I have recently finished reading
the Harry Potter series for the first time in my life. Many attempts have been
made to read this series. My first attempt was when I was young, and my sister
read it to me and after every chapter she would quiz me on what she read. After
numerous failed quizzes she gave up on me. Now she is a junior high school teacher;
her poor students! May they have more mercy than I ever had!
Anyway, after copious numbers of fans
encouraged me to read the series, I recently accepted their challenge and read it. I enjoyed the series for the most
part. The last book was the weakest in my opinion. But after reading the books, here are 5 takeaways that I noticed while reading the series for the first time.
Fair warning, I watched all the
movies before reading the books, but it has been a long time since I have seen
them. The books are better than the movies so if you liked the movies and have
not read the book, read them! Also, spoilers. . .
Voldemort Could Have
Won if he Trusted His Followers
In the first book Voldemort is
using Quirrell to host his spirit as he attempts to get the sorcerer’s stone. Instead
of doing it all on his own if he confided in Snape that he is with Quirrell, then Snape would have been bound to prevent Quirrell from getting the stone increasing
Voldemort chances on getting it and becoming resurrected, even though Snape was a double agent.
Also, if Voldemort kept his
promise not to harm Lily Potter, then he would have a devoted Snape following
him. With Lily surviving, the prophecy would have been voided. Without killing Lily, Harry wouldn’t have
been marked therefore he would not have an equal.
"The one with the power to
vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... born to those who have thrice defied him,
born as the seventh month dies... and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal,
but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not... and either must die at the
hand of the other, for neither can live while the other survives... the one
with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month
dies..."
Neville Longbottom
is a Leader
In the movies I remember Neville
being a burden with low affinity for magic, but he stood up for his friends.
He will do what he must to protect them. In the books he starts off the same
way, but in the seventh book he becomes a leader.
When Harry, Ron, and Hermine need
to find a horcrux in Hogwarts they meet up with Neville who sneaks them into the
school. We find out that Neville has been taking a stand against the Death
Eaters and is the leader of Dumbledore's Army. Because of this, he gets tortured with the crucio curse (the same curse that was used
against his parents), blackmailed (they attempt to kill his grandma), and, finally, they try
to kill him. That year he became a leader for the school. When he spoke no one
talked, they listened. Unlike Voldemort’s followers Neville’s followers trusted him
because he loved them. No wonder he could have been the other chosen one. He has something Voldemort didn't. . .
The Comedy is Priceless
From the movies I knew that Fred
and George were the comedic relief, but in the books, they are way more fun.
Not only were they the comedic relief they were friends with Harry Potter and
they were the trouble makers for the school. What James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus
Lupin, and Petter Pettigrew did at school was nothing compared to the twins
did.
Peeves was a character in the
books that was never in the movies. He was a ghost that caused trouble for the
faculty and students, but no one could do anything about him. He didn’t listen
to anyone except Fred and George. In book 5, Order of the Phoenix, Fred
and George are leaving school with a bang and gave Peeves an instruction and he
listened.
"'Give her hell from us, Peeves.'
And Peeves, whom Harry had never seen take an order from a student before,
swept his belled hat from his head and sprang to a salute as Fred and George
wheeled about to tumultuous applause from the students below and sped out of
the open front doors into the glorious sunset."
Loosing a Wand in
a Duel
In the last book, Deathly
Hallows, the idea of wand ownership was introduced. If you lost in a duel than the winner
of that wand would have been able to use the loser’s wand better than the
loser. This is how Harry wins against Voldemort in the end. The Elder Wand was
rightfully Harry’s and, therefore, Voldemort spell backfired when using Harry’s
wand against him.
This should have been introduced
earlier in the series. If it did, I believe it would have been a great tie-in
to how the ending of the last book. The rules are confusing and I think
readers would be able to understand it better if we had more time to learn
about it.
Also does this mean when they
practiced dueling in the second book, Chamber of Secrets, the winner of
each duel would have a new wand, potentially a collection of new wands?
Dumbledore Died by Greed
We all know that Dumbledore is
the mentor in the series and like every mentor he dies to help the chosen one. In
the books we learn that Dumbledore's downfall is because of his greed for immortality. When Dumbledore gets Marvolo’s Ring with the resurrection stone in it, he
puts on the ring because of his desire to resurrect his family and therefore became
cursed which led to his death. Dumbledore has always been interested in immortality: we've known this since
book one, since he helped create the Sorcerer’s Stone.
I think it was clever of how we learned of Dumbledore’s imperfections and desires for immortality
which led him to his death and how that tied in with what we already know about him.
In conclusion, I see why people love this series. The series follow similar fantasy tropes, but also expands on them. The book is serious and also humorous. Instead of having a protagonist that everyone can relate to we have a teenager. Instead of Gandalf we have Dumbledore. The chosen one could have been anyone that Voldemort chooses. All in all I had a fun time reading this serious. If you have not read it you should!
