Plot Holes and Writing Flaws

[Dr. Paine]

The fact that there was another total takeover with competent people has nothing to do with the laws being removed, oh no.

 

And only the ones we saw. It doesn't take a genius to see that the books are almost exclusively from Harry's opinion, and does he see Slytherins as anything other than a bullying, cowardly lot? He's not a reliable narrator.

 

Besides, Neville got into Gryffindor. Aside from the couple of times when he really did have to man up or risk death, how the hell do you explain that?

[kingsdaughter613]

Read the stuff I added. Do NOT get why Sal's line died out.... Makes NO sense. Marrying cousins is not an excuse as all European Jewry is descended from 15! families, and we're still around.

 

Neville is a true Gryffindor. His courage is hidden deep down, but when push comes to shove it's there.

 

Where do we see that takeover? Because I sure didn't notice one taking place... The leaders would have been Harry and co, none of whom is known for being diplomatic.

 

Besides, laws almost never get removed easily. It can be very difficult. And retaking the ministry would just make things worse... That's what USUALLY happens when you overthrow the goverment, and that's what they'd be doing.

 

Crabbe does NOT belong in Slytherin. Why is he there? And Harry's whole year almost never acts like they are Slytherins. Her fans get her snakes better than she does. Note: I AM a fan. I wouldn't do this if I wasn't...

[darkangel787]

On the subject of Crabbe and Goyle, I have to say I didn't really think about it. Now that you mention it, I have to agree, but there IS the possibility that the hat has the ability to see what impact students may have on Hogwarts history. Crabbe and Goyle were absolute necessities in Malfoy's future, along with the fact that their parents were death eaters. That might have helped the sorting.

 

Other than that, what the heck are they even doing in there <.<

[Sundew]

If You're Reading This it's Too Late - there's a sound prism, and only Cass can use it, apparently. Then two other people hear it. >.<

Also, in a novel called Nurk. . . . A shrew can fit inside a snail shell. But then, Nurk is pretty wild, so I take it seriously.

 

There are others I've read, but that's all I can think of at the moment.

[NixAyum]

doesn't give a rational reason why someone as rational as Salazar acted so irrationally

 

I read somewhere (probably fan speculating) that Sal was only so adamant about letting in pures because they founded the school in an age of persecution, so he was just playing it safe with the reveal: you know their parents are magic and understand the wizarding world, but letting in people from an outside world that currently viewed witches and wizards as demons and persecuted them for no good reason could be risky.

 

She ignores the other major countries, (like the US, who clearly has a different society simply because there is no nobility)

 

With all that Harry has going on and all that Hogwarts is doing, I'm not surprised. It's not necessary for the story. I don't walk into school and start thinking like "huh, I wonder what Parliament is doing today", so it's pretty safe to assume that Harry doesn't think on an international scale. As long as it's not affecting the school, which it seems even the British Muggle world doesn't, there's really no problem in not going into discussing it in the books.

 

has exactly three Jews and no Muslims in her school, (and that's assuming the Greengrass sisters are Jewish, BTW)

 

I know HP has a bit of aesop in equality and such, but again, is it really necessary? Kids don't talk about their religion in general, and the wizard world seems pretty secular to me. Getting involved with very contended issues like religion would be padding, and I think everyone agrees we don't need any of that.

 

her Hufflepuffs don't always act in accordance with their house values

 

When/how?

 

there is NO WAY Tom was Sal's last descendant, (proof: all European Jewry stems from about fifteen families and they ALL married within that group for centuries. Despite pogroms, the Crusades, the Holocaust, etc. the descendants of those famillies are still around. Wanna explain why this wouldn't apply to Sal, especially since we know the heirship can pass through the female lines?)

 

1: Where is it said that Sal or Tom was Jewish?

2: It's either said (or implied or speculated somewhere) that Tom's grandfather is insane with the inbreeding to keep the Slytherin line pureblooded.

3: Perhaps Sal was the only magical one in the family and didn't want to get involved with a Muggle? Or, had very few/one children and kept them separate from the muggle world?

4: Maybe there /are/ other heirs, but they are estranged from Sal because of his reputation, hide their origins, disagree with his ideas, afraid of persecution or estrangement from modern society, or just have plain forgotten.

5: Maybe female heirs don't run in the wizard world.

 

You have to wonder how they (death eaters) got rid of the laws so fast.

 

They probably didn't get rid of laws, just instated new ones. I doubt there were many actual laws in place anyway, regarding magic/muggle interaction. Probably all derivative from "don't ruin the masquerade". Removing any new laws once the ministry was back to normal was probably very easy. Voldemort was a short reign of terror and everyone knew it.

 

And it wouldn't have been the ones devoted to him that continued it; it would be the ones who could prove they were forced and it would be political warfare.

 

Yes it would have been. There were pretty much two types of people that worked for Voldemort: those who were legitimately in agreement with his ideals and methods; and those who served out of fear of punishment.

 

Without Voldemort, those who were actually loyal (who were also mostly criminals, insane, or both) would have lost all structure and discipline. They would have either fled, having nobody leading them anymore, or been quickly captured once proper order and authorities returned to functioning. They were a minority, and probably ineffectual without a strong leader or the ability to scare anyone into believing and obeying them.

 

However, those who served out of fear were then freed after Voldemort died. They had no reason to stick to those methods and ideas they might not entirely have liked as it no longer profited them. They did not follow rabid prejudice and hate: they followed opportunity for prestige and power. Look at Lucius: professed loyalty out the rear end when he saw Voldy was back and in a position of power, but during the ten years he was gone it's explicitly stated that many, many followers renounced Voldy's ideas or claimed they were being controlled.

 

Voldemort did not have a good business setup. He made people loyal, almost exclusively through fear, threats, and violence, to him. Not his goals, not his ideas, not his personality. Voldemort was the entire face for that side of the war. He had no second-in-command, and nobody would have had the guts to try to take his place, especially considering what happened when he disappeared after failing to kill baby!Harry and coming back. When Voldy died, absolutely everything collapsed. The true followers panicked at losing their leader, who'd they'd put on a pedestal, practically made immortal and undefeatable; those afraid panicked about how they were going to cover themselves, what to do now, and how to get back in the good graces of the most powerful people.

 

They are ambitious, but not that much. Most of them are happy being Voldy's toadies.

 

Voldy was a route to power. His followers were either proud or had a thirst for recognition or both. That seems pretty ambitious to me. We see them as toadies because of how Voldy ran things and because of the perspective the story is told from.

 

self-preservation skills, etc.

 

...were you even paying attention to how anyone following him interacted with Voldemort? It was all about grovelling and saving face and not getting killed for messing up. And afterward? They were tripping over themselves to claim "I was being mind controlled!" "He threatened my family!" "I had no choice!" in order to not get put in Azkaban, stripped of power, or whatever else they feared.

 

 

 

As for people being un-Slytherin in that house, you have to remember that not everyone can fit into those very clearly labeled quarters. The list of traits were probably preferences of the founders, or just the types of people that those houses created. Not every Gryffindor is a Harry and not every Slytherin is a Malfoy. There is wiggle room, and the hat also does take into account personal preference. Kids likely wanted the same house as their parent/s or new friends or told the hat what they wanted based on that house's reputation.

 

Because I sure didn't notice one taking place... The leaders would have been Harry and co, none of whom is known for being diplomatic.

 

Uh nope. Exactly /because/ Harry is not diplomatic, there's no way he would have led a ministry rebuilding. None of the Hogwarts people probably even messed with it, still recovering from the battle and restructuring the school. It was probably a lot of people that had been at the ministry before Voldy took over just trying to undo all of what was put in place under him.

 

Besides, laws almost never get removed easily. It can be very difficult. And retaking the ministry would just make things worse... That's what USUALLY happens when you overthrow the goverment, and that's what they'd be doing.

 

Again, nope. As Voldy was entirely a reign of terror and almost nobody actually agreed with him, it probably was very easy to repeal or cancel most of the laws his puppet had put in place. There /was/ no second takeover, it was mostly the old people simply getting back to status quo after Voldy disturbed them for a year or so.

[Gsea]

oh my goodness, the warrior cats series has so many errors from spelling errors (really, people? REALLY?) to mixed-up characters, like minor characters that died in one book and had an apprentice in the next (WTF, trained by a zombie? ghost?) or cats that couldn't decide if they were He or She >>

[darkangel787]

ALRIGHT GUYS, IT'S TRUE, NIXAYUM IS OFFICIALLY AWESOME :'D

 

 

Anyway.

I was rereading HP and the Sorcerer's/Philosophers (Depending on where you come from) Stone, and noticed something. When Harry overhears the conversation between Snape and Quirrel, Snape is pressuring Quirrell to reveal how far he has gotten with the stone. But since it appears that in the pensieve (7 years later when Harry has Snape's memories) Dumbledore had told Snape to "Keep an eye on Quirrell" because he was probably trying to get the stone for Voldemort and he had Voldemort on the back of his head, why was Snape treating Voldemort so rudely if he was supposed to be a double agent? (and why would Voldemort forgive him? Rudeness = Death, according to The Dark Lord...)

[Stromboli]

Snape and Dumbledore knew Quirrell was an agent of Voldemort, but they didn't know they were sharing a body.

Voldemort didn't reveal himself to Snape. Snape didn't know that Quirrell was Voldemort. At that point, Voldie couldn't be sure that Snape hadn't gone entirely over to Dumbledore, and if he had, Voldemort didn't have the power to stop Snape from revealing him to Dumbledore.

Snape managed to explain this convincingly when Voldemort did return to power, and won back Voldie's trust.