Comments on: Who’s the Hero? Harry or Dumbledore?

By: EStrunk

EStrunk — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 05:01:28 +0000

I am so sorry to hear that is Scorpius’ middle name. I was hoping it was Scorpius Wulfric Malfoy. A subtle tip to Dumbledore and a cool sound.

By: woman_ironing

woman_ironing — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 00:22:24 +0000

RR: The only thing I’d say in DD’s defence is that he did know that Harry could survive and Harry’s survival was part of his plan. Not an essential part, admittedly.

Joivre: Degas was at the back of my mind, but it’s about housework in fact.

By: revgeorge

revgeorge — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 18:15:46 +0000

Fricka, didn’t mention “Roll Over, Beethoven” ’cause I never liked that song.

On your other points, right on! There really shouldn’t be any question over this. Dumbledore is a hero, the heroic mentor, but Harry is the Hero of the story.

By: Fricka

Fricka — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 17:59:47 +0000

Sorry to break into this nice little chat about Mozart and Beethoven[BTW, revgeorge, you forgot Roll Over, Beethoven by the Beatles! ]but I’m wondering why it’s not apparent to every reader that Harry’s the hero in this set of books. Was Gandalf the hero in The Hobbit? No, it was little Bilbo Baggins, who did not want to go on adventure, but got involved in one anyway, and ended up facing a dragon (besides the trolls, goblins, spiders, and wargs on the way)and being quite a different hobbit at the end of the story. Similarly in The Chronicles of Narnia–Aslan and the other magical creatures are not the featured heroes of that story. It’s the Pevensie children. Dumbledore and Gandalf may be brilliant wizards and master manipulators, but do we see them go through the kind of character growth that we see in Harry, Bilbo, Frodo, and the Pevensies? Huh? Huh?

By: Joivre

Joivre — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 17:05:21 +0000

Revgeorge, leave it to you to give us Rock Me Amadeus. But have you ever played the video game Amadeus Revenge?

http://www.mobygames.com/game/amadeus-revenge

I always get a kick out of the way Lucy fawns over Schroeder.

By: Red Rocker

Red Rocker — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 16:56:14 +0000

Once again, revgeorge, you leave me speechless.

By: revgeorge

revgeorge — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 16:48:35 +0000

Without Beethoven we wouldn’t have Schroeder of Peanuts. Nor the hilarious skits that John Belushi did on the early seasons of Saturday Night Live of Beethoven. Nor would we have A Clockwork Orange with the glorious “Ninth.”

Of course, Mozart did give us “Rock Me Amadeus” by Falco.

By: Joivre

Joivre — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 15:57:02 +0000

Red Rocker – Really!? About the kindergarten report card? That is hilarious if it’s true! Yes – Little Ludwig had a rough time of it as did Harry. His Father was worse than both the Dursley’s put together times ten. And Like Harry he wasn’t born a genius – he struggled. And he struggled all the way to the end and like Harry he wanted equality for the disenfranchised, dignity for the lowly, and freedom from tyranny. If you just look at the output compared to Mozart it’s illuminating. Symphonies 9 to Mozart’s 41, Piano Concertos 5 to Mozart’s 27, Operas 1 to Mozart’s 22. Oh – but are there any more famous four notes in the history of music than da -da -da DAAAAAH! You know what it is – and you’re note hearing it, you’re seeing it – I could go to Oslo, Anchorage, Madrid, Tokyo, Lima, Cairo and sing those four notes and everyone would say “Ah – Beethoven” – now that’s genius.

PS – I never heard he beat his compositions with a stick! That brought on the laughs out loud for me. By the way I did get the honor of seeing one of his composition notebooks up close at Juilliard. There were coffee and mustard stains all over them. He was messy.

By: Red Rocker

Red Rocker — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 13:17:06 +0000

I was going to say that Dumbledore gave bugger all about Harry, but decided to rethink my choice of words.

By: korg20000bc

korg20000bc — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 10:33:47 +0000

woman_ironing,
I think you’re right and like your comment but the words “Dumbledore” and buggered up” in the same sentence give me the heebie-jeebies.