i know i’m late to the game, previous responsibilities held me back (the lengths i’ve had to go through to not have anything spoiled!), but i am finally able to read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the seventh and final book of the saga regarding “the boy who lived.” to celebrate this momentous occasion, i thought i would do a sort of running commentary, chapter by chapter, not only because of the story’s coming to a close, but also because it will help me piece things together from the previous six books. so i’ll read a chapter and then give my thoughts on it. that’s how this will work.

unlike most Potter fans, i don’t have an extensive list of predictions. i only have two main ones. snape is good and harry will die. i won’t fully develop my theory regarding harry’s death here (if you’re interested, a partially developed version is in the comments of this post at kari’s blog). all along i’ve thought that the book would end with harry’s death, but i’ve softened on that a little lately. i still think harry will die, but i’m not sure that the book will end with him dead as there could be some sort of resurrection after the final battle. but we shall see.

so, the commentary will commence after the jump (obviously, if you’ve not yet read the book and don’t want anything to be spoiled then proceed no further as there will be copious spoilers).

Chapter 1: The Dark Lord’s Ascending - i sat looking at the book for a while. then, when i finally opened it, i had a huge intake of breath. i think it just hit me that this is it. there’s no more books after this. all will soon become clear. there is no turning back. wow, the quotes before the chapter are quite ominous (CRACK!; rather fitting that i begin this chapter while one of the fiercest thunderstorms i’ve experienced is going on outside). ok, so Lucius somehow escaped from Azkaban, Snape is still ambiguous, Voldemort has discovered that he is the one that must kill Harry (duh!), and Nagini is about to feast on a professor i don’t even remember. death count: 1 (Charity Burbage). oh ya: yay for Lupin and Tonks!

Chapter 2: In Memoriam - number four, Privet Drive for perhaps the last time? sad! so Harry’s still broken up about Dumbledore and again realizes that there was so much he never got to ask his greatest mentor. also, that Rita Skeeter woman. man. talk about yellow journalism. although i wouldn’t be surprised out that there is some truth amidst the pack of lies.

Chapter 3: The Dursleys Departing - ah, the Dursleys. i will not be sad to see them go. but who would have known that Dudley was so….emotional? that was really kind of sweet. so the Order’s plans to move Harry have been changed. there’s obviously some connection to what was discussed in chapter 1. it will be interesting to see whose source, Snape’s or Yaxley’s, if either, is correct.

Chapter 4: The Seven Potters - whoa. INTENSE chapter. started out rather amusing, ended grimly. brilliant writing. so apparently Snape’s information was accurate and the Death Eaters knew of the Order’s plans. very interesting. another indication that there’s been a breakout from Azkaban. at least i think so. isn’t Stanley Shunpike supposed to be there? not looking that great as far as Snape’s goodness goes, but i’m sticking to that prediction. lots of questions come up in this chapter. poor Hedwig! death count: 2 (Hedwig; possibly 3 depending on what happened to Hagrid; and i guess i should say that i’m counting “good side” deaths).

Chapter 5: Fallen Warrior - Hagrid’s alive! phew! the Azkaban breakout is confirmed. and i knew it was because of Harry’s use of Expelliarmus that tipped Stanley off. i roll my eyes every time Harry uses that spell and i think it’s amusing that the Death Eaters consider that to be a trademark of Harry’s. although it’s interesting, and, i believe, quite significant, that Lupin is telling that he must grow up in his magic at the time that Harry is “coming of age.” i’m very curious to find out what the golden flames spell is. i love that Fred and George still cut up even though one has been seriously injured and they’re all in mortal peril. Mad-Eye will be greatly missed. next to Dumbledore, he was my favorite confirmed “good guy” (Snape, overall, is my favorite character in the book, largely because he is so brilliantly written). death count: 4 (Mad-Eye Moody, Ollivander).

Chapter 6: The Ghoul in Pajamas - one of the things i love most about these books is the casual conversations between Harry, Hermione, and Ron, especially as the idiosyncrasies of each comes out. this chapter was a welcome reprieve from the gravity of the previous two chapters, and an informative one as well. horcruxes can only be destroyed by injuring them beyond magical repair. horcruxes form emotional attachments with those they “flit in and out of.” if harry’s scar is indeed a horcrux, it will be very interesting to see how this works.

Chapter 7: The Will of Albus Dumbledore - Harry’s birthday. again, a hallmark of the books that will be missed. Harry’s 17 now, can use magic outside of school, and is “of age.” why did Lupin and Tonks scurry away at the mention of the arrival of the Minister? what is the significance of the three gifts, especially the inscription “i open at the close”? how will they get the sword? is the sword a horcrux, or does it have power to destroy beyond magical repair?

Chapter 8: The Wedding - hmm. Dumbledore is proving to be quite an intriguing character. i wonder what the truth about his past is. it would make sense that he had dabbled in the dark arts when he was younger as this would make his choice to pursue good very significant. patronuses (patroni?) are much more interesting in this book. not just a defense against dementors! wow! the ministry has fallen and the minister is dead. death count: 5 (Scrimgeour)

Chapter 9: A Place to Hide - another attack, another narrow escape. i wonder how the Death Eaters found them. Mr. Weasley’s Patronus, too.

Chapter 10: Kreacher’s Tale - so R.A.B. is confirmed as Regulus Black. was there ever any doubt? and Kreacher went with Voldemort to plant the locket horcrux and with Regulus to betray the Dark Lord by switching it. what a valiant act on Regulus’s part! makes me wonder what Sirius and the rest of the Black family would have thought had they known the truth about Regulus’s disappearance. i must say that i’m very wary about Mundungus. i do not have a good feeling about him at all. but then, i guess i’m not supposed to. “i open at the close” must refer to the locket. it opens backwards? at the hinge? would the fake locket be considered a piece of clothing? wouldn’t this free Kreacher from service to Harry?

Chapter 11: The Bribe - Lupin has gone a bit nutters, hasn’t he? very peculiar. for a while i thought it wasn’t really him, and i’m not entirely sure that it was. very strange. so Umbridge has the locket. great. i thought there was a chance we might have been done with her. oh ya. yay Kreacher! “Perhaps just one more, Master Harry, for luck?” hahaha!

Chapter 12: Magic is Might - lots of Death Eaters at number twelve, Grimmauld Place. i wonder if they know Harry is there. Snape headmaster?? wow! didn’t see that one coming, although i immediately thought of the Phineas Nigellus portrait and audibly said, “uh oh” after reading that headline. sad that there probably won’t be another trip on the Hogwarts Express. no more candy carts, no more shenanigans between Harry and Malfoy. i’m sure they will, but i wonder if Harry, Ron, and Hermione will get back to Hogwarts before the end. so Harry is posing as a Death Eater, unsuspectingly, and the three of them may have cost poor Reg Cattermole his wife. i have to say that this chapter made me REALLY nervous. so much tension and i have a very strong feeling they’re going to be found out.

Chapter 13: The Muggle-Born Registration Commission - GAH! i KNEW they would be found out. ugh. and i still hate Umbridge. i hate everything about that woman. pretty stupid of Harry to remove that eye from Umbridge’s office door. even stupider for him to stun her and Laxley, beginning everything that followed. but at least he hasn’t used Expelliarmus for a few chapters now.

Chapter 14: The Thief - opening the locket? unsuccessful. another mystery introduced: the blond-headed thief.

Chapter 15: The Goblin’s Revenge - (first, i must say that the picture at the beginning of the chapter reminded me of the “Roast Mutton” chapter from The Hobbit; for a second i thought Harry, Ron, and Hermione were going to become the main ingredients of a Goblin stew) so from the conversation of the exiles there are lots of wizards and witches who would like to believe that Harry is “the chosen one.” so there’s basically a ready-made army waiting for Harry to declare war or something. interesting. also interesting that the goblins are not getting involved. i wonder if there are other creatures who have similar feelings. i wonder if the centaurs or the giants are going to, at some point, join the war or leave it alone as it’s “a wizards’ war.” and now another rabbit trail. the real sword of Gryffindor. where is it? can it really destroy anything? and, of course, i’m deeply troubled that Ron has decided to bail. oi.

Chapter 16: Godric’s Hollow - wow, what a touching chapter. Harry finally makes it to his parent’s graves and the town in which they died sixteen years ago. i think it’s rather fitting that they were there on Christmas Eve, although i do miss Christmas at Hogwarts. so who is Ignotus, and what is the symbol? there’s got to be something, another horcrux or the sword, in Godric’s Hollow. the inscriptions on the graves of Dumbledore’s relatives and Harry’s parents are obviously significant. both biblical quotes, the last having much resurrection significance. hmm….

Chapter 17: Bathilda’s Secret - phew! another intense chapter. so the Potter’s house still stands (mostly) and Bathilda is dead. Nagini possessing her was wicked strange! no sword, no horcrux, and a lost photograph that would have served as a big clue (i’m thinking the blond thief is Grindelwald? there seems to be too many connections to him in Godric’s Hollow, and too many clues pointing to him having some big part to play). we get the fullest account yet of what went on the night Harry’s parents were killed, and this from the perspective of Voldemort. and now, Harry’s wand is kaput. hard to be a wizard with no wand. death count: 5 (Bathilda Bagshot; stays at this number because there is a second reference to the fact that Ollivander might not be dead, but just taken hostage; i thought it was the Avada Kedavra curse used on him, but looking back it appears it could have just been the Cruciatus curse).

Chapter 18: The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore - AH! the blond thief IS Grindelwald! so he and Dumbledore were close for a while. it may be just me, but i didn’t take Dumbledore’s letter to be as bad as the characters in the book did. i may have to read it again, but it seemed to me to fit with the Dumbledore we know from the previous six books, just a skewed and twisted version that Rita Skeeter has concocted, and one stained by the later abuse of the “FOR THE GREATER GOOD” slogan. i think Dumbledore was just being diplomatic in his letter, hoping for more dialogue. Dumbledore was always the teacher. yes, wizards had great power, yes they could protect muggles with that power, but they must use their power for good, not evil. i think that’s what he meant. i guess it all hinges on what he meant by “rule,” which i don’t necessarily think means oppression. maybe i just have too much faith in Dumbledore.

Chapter 19: The Silver Doe - so they just “happen” to apparate to a forest where the Gryffindor sword is at the bottom of a pond. i guess the implication is that somehow Dumbledore knew they’d get there eventually and so hid the sword. seems a little too coincidental to me, though. so now they have the sword, the horcrux is destroyed, Ron is back, and Harry has a replacement wand. where did Ron stay when he was gone so long? back at the Burrow? is he going to catch them all up as to what’s going on with the war? so the message on the snitch didn’t have anything to do with the locket. what does “i open at the close” mean then? i guess it refers to how the snitch opens? so it opens at the close of what? the war? a life?

Chapter 20: Xenophilius Lovegood - not much to say about this chapter. Luna’s father is every bit, perhaps moreso, as peculiar as she is, and apparently rather gullible too. that horn thing will definitely blow up at some point. and now we’ve been introduced to the Deathly Hallows.

Chapter 21: The Tale of the Three Brothers - disappointed in Mr. Lovegood, but i guess it’s understandable. he lost his wife, and now might lose his daughter and will do anything to get her back. ok, so they have one of the Deathly Hallows, the cloak. an unbeatable wand? obviously what Voldemort has been looking for in his interrogations of the wand makers. appears that Grindelwald might have been the last known person to have it. a resurrection stone?? might come in handy if Harry dies. hmm……

Chapter 22: The Deathly Hallows - Hermione’s doubt is really getting on my nerves. always the one to follow “reason,” never wanting to believe in things bigger than her control. so it’s possible that they now have two of the Deathly Hallows, with the ring being in the snitch. they need to get that thing open. i loved the radio show and hope that there’s more of that. more stupidity by Harry in saying the “Taboo” name. in the words of Ulysses Everett McGill, “damn! we’re in a tight spot!” death count: 8 (Ted Tonks, Dirk Cresswell, Gornuk the goblin).

Chapter 23: Malfoy Manor - so the Malfoys are pretty much powerless and probably being held at their place against their will. Draco seems to be wavering a little bit. could he turn for good? Wormtail failed to repay his life debt, a fitting end for him, i think. i was surprised how they got out of there. the mirror shard is very mysterious. can Dumbledore go between his portrait in the Headmaster’s office and the mirror? is that how he was able to tell Dobby to rescue Harry? poor Dobby. a valiant ending for a valiant elf. death count: 10 (Wormtail [once good], Dobby)

Chapter 24: The Wandmaker - whoa! ok. so there’s a horcrux in the Lestrange vault at Gringotts. better than that, Dumbledore had the Elder Wand all along!! ah!! so Voldemort is at Hogwarts and now has the wand. the third and final Deathly Hallows has been located. i guess this is setting up for the final showdown to occur at Hogwarts. that will allow Ginny and Neville to rejoin their fellow D.A. members and will set up the ultimate reveal of whether Dumbledore was justified in trusting Snape. but first, to Gringotts! and i must admit that Dobby’s funeral made me a little teary-eyed.

Chapter 25: Shell Cottage - another chapter with not much to say. yay for a wizard baby! very skeptical about this deal with Griphook.

Chapter 26: Gringotts - well OF COURSE they were going to be found out! never any doubt. pretty dramatic escape, though. i can’t wait to see that scene translated into film. so now they have the Hufflepuff goblet but have lost the sword. how are they going to destroy the horcrux? Harry definitely seems to be growing up in his spell casting, what with the use of Unforgivable Curses and all. “for the greater good!”

Chapter 27: The Final Hiding Place - a short chapter, but some interesting tidbits. so the last horcrux is, indeed, at Hogwarts and that’s where Voldemort will, fittingly, go last. his rage will be fully developed by then and more people will surely have died by then. i’m wondering who the victims were in his latest outrage. it seemed that Bellatrix and Lucius escaped, but who didn’t? also confirmed as a horcrux: Nagini.

Chapter 28: The Missing Mirror - whoa! all this time Dumbledore’s brother has been the barman at The Hog’s Head?? wow. and he’s the one with the blue eyes. also, apparently some of what Rita Skeeter published is true, though not entirely accurate. makes Dumbledore much more human and seems to put in perspective the rest of his life. he seems to have been rather ambitious yet bitter that he had to come back to take care of his family. Grindelwald gave him the outlet for his ambition, but that turned into a lust for power and ended in the death of his sister. riddled with grief and shame, he set himself to train young witches and wizards in order to instill chosen virtues in them, “for the greater good.” also to care for them as he had failed to care for his sister. this would also make sense as to why he never pursued the Minister of Magic position. Dumbledore is becoming more and more complex a character as this book progresses. perhaps even more complex than Snape. this portrait that Neville came out of is very intriguing.

Chapter 29: The Lost Diadem - Hogwarts! Neville! i’m so proud of Neville! so it appears that they know what they’re looking for, they just need to find it. unless, however, the diadem is not really a horcrux. but at this point in the book it’s got to be. so the D.A. is assembled and ready to fight. and it appears that Harry is finally starting to listen when his friends tell him that he doesn’t have to do everything by himself. i loved Ginny’s immediate insistence that Luna take Harry to the Ravenclaw wing rather than Cho. cornered again, and Voldemort is on his way. well…here we go….

Chapter 30: The Sacking of Severus Snape - phew! ok. the troops are mustering, Snape has fled, Voldemort is at the gate. Harry’s “we’re fighting” shortly followed by Percy’s reconciliation choked me up a bit. where are Ron and Hermione? getting in some long-awaited snogging before certain death? wait…a bathroom?? could the diadem be in the Chamber of Secrets??

Chapter 31: The Battle of Hogwarts - brilliant writing! so brilliant. so the horcrux wasn’t in the Chamber of Secrets, but basilisk fangs were! good show. both horcruxes destroyed. Crabbe, killed by his own spell, is dead and Harry saved Malfoy’s life. i’m really curious to see how Malfoy’s story ends out. also curious to see what part Grawp plays. on that same note, the giants have apparently joined the Death Eaters. likely, then, the centaurs will join the Order. where has Ginny gone? no doubt to fight with the other members of the D.A. and the Order. Harry: “is this the moment?” hahahaha. oh, and poor Fred. death count: 11 (Fred Weasley)

Chapter 32: The Elder Wand - hmm. giant spiders. that’s one thing i hope does NOT make it into the film. :heebiejeebies: lots of fighting, Hagrid might be dead, Voldemort believes he’s most powerful now, and Snape is dead. what’s happened with Nagini? is the starry cage just going to follow Voldemort as he goes to fight? what’s contained in the memory that Snape told Harry to take and bottle up? death count: 12 (Severus Snape [i still have hope!]).

Chapter 33: The Prince’s Tale - SNAPE IS GOOD!!! AHHH!!! i KNEW it!! wow. what a reveal! Snape was ruled by love! funny way of showing it, but all the same. i definitely teared up when he produced the doe patronus. aw man. so is Nagini a horcrux? the scar seems to be. so Voldemort unknowingly split his soul into seven parts. looks like Harry’s going to die, although he might not stay that way. there is still the stone in the snitch. death count: 14 (Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks).

Chapter 34: The Forest Again - so Harry is going to meet his end. why couldn’t he have said something to Ginny? “the close” referred to the close of his life. he summoned his parents, Sirius, and Lupin with the stone and bravely marched to the heart of the Death Eaters. green light…Harry’s sacrifice is complete. death count: 15 (Colin Creevey; not sure about Harry).

Chapter 35: King’s Cross - so Harry’s…..half-dead (”i don’t want to go on the cart!”; or “train,” as the case may be). the true Dumbledore is revealed, and it was his ambition that served as the thorn in his side. very interesting. just as it is Voldemort’s ambition that leads him to have nothing to do with love or anything else that could get in the way (learning about elves, children’s tales), even though those things might help him achieve his end. blind obsession. although Dumbledore realized what he could become and got out while he good, though still tempted gravely. Dumbledore is a Romans 7 man. i’m not sure the explanation of Harry’s blood in Voldemort makes that much sense to me. i’ll probably have to read that section a couple more times.

Chapter 36: The Flaw in the Plan - so Harry came back from….wherever he was and pretended to be dead until the last battle broke out. way to go Neville!! although i wish it had been Neville that killed Bellatrix. to have Mrs. Weasley do it, though? what a scene! and what a mouth she has! FINALLY, the centaurs enter the fray. much later than they should have. and the house-elves! i love them! i really loved the image of Voldemort and Harry circling together. reminded me of a snake and a mongoose. come on, though. the final showdown, all is revealed, Voldemort is all but defeated, and Harry casts Expelliarmus??? is this Rowling having a laugh? that was pretty weak.

Epilogue: Nineteen Years Later - i pretty much hated the epilogue. it is WAY too Disneyish and way too “happily ever after” for a story like this. it felt to me like it wasn’t even part of the story. like they had entered some weird alternate Harry Potter universe or something where nothing since the end of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets had happened. i am not thrilled at all by the Epilogue, particularly because it wasn’t even that satisfying. there was no reference to the cost of everything. it’s like it didn’t even matter. a complete letdown after such brilliant writing and storytelling over the last few chapters. it didn’t even wrap everything up. what happened to Luna? who’s the new Minister? the new Headmaster? what happened to the Death Eaters? who is Teddy Tonks living with? the book would have been SO much better if it had simply ended with “i’ve had enough trouble for a lifetime.” SO MUCH BETTER. in fact, i might even tear out the epilogue, i hate it so much. Snape the bravest person Harry knew? i like that.

Final Thoughts
overall i think i’m pretty satisfied with this book, although it’s not my favorite in the series. that honor still belongs to both Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. the first half of the book was too much of an emotional rollercoaster for me, with extreme ups and extreme downs. the last half of the book, aside from The-Part-Which-Must-Not-Be-Named, i thought was very good. before i read the book, i had ideas about where the story was going and it turned out that i was mostly correct.

the one major disappointment i have is in Harry’s non-death death. it just wasn’t really that powerful of a scene, i don’t think, and i think that’s due to the fact that whatever sacrifice there was was one out of obligation. not love. nor was it that powerful of an outcome in the moments immediately following it. it seemed like the only purpose it served was to get Harry to a place where Dumbledore could explain everything as he always (book 6 excepted) does. it didn’t seem like much of a sacrifice to me. not anywhere near on par with the sacrifice of his mother, Dumbledore, or Snape. and i think, literarily, the character of Harry Potter will never gain status as a timeless literary hero because of that. i think whatever status he gains will be due to the pop-culture phenomenon that is the Harry Potter franchise, but he will never be a Frodo or an Aslan in literary terms.

but that’s ok, right? he’s not the true hero of the story is he? sure he was “The Boy Who Lived” and the one who ultimately defeated Voldemort (with Expelliarmus of all spells; still weak), but the story is much more about those around him than it is about Harry. Harry and his story served as a vehicle through which we came to learn of the true hero of the series. i think one of the constant themes throughout the book is that things are not always as they appear. certainly that was true of Dumbledore, the beloved Headmaster, who seemed as pristine as anything. but then, come to find out, Dumbledore was at least partly responsible for the death of his sister and struggled his whole life with ambition and the desire for power. deep caverns of mystery, intrigue, and failure lay behind the cheerful, wise, candy-loving facade.

and that turned out to be the case with the true hero of the books, Severus Snape. unlike his pupil, i believe Snape will go down as one of the greatest literary characters of this generation. i don’t know that i’ve ever read such a complex character as Snape, nor am i aware of one who made a greater sacrifice than the one Snape made. though he didn’t get the girl, Snape loved her enough to give his life over to the Dark Lord (in many more ways than death) in order to protect the son she had with, perhaps, Snape’s greatest enemy. whereas darkness lay behind the bright facade of Dumbledore, light and love lay behind the dark facade of the potions master. he had his faults, sure, and the gravity of what he was doing got the better of him at times. but at the heart of it was love and fidelity. truly, Snape was the bravest man in the books, and the true hero.