"Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince" out tomorrow!

[Verto]

We begin bombing in five minutes.

[Zoid]

*Dr Z builds a bomb shelter of Harry Potter books

[GePap]

Originally posted by Guynemer
And a few final thoughts:

And #3, regarding the quest set out for Harry

Spoiler:

If the thought is that each of the four remaining horcruxes is linked to a Hogwarts Founder, then the snake is a red herring; Voldemort found something of Ravenclaw, and Harry himself is the Gryffindor horcrux, as a side effect of the attack on him as a child. In the end, he must sacrifice his own life to end Voldemort's.

[/QUOTE]

Spoiler:

That does not really make sense, specially since Voldemort would then want to keep Harry alive, sicne killing Harry is killing a bit of himself. It also makes no sense regarding the prophesy, since its states one must die for the other to live. That seems pretty cut and dried.

I have to say the idea that Balck's brother got the locket and such is a very good catch. Lets see if it pans out to be true. But then why would Dumbledore not have known that this was so?

[Immortal Wombat]

Originally posted by GePap

Spoiler:

I have to say the idea that Balck's brother got the locket and such is a very good catch. Lets see if it pans out to be true. But then why would Dumbledore not have known that this was so?

Spoiler:

Because the Death Eaters got to him first, I suppose.

[Verto]

NEW YORK - The new Harry Potter book sold an astonishing 6.9 million copies in its first 24 hours, smashing the record held by the previous Potter release. "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" averaged better than 250,000 sales per hour, more than the vast majority of books sell in a lifetime.

"This is a cause for celebration, not just for Scholastic, but for book lovers everywhere," said Lisa Holton, president of Scholastic Children's Books, author J.K. Rowling's U.S. publisher.

Sales for the sixth installment of Rowling's fantasy series easily outpaced those for Potter V, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," which came out in 2003 and sold 5 million copies in the first 24 hours. Acknowledging that some stores quickly ran out of books two years ago, Scholastic has already increased the print run for "Half-Blood Prince" from 10.8 million copies to 13.5 million.

The Scholastic numbers are for the United States only. Sales figures from Britain are expected Monday.

Anticipated from the moment fans finished Potter V, the new book has been available virtually everywhere, from price clubs and supermarkets to the Scholastic Web site. Holton said Sunday that a big factor in the new sales record was a six-fold increase in the number of Potter bookstore parties, from 800 to 5,000, with both superstores and independent retailers dramatically increasing their participation.

Even allowing for deep discounts on the $29.99 release, "Half-Blood Prince" still easily generated more than $100 million in revenue. It's not only the richest opening in publishing history, but tops the combined estimated take for the weekend's top two movies, "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and "The Wedding Crashers."

"When a book beats out movies, we're in great shape," Holton said.

Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations, said he did not believe that Potter pulled kids away from "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," which starred Johnny Depp as the reclusive candy king Willy Wonka.

"With a $55 million opening, it's hard to say anything had a negative effect on the movie's performance," Dergarabedian said Sunday. "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" was the biggest debut ever for Depp, topping the $46.6 million opening weekend of his 2003 hit "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl."

Meanwhile, Barnes & Noble Inc. estimated 1.3 million U.S. sales for the book in its first 48 hours, around 400,000 higher than for the first 48 hours of Potter V. Rival superstore chain Borders Group Inc. reported a record 850,000 Potter sales worldwide in the first day, 100,000 greater than for the debut of "Order of the Phoenix."

Although the book only went on sale midnight Saturday, some have already decided to pass their copies on to others. Used editions, for as little as $15.94, were available through eBay, Amazon.com and Alibris.com, which has been offering $5, plus postage, for used copies.

Unlike most blockbusters, "Harry and the Half-Blood Prince" is also a hit with critics, getting raves from The New York Times, the Seattle Times, The Associated Press and others. Many found it Rowling's deepest, most accomplished work, with a tragic conclusion that left even reviewers in tears.

A dissenting opinion came from the San Francisco Chronicle, where David Kipen observed of the 600-plus page novel: "A major character dies by the end of the latest Harry Potter book; readers who bore easily may feel a bit done in themselves.

"It's not that `Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince' is dull, exactly. ... No, the main problem is that J.K. Rowling has now written six of these bricks. Even if they were getting better, they're certainly not getting any fresher."
© 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

© 2005 MSNBC.com

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8608578/

[Verto]

Originally posted by GePap

Spoiler:

That does not really make sense, specially since Voldemort would then want to keep Harry alive, sicne killing Harry is killing a bit of himself. It also makes no sense regarding the prophesy, since its states one must die for the other to live. That seems pretty cut and dried.

I have to say the idea that Balck's brother got the locket and such is a very good catch. Lets see if it pans out to be true. But then why would Dumbledore not have known that this was so?

Spoiler:

It makes a lot of sense, actually; if Voldemort kills Harry, who cares if he loses a bit of his life, since no one can then seriously oppose him. If, on the other hand, Harry confronts and bests Voldemort, he will always have that last part to fall back on.

[reismark]

Have some thoughts on Guynemer's thoughts.

Number one...

Spoiler:

That was my first thought, if only for two somewhat obvious reasons:

1) Snape makes no effort to kill (or even harm) Harry during his attempts at fleeing the "scene of the crime". If he was truly a Death Eater, he would have acted differently.

2) The reason offered for how Snape allegedly managed to dupe Dumbledore into trusting him (assuming that Snape is a Death Eater) - the use of Occulmency - is completely stretched and unfounded. It's true that Snape is an accomplished Legimilens, but more so than Dumbledore, "the greatest wizard alive", who doesn't even need the use of a wand in his Occulmency (unlike Snape)? Pish-posh.

As far as I'm concerned, the question to carry over to book seven is whether or not Guy's observation is correct (it is), but whether or not Harry figures out the truth on his own, and then (in a delicious reversal of roles) is the only one to defend Snape when everyone else believes the worst.

Number three...

Spoiler:

I have a few huge problems with this line of thought.

1) You have to remember that Rowling is writing these books as much for a pre-teen audience as for a young-or-not adult audience. The pre-teen audience will not be satisfied by any ending other than the Hollywood ending of Harry triumphing over evil. (If this was solely a (young) adult audience we were talking about, I'd agree this would be an excellent ending, but it isn't, so it ain't.)

2) It wouldn't fit in with the ending arc of Azkaban. Bottom line is, we must have a scenario where Voldemort gets the upper-hand on Harry and is about to kill him, only for Harry to be saved from death by the forgotten one, Peter Pettigrew (unheard from since Goblet).

3) Wouldn't the power of Harry's love (eww... I didn't mean that the way it sounds) be tempered somewhat by having one-seventh of Voldemort's soul stuck within him? Seriously, Voldemort's inability to physically touch Harry prior to the end of Goblet and ineffectively possess Harry in Phoenix doesn't jive with this idea.

4) As someone already mentioned, the point of the Horcrux is to keep the thing alive and viable. It's illogical to think Voldemort was planning to use the body of Harry as the Horcrux itself. (In fact, Dumbledore says that "to confide a part of your soul to something that can think and move for itself is obviously a very risky business".)

Besides, when has Dumbledore ever been wrong? (And don't use Snape killing him as an example of that.)

[Kuciwalker]

Spoiler:

So you think they both die? That would eliminate the possibility of more $$$ sequels. Of course, there will definately be at least one prequel, but still...

xpost

[Verto]

Spoiler:

Continuing what I said above, with regard to Harry being a horcrux:

This would explain how Harry dies: we've already said how Voldemort wouldn't care about losing one of his horcrux, if it meant he'd killed Harry. However, at the same time, if Harry killed Voldemort, he would still exist through the horcrux...unless Harry kills himself! This could be a possible way that Harry dies: he defeats Voldemort, and, realizing through HP, Voldemort can remain alive, he kills himself!

[Kuciwalker]

Spoiler:

Why, though, do you think Harry has to die?

[Verto]

I don't want the books to end

[Kuciwalker]

Spoiler:

Harry dying would end the series (except for the aforementioned prequels)

[Verto]

Spoiler:

I know, just as I know Rowling will not continue this series on beyond the next book. That doesn't mean I can't wish it to be never-ending.

[Kuciwalker]

Spoiler:

Of course she will. $$$

[Verto]

Spoiler:

She made over 60 million with this book alone. She doesn't need any more money, she needs spare time in which to spend it. And why am I putting this in spoiler tags?