Thoughts on Harry Potter (or, I Think Too Much)

I finally finished the last Harry Potter this week. I must say the consistency throughout the 7 books has been impressive. Some of my thoughts:

I could see that Rowling was driving at keeping us guessing about Snape and Dumbledore, and I was a little uncomfortable with the idea that Dumbledore asked Snape to kill him because he had to die for Harry to finish the job, or for Snape to be in Voldemort's good graces-- sort of an "end justifies the means," or an omniscient Dumbledore (which he never claimed to be). Having it turn out as a mercy killing still makes me wonder, but at least it's a little more comfortable.

I really liked how she treated Rita Skeeter's biography, it reminds me a little of other famous admired people that become the target of sensationalism-- Joseph Smith and Thomas Jefferson immediately come to mind. And (gasp) it turns out that Dumbledore did indeed make some errors in judgment! But it was still OK for Harry to admire him.

Someday I'll have to re-read the series to see what little points I missed, but I do recall that in Order of the Phoenix, they weren't sure whether Harry or Neville was "destined" to be Voldemort's foil, and of course it turned out to be Harry... But don't overlook Neville here, he produced the sword of Gryffindor and destroyed the horcrux/snake.

Speaking of horcruxes, halfway through the book I remember trying to count them. The diary, the ring, the locket, the cup, the diadem, the snake, and... um, wait, weren't there supposed to be seven? (From there, though, I went in the wrong direction and thought maybe it was just six plus Voldemort himself. Or, maybe some possession of Gryffindor's, since each of the other founders was represented.)

The little epilogue "Nineteen years later" was a bit cheesy. Harry marries Ginny, Ron marries Hermione, everyone lives happily ever after. Meh, after such a complex story, a "life-is-simple" ending like that is a bit of a let-down. But I did like the (partial) redemption of the Malfoys, the idea that Slytherin house wasn't branded as traitorous (note also that Horace Slughorn, the new head of Slytherin house, was in the battle against Voldemort), and the idea that Harry finally made peace with Snape and even learned to respect him.