Now over the years Thor has been re-interpreted many different ways. Originally he was a magically created alter identity for a mortal by the name of Dr. Donald Blake. Later this was amended to Dr. Blake being a fictitious construct for the real thunder god. For a time they dropped Dr. Blake altogether, and let Thor put on blue jeans and try to pass as a mortal by the name of Sigurd Jarlson. Think Clark Kent with a pony tail here. Most recently he has been called back from death itself by his connection to earth and the wandering spirit of Dr. Blake. Over the years he’s been portrayed at times as a spandexed hero, and at other times as a deity and elemental force of nature. Herein lies the peril Marvel is now presented with. There’s so much material to draw on and so many reinterpretations of the thunder god to choose from. The expectations for a movie based on this character will be huge, and the nature of the storyline lends itself equally to epic grandeur and ridiculous camp.

The first big question is what actor could possibly lift the hammer of such an epic character? Remember this is the guy that inspired the likes of Beowulf! I’ve seen names like Brad Pitt tossed out followed by debates of whether or not he can beef up enough to fill the armor. Or whether or not Hulk Hogan would be able to tone it down enough. What these debates seem to miss is the first decision of whether the part should be played by one or two actors. For instance while perhaps Brad Pitt could theoretically fill the loafers of Dr. Blake, he would look like a kid trick or treating decked out as the thunder god. But if they can find an actor able to play both Sigurd Jarlson and Thor then perhaps it can be a single actor. That would be my preference, but he must be big, and he must look Norser than Norse. However, in this sense the script may need to be predicated on the casting. The second big question is will he be portrayed simply as a super hero, or as the actual god of thunder? In the current incarnation of his comic the direction is clearly leaning toward the actual god of Norse mythology, with a more medieval reinterpretation of the costume. I would urge Marvel to forgo the old spandex design for new retro chain mail , and capitalize on the current success by staying true to this latest vision.

Now as for the script. One article I saw seems to believe that they’re going old school and doing the origin story of Thor himself as a god. OK, as a fan of the comic and the legends, I’d love it but it would be a flop. To be successful this movie will need to merge superhero shtick with epic legend and a heavy dose of action. Don’t tell us where Thor himself came from, we’ve all got the genera idea. Just explain what he’s doing in the here and now playing at super hero. There’s some room here for good story telling. Take a note from Highlander, and lean on the man out of his time theme. Also, take lesson from the success of the current comic. It should be post Ragnarök, not a young Thor wilding on earth. That should have finished a thousand years ago. If he’s back from the dead, post Ragnarök as in the current comic, for the first time in millennium he wouldn’t know when and how he would ultimately die. For the first time Thor would be facing an uncertain future, in a strange new time that has all but forgotten him. This also removes all those sticky plot problems posed by characters like Odin being around. There’s certainly some grist for the mill here, I can think of at least two classic Thor comic story lines to tie in that could bring him to the future and still run as a fun story line. So please don’t drop the ball on this one.

One final note. Theme song. It needs to be Led Zeppelin’s immigrant song. Enough said. So please don’t let us down.

Sincerely

A true believer

;)

Here’s a fun one I thought I should make you all aware of from SLG publishing. I Librarian is the first collection of stories about Rex Libris the librarian for Middleton Public Library. Sound pretty tame does it? Well, he’s been a librarian for over two thousand years working as an agent of the deposed, and disgruntled former Egyptian god Thoth.

Rex travels throughout the universe to collect overdue books, by force when necessary. Battling strange alien despots and shadowy Samurai demons along the way. All the while trying to satisfy the publisher of his memoirs with sufficiently marketable plot contrivances.

By publishing is memoirs, Rex is breaking the ancient silence of the “Ordo Bibleotheca” that has for millennium influenced the rise and fall of civilizations through protecting knowledge …. and the public library system. He has the permission, albeit begrudged approval of Thoth, as long as he doesn’t start wearing spandex or contact lenses. That’s because Thoth doesn’t quite approve of the comic book genre.

This is a smart, quick witted series with a well contrived and refreshingly original plot wedgie. It’s self deprecating and ironic sense of humor reminds me a little of Buffy the Vampire slayer. It’s a great read, check it out!

So Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is behind us now. Time to pause a moment and reflect.

Back in April of 2006 I shot off my mouth and made some predictions of what I thought would happen. I even wrote my own version of how I would end it, because yah know that’s what this site is all about.

So its time to face the music and run a tally and see how I did.

……….WARNING …….SPOILERS …….Follow……..

1 Dumbledore is not dead 90%

Feel free to gloat I was totally wrong on this one. However, that said old Dumbledore was all over this book. We saw him in Reeta Skiter’s book, we saw him in Snape’s memories through the pensive, at “Kings Crossing” and I would even argue we saw him in Albeforth. So while technically dead in the story he was very much present throughout.

2 Fawkes is the root of Dumbledore’s resurrection 85%

No resurrection …. no need for the wedgie.

3 Snape is not a bad guy 95%

Now here’s where I start kicking but. As I’ve said in the comments Snape is certainly in the gray and his motives questionable. However, that said, through Snape’s memories we find out that he was working with Dumbledore all along, even to the point of killing Dumbledore.

4 Hogworts will be opened 100%

You know it Hogworts was opened for business as usual. Albeit in a more repressive regime.

5 Harry will go back to Hogworts 98%

Now here we could argue a bit. Harry did not actually attend classes. However, there is certainly a good stretch of the book at the end wherein Harry most certainly is at and around Hogworts. I’m going to take credit for this one.

6 Lupin and Tonks Hookup, but Lupin Dies 70%

Here’s one I think I got bang on for both accounts, (technically 2 predictions) however I did think Tonks would survive, but I think the baby served the same literary purpose.

7 Tonks Kick’s deatheater butt revenging Lupin 60%

We don’t actually know for sure about this one. The story didn’t follow Lupin and Tonks into the final battle. But I’m sure whoever died last blew a cork on the deatheaters. But I can’t take full credit on this one.

8 Harry and Ginny hookup 90%

I think that getting married and having kids would constitute “hooking up”. So yup, got this one too.

9 Harry is a Hoarcrux of some sort 80%

Oh yeah … need I say more?

10 Percy Weasely is the next Defense Against Dark Arts Teacher 40%

Oh well it was a shot in the dark. That’s why the percentage was so low.

11 Lucious Malfoy gets out of Azkaban to cause trouble 87%

Yup, had to be. Big break out from Azkaban, and Lucious was home albeit none too happy.

12 Neville kicks some deatheater butt 60%

Damn straight. Neville became the leader of the resistance at Hogworts and a key figure during Harry’s absence. He even took a bite out of Voldemort near the end when he charge forward in front of the assembled death eaters and Voldemort himself. He kills Nagini, thereby destroying a Hoarcrux.

13 Neville dies 90%

Well not quite, but he sure took a beating.

14 The book will be over 500 pages 95%

I got this too, while there was certainly room for me to be more aggressive with the number of pages.

Extra Credit

R.A.B.

Now I know I made no official prediction on who RAB would be. I was actually hoping for something other than Regulus Black. However, if you read down the comment thread you will see in May 2007 I suggested, as a joke, that maybe it could be Kreature. Well guess what, it kind of was. Yeah I know Kreature was working at the behest of Regulus … but he is the one who replaced the locket. So come on, give it up, I’m certainly due some points for making this connection!

Snape and Lily!!

Now this was one of the plot twists in my version of the ending, and I took a little heat for it. But I think I’m due some extra credit for this one too. Turns out, much as in my story conclusion, Snape was primarily motivated throughout the series by his love for Lily! And as I’ve maintained all along, he’s no good guy, but Dumbledore new what he was doing in trusting him. Good stuff

Neville vs. Voldemort

Here’s another one I called out as a plot twist in my version that came true. While in my version Neville dies, in the book Voldemort merely lights him on fire, albeit non fatal. So I think a little extra credit is due me on this one, but maybe not full points.

So all together I’m quite pleased with how well my predictions came out. Not 100%, but it wouldn’t have been any fun to read the book if there were no surprises. And it was a fun read. Since JK apparently won’t do it maybe later I’ll write up how book 8 would go! Hmmmm……

After some fun at Harvard, we ambled over to Newbury Comics, mostly to see what was going on just a few short hours before midnight. There was lots of Harry Potter toys and other merchandise to be had. And costumed salespeople to help you find it.

But what did my progeny latch onto? They both wanted a toy sonic screwdriver from Dr. Who!! I couldn’t be prouder. Their science fiction indoctrination is apparently proceeding well ahead of schedule, considering they’re only 8 and 6. And if you don’t know Doctor Who then you’ve got some homework to do!

So then we T’d it back to the car and headed home. We picked up our reserve copy at Borders the next day. But I’ll admit I’m not done yet.

So …. Where were you?

I just saw Al Gore’s movie An Inconvenient Truth. Yeah I know its been around awhile, but hey that’s what Netflix is all about right? Some pretty thought provoking stuff, and even if you think Al Gore is blander than stale salt free pretzels, you need to see it. Someday one of your children, or grandchildren is going to ask you something like: “What the heck were you selfish @#$%^s thinking?” Consider yourself warned, and start working on your answer now.

Ok, that’s the public service portion of this post taken care of. But this is a website devoted to fiction. So I’ve decided to write about this movie as if it were a B grade science fiction film. And yes I know that President Bush already thinks it is, but to be fair he’s at best a Texas oil man so let’s take that opinion with a little grain of salt.

So here’s the plot: It starts with a pretty standard “pre-apocalyptic” wedgie. The scientists are all screaming like crazy waving their arms and shoving graphs in peoples faces. The gist being “holy crap!! There’s more C02 in the atmosphere than there’s been in over 650,000 years and the planets heating up like a wad of gum on a hot steel bumper. Things are already getting sticky and if we don’t do something soon not even Bruce Willis will be able to save our a**.” Meanwhile the politicians are all like: “Yeah yeah yeah, but how does this help my chances of getting re-elected. And lets just take out that last paragraph from the report so it doesn’t upset our friends in the oil industry. And what do the opinion polls show on this one?” After all, most politicians are old men who frankly, aren’t going to be around when the time comes to pay the piper on this one.

Then along comes a former vice president, late in life who missed being president by about two votes in one of the most questionable elections in history. This guy, maybe out of boredom, he is out of a job after all, actually starts reading some of the scientists reports. Maybe he’s played by Harrison Ford, I know he doesn’t look anything like Al Gore, but I think he’d be great for the part, and maybe more convincing too. Anyway, he starts going all over the world talking to scientists and doing lectures, showing movies and so forth. The sky really is basically falling but all the Hummer driving, coal burning, forest eating morons either don’t get it, or just couldn’t care less. All they seem to care about is getting the price of gas under 3$ a gallon and finding a more convenient Starbucks.

So here’s the fictional part:

The sneering cynical president who wears a fake glad handing affable public mask, is played by Anthony Hopkins, again more convincing. Hopkins decides that Harrison Ford is starting to become a nuisance, and maybe a threat to his administration. He puts his shadowy, and dangerously disturbed vice president, obviously played by Christopher Walken on the case. Walken trumps up charges that Harrison Ford is working with a nutty eco-terrorist group and calls in national security agencies. Your typical cross country chase ensues.

In an ironic twist the eco-terrorist group gets wind of the charges against the former vice president and reach out to help him. Turns out they aren’t really as nutty as people think, they’ve just been totally maligned by the administration and the media. But now with their backing Ford’s face starts showing up everywhere from Youtube to Facebook. Now people really are starting to take notice, and now Ford really starts to become a threat to the Hopkins’ administration. Turns out the eco group has evidence that the president rigged the election, and with the former vice presidents face on their message it starts becoming more credible.

Walken blows a cog and gets caught on video personally ordering CIA agents to take out Harrison Ford. Hopkins knows his house of cards is falling down around him, and skips town leaving Walken to take the fall. Meanwhile the excessive and unethical methods of the administration start leaking like a balloon in a storm of killer bees. Suddenly the country wakes up and says “we elected who?” Other members of the administration seeing their reign of error coming to an end also flee like burning rats from a sinking ship.

For the first time in over 200 years the country has essentially no executive branch, and an emergency election is held. Who is the front runner? A new “Green Party” of course. How does the election come out? Is the planet saved? Does the price on gas drop under $3 a gallon? Will there be a more convenient Starbucks?

You’ll have to see the sequel to learn the answers!

That’s right sports fans, Buffy is back! Season 8 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer is out in comic book form from Dark Horse. Joss Whedon remains at the helm of the Buffyverse as writer. I’ve read the March edition and April is due out in a couple days. While one comic is perhaps not enough to predict where the storyline is going, it is possibly enough to get a flavor for how it will get there. It picks up shortly after the apocalyptic (for Sunnydale anyway) end of the TV Buffy the Vampire Slayer season 7. Sunnydale is a hole in the ground, and slayers are no longer in short supply. What I can say about it so far is that the “look” of the comic is quite good, albeit a bit dark, though it would have to be. Also, the story starts right in the middle of the action, with all of the quips and cultural references of the TV series. So far I love it and maybe in a couple more books I’ll post on where I think the story is going. But for now check it out and enjoy.

The first Scalzi book I read was an earlier one called Old Man’s War. It’s very solid well crafted science fiction. There’s some real science content and a great plotline. Old Man’s War is set in a relatively near future where the human race is in near constant conflict with a plethora of alien species for the few habitable worlds. To help fill the ranks of the fighting forces senior citizens are being recruited. They’re enticed by the promise of a new enhanced and youthful body to fight in, and assistance in settling on an alien world if they survive. The story revolves around the experiences of John Perry, one of these senior soldiers as he signs up on his 75^th birthday. He quickly finds himself off world for the first time in a young strong body fighting strange alien species. I thoroughly enjoyed this book; it has a real taste of one of the classics of science fiction and is generally a fun read to boot.

A more recent work by John Scalzi is Android’s Dream. This one is a more irreverent and satirical book about political intrigue and infighting around earths relations with a fourth rate alien power. It follows the story of Harry Creek a low level diplomat as opposing wings of earth’s government play a game of high stakes cat and mouse diplomacy with earth’s only real alien ally the Nidu. Pivotal to Android’s Dream is the Church of the Evolved Lamb. A religion started when a wealthy widower, Hayter-Ross, coned a con artist who tried to scam her by claiming he had divine inspiration and insight. From the ensuing religious nonsense a very real, successful and powerful church was born, with full knowledge of its heritage. This church set out to broker its influence and power to make the con man’s predictions come true. Really fun stuff. Not to mention that the first chapter is entirely devoted to a diplomatic incident where a human diplomat assassinates his alien counterpart using flatulent enabled technologies. I highly recommend this one, check it out you’ll be glad you did.

For those uninitiated in the Doctor Who series , it is the English equivalent of Star Trek. The original series ran from 1963 to 1989, followed by a TV movie in 1996 and now started again for the 2005 BBC season. It is famous for its quirky science fiction plotlines and unabashed low budget special affects. Think of it as the Hitchhikers guide meets Star Trek. Being a BBC series, the pace and the humor has always been very different than US productions. In other words, like Benny Hill, it was the kind of thing people either loved or hated, not a lot of middle ground.

Here’s a quick background for those too impatient to Google the plot. Basically Dr. Who is a renegade “Time Lord” who stumbles through space and time in a frequently malfunctioning device called a tardis. He has a long time habit of “collecting” human traveling companions to share his adventures and to contrast his eccentricities against. He tends to show up when and where some alien wedgie is happening and chaos ensues. So what’s this all about different Doctors? It is another excellent plot wedgie enabling the thread of the story to span generations of viewers. These Time Lords are like cats in that they are supposed to have nine lives. Basically when they are at deaths door, they regenerate and take on a whole new appearance and personality.

I recently discovered that 2005 season of Dr. Who was taken up by the SciFi channel. I enjoyed the Tom Baker season (the fourth Doctor) many years ago, but was less interested by the series with Peter Davison as the fifth Doctor. Anyway, I was excited to see where things were going with the series now. This latest Doctor portrayed by Christopher Eccleston has captured all of the humor and detached eccentricity that I enjoyed about Tom Baker’s portrayal of the Doctor. Although this Doctor has some darkness in his past that leaks out every now and then.

This season, now on DVD, has brought high quality production and special affects to the formerly camp and low budget series without also falling into the trap of making the plot too serious. There are pig aliens, living plastic, 2000 year old flat faces, and farting lizard aliens! What more could you ask? I’ll tell you what, there are also the Daleks. These are the big bads in the Dr. Who universe (Whoniverse?). In the past, though well written they lacked menace because they were built from garbage cans and toilet plungers. Well move over Borg, they’re a tough act now. Not to mention they’ve finally conquered stairs!

If you love Sci-Fi, and are able to take it with a dose of humor, then consider it homework to check this out.

Now about that ending

Their Ending

The build up to the discovery of the Dalek invasion fleet was excellent. The twisting of the Daleks due to being infused with human “material” was coldly brilliant. The “Bad Wolf” resolution however, was a bit abrupt. Also, the blatant time tinkering implied by the destruction of the Daleks probably should have brought on the Reapers as happened in the episode “Father’s Day”. I was also disappointed that Eccleston was to be a single season Doctor. But just having all the Daleks go poof before the fury of Bad Wolf? I was a bit disappointed.

My Better Ending

No, you guessed it; I probably would have ended it a bit differently. The Bad Wolf thread was a good one, but needed a more direct link to connect it with the situation and its resolution. Clearly Rose, now the Bad Wolf was just chalk full of Time Lord/ Tardis Mojo. Rather than just making the Dalek’s go poof, they should have made some sense out of it all.

With the Bad Wolf’s power Rose clearly would have been able to alter an important moment leading to the rise of the Daleks. I’d probably choose something around the arrival of the Emperor Dalek on/ above earth. While he was still week from the Time War, Rose could have defeated him in some highly special effect driven manner. As a result of the emperor’s defeat, all of Daleks start going poof, just as they did before. Way too easy you say? Of course, it’s never that easy, and a finale should always have at least one teaser.

Earth’s time stream would be repaired by Rose’s intervention, and as she returns to where/when the Doctor is and there would be Reapers all over the place causing all kinds of damage. As the Doctor stated in the “Father’s Day” episode, in the past it was the Time Lords who dealt with Reapers, and guess what he’s the only one left. This would be a primary driver in the Doctor taking on the power from the heart of the Tardis. He would heal the rift in time expelling the Reapers. This however, would result in his “death”. Giving his final goodbye to Rose, he’d make some touching speech about this being the last battle of the last great Time War and then zap the Doctor regenerates.

This ending would tie the conclusion back into the previous episodes of the series in a more consistent way. It also results in earth’s timeline being restored, something not really even covered by the existing ending.

I hesitate to write about Serenity. I watched the movie without seeing the series Firefly that it was derived from. Also, Serenity was literally the movie that wouldn’t die. Without the fanatical Firefly fans, and their outrage when Firefly was cancelled there would be no Serenity. And yes, we all know that Joss Whedon is a god, so claiming to have a better ending is technically huberous. I was pleased while watching the movie that I never felt I was missing the point because I hadn’t seen Firefly.

The story stands up well without any confusing blanks for the un-initiated. It’s a wild combination of Outlaw Jose Wales, Mad Max, Star Wars, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The defeated rebel turned outlaw, a Jose Wales meets Han Solo kind of character, named Mal captains a well-worn ship with a misfit crew on mercenary raids. They travel at the edges of civilization trying to avoid being noticed.

The view of the Universe in this tale is one without weird aliens, or serene worlds perfect for human population. Humanity has terra formed barren planets to spread civilization. The only monsters are called Raves, they are insane mutated human cannibals who strike without reason, and prefer to eat their victims alive. Basically they are berserker vampires without the fashion sense or style that they would have in Buffy or Angel.

One of the members of this misfit crew is River Tam, a psychotic telepath who has been seriously messed up by a secret government psy-ops organization. Picture the Vampire Slayer Faith with ballerina grace tripping on acid. River’s brother Simon has rescued her from the psy-ops group and is trying to hide her from the government by traveling with Mal and his crew.

The problem is that the government realizes River may have inadvertently been exposed to some heavy insider government knowledge through her telepathy. So the government sends a nameless uber fighter official to “clean-up” the problem. Chaos ensues.

Their Ending

River’s forbidden knowledge leads the group to a forgotten world called Miranda, all the while trying to evade the government official. The official and his troops seek to destroy any source of refuge for Mal and his crew, but the crew of the Serenity manages to slip his grasp. On Miranda we find out that the government has tried to pacify the population by introducing the mind-controlling chemical “the Pax” to its air processors. The experiment worked too well and not only did most of the population become non violent, they stop doing anything and eventually just died. However, one tenth of the population had the opposite reaction to the Pax and became the rampaging Raves.

Knowing that they could not continue to evade the government forces Mal proclaims that “if you can’t do something smart do something right”. His crew decides to follow him on a doomed attempt to expose the government’s wrongdoing at Miranda. They seek out a character called Mr. Universe. He’s a techno wiz character not unlike some of the Buffy villains complete with a robot female companion. Mr. Universe has the resources to broadcast their evidence far and wide, essentially a futuristic Internet wedgie. Using the rave “fleet” as cover they crash in on Mr. Universe only to find the official has already killed him and destroyed his transmitter. But of course there’s a backup transmitter. There’s an epic last stand with River in some very vampire slayer styled imagery. Meanwhile Mal reaches the transmitter and engages in a mono a mono with the official. So basically after all that, they just post it on the Internet? Yeah, ok. Couldn’t they have just FTP’d the file to him or something? We never even really find out whose memories those were of Miranda.

My Better Ending

Yeah Ok, so they FTP (or something) the evidence to Mr. Universe to put out for public consumption. And as the government realizes this is going on the psy-ops people try to stop the broadcast. However, the raves along with the Serenity are now bearing down on the psy-ops planet/ facility. It turns out that River’s memories of Miranda were from the leader of the psy-ops group, not some unspecified government official. She realizes that not only are they responsible for what happened at Miranda, but that they are still trying to perfect the Pax.

Now the same scenes of pitched battle as the crew goes in to take out the lab involved. River briefly disappears only to show up later when all seems lost with several more telepathic super slayer fighter chicks. In slow motion scenes of stylistic carnage depicting the telepaths plowing through government troops and raves they reach the inner sanctum of the psy-ops facility. There sits the psy-ops leader surrounded by more nameless uber fighter officials (all guys of course). A highly charged battle of the telepaths and officials ensues. In the end River does some super back flip killing move over one of the officials landing right in front of the leader. They lock eyes just long enough for him to know who is killing him.

After the battle, the camera pans out of the facility and smoke is pouring from all the buildings. The camera pans out even further and you see the serenity flying away from the planet amongst a host of Rave ships flying towards the planet. Then a final scene of River gazing out of a window of the Serenity with Mal somewhere visible in the background. Mal says something like “is it over now?” And River replies that “Now even the Raves know who to blame.”

The Harry Potter books have been a wonderful point of connection for my daughter and me. But along with that they are also well-written, well-crafted stories. This has helped fill my reading jones, though now my foot is tapping for book seven.

To that end, since this post is about book seven it obviously isn’t a critique of the ending. No, this is my first predictive post and it is a tall order. The Harry Potter books are far from predictable, so I thought I would first lay out a list of directions I think she’s going in with percentages representing how strongly I feel about them. Then I’ll give you my ending.

Their ending

1. Dumbledore is not dead 90% (–update: in Aug. 06 JK Rowling says No)
2. Fawkes is the root of Dumbledore’s resurrection 85% (-update: see #1)
3. Snape is not a bad guy 95%
4. Hogworts will be opened 100%
5. Harry will go back to Hogworts 98%
6. Lupin and Tonks Hookup, but Lupin Dies 70%
7. Tonks Kick’s deatheater butt revenging Lupin 60%
8. Harry and Ginny hookup 90%
9. Harry is a Hoarcrux of some sort 80%
10. Percy Weasely is the next Defense Against Dark Arts Teacher 40%
11. Lucious Malfoy gets out of Azkaban to cause trouble 87%
12. Neville kicks some deatheater butt 60%
13. Neville dies 90%
14. The book will be over 500 pages 95%

My Better Ending

Here’s how it goes. Now that Snape is on the run with the deatheaters and Dumbledore is dead, the Ministry takes more control in the running of Hogworts. After much hand wringing it is opened for the following year with McGonagall as the headmistress. In an awkward twist Percy becomes the new defense against dark arts teacher.

The order of the Phoenix goes through upheaval in the wake of Snape’s seemingly treacherous murder of Dumbledore, but Lupin ends up in charge. They help Harry pursue three more hoarcruxs but find more already taken by R.A.B., and the last they can’t track down finding it not to be in Voldemorts snake.

Lucius Malfoy breaks Azkaban with the help of the death eaters and in a pitched battle involving the Order of the Phoenix Lupin is killed. Tonks goes all vigilante and completely rogue taking out Fenrir Greyback in the process. Neville, is put into a position to face Voldemort and dies. This fulfills the prophecy without the death of Harry or Voldemort leaving everyone uncetain that Harry is the “chosen one”. Bill Weasely rises as a key member in the order of the Phoenix as they try to rain in Tonks and pursue the last hoarcruxs.

Near the end Dumbledore reveals himself to Harry, explaining that Snape helped fake his death to cover his tracks so he could pursue the hoarcurxes. Don’t act so surprised, this was heavily foreshadowed by Dumbledore’s offer to do the same for malfoy. Rowling never drops a detail like that without using it later, and book 7 is all the later there is. Also, it is way too convinient that a member of the Order (yes Snape) did the deed. Also, because of all of the attention drawn to Fawkes’ mourning for Dumbledore, I suspect that the phoenix’s healing powers play into his resuerection. Of course Harry must keep Dumbledore’s resurection a secret.

Dumbledore also reveals that Harry himself contains the final Hoarcrux created after Voldemort killed his parents. The verification of this is the reason for Dumbledore’s visit. Voldemort tried to create a human Hoarcurx in Harry tying their fates together inexorably to confound the prophecy. This process, however, was more perilous than he expected, and breaking his soul into the final shred nearly killed him.

Snape once again appears to have been on the good side all along. The guilt Snape carries, as alluded to by Dumbledore, turns out not be for his role in the death of James Potter, but for Lilly whom he loved from afar, awkwardly no doubt. Also, as revealed in the Half Blood Prince Snape is a “mudblood”, so he could never really trust his position with Voldemort or among the deatheaters.

Hermione and Ron, whom Harry has confided in about the hoarcrux, meanwhile have figured out a magic wedgie to help separate Harry’s soul from that of Voldemorts. A climatic battle ensues between The Order of the Phoenix and Voldemort and the deatheaters, with Dumbledore showing up unexpectedly. At the last possible minute the magic wedgie works allowing Snape, in a final act of duplicity, to kill Voldemort and redeem himself finally in the eyes of the order.