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

[Jon Miller]

I don't find serial killers very interesting..

Snape on the other hand is interesting (possibly the most interesting?)

JM

[Imran Siddiqui]

Yes, but Voldemort is without a doubt a serial killer . So him having a past that suggests that is normal.

As for the romances, remember a woman is writing the books . That and it makes Harry a bit more well rounded (though I hear the sex scene in Book 7 will be lights out ).

[Kuciwalker]

I would've bet that there wouldn't be sex scenes.

Actually, I'd still bet that, unless you were actually referring to something JKR said.

[Guynemer]

I think that was a joke, Kuci.

[Kuciwalker]

:mrfun:

[Guynemer]

We really ought to have a :mrfun: smilie. What would it look like?

[Kuciwalker]

maybe with gay replaced by mrfun

or

or just



, but rainbow-colored

[Az]

, but rainbow-colored

When Guynemer asked, this sort of came to mind, but it's offensive to mr.fun. So yes, it's a great idea.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker
:mrfun:

And to opening up a good topic of discussion!

[General Ludd]

This is how I have always pictured a MrFun smiley:

[Jon Miller]

some thoughts on the romance part

I am really glad that there was quite a bit of teenage romance going on, full of blunders and the like

I actually found it missing in books 4 and 5 (there was just a tiny bit with Harry and he was completely out of sorts with it) and wondered to Ron and Harry's developement

if there had been none in 6, I would have thought it likely that Ron and/or Harry were gay or asexual

I would have expected the behavior of both of them to be more in book 4 or earlier (but then there was a decent number of pregnancies in my school at those ages)

in the last two books I could see Harry + Luna or Ginny or Cho

but while I could see Harry + Luna (And both Luna and Neville have really grown on me as characters, thanks to book 5) she doesn't really seem Harry's type

and there would have to be a lot more of a focus on
Harry's love life to explain it (which isn't the story that Rowling is telling)

I mean look at other girls he likes, he likes Quidditch players, smart girls, beautiful girls

Ginny fulfills all these things, apparently in spades (look at how many other boys are chasing her, and Slughorn sees it too)

so of characters mentioned before I started book 6, Ginny seemed the most likely

on other things, talking to a freind he pointed out some things (also in this thread) that suggest that Dumbledore is not really dead

I think he is, but can admit that he might nto be

however, so far it has been a story of Harry, Snape, and Voltemont

if Dumbledore lived I can't but see the story being of him as well, which would be a lot to add to the 7th book

Jon Miller

[Imran Siddiqui]

if there had been none in 6, I would have thought it likely that Ron and/or Harry were gay or asexual

Yeah, my point entirely. You can't write a book about school teenagers, especially the most popular kid in school, and not have some hooking up. Readers would be wondering what kind of relationship do Harry and Ron have exactly?

Then again, might be nice to see a gay character in Hogwarts, but it may seem all too token.

[Jon Miller]

there is few enough people discussed in the Harry Potter books (and especially sex lives) that I am not surprised that we haven't seen an openly gay student

Jon Miller

[Imran Siddiqui]

True, but you think that people that openly wear such garish purple robes (or whatever bright color) we'd have more than one gay person around .

[Jon Miller]

yeah

but Wizard society seems fairly conservative (they have slaves!) so it wouldn't surprise me if most gays were closeted

of course, Rowling has mostly been quiet on the subject of sex, so it could just be that she hasn't mentioned it

I mean her characters aren't sexless, but it does seem as if there isn't near as much focus on it as there is in the world I live in

(as a point about about the conservativeness= no divorces are mentioned, no people shacking up (even Fleur who is shown in the most sexual manner still comes and tries to be part of the Weasley's family), Ginny is considered a bit slutty for going with a couple guys in the course of a year, etc)

JM