Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Harry Potter & Deathly Hallows: Unanswered Questions

Two of us, me & Shradz got together to discuss the unresolved questions in Harry Potter so far. Nice timepass. Here is the outcome of approx 4 hours of hard work.

The unanswered Questions:

1. The Horcruxes
Dumbledore says Voldemort would have 7 Horcruxes: 2 belonging to the founders of Hogwarts, 1 the diary in Chamber of Secrets, 2 that he has destroyed, 1 being Voldemort himself. That leaves 1 more.
Dumbledore mentions Nagini as being the last one. However, cant the last one be Harry? After all, Dumbledore did mention in Chamber of Secrets that Voldemort transferred some part of himself in Harry without intending to (that's how Harry became a parseltongue). If Harry is the last one, then he has to die to kill Voldemort.
Or could it be both Nagini & Harry? Nagini was present when Voldemort murders the servant in the opening chapter of Goblet of Fire. She can easily be a horcrux too.

2. Snape-Good or Evil
Snape murders Dumbledore in front of Harry. Surely that settles it. Snape is evil.
But is he?
Dumbledore, the gr8est wizard ever. Could he make such a big error of judgement? Everyone tells him not to trust Snape but he does. I dont think so.
Wht if Dumbledore knew that Harry will never become independent, never discover his true strength if he was there. Harry is too dependent upon Dumbledore? Add to it that killing Dumbledore would put to rest any issues with the loyalty of Snape towards the dark side.
Towards the end of Half Blood Prince- Dumbledore says "Severus, please" before Snape kills him. Now lets see hw tht is explained in Deathly Hallows

3. Harry Potter v/s LOTR: Is Wormtail to Harry Potter what Gollum is to LOTR
Its an open secret that Harry Potter is greatly influenced by LOTR.
Harry - Frodo, Ron - Sam, Dumbledore - Gandalf, Voldemort - Sauron, Death Eaters - Nazguls, Order of the Phoenix - The Fellowship
Now when Harry lets Peter Pettigrew go, Dumbledore says something like "Wormtail might do a great service to you someday" akin to Gandalf saying "Who knows, even Gollum might play a role in the quest". I suppose Wormtail is going to help Harry get Voldemort and maybe dying in the way.

4. Harry Potter v/s LOTR/Star Wars: Dumbledore/Sirius going to return
Gandalf comes back after dying
So does Obi Wan
Well does that mean one of Dumbledore & Sirius is going to come back? At the end of Harry Potter 5, Harry asks Nearly Headless Nick about how people can return as ghosts. Seems like an innocent conversation at the face of it but Harry Potter fans know that even a single, innocent meaning line can have hidden meanings. I think one of them is going to come back as a ghost to guide Harry.

5. Dumbledore's smirk in Goblet of Fire
At the end of Goblet of Fire, Dumbledore gives a smile when Harry tells him that Voldemort is more powerful as he used Harry's potter to regain power.Now why would Dumbledore smile on hearing tht? He should be terrified, stupified, petrified, mortified thinking of the repercussions of the Dark Lord being stronger than before. Was it just Harry's eyes, or Dumbledore being proud of his student for once or something else?

6. The Prophecy
Is there a catch in the prophecy somewhere? Something in the fine print?What if Neville is destined to kill Voldemort after all? I guess Neville is the character who is gonna die and would be responsible for downfall of the Dark Lord.

7. RAB
Who is RAB? Is he Dumbledore's brother? Or maybe Sirius' brother?

8. What's behind the veil in the Department of Mysteries?

9. Does Harry learn any unforgivable curses? Does Harry become a killer?

These are just the major questions. There is a lot of unanswered stuff.

Now I just love to make predictions. Most of them fall flat but that doesnt deter me. So here it goes:
- Harry doesnt die, Neville dies & is responsible for downfall of the Dark Lord. He becomes the hero & Harry can go on living a normal life.
- Sirius/Dumbledore make a return
- Peter Pettigrew plays a hand in the downfall of Lord Voldemort
- Snape turns out to be the good guy

Saturday, July 21. Morning 5 AM. My questions will be answered. Only Time will tell if I am eligible for the post of Divination Teacher at Hogwarts. Maybe I'll take Shradz too.

PS: Couldnt help the extremely cheesy ending.







Monday, July 09, 2007

The Bose Effect

Last weekend, I ended up in the Bose showroom with my flatmate who wants a new set of earphones to go with his N91. Now while he was taking a look at his earphones, I just drifted around taking a look at various Bose products & making a mental catalogue of gadgets I wish to own someday.Sorry but this is also not what this post is about.
And I saw something that defied one of my childhood convictions. The poster said "Necessity is not the mother of all inventions". That got me thinking and I realized that what the poster said is true. I mean people didnt need bulbs or electricity, they were perfectly happy with candles & gas lanterns. Are cellphones a necessity or a luxury?
However, my inner self also had a counterview.To quote Akio Morita from "Made in Japan",
people are not aware of what technology is capable of. Its upto us to show them what technology can do
Most inventions start as items of luxury and become an integral part of our lives later on. 24/7 net access, google, wiki, youtube would be a few examples.
Guess like most things in life, this also is in grey. But I still think that most inventions come from ingenuity of the inventor rather than out of necessity.
About the usual stuff starting with cribbing about life in Bangalore.Well, I finally realized two things about Bangalore.
Its next to impossible to find an autorickshaw driver willing to take you to ur destination on the first try.
A movie ticket on a weekend can be flaunted as a status symbol
Ohh and turns out my flatmate was "settling" for Bose earphones. Now he is going for some 10k earphones. (& here I thot I was being extravagent by spending 1300/- on my earphones)