Today is the first of September, 2017. DH was published ten years ago this summer.
Today is the date of the Epilogue, "Nineteen Years Later".
It seems right to talk about that today. My feelings about it are, well, almost entirely negative.
So I'll start with something I actually do like: the name of Ron and Hermione's daughter. Rose is a beautiful name, and although it might have been expected given how many other flower names are given to girls in the series ... it's still beautiful. We don't get a middle name for her and we don't need one.
Unfortunately her brother gets tagged with a horrible, ugly name that sounds WRONG. And I can't see Hugo as anything other than a joke at Ron Weasley's expense. A joke the series really didn't need, since the final two novels did terrible damage to his character already. Not physical damage, but still damage.
Unfortunately my opinions really only get worse from there. Because the names of Harry and Ginny's children are catastrophic.
Let me start with the least bad: Lily Luna
Ugh. WHY? The first name was so obvious, but really? They had to go there?
And the middle name just feels like a sop to the idea that Ginny had any influence at all on the naming of her own children. Even that is muted because Luna (Lovegood) was Harry's friend too.
Let me make it clear: I'm not a fan of legacy names. I don't believe they're a favor to the child they're given, and I don't believe they're a gift to the people they honor. Instead, they're a burden, and when the legacies are this strong, they're a terrible and unfair one.
Next: James Sirius.
This name feels worse than the one before it because Harry didn't really get to know EITHER his father or Sirius Black. He was cruelly robbed of both of them. And so this name feels like a much heavier burden. I'm glad it's not mine.
Last, and by far the worst: Albus Severus.
This name is so bad, it makes me cringe. Actually, it makes me angry. I'm still angry about it after more than ten years. That's not healthy.
I won't claim to be any kind of expert on English-language fiction. But this is one of the worst names I've ever seen. In context for this world and the parents' histories, I'm not sure Harry and Ginny could have picked a worse name that didn't involve some combination of Tom, Peter, or Vernon. It (ASP) is really just a frightfully awful name that I can't speak badly enough about.
It's an unbelievably terrible legacy to foist onto a child's shoulders.
if this idea, in story, was strictly Harry's, then I don't understand why Ginny let him do it. If she contributed, or thought of it first, I don't understand that either. Rowling once wrote that her conception of Ginny is as Harry's equal ... someone strong. I do believe that was her intent.
I just think this name kind of spits on that. And I'm not completely sure which part of it is worse. Dumbledore failed Harry completely (and repeatedly), and it can be argued that in her first year he failed Ginny just as badly if not worse. After all, Harry didn't grow up hearing the name of Albus Dumbledore lauded. He didn't grow up hearing it at all. Ginny did.
And then, the middle name, Severus. I can almost get why Rowling picked this. It was to redeem Snape -- he made bad choices, but turned away from darkness, and so in death he gets redeemed by this name.
Trouble is, there's someone who was overlooked who arguably deserved it more ... Regulus Black.
I don't know if Rowling ever thought of the possibility. If she didn't, that's a shame. If she did and dismissed it, then I think that was a mistake.
I have more to say, but this feels like a rant, and at this point, ranting is unhealthy.
Today is "Nineteen Years Later".
Today is the date of the Epilogue, "Nineteen Years Later".
It seems right to talk about that today. My feelings about it are, well, almost entirely negative.
So I'll start with something I actually do like: the name of Ron and Hermione's daughter. Rose is a beautiful name, and although it might have been expected given how many other flower names are given to girls in the series ... it's still beautiful. We don't get a middle name for her and we don't need one.
Unfortunately her brother gets tagged with a horrible, ugly name that sounds WRONG. And I can't see Hugo as anything other than a joke at Ron Weasley's expense. A joke the series really didn't need, since the final two novels did terrible damage to his character already. Not physical damage, but still damage.
Unfortunately my opinions really only get worse from there. Because the names of Harry and Ginny's children are catastrophic.
Let me start with the least bad: Lily Luna
Ugh. WHY? The first name was so obvious, but really? They had to go there?
And the middle name just feels like a sop to the idea that Ginny had any influence at all on the naming of her own children. Even that is muted because Luna (Lovegood) was Harry's friend too.
Let me make it clear: I'm not a fan of legacy names. I don't believe they're a favor to the child they're given, and I don't believe they're a gift to the people they honor. Instead, they're a burden, and when the legacies are this strong, they're a terrible and unfair one.
Next: James Sirius.
This name feels worse than the one before it because Harry didn't really get to know EITHER his father or Sirius Black. He was cruelly robbed of both of them. And so this name feels like a much heavier burden. I'm glad it's not mine.
Last, and by far the worst: Albus Severus.
This name is so bad, it makes me cringe. Actually, it makes me angry. I'm still angry about it after more than ten years. That's not healthy.
I won't claim to be any kind of expert on English-language fiction. But this is one of the worst names I've ever seen. In context for this world and the parents' histories, I'm not sure Harry and Ginny could have picked a worse name that didn't involve some combination of Tom, Peter, or Vernon. It (ASP) is really just a frightfully awful name that I can't speak badly enough about.
It's an unbelievably terrible legacy to foist onto a child's shoulders.
if this idea, in story, was strictly Harry's, then I don't understand why Ginny let him do it. If she contributed, or thought of it first, I don't understand that either. Rowling once wrote that her conception of Ginny is as Harry's equal ... someone strong. I do believe that was her intent.
I just think this name kind of spits on that. And I'm not completely sure which part of it is worse. Dumbledore failed Harry completely (and repeatedly), and it can be argued that in her first year he failed Ginny just as badly if not worse. After all, Harry didn't grow up hearing the name of Albus Dumbledore lauded. He didn't grow up hearing it at all. Ginny did.
And then, the middle name, Severus. I can almost get why Rowling picked this. It was to redeem Snape -- he made bad choices, but turned away from darkness, and so in death he gets redeemed by this name.
Trouble is, there's someone who was overlooked who arguably deserved it more ... Regulus Black.
I don't know if Rowling ever thought of the possibility. If she didn't, that's a shame. If she did and dismissed it, then I think that was a mistake.
I have more to say, but this feels like a rant, and at this point, ranting is unhealthy.
Today is "Nineteen Years Later".
