless Nick. Sure, he was rather brave when he almost lost his head one night in the 1400s, but he hasn't shown too much bravery in recent centuries. Perhaps he'll play a larger role in the next book?
- Do you like Sirius Black?
A perfect response from Jo. One thing caught my eye, though - notice how she refers to Sirius in the present tense, as though he's not dead. Although his status is intended to be shrouded in mystery at the moment, she's been acting like he's dead for the past year (by saying he died). JKR isn't a person who would slip up on something as major as that, yet it still interests me.
That's about it, folks. If anyone has a theory about the JKRowling.com updates that they'd like to share, please e-mail me!
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