some kind of snark faery (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
arcanetrivia) wrote2007-09-09 12:59 pm
arcanetrivia) wrote2007-09-09 12:59 pm
Entry tags:
because the world needs another ranty, nitpicky post on Deathly Hallows
(But nitpicking is what Virgos do best, you see. I'm just following the instincts of my species.)
There's a DH spoiler further down in this post, but I figure anyone who cares absolutely must have read it by now, so I'm not cutting this.
I'm going to skip the major WTFs of the extremely bizarre behavior of the Deluminator and the mechanics of wand ownership and the Fidelius Charm, and I've already been over (though elsewhere) how Splinching oneself during Apparation has been turned from something rather comical-sounding into a source of potentially life-threatening injury.
First I'm going to pick on two things I haven't seen anyone else poke at yet:
1. The sound effect of Apparation. It's always been described as making a very loug cracking noise. Uncle Vernon mistakes/passes off the sound of Mundungus Disapparating as a car backfiring, which is very loud indeed. But in Deathly Hallows, suddenly people are doing it with quiet "pop"s. Buh?
2. This business about Snitches' "flesh memories". Kind of a cool idea in and of itself, and I'm willing to buy an enchantment like this for actual professional play, but doesn't that mean you go through a ton of Snitches? I suppose you could Vanish them so there isn't a landfill problem, but you have to make them out of something in the first place. Snitchmakers must have quite a racket there. Are there such things as "practice Snitches" which don't work this way? And I'm dead sure Oliver, if not Harry, touches the Snitch when Oliver is explaining how to play Quidditch back in the first book. All in all, this seems to be another item from Jo's bulk pack of Oh, How Very Convenient Things.
One which has been:
Polyjuice potion now gives you the person's voice. edit 11/12/07: This always was. Film contamination, go to hell and die in a fire!
One inconsistency which I think is an improvement:
Coming up with the name "Deluminator" instead of "Put-Outer" (which is still used in OotP). It sounds so much cooler.
On the subject of Snape's death:
OK GUYZ LISSEN UP. I am as in denial about this as the next Snape fan and I am perfectly willing to listen to ideas about antivenin, phoenix tears, bezoars and all the rest. But quit trotting out that "put a stopper in death" (movie) or "stopper death" (book) line. UR READIN IT RONG. "Put a stopper in death" just means brewing deadly poisons. It's a poetic image like "bottling fame", which, sadly, does not mean trapping Gilderoy Lockhart in a glass jar until he suffocates. You put a stopper in a bottle. It has nothing to do with having an ace up your sleeve against death.
Kids' names:
What's wrong with the name "Scorpius"? I don't see what's to dis on there. I kinda like it, actually. It follows on Draco's own name as well as all the star names of his Black relatives, and it's certainly no weirder than names like Severus, Rubeus, Aberforth or Bartemius! I get the idea that wizarding children generally do not go to Muggle schools (especially Malfoy children! horrors!), so it's not like this kid is going to be picked on by the "normals".
And now a random throw-in from Goblet of Fire:
That cup must be the only Portkey in the world which is not only reversible, but which doesn't operate on a set schedule.
There's a DH spoiler further down in this post, but I figure anyone who cares absolutely must have read it by now, so I'm not cutting this.
I'm going to skip the major WTFs of the extremely bizarre behavior of the Deluminator and the mechanics of wand ownership and the Fidelius Charm, and I've already been over (though elsewhere) how Splinching oneself during Apparation has been turned from something rather comical-sounding into a source of potentially life-threatening injury.
First I'm going to pick on two things I haven't seen anyone else poke at yet:
1. The sound effect of Apparation. It's always been described as making a very loug cracking noise. Uncle Vernon mistakes/passes off the sound of Mundungus Disapparating as a car backfiring, which is very loud indeed. But in Deathly Hallows, suddenly people are doing it with quiet "pop"s. Buh?
2. This business about Snitches' "flesh memories". Kind of a cool idea in and of itself, and I'm willing to buy an enchantment like this for actual professional play, but doesn't that mean you go through a ton of Snitches? I suppose you could Vanish them so there isn't a landfill problem, but you have to make them out of something in the first place. Snitchmakers must have quite a racket there. Are there such things as "practice Snitches" which don't work this way? And I'm dead sure Oliver, if not Harry, touches the Snitch when Oliver is explaining how to play Quidditch back in the first book. All in all, this seems to be another item from Jo's bulk pack of Oh, How Very Convenient Things.
One which has been:
One inconsistency which I think is an improvement:
Coming up with the name "Deluminator" instead of "Put-Outer" (which is still used in OotP). It sounds so much cooler.
On the subject of Snape's death:
OK GUYZ LISSEN UP. I am as in denial about this as the next Snape fan and I am perfectly willing to listen to ideas about antivenin, phoenix tears, bezoars and all the rest. But quit trotting out that "put a stopper in death" (movie) or "stopper death" (book) line. UR READIN IT RONG. "Put a stopper in death" just means brewing deadly poisons. It's a poetic image like "bottling fame", which, sadly, does not mean trapping Gilderoy Lockhart in a glass jar until he suffocates. You put a stopper in a bottle. It has nothing to do with having an ace up your sleeve against death.
Kids' names:
What's wrong with the name "Scorpius"? I don't see what's to dis on there. I kinda like it, actually. It follows on Draco's own name as well as all the star names of his Black relatives, and it's certainly no weirder than names like Severus, Rubeus, Aberforth or Bartemius! I get the idea that wizarding children generally do not go to Muggle schools (especially Malfoy children! horrors!), so it's not like this kid is going to be picked on by the "normals".
And now a random throw-in from Goblet of Fire:
That cup must be the only Portkey in the world which is not only reversible, but which doesn't operate on a set schedule.