Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry discussion

What are your thoughts on the epilogue that adorned the last few pages of the final Harry Potter novel?

I thought it was excellent in a way because it concludes the story and ties up some loose ends and questions. We learn that Hogwarts is finally at ease and back to "normal" for lack of better word. We see who's married who and get the joy in seeing the characters children and hear from wonderful lines said by our favorite characters to their children. I enjoyed it.

I think that the ending was a bit cheesy and rushed. I mean the all end up marrying there magic school sweet hearts. And Harrys kids names are just awful. James, Lily, And Albus? How cheesy. But then again it is HP so i love it all the same!

I agree with Emma of Hufflepuff; the ending had a very rushed feeling and I almost wanted less finality. I understand completely that J.K. Rowling needed the closure but there was such a feeling of "all's well that ends well" that I couldn't hardly believe things worked out as well as they did. I am a major Harry/Hermione shipper and have never been able to understand how a minor character such as Ginny was worthy of the main character and ultimate hero of the wizarding world. On the note of names, I thought James and Lily were cute; had Harry known his parents, it would have been a little strange that he named his children after them, but having no real memory of them, it was sweet that he chose to remember them in that way. HOWEVER, Albus Severus Potter? Hugo and Rose Weasley? I think Albus is ok, but Severus takes it too far. The name Hugo makes me laugh, but I'm not totally against it; Rose felt like a cop-out. Not sure what's up with that. Feel free to disagree with me, I'm just spewing my thoughts and opinions here.

Jordan wrote: "I agree with Emma of Hufflepuff; the ending had a very rushed feeling and I almost wanted less finality. I understand completely that J.K. Rowling needed the closure but there was such a feeling of..."
I agree with you completely, Jordan, about the ending. I'm pretty much a canon shipper, but I concur especially on the point that the ending was rushed. I would've preferred if J.K. had gone into a bit more detail with the epilogue, instead of simply cutting it off. It felt off-kilter to the tone of the books, which have always been descriptive (not cloyingly so) and have wrapped things up nicely with a bit of mystery tied in. Honestly, my biggest complaint about the entire series is the epilogue- it doesn't feel like a real part of the book.

I am not sure of what part it was exactly, but I know that J.K. Rowling had the ending written first, and that she wrote the rest of it around that ending. It would be interesting to look into the exact process through which she went about putting the books together. I am under the impression that she locked the ending away and only pulled it out once it was time for the 7th book to be written. Again, whether or not that ending was the epilogue or, say, a few of the final chapters involving the battle, I can't say.

I, too think Harry should have died. The entire series was about good vs. evil and the animosity between Harry and Voldemort. I think they should have both died together for a bit of a better ending. I think it was way too rushed, but it was so vague, that it offered the option for people to write Fanfics about what would happen next.

Jordan wrote: "I am not sure of what part it was exactly, but I know that J.K. Rowling had the ending written first, and that she wrote the rest of it around that ending. It would be interesting to look into the ..."
I could hardly believe that, that ending was the epilogue because of the tone. Everyone agrees that it was rushed, and I cannot see why J.K. would center her entire series around a vague and, as Dagmar suggested, cheesy epilogue. Just my opinion.

I don't think the series was in any way based around the epilogue, or the ending for that matter. If you do some research on her and the series as a whole, you will find that she did a LOT of work putting this whole story together (obviously) and that it literaly took her years to write and publish HPatSS. It isn't far fetched at all to believe that she may have written the ending first and worked a little backwards (in a way). I think it's insane to believe that anyone could make that compex of a story up as they're going-- to not have put detailed thought into how it would end before starting at the beginning would be near impossible to do. Would you not get confused if you were trying to write a story that turned out to be 7 books long and you went from beginning to end, straight through without having a definite feeling for what your final conclusion would entail? I know some people do it, but honestly, she has pure genious here. I'd like to give her a little more credit in the area of thought going into the plot (rhyme not intended). And who knows? Maybe after YEARS and YEARS of allowing Harry to have a stressful life she wanted him to finally relax? I can agree that it was cheesy, but if J.K. Rowling wrote it, I'm ok with it. They're her books and I love them all the same regardless. I'm simply stating my opinions as well :) My appologies if I've offended anyone with something I said.

Jordan wrote: "I don't think the series was in any way based around the epilogue, or the ending for that matter. If you do some research on her and the series as a whole, you will find that she did a LOT of work ..."

Oh no, I totally agree with you. I think she did a beautiful job with the book series, I was just stating that I don't think it was the epilogue that she had written first. I do like the idea that she had with it, though. It was lovely getting to see the children and who ended up with whom. I give J.K. a lot of credit for a brilliant story.

Emma wrote: "I think that the ending was a bit cheesy and rushed. I mean the all end up marrying there magic school sweet hearts. And Harrys kids names are just awful. James, Lily, And Albus? How cheesy. But th..."

Hi Emma I am a first year at Hogwarts what is my homework assignment?

I loved the Epilogue.. The epilogue was necessary to tell us what happened to all our favorite characters after it all ended. She just couldn't have concluded the novel after Voldemort was destroyed. Epilogue brought back a smile on our faces when we imagine everyone as grown ups, at the same time it gave us a signal that the series we loved so much now comes to an end..

Swaroop wrote: "I loved the Epilogue.. The epilogue was necessary to tell us what happened to all our favorite characters after it all ended. She just couldn't have concluded the novel after Voldemort was destroye..."

I agree, I just wish it could have been a bit more descriptive. I was still questioning what happened to some of the characters, even after reading the epilogue. If you haven't already, please join the Hogwarts Quidditch Group which is the Quidditch component of this group. You'll have the ability to try out for your house team, be a reporter, referee, commentator, cheerleader, etc. Please join! Here's the link:

http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/5...

Thanks Emma, I already joined and applied for reporter position :)

Emma wrote: "I think that the ending was a bit cheesy and rushed. I mean the all end up marrying there magic school sweet hearts. And Harrys kids names are just awful. James, Lily, And Albus? How cheesy. But th..."

I see your point.

Swaroop wrote: "I loved the Epilogue.. The epilogue was necessary to tell us what happened to all our favorite characters after it all ended. She just couldn't have concluded the novel after Voldemort was destroye..."

Yes. Very true. I agree.

I agree with a lot that has been said. Though I may be repeating a lot that's already been said, I just want to get mt opinion out there.

The epilogue was necessary but it was also rushed and cheesy.
Honestly after all the damage that Voldemort did, I just don't believe that they could all have such a cheesy fairy tale ending. Not to mention J.K left me with a lot of questions about what happened to other characters and I wanted to know how the Wizarding world coped with everything. I realize that writing about that could probably fill it's own small novel, but I just really don't like loose ends.

I also agree that naming the kids Lily, James and Albus was cute, but the Severus thing was going way too far. I'm sorry but even though Snape was a good guy. He was still a massive jerk. Though looking at his life, he did have a pretty good reason for it, I still doubt that Harry (who hated Snape with a passion) would name his kid after him.

But that's just my opinion...

I found that the epilogue was sort of disappointing. It seemed as though she was racing to finish the book, and didn't touch base on many of the characters that we've all become so attached to. I would have loved to figure out what the rest of the Weasley clan was up to, or how the wizarding world reacted to the whole debacle. I felt it could have been elaborated more, leaving us feeling fulfilled, whereas i felt it wasn't completely finished.

The epilogue was Jo's idea, so it surely was excellent, and a bit bittersweet, but not devastating. Well depending on the situation most Potterhead probably feel devastated as an after-effect of ending the books, but I'm quite sure the pain didn't exactly come from the epilogue. I like to think all was well. She left it at that, so i just leave it at that. Though I was wondering where Hagrid was...

I disagree with how everyone says that it seemed rushed. I think the Jo spent a long time writing this and trying to get it perfect, but as it may not have answered all of our questions, she was happy with how it ended. Maybe she even ended it like this, so she can write another book(I wish). I do wish, though that she told us what happened to the other characters we love such as Hagrid, Luna, Neville, and the others. I loved the names of Harry's and Ginny's kids, but I do wonder if Ginny had any say at all. As all the kids have something to do with Harry and nothing to do with Ginny. In the end, Jo must of had a reason to leave it at that.

i heard that the purpose for the epilogue was a way for J.K to show that Teddy Lupin was ok.

I did like the epilogue, but I do not think that it was long enough to wrap up a series that long. It still makes me wonder what happened to everyone else. I would have preferred the original epilogue but also with separate stories pertaining to what happened with the other charachters.

i think it was both, it was excellent to see the characters grown up and later in their lives, but devestating to know that thats the end of Harry =( Then a new era is born. It was sad to see it end like that so your last impressions of the chars are mid aged people. But I think it was a great idea.

Overall, i really liked it! I really liked how Harry named his son Albus Severus Potter. I wished J.K. could've gone into more detail about Draco's kid and wife. Whoo! I also wished J.K. would make another series! :)

Isabella wrote: "3rd comment in a row...
EVERYONE WHO SAYS THAT HARRY SHOULD DIE:
let's keep in mind that a ton of 7 year olds have their parents read these books to them and, well, we don't want anyone to spend d..."

There are actual books written on how he should have died and such.

I really liked the epilogue, I think that it was a great way to finalize everything and even though J.K Rowling didn't go into too much detail I can understand her reasoning for doing so. The epilogue wasn't designed to be a way to pack all every bit of information, it would've seemed fake that way. Although it left me wanting more, I think that it was the perfect length and had enough information in it without seeming forced. When I read it for the first time, it made me cry :')

I thought it was amazing. I cried so hard. But I was still curious about what everyone had done in there lives and such. It was amazing though. "All was well." That was the perfect ending.

I thought it was okay, and it made you feel good inside, but they could have come up with better last words than that. "All was well." I know some people like that phrase but I think she could have come up with better last words than that. Just saying.

it was an alright ending. i thought it was cute to name his kids after his parents James and Lily. Albus Severus potter. at first i thought wth, but then when i read the book again, i understood the reason why he chose that name a little better. he finally realizes that not only did Severus love Lily, but also that he had been trying to protect Harry the whole time, even though they didnt like each other.

Ahh...I love Snape, lol. I always knew he was a good guy :) Uhm, Yeah, I loved how he named him Albus Severus..its awsum. I also agree that "All was well" wasn;t that great...it could have been a better ending...but oh well :)

XD glad to have an agreer!

I did not like the epilogue for several reasons. The first one because it was the end of the book, the second because I don't know if George got married, if Lockhart was still like Dory, and if J.K. Rowling put in any effort!

I wish she would have added more detail. Maybe she'll make a new book about what officially happens to everyone!! :)

Doubt it. The last book was published in 2007.

too bad...that would be awesome if she did, a book to wrap up where everyone is and stuff

Well said ;)

I think they should organise an event in 2017, about the nineteen years later part. Maybe make the same scene as in the movie, with the same actors and actresses, the only difference would be that they had all grown up. It would be fantastic! Then Daniel Radcliffe wouldn't have to stick a fake moustache onto his face. It would be the cast all grown up.

I love it but feel there could be more!:)