by Dave
Part I of this series: Why Joker Succeeds and Voldemort Fails
“Behind the scenes” is a trope of long standing tradition in many forms of literature. In a recent essay on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Terry W. Thompson argues that the violent deaths occur off the page as a direct result of Shelley’s love of classical [...]

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Continue reading → Voldemort is a Failed Character (Part II)

One of the over-arching meta-themes of the Harry Potter books is, without a doubt, choice. From early on the books the theme of choice is empasised, when the Sorting Hat defers to Harry’s wish to be in Gryffindor, or when Dumbledore makes it clear to Harry that it is his choices, far more than abilities [...]

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Continue reading → Episode #85: Free Will and Choice in Harry Potter

by Travis
What were you doing at this time last year?  You were reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.  I remember dropping Sophia off with Tricia’s mom and heading to the park on two hours’ sleep (I had read until 5am), and then reading all day long.  
Today marks the anniversary of the release of Deathly [...]

Continue reading → Happy Birthday, Deathly Hallows

by Dave
Since Deathly Hallows release last year, I’ve been perpetually puzzled by Voldemort’s characterization in the last two novels. Half Blood Prince humanizes Voldemort in a way that lends HBP a sophistication most of the earlier novels lack — Voldemort’s backstory both enlightens and befuddles the reader, at once shedding light on his origins [...]

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Continue reading → Why Joker Succeeds and Voldy Fails (Part I)

We’re back for another action-packed episode of Patterns in Potter.  This time, we take on the latest contender in the Harry Potter series, The Deathly Hallows.  We begin with an analysis of the prologue, of both The Libation Bearers by Aeschylus, and William Penn’s More Fruits of Solitude.  From there, we discuss the apparent connection to Chapters 2 and 3, [...]

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Continue reading → Episode #83: Patterns in Potter - Deathly Hallows

Ok, so that title may be a bit misleading. No, I am not doing an interview with the world renowned author that we all love so much. Nor do I even hope to have something like that on the horizon. She’s just too big for that. However, I was thinking to [...]

Continue reading → Interview with JK Rowling?

It’s official: Deathly Hallows will be two movies.
I don’t like this.

Continue reading → Deathly Hallows will be two movies

It’s finally time.  It’s been several months since Deathly Hallows came out, we’ve discussed most of what there is to discuss relating to the characters, the themes, the news that came out after the book was released.  It’s time to move on.  But don’t worry, by move on, we don’t mean stop talking about Harry Potter!  [...]

Continue reading → Episode #66: Introducing Patterns in Potter

Rumors are circulating that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will be made into not one, but two movies.  Sources say the reasons are artistic and practical, and not aimed at squeezing more money out of the franchise.
We’ll update with any new information, so stay tuned.

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Continue reading → Deathly Hallows to be Split into Two Movies?

What makes a leader?  For centuries, philosophers have debated the essential qualities of a leader (the differences in what a culture values in it’s leaders is often a good indication of the values of said culture).  When looking at Harry Potter, what are the qualities that J.K. Rowling seems to show as making a good [...]

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Continue reading → Episode #65: Leadership in Harry Potter

There comes a time in a person’s life when they realize, for the first time, that the world is not actually the way they thought it was.  That the picture they had in their mind about how the world works, the rules of the game, are suddenly gone.  It is the end of innocence.  When does this end of [...]

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Continue reading → Episode #63: Harry Potter and the End of Innocence

Was it just us, or was Draco’s finale just a bit disappointing?  By the end of Book 6, it looked like Draco was prime for some kind of glorious and game-changing redemption.  His failure to off Dumbledore left him in a bad place, but it was clear that there was still some good left in [...]

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Continue reading → Episode #59: Draco Disappoints

The more interviews J.K. Rowling gives, the more show topics we get. This time, J.K. Rowling spoke with the Dutch newspaper Volksrant (not to be confused with Volkswagon or Voltron) and discussed many topics. Amongst them were the issues of life after death in the Harry Potter books, as well as more details [...]

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Continue reading → Episode #58: Harry Potter Potpourri

Last week we discussed love, and focused on the distinctly maternal focus taken by J.K. Rowling.  This week, we examine the father figures in Harry’s life.  From his actual, albeit ephermeral father James, to surrogates in Lupin, Sirius and even, to some extent Snape, we take a look at Harry’s bevy or male role models, [...]

Continue reading → Episode #57: Fatherhood in Potter

Although in English we have one basic term for love, there’s really all different kinds of love: brotherly love, selfless love, erotic love, and all make some kind of appearance in the Harry Potter novels. In this week’s show, we take a look at love in Harry Potter and how the various relationships are expressed, [...]

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Continue reading → Episode #56: Love in Harry Potter

At the New York City stop on J.K. Rowling’s Open Book Tour, J.K. Rowling announced (in response to a question from the audience) that Dumbledore was gay.  For various reasons, this has caused quite a stir.  How does this change, if at all, how we perceive Dumbledore, how we view his childhood pursuit of power?  [...]

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Continue reading → Episode #55: Dumbledore is Gay! (Not that there’s anything wrong with that!)

J.K. Rowling has begin her Open Book Tour, with stops in Los Angeles, New Orleans and New York City. At the press conference at the LA appearance, J.K. Rowling spoke for the first time at length on the religious themes of the Harry Potter books, speaking openly about the Christian themes and references in [...]

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Continue reading → Episode #54: J.K. Rowling Speaks

One of our most favorite characters from the Harry Potter series is the one and only Neville Longbottom.  From a shy, sheepish kid in the first book, to Snake-Killer, Neville goes through one of the most noticeable transformations of any other character in the book.  In this episode, we take a look back at Neville, [...]

Continue reading → Episode #53: The Making of a Wizard - The Story of Neville Longbottom

by Dave
If a reader drops Deathly Hallows on the ground in expectation of the book opening to the literal center of its story, she will more than likely find Chapter 21, “The Tale of the Three Brothers”. Presented as a children’s story of three brothers attempting to cheat Death, Beadle the Bard’s tale narrates [...]

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Continue reading → “The Tale of the Three Brothers”

We met several new wizards and witches in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.  Some we’d actually met before, but never really got to know properly; others were brand-spanking new characters.  Each one, of course, comes with a mini-mystery in their name, a tiny puzzle only to be attempted by a stalwart few.  This week, [...]

Continue reading → Episode #52: Meet the New Wizards

This episode is about the Deathly Hallows. Not the book “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” but rather the Deathly Hallows in the book Deathly Hallows. Does that make sense? I hope so, since the Deathly Hallows (the things, not the books) is pretty confusing. We’re not quite sure we’ve got [...]

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Continue reading → Episode #50: The Quest for the Deathly Hallows

Voldermort’s downfall was a long time coming. Despite his efforts to ensure his longevity, Voldemort’s overall approach to life almost guarunteed his defeat. By ignoring the signifcance of some very important “deeper magics,” Voldemort opened up a proverbial chink in his armor that ultimately led to his demise. In Chapter 35, King’s Cross, an etherieal [...]

Continue reading → Episode #49: Voldemort’s Downfall

Before Deathly Hallows, our view of Dumbledore was nothing less than a saint; although Harry had his questions with his methods, certainly there was nary a doubt as to his motives.  In Book 7, quite a different picture of the wizened old wizard is presented.  Harry spends much of the book struggling with the Dumbledore [...]

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Continue reading → Episode #48: Dumbledore and the Greater Good

Without question, Severus Snape is one of the most intriguing characters in J.K. Rowling’s wizarding world. In the beginning, he was simply a mean teacher, and obstacle for Harry; but by the end of the series, Snape became a paradigm of sacrifice for love and courage, to the point that Harry names his son [...]

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Continue reading → Episode #47: The Prince’s Tale - The Tao of Snape

There’s no question that there are religious/Christian undertones and themes to the Harry Potter books. In 2000, JK Rowling stated that if she were to divulge her religious beliefs, it would make the ending of the story obvious. Now that we’ve read Book 7, the religious content is clear; not only is Harry’s [...]

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Continue reading → Episode #46: The Religion of Harry Potter

When Albus and Aberforth were young lads, despite Albus’s prolific magical talent, Aberforth was the better man.  Albus’s heart was not with his family.  The death of Ariana rattled everything for both of them.
For Albus, watching his friend cruciate his brother and (probably) kill his sister wrecked him for good.  “He was never free,” Harry [...]

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Continue reading → Love and Bitterness: Albus’s and Aberforth’s “Got To”

Ask not for whom the bell tolls, for in Book 7, it tolled for quite a few folks.  The body count in the final book gets higher and higher as the book goes on.  Some deaths, granted, were quite welcome, such as Bellatrix and Voldemort; others were tragic and shocking.  All of them, however, held [...]

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Continue reading → Episode #45: The Dearly Departed

We’re just back from Prophecy 2007. In short, we had a great time, came home and immediately sat down to recap . Between the amazing sessions, the vast array of Potter fans and the great discussions, it was a weekend to remember. Penny recapped day one and day two in two [...]

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Continue reading → Episode #44: Prophecy 2007 Recap

The comments sections are filling up with thoughts on Rowling’s two recent interviews.  Here are transcripts and video:

Bloomsbury Chat transcript at Leaky (this has some transcription errors, but you can sort through most of it)
Transcript and video of Dateline interview linked from HPANA

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Continue reading → Rowling Interview Transcripts

Spoiler Alert!

Harry took down Voldemort. A massive defeat against the Dark Lord was won. But what of the other issues raised by Rowling throughout the series? What of the social evils she addressed? Some will be disturbed that house-elves are still enslaved at the end of Book 7. What of [...]

Continue reading → Little Victories: The Defeat of Evil (or Lack Thereof?) in Deathly Hallows

I wrote a short review of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows for our local paper, the Democrat and Chronicle, and it was published today in the opinion section:

Harry Potter message is biblical: Love can oust evil

Thankfully, the online version does not have the mugshot of a picture I sent to the paper which appears [...]

Continue reading → Review for Local Paper

*Deathly Hallows Spoilers Included*
It’s been less than a week since the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, yet most of us have now read the book more than once; inevitably, bits and pieces need to be re-read to make sense of them. In addition to re-reading, the comments on our last post [...]

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Continue reading → Episode 43: Making Sense of Deathly Hallows

Spoiler Alert!

“[Harry] recoiled. He had spotted the thing that was making the noises. It had the form of a small, naked child, curled on the ground, its skin raw and rough, flayed-looking, and it lay shuddering under a seat where it had been left, unwanted, stuffed out of sight, struggling for breath…. ‘You [...]

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Continue reading → The Suffering “Baby”

Spoiler Alert!

The most disturbing part of Deathly Hallows is the use of Unforgivable Curses by the Good Guys. This seemed incredibly inconsistent with previous books for several reasons.

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Continue reading → A Time to Kill: The Unforgivable Curses in Deathly Hallows

Spoiler Alert!

If you’ve been following this blog over the past year, you probably thought I’d really hate what Rowling did with Dumbledore in Deathly Hallows. I don’t. I hate what I know Fandom is about to do to him, but I’m quite pleased with what we learned in Book 7.
The Dumbledore backstory [...]

Continue reading → Dumbledore in Deathly Hallows

Spoiler Alert!

Of course it was bound to happen: there are people who are quite disappointed in Deathly Hallows, for various reasons. I am not one of them, and I admit to being quite discouraged at some of the negative reactions. Knowing this about myself, I want to try to be as fair as [...]

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Continue reading → Concerning the Disappointed

Spoiler Alert! 

Alastair, who regularly blogs here, has left a fascinating comment under the Initial Reactions post, and it’s worth some discussion. I’ve quoted it here in full:
“I was wondering how closely the Deathly Hallows are supposed to be associated with the three temptations of Christ. That some connection exists seems clear enough to me. [...]

Continue reading → Deathly Hallows: The Three Temptations of Christ?

John Granger has more time on his hands than I do
You should go check out HogPro today. I don’t have anywhere near the time to put together much at the moment, but John has set up 20 different posts on 20 different topics from Deathly Hallows. It’s much more organized than [...]

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Continue reading → Around the Common Room

Tiny Treasury has posted an open thread for readers to post their opinions and thoughts on HPatDH.

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Continue reading → Your Hallowed Opinion

The seventh and final Harry Potter Book was released this past weekend. My copy arrived Saturday morning (before 10am - I was impressed) - I read a little during the day (under 50 pages) and then really settled in for a “read” around 5pm - well, next thing I knew it was 5am and [...]

Continue reading → The Deathly Hallows - was it what you expected?

We’ve finished Deathly Hallows. We sat down to record our initial thoughts immediately after completing Book 7. I don’t think we’ve covered everything, but it’s a good start with out immediate thoughts on the book. What’s to say? The book was great, a great ending to the saga of Harry Potter.
Please [...]

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Continue reading → Episode #42: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Reviewed

As zero hour approaches, we are being hit with not only the actual evidence that this is the end, but the flurry of emotions that everyone in the “Potterverse” is inevitably feeling.
The only comparison I can make is the feeling of graduation week from high school. You are anticipating the momentous occasion [...]

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Continue reading → Here we are

One couple is taking their love of Harry Potter books to a new level - by attending the book release at their local bookstore after they say “I do”.
As reported on Yahoo!, the Oregon couple will hold their wedding ceremony (and reception) on Friday evening (I wonder if their wedding planner has checked out ourmenu?) [...]

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Continue reading → To love, honor and read?

In my email this morning:
Greetings from Amazon.com.
We thought you would like to know that we are preparing your items for
shipment.
!!!
A close friend of ours actually got his copy already (he had ordered online from the place that’s in the news that shipped early); he wrote about it on his blog (NO SPOILERS in his post, [...]

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Continue reading → Deathly Hallows Ships From Amazon

Let the wackiness begin!
The spoilers are beginning to be posted on the internet. A site originating in California had posted photographs of the entire Deathly Hallows book (my goodness that must have taken some time) - It would appear that Scholastic has secured an injunction (or such) as (according to Mugglenet.com) the content has [...]

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Continue reading → They’re after you, Harry…

This may very well be our last full episode before the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. In this episode, we discuss how we’re feeling (perhaps the five stages of loss would be appropriate), and take one final crack at a few theories before signing off and preparing for the weekend.
No news [...]

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Continue reading → Episode #41: The End of Harry Potter

We’ve been getting a lot of responses on a topic that was posted back in December. click here to read the original post - and below is the text of the last few comments…

Emil Says:
July 1st, 2007 at 3:59 pm e
We now for a fact that 2 characters will die, i think that one [...]

Continue reading → Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Theories abound - Revisted

Scholastic.com has posted it’s final Book 7 question:
“What are the Deathly Hallows?”
and the following answer choices…
“We’ll find out right away”
“We’ll find out in the middle”
“We’ll find out at the end”
Well, that doesn’t really shed any light on what exactly the Deathly Hallows are - it’s more of an idea as to what part of the [...]

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Continue reading → But what are they?

More unanswered questions!  True to our word, we’re upping the ante with the movie and book coming out in the next few weeks.  This episode doesn’t have a major news segment, but more unanswered questions, including a killer question from Sister Judy (our sister, not a nun) regarding the Grand-Potters.
We’ll be back later this week [...]

Continue reading → Episode #39: More Unanswered Questions

Stephen King writes a semi-weekly column for Enterntainment Weekly, and has many times in the past expressed his love for the Harry Potter books.  In this week’s edition, Uncle Stevie devotes his column to Harry Potter and how he’s feeling approaching the conclusion of the series:
I’m having a day of mixed feelings: happy because I’m [...]

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Continue reading → Stephen King Prepares for The End