Lupin was my favorite character, but I think Fred hit me the worst because I really didn't see it coming.
I don't know which death made me more angry, Lupin/Tonks or Fred. I get the idea behind both. Making Lupin and Tonks' kid an orphan like Harry is poetic, and splitting up the twins is sort of a "scar that will never heal" thing. but you didn't need both. And arguably, the death of Dobby and Hedwig were sufficient to make Harry suffer before the victory. A lot of the later deaths in DH were overkill.
I kind of get where you're coming from and they were all tough to take but I disagree. We know that Voldemort and the DEs, in his first attempt at total power, killed a ton of people. Now by the end of DH, they've taken over the Ministry and have complete control besides some pockets of resistance. They're heartless killers and if they hadn't done significant damage it would have diminished the seriousness of the conflict and their villainy is trivialized.
Fred hit me the hardest. Fred and George were destined to be the greatest comedic gift to the wizarding world, instead George will have to live the rest of his life missing his other half with no one else witty enough to finish his jokes.
Fred and Dobby were definitely the worst. Would rather have had anyone else in the Weasley family die besides the twins, and that includes Ron. Dobby was super sad but at least he went out saving Harry. Lupin you didn't even see first hand and you knew he'd die along with all the other mauraders. Tonks never did anything for me.
Agree on all points. For Truman though I think it'll be bad just because he seems convinced they're safe
Overall, these hurt me the most: 1) Sirius 2) Lupin 3) Dobby 4) Hedwig Sirius and Lupin for obvious reasons. Dobby and Hedwig because they hurt Harry badly. Hedwig had been Harry's constant companion, and Dobby and the house elves (Kreacher can get fucked) became such an adorable storyline... Dobby's death and funeral were beautifully written and Harry really comes into his own while mourning him at Shell Cottage. I don't think any of the deaths were gratuitous, though. Harry had suffered quite enough by DH, but things has to get worse before they got better- Voldemort was winning the war to that point- and people were going to sacrifice for the cause. Lupin infuriated me, though, I wanted him and Tonks to live, he had suffered enough.
Not sure if I've posted this in here before... But to George Weasley... every mirror in the world is the Mirror of Erised.
I felt the most sorry for Mrs. Weasley. She had been tortured by the thought of losing her family since Order of the Phoenix. I had always expected either Bill, Charlie, or Percy to get got by Rowling, but she knew those wouldn't hurt enough, so she went for poor Fred. She had a real marvelous talent for writing extremely impactful deaths.
That's a good example of fitting everything to your theory and ignoring the things that make it unlikely to be true. I don't think there's much more to the magical artifacts than their usefulness in Harry's journey... -Mirror of Erised: This is where we learn how good and pure Harry is, and later that Dumbledore was hiding things from Harry... obviously, it helps Harry defeat Voldemort. -Penseive: A tool used by Harry, Dumbledore, and Snape in the second wizarding war. -The Veil: Harry simply learns for the first time that there is life after death. It's the Potter version of Gandalf's discussion with one of those fools of a Took before their world almost ends. I doubt seriously there is much more to them than that, and if they had been in some way connected to other magical properties, I think Rowling would have expanded on it. One great thing about her, she didn't make you write your own ending for her. She tied up just about everything that really truly mattered while leaving some mystery around the magical world.
This is the same for me. After these two it was Sirius and Hedwig. Moody was tough but in a different way.
I think I felt the worst at the part where Harry figured out that Luna had been captured, right after he saw the "friends" thing in her room.
Trumans mind is going to be absolutely blown by the snape chapter. He bought the snape is evil thing hook line and sinker. So did I.
Finally convinced my 9 year old to read the first book a couple of weeks ago. She loved it and we watched the movie after she finished it. I was way more excited than she was. She hasn't been able to stop reading the series and just started Goblet of Fire this weekend. Such a proud moment. Also I finally revealed to her that I picked her name after reading the series and loving her name when I saw it. She thought that it was the coolest thing in the world. No, it's not Hermoine.
I'm pretty sure in real time Truman is reading The Prince's Tale chapter right now with his mouth agape.
It' barely mentioned and off the top of my head it's in the Half-Blood Prince. A relative of a major character. EDIT: Just checked, her name first appears in Deathly Hallows.
Also a fairly major character name in my other favorite series of all time (ASOIAF) although the name is Arianne.
True, but I'll explain that I liked the name only not the history of the character and then tell her how awesome Arianne is on ASOIAF, although she won't be able to read that until she is in high school or maybe even college.
By the time I got to book six I was convinced he was a red herring. Even when he killed Dumbledore I wondered if there was more to the story but as I read book seven that he took over the school and put death eaters in teaching positions that's when I bought it.