The Late, Great Dobby the House Elf
Everyone may have jumped down my throat for not shedding a tear over Dobby’s death in Chapter 23, but no one cared to mention that the true gut-wrenching part – the burial – wasn’t until Chapter 24. I no longer feel like a cold-hearted wench.
No, I still didn’t cry.
That’s not where you thought this train of thought was going, was it? You didn’t think I was going to go into a whole speech about how I finished off a box of Kleenex over Harry’s former house elf, did you? Sorry, no. But with a little help from Chapter 24, I did find it sad, if that’s any consolation.
Way back in July, I complained that I found Dobby annoying – the Jar Jar Binks of the Harry Potter franchise. He didn’t really endear himself in any way until he was a free elf, and subsequently a far less troublesome one. Plus, with the introduction of Kreacher, Dobby suddenly seemed downright pleasant to have around.
He has been a useful character, far more so than I would have ever guessed when he first popped up. I’m trying to recall everything he accomplished to little avail (this is where I default to you folks who have read this series more than once), but one major contribution that comes to mind is how he helped Harry survive the underwater segment of the Triwizard Tournament. Harry’s untimely drowning would have put a damper on the whole story.
Dobby may still be a little annoying in the end, but he’s loyal, and that manages to outweigh all other qualities. He’s…a Hufflepuff. Dobby the Hufflepuff, eating paste and running with scissors.
When I first saw this movie still before reading the chapter, my reaction was "Oh my God, they kill a baby!" Is it fair to say I'm relieved it's Dobby?
I can’t say I didn’t anticipate his death.
She’s gearing us up; that’s all this is. J.K. is gearing us up with minor deaths before she wipes out a major character or two. First, she kills the character no one had heard of until she was dead. Next, she kills the pet that can’t speak, a powerful Order member who was only really important in one book, a series of random extra good guys, a bad guy who caused all this trouble in the first place, and now a good guy we have grown quite accustomed to. Side note: told you Peter Pettigrew would die! A-thank-you!
The next death may hurt. Dobby’s death stung; this next one may wallop. I just don’t know, but I have my concerns.
So I have to say, it wasn’t Dobby’s death that really got me, it was the aftermath. Harry digging the grave by hand was one of the best moments in the book so far. Brilliant decision for the character. It seems to say that magic is far too easy, and relying on it is not always the way to go, which is a fantastic foreshadowing for Harry’s refusal to chase after the Elder Wand in the next chapter. Maybe some things have to be done as a Muggle.
Now for the pertinent question: who sent Dobby? He’s a free house elf, so technically anyone could dispatch him if he had the inclination to listen to them. You know who I’m going to guess, because I’m dead set on this prediction being right – I think Snape sent him.
Dobby’s living at Hogwarts, correct? Snape is headmaster of Hogwarts. If Bellatrix called Voldemort back to Malfoy Manor, wouldn’t Snape, as a fellow Death Eater, also sense the call? Look at the timeline of the scene: Bellatrix called Voldemort and Dobby arrived.
THIS WORKS, PEOPLE!
Granted, don’t tell me if I’m right or wrong – I’ll know in due time – but I give you full permission to gush over my glorious powers of deduction to yourselves (or laugh unabashedly at me if I’m completely off-base). Either works.
But I’m definitely right.
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While we’re still hanging out in Malfoy Manor (where I feel we’re beginning to over-stay our welcome), I have to mention my favorite part of the scene: Ron.
Woah, bet you didn’t see that one coming. When do I ever say my favorite part of anything is Ron?
His reaction to Hermione’s torture upstairs is absolutely fantastic. I like drama, can you tell? Harry’s freaking out about the whole situation, but Ron is absolutely losing his mind. The slight difference between the two is very telling, in a blatantly obvious sort of way. Bellatrix might as well have been torturing Ron, too.
Something I just noticed – way to create a damsel in distress, Rowling. Up until this point, Hermione has been on par with, if not a few steps ahead of her male counterparts. In this scene, however, she’s a helpless girl…almost. It’s not until she manages to keep her wits about her enough to lie about the Gryffindor Sword that she shows she’s no damsel. I’m going to guess that Rowling didn’t choose Hermione as the victim because of her gender, but rather because of her blood status. Still, it’s an interesting archetype to have the girl falling prey as two guys stand by, unable to help.
May I register a request? You are (as is your wont) finding pictures to illustrate your posts, the all-time best IMHO being the fork in the road. You occasionally are throwing pictures up of the DH movie. I’M BEING SPOILED! Is there any way you could stay away from DH pictures?
Whew — now that I got that out of the way. I always (well, from about GoF on) loved Dobby. Sobbed like a little girl when he died. I agree with you that the burial scene is high voltage (unlike the funeral in HBP, which Harry seems to see through a fog). The way JKR weaves Dobby (and other “minor” characters) in and out of the plot makes him familiar, yet allows JKR the flexibility to add important details: who knew that house elves could apparate into a dungeon, and take people with them?
Silent on who sent him, if he was indeed sent.
Ron’s reaction to Hermione’s torture is a further fracture in his and Harry’s relationship, and further bond between him and Hermione. A trio will always have — what is it, valent and co-valent bonds? (High school chemistry, represent.) The bond between him and Hermione is strengthened here; his relationship with Harry … I won’t say “suffers,” but it is clear who Ron is most intent on saving, and it isn’t Harry. (Or himself, for that matter.)
I do think that it was a clever conceit to make Hermione’s torture audible to the 2 guys, when they were completely unable to intervene. Heroes who can’t be heroes — do they lose their minds?
Surprised that you didn’t say anything about Pettigrew’s death. Why did he die, do you think?
I don’t think there are any other Deathly Hallows photos out – at least not that I’ve seen (though I haven’t been looking particularly hard, for fear of spoilers). So you’re safe.
Harry Potter looks way to buff in that pic…
Yes. Considering….Everything.
There are actually tons of set pictures out :p
hundreds and hundreds, haha
*Sigh*
Thank you, madam.
May I make a request as well? As you’re nearing the end of the book, I am very curious to see what your thoughts are right after finishing chapter 32, before reading any of 33.
I always liked Dobby – yes, he can be annoying, but in a rather endearing sort of way.
I second that request. That’s definitely a place where I would like your thoughts.
Speaking of which (for those of you who, unlike Jess, actually know what we’re talking about)… the end of chapter 32 has recently been filmed. That is all I will say about it.
As for Dobby… I did not see his death coming, and I found it quite shocking and upsetting. But Harry does work some things out in his head at Dobby’s graveside.
I can’t say who sent him, of course. But I always enjoy reading your theories.
I third that request.
True, true. A very good place to find out your thoughts.
I’m also surprised you didn’t say more about Pettigrew’s death, since it was his hesitation to killy Harry because Harry saved his life back in Prisoner of Askaban that killed him
I read Dobby’s death and funeral in one sitting. (Which is true of most of DH, actually, I took just two breaks, a very brief one during “The Silver Doe” and a somewhat longer one towards the end of Ch. 33). I’d agree the funeral of Dobby is the saddest part of his death.
The thing about Dobby’s past adventures I liked best, upon post-DH reflection, was that when Harry freed him at the end of CoS, Dobby wanted to do something to show his gratitude to Harry. And Harry told Dobby, that all he wanted was for Dobby to promise never try to save Harry’s life again. *sigh*
Honestly? You stopped during “The Silver Doe” and during Chapter 33? I’m astonished!
If I were stopping my reading “toward the end of chapter 33,” I would stop precisely on page 685, three paragraphs from the bottom of the page, in the hardbound edition. I also had no trouble stopping after “The Silver Doe”
That would be a *rational* place to stop, yes. I read through to very last line at the bottom of p. 687 in the same edition, however.
I don’t remember where my actual stopping places were the first time I read Hallows, but I know I stopped mid-chapter a lot, just so I wouldn’t be sucked into the next one so badly that I would have to stay up all night reading.
Great page numbers you’re all throwing around!
I read all day and planned to stop after Ch. 33. But p. 687 actually prompted me to keep on going to the end. I suppose if I had stopped at p. 685 I might not have had that problem.
Of course, I wasn’t blogging my thoughts on my first read, so it didn’t really matter how fast or slow I read. I just wanted to KNOW!
I don’t see how I could have survived reading Hallows, though, if I didn’t at least read from page 685 to the middle of page 726 without stoppihg. So, Jess, that is my suggestion for you…. Now, you will probably stop dutifully at the end of each chapter just to prove me wrong!
Let’s see what all I remember Dobby doing:
After his horrible attempts to save Harry’s life all throughout Chamber of Secrets…
–He knocks Lucius Malfoy away from Harry at the end of CoS.
–He helps Harry with the 2nd task of the Triwizard Tournament in GoF.
–He returns Hedwig from Professor Grubbly-Plank and tells Harry about the Room of Requirement as a place for D.A. meetings in OOTP.
–He warns Harry and the rest of the D.A. that Umbridge was coming to catch them in OOTP, even though he was told NOT to tell Harry, so that they had time to escape.
–He follows Draco Malfoy around for a WEEK with no sleep (accompanied by Kreacher) in HBP.
–He Apparates into the Malfoys’ room under the drawing room to save Harry and his friends’ lives in DH, and loses his life in the process. (Good thing HE got there; being a slave of the Malfoys came in handy, didn’t it?)
There may be more that I’m not thinking of, but that’s what I could remember off the top of my head.
That is a great comment, Jimma! Do you write resume’s for a living?
No, Fern, but I am a former-English major and I did proofread (and edit) my boyfriend’s love letters in high school. Old habits die hard. Thanks for the compliment! I enjoy reading all of yours, too.
For me, the death was the sad part, and the funeral was just “getting closure” from the death. I guess it all depends on how you view it.
When I first read about the Pettigrew death, I was surprised it wasn’t a voluntary decision of Peter’s to pay back Harry for showing him mercy in book 3; but maybe that was too much to hope for.
I will say again, I like the wandlore, and Ollivander’s name. I think: “Olive” Wand “er” as in Maker.
The wandlore information explains why Ron didn’t start out as a very good wizard. Instead of going to Ollivanders and getting his own wand that “chose” him, he got a second hand one from some old family member. The same goes for Neville, as he mentions in “Phoenix” that his Gran would be mad because it was his father’s wand he was using when it broke. Harry couldn’t perform much good magic with the borrowed wand, either.
It was like 4am when I read Dobby died and I cried even though I didn’t think I would…it was just soooo sad….the description and everything
Yes! More Ron appreciation! And yeah, the death was sad…. the burying was sadder. I did cry however. Too much of a softy…
it was aberforth hu sent dobby and aberforth is albus dumbledores brother