Well, I’ve read the sixth installment of the Harry Potter series. It was certainly a good book. I’m a tad disappointed, slightly saddened, even (given my propensity to root for the greatest good) that Dumbledore was killed. Many of the characters in the books are great, but he was among my favorites, perhaps my favorite.

I’ve posted some general thoughts that come to mind right away over at SP and KF, but some copying and pasting follows…

As far as Snape, I don’t have a lot to say. I would hope he killed Dumbledore on Dumbledore’s orders – otherwise he and Malfoy would have died. Snape told him about the vow and Dumbledore told Snape that he would have to kill him.

One thing that strikes me is how is Harry going to find the Horcruxes? When Dumbledore took Harry with him to get that one… Harry couldn’t have found squat. How would he have known where to look, to swim, to use blood on the door, to find the chain, etc. When Harry asks how he can tell it’s the place, he says it has “known magic.” And he doesn’t know if his shivers were because he was cold or because of the enchantments… he’ll have Ron and Hermione with him and that’ll help, but still…

So, then… he has a bit to learn. But, how is he going to learn it? One thing I thought about was the paintings in the headmasters office. The paintings appear to have memories and the ability to answer questions and converse, so if that is, in fact, the case… then Dumbledore’s painting could get a lot of work.

The Order… is McGonagall the default leader there, too? What was the plan for such circumstances, if there was even a plan? I suspect there was one probably. If the Horcruxes are the key and Dumbledore told Harry not to tell anyone of their meetings, are Harry, Ron and Hermione the only ones who know about them? Being the vital key (can’t eliminate Voldemort without eliminating them) that they are, it is a shame not to have more of the Order working on finding them… did he really mean for Harry not to reveal it even after death? Perhaps he did, perhaps he didn’t want many people to know that he knew because it would get back to Voldemort who would seek to protect them. Hmm.

The whole thing came up very suddenly and is kind of perplexing… to me, anyway. It just seems a little strange for Dumbledore to just drink this unknowing potion, unless we assume a lot of things that weren’t in there (perhaps they were and I missed it). Such as bringing more than one wizard and taking a broom to the green light. Having another wizard drink the potion with Dumbledore and perhaps someone else standing by to help them and transport them. Perhaps only one wizard could step on the island, perhaps brooms wouldn’t have been able to cross the threshold. He doesn’t seem the type to have someone test out things for him (probably feeling that he is as strong as anyone when it comes to fighting off it’s effects). I suppose the fluid couldn’t leave the island. Maybe it would refill the thing with the Horcrux in it if you tried. It all just seemed kind of rushed and strange to me. Perhaps he already knew (or had a good idea of) what it did. And perhaps that is why he wanted the strongest wizard to drink it and the strongest second wizard the boat would allow to make sure that he did. Maybe it was rushed because he knew he’d be dying that night. It just seemed like it could have been planned better or at least researched a bit better. But, maybe the secret of knowing is so important that he wouldn’t want to involve anyone, anyway (I guess he didn’t tell Snape when Snape treated his hand, etc.).

Also, here is a video (bit of vulgarity at the end there) of some doofus ruining the death for some people after the launch at a Barnes and Noble. Bit of a coward. Also, a Flash animation (vulgar language) taking a shot at them and people who do these types of things. I actually had the book spoiled, although I tried to think that they were just joking. When my brother was done reading it, I was joking with him and I said something about Dumbledore dying and his face changed (it was somewhat easy for me to assume he could have been messing with me, though). Then, like someone at DeviantArt, I had someone put Snake Kills Dumbledore in their MSN name. It was a banned user who had just requested that I add him so that we could ask me to unban him. That certainly didn’t help his chances. Stupid stuff.

Via MuggleNet.com.