Huzzah!
/me goes off to read them
![[User Picture]](https://l-userpic.livejournal.com/49302588/1010261) | From:  rjw1
2007-07-26 12:54 pm (UTC)
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ive not read the books. just heard peopel prattle on about it. ive read the plot sypnosis on wikipedia. i do hope no one was surprised harry was one of the horcruxes.
freakytigger made an excellent, mostly spoiler free post. It's currently friends locked, but he also covers some similar ground on Freaky Trigger itself.
![[User Picture]](https://l-userpic.livejournal.com/116166715/889435) | From: nou
2007-07-26 01:53 pm (UTC)
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I can't read the friends-only post, but the Freaky Trigger one; yes, interesting.
Is the wizarding world actually "recreating" bureaucracy and pettiness and so on, or is that just coming out of the kind of people who end up in it? I mean, what decides who does end up in the wizarding world? OK, many (most?) are born into it, but there's inflow via the muggle-borns — and I don't remember ever seeing any explanation of what causes a muggle-born. The British wizarding world seems fairly flat and homogeneous in comparison with British society in general.
![[User Picture]](https://l-userpic.livejournal.com/127442164/602167) | From: lnr
2007-07-26 01:00 pm (UTC)
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I have just carefully added this post to my memories without reading any of the comments on it. I'm re-reading them in French at the moment (just starting book 4) and will read book 7 when it comes out in late September, and will be doing by best to avoid spoilers until then.
I'm still interested in what other people think though, so this will be useful then!
Sadly I appear to be reading faster than expected, and will probably reach the end of book 6 too soon.
| From: nou
2007-07-26 01:54 pm (UTC)
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I thought it might be useful for that sort of thing too :) I'm aiming to keep adding any posts that people make from now on.
![[User Picture]](https://l-userpic.livejournal.com/2949189/725716) | From: pne
2007-07-26 01:28 pm (UTC)
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Thanks for the pointer; I enjoyed it quite a bit, too!
| From: pne
2007-07-26 01:18 pm (UTC)
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Something I didn't notice when I read the story but that someone (I forget who) pointed out to me:
Harry is Teddy's godfather. But what, exactly, does that entail?
Even if it doesn't entail "ensuring the child gets a religious upbringing should the parents not be able to provide one", one could have expected it to entail raising the child once its parents are gone.
However, in the epilogue, it seems that Teddy was raised by his grandmother, not by Harry.
Perhaps I'm simply misinterpreting the term "godfather", though, and it's more of a title than something that carries certain responsibilities.
That surely depends on circumstances of other people available for raising-of-child, no?
(I know that if my parents had died when I was little, my godmother wasn't the person who they named in their will to raise my sister & I; because she lived in Edinburgh & already had 2 kids of her own, among other reasons.)
In the book - Harry is supposed to be barely 18 when Lupin & Tonks die, hasn't even finished his education, & has just come out of a massively stressful situation (after which he's going to have a fair amount of mental rebuilding to do). If there's someone else more qualified to raise Teddy (e.g. his grandmother), then surely they'd be better off doing so? It is made clear in the epilogue that Harry's seeing a lot of him.
| From: nou
2007-07-26 01:57 pm (UTC)
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raising the child once its parents are gone
Is that what it means in Christianity? The wizarding world seems to be atheist_(Christian) rather than Christian, so I think Harry being Teddy's godfather is more of an honourary "great friend of the family" title rather than anything involving actual responsibilities.
| From: pne
2007-07-26 02:07 pm (UTC)
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Is that what it means in Christianity?
I was under the impression that a godfather was the person responsible for a child's religious education, should the parents not be able to provide it. (And I presume that by extension, they'd be responsible for ensuring the child is taken care of if the parents cannot do so themselves, either by taking in the child themselves or making sure it's places somewhere else, e.g. with relatives.)
But I could be wrong; my denomination doesn't "do" godparents.
| From: pne
2007-07-26 02:11 pm (UTC)
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FWIW, Wikipedia says that "Traditionally, the godparents were counted informally responsible for ensuring that the child's religious education was carried out, and for caring for the child should he/she be orphaned." (s.v. godparent); I suppose "traditionally" is the operative word here.
| From: nou
2007-07-26 02:14 pm (UTC)
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I suppose "traditionally" is the operative word here.
Or maybe my point about the wizarding world not actually being Christian?
| From: pne
2007-07-26 02:21 pm (UTC)
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Sorry; I was insufficiently clear.
Yes, they do not seem Christian (or even overtly religious); however, my expectation was that the non-religious part of godparentship (sc. "the godparents were counted informally responsible for [...] caring for the child should he/she be orphaned.") would be/could have been what was intended in the book.
That was also what my comment about "traditionally" was meant to convey -- that apparently, not even this non-religious relationship may have been intended but rather, as you say, more something of an honorary title.
| From: rjw1
2007-07-26 02:07 pm (UTC)
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Harry is Teddy's godfather. But what, exactly, does that entail?
making people sleep with the fishes.
As well as being somewhat sexist, it's also *massively* heterocentric. Although one might argue that the fanfic culture makes up for that ;-)
| From: nou
2007-07-26 02:02 pm (UTC)
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Yes. Not convinced it's significantly more heterocentric than sexist though (if it's ever useful to try and quantify these things).
Oh you noticed that too..?
That doesn't bother me, but you might like to take a look at Diane Duane's "Wizardry" series: there are several female characters in active roles, and arguably two of the male characters are in a long term gay relationship.
| From: nou
2007-07-26 02:12 pm (UTC)
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Post edited, thank you!
I've made mine public, too, but will probably put it back to friends only after the weekend.
There's some info from an interview with Rowling here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19959323/That gives some more details on what happens after the epilogue, e.g. what the various characters now do for a living. | 
