ThoughtfulChaos

Spoiler warning: Do NOT read this if you are going to read The Half-Blood Prince yourself. Many events and facts about the book are revealed here.

I am a bit sad right now. The last time I felt like this was when Sherlock Holmes plunges into the Reichenbach Falls and (supposedly) dies in The Adventure of the Final Problem. I finished reading The Half-Blood Prince (HBP) yesterday night. Dumbledore has finally died. I was expecting this since (by mistake) I read a review of HBP when it was released... still it was quite saddening.

I really like Dumbledore. His presence of mind, cool composure, wisdom, his way of talking and dealing with people and the forward looking views he harboured are really admirable. He is the perfect freethinker. In my heart of hearts I wish he would come back (like Sherlock Holmes did in The Adventure of the Empty House) in the next book. But I am probably being too unrealistic and/or optimistic. Various phenomenon (his photo appearing in the Headmaster's room in Hogwarts, his phoenix crying and then flying away, the headmasters room opening for McGonagall and the body bind curse on Harry wearing off ) suggest that he is gone forever. It would also be in the natural flow of the theme to expect Harry to battle Voldemort all alone.

I was quite surprised by the the fact that the "Half-Blood Prince" is not part the most central theme in the book. The identity of the Half-Blood Prince is revealed in the very end. Why does the HBP not occupy a more prominent place in the book? Sure it is quite important but definitely not the central theme. Horcruxes seemed like a more central and recurring theme to me. JKR has mentioned that the 6th book is more like the 1st part of a 2 book series. I am sure the 7th book would illuminate the role HBP plays in the entire saga.

The scene of Dumbledore's death is also very intriguing and open to multiple interpretations. Why does Dumbledore plead to Snape? Is he really pleading for mercy or he is pleading to be killed? It is not in Dumbledore's nature to plead to anyone. Therefore this pleading to Snape holds a lot of hidden meaning. Was there something in the potion that Dumbledore drank when trying to retrieve the locket? Was the drink itself 1 of the horcruxes and does the drinker get a part of Voldemort's soul? Maybe that explains the look of revulsion and disgust on Snape's face just before he kills Dumbledore. Does Dumbledore know that he is fatally wounded and therefore communicates to Snape to kill him so that Snape could still keep his cover (in fact strengthen it) and aid the fight against Voldemort. Snape and Dumbledore are both good Legilimens and could have talked to each other telepathically in the few moments preceding Dumbledore's death. Maybe Dumbledore ordered Snape to kill him so that he could still aid the Order in defeating Voldemort. Anyways Snape was bound by the Unbreakable Vow to help Draco Malfoy.

The loyalty of Snape has been left hanging in the balance. Almost everybody thinks that he is a traitor. But my gut feeling says otherwise. Dumbledore trusted him to the hilt. He would have excellent reason to trust Snape in spite of the numerous occasions and incidents that would put Snape's loyalty to the Order in doubt. I am sure Snape will play a pivotal role in the 7th book and redeem himself... maybe even die in the process..

There is also something fishy about Professor Slughorn always praising Lily Potter and never mentioning Snape even once even though he would also have been in the same year as Lily. Snape was an expert in potions and inventing spells (as the Advance Potion Making book of his shows) and therefore Slughorn should also have regarded him highly. However Slughorn does not praise Snape even once. A totally wild thought: Did Snape have a crush on Lily? JKR adds some more mich masala to this theory of mine by mentioning that an important and shocking secret of Lily would be revealed in the 7th book.

I felt that non verbal spells are somewhat of an inconsistency. 6th years are taught to use non verbal spells and Snape mentions that is expected of them to be good at it by the time they pass out. That would mean that lot of people would be adept at using them, at least all the powerful wizards. Even if they were not good at originally it would be in their best interests of many wizards (esp. Aurors and Death Eaters who frequently use magic for combat) to master it. However that does not seem to be the case. Very rarely are non verbal spells used in the earlier books. I think only Dumbledore uses them... and that was previously attributed to his great wizarding capabilities.

Some of my guesses about the relationships were true and some were false. Harry is with Ginny. Ron and Hermione are friends but do not seem to be dating each other. I am sure that will change in the future and we will see Ron and Hermione falling in love with each other in the last book :-)

What happens to the Order now? Its Secretkeeper is dead and Snape will have to reveal the location of its headquarters. How will he wriggle out of this one?

What about the 7th book? Good part is it will explain a lot of things that are still unexplained and the overall picture will be much clearer. JKR's interview at Edinburgh Book Festival is worth reading. Bad news is the 7th book wont come out for at least another 1.5-2 years. I am a little depressed by the possibility that much of the 7th book will be outside Hogwarts... in fact JKR has said that there wont be a single scene of Quidditch... that is an indicator of how different and serious the 7th book is going to be.

One thing I want to know more about is more technical explanation of magic in the wizard world. How does it work? Do the exact words in a spell have meaning to the aftereffects? How do you go about inventing (or discovering) spells and other magic? Why are people 'born' with magic? Why can they not learn it? Are wizarding capabilities genetic in nature? I think they are because they are because generally they run in families. Squibs and muggle-born wizards would be deviations in that case. (Srividhya, Linu... if you reading this maybe you could throw some light on it :-) )

All in all a very nice book. I end by quoting Dumbledore's very meaningful and relevant-to-the-real-world advice to Harry:
"It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." -- Albus Dumbledore

P.S. Even Bruce Schneier is blogging about the HBP !

(UPDATE Fri 09/09/2005) The Fantastical Facts page at HP Lexicon has a nice explanation of why Snape might have killed Dumbledore. I quote:

• So why did Dumbledore trust Snape? Did Snape take an Unbreakable Vow saying he'd never betray Dumbledore? Then who was the Bonder? Aberforth, maybe?
• And Snape, after more or less being tricked into vowing to kill Dumbledore, went to the Headmaster and explained the predicament he was in. One of the two of them had to die, and Dumbledore quickly realized it would make more sense for it to be him, not Snape. So they planned for Dumbledore to spend the year getting Harry up to speed while Snape kept Draco under control, then Snape killed Dumbledore. At the last moment, Snape almost couldn't do it and Dumbledore had to tell him "Severus, please..." Now Snape has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is Voldemort's best and most wonderful supporter, and is therefore in the best possible postion to help the side of good. So, did you figure that one out too?
• Or maybe Snape is just really, really evil.