Was Harry Potter really the hero of the Harry Potter series?

On the surface, this sounds like a stupid question. Potter was the main character, and he did do heroic things. Most importantly, Voldemort was defeated because of Potter.

Or was he?

When I recently reread Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, I concluded that Potter was, at best, a weak hero. Too much of Potter’s success with defeating Voldemort hinges on Albus Dumbledore.

Dumbledore was dead, of course. But in the final book in the series, it becomes clear that he set many plans in motion before he died. These plans set things up so that Potter could defeat Voldemort. They clearly went well past merely explaining a Horcrux or showing Harry memories about Voldemort in the Pensieve.

Some plans were small, like arranging for the safekeeping of Gryffindor’s sword (which was useful for destroying Horcruxes).

Some things were bigger, like his handling of Severus Snape. At the start of the book, it appeared that Dumbledore’s trust of Snape had been the biggest mistake of his life. By the end of the book, it’s clear he knew exactly what he was doing. As a result, Snape ended up being an unexpected asset, not liability.

Then, throughout the book, Potter regularly thinks of Dumbledore and what he’d wanted. This influences Potter’s decisions. On page 692 of the 2007 US hard cover edition, it even says: “Dumbledore’s betrayal was almost nothing. Of course there had been a bigger plan; Harry had simply been too foolish to see it; he realized that now.”

All in all, it seems clear to me that Dumbledore had everything planned. All Harry Potter really did was act as Dumbledore’s pawn in helping carry out part of the plan. Harry was critical, of course, since there were certain things that only he could do. (However, he needed to do these things because of events outside of his control. For example, Voldmort’s attempt to murder him when he was a small child.)

I have mixed feelings about my realization. In one way, it’s nice to see “brain” rather than “brawn” win. And Dumbledore does represent “brain” far more than any other character.

Yet, overall, I’m disappointed. All along, I’d been viewing Harry Potter as the hero. Even early on in the series, long before Voldemort made his return, I was betting on two things: Voldemort would return, and Harry would forever beat him.

This would be a classic David and Goliath type story — a classic theme of the ordinary person who is called upon to fight evil, and who wins, despite the odds.

This happened in the earliest books. Dumbledore then appeared to be little more than a source of wizard knowledge. He’d sometimes help, but usually in small ways. Early on, Harry Potter would have to fight mostly his own fight.

Some fights were impressive. For example, take Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. The Chamber’s reopening caused a real problem. It even stumped the best wizards, up to and apparently including Dumbledore. It was Harry Potter who actually solved the problem. Not bad for a second year Hogwart’s student!

As the series went, my view that Harry would vanquish Voldemort was supported more and more. My view met its apex at the end of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, when Dumbledore died. It was a shock, but it made sense for the story line. He needed to go so Harry would be the hero; the young wizard who is forced into greatness.

Except, I was wrong.

While Dumbledore never did return from the dead, he did operate quite effectively from the grave. His plans, made before he died, guaranteed that. Indeed, he worked so effectively, even dead, that I think it feels almost heavy-handed at times. (If nothing else, it’s incredible how infrequently his plan didn’t work as planned!)

In the end, it leaves Dumbledore the real hero of the final book.  And I  think he’s also the real  hero of the series, since the overall series is about vanquishing Voldemort for good.

And I — a loyal reader since 1999 — am left disappointed.

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Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, which opened Wednesday, is cleaning up at the nation’s theaters. It made $58.4 million domestically its first day, the franchise’s best opening yet, and the second-highest box office take ever for a Wednesday opening (after last month’s Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, which made $62 million).

Overall, its take is the fourth highest opening day ever, also trailing the Friday-opening movies The Dark Knight (at $67.2 million) and Spider-Man 3 (at $59.9 million).

Industry observers say Half-Blood Prince might end up being the highest-grossing Harry Potter movie of all, beating the current record-holder, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, the franchise’s first installment.

But the news is less good for several other fantasy-themed projects.

In the Emmy nominations, which were announced today, fantasy programming was mostly ignored. In the major categories, Lost scored a couple of nominations, Kristen Chenoweth was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for Pushing Daisies, and Bob Newhart scored a Best Supporting Actor nomination for The Librarian: Curse of the Jades Chalice.

Meanwhile, Pushing Daisies, True Blood, Heroes, Lost, Smallville, Ghost Whisperer, The Librarian, and Sancturary all scored at least one nomination in the technical categories, and Joe LoDuca, who was previously nominated every season for Xena: Warrior Princess, was nominated for Outstanding Music Composition for Legend of the Seeker, that show’s only nod.

Joss Whedon’s online short, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, was nominated for Outstanding Special Class.

But True Blood (and the final season of the sci-fi show Battlestar Galactica) were shut out of the major nominations, despite being considered strong contenders. Likewise, Supernatural was shut out, despite serving up its best season ever.

See the entire list of nominations here.

In more bad fantasy television news, NBC’s The Listener, about a man with psychic ability, has been canceled, with its last episode airing next week. Five unaired episodes remain.

Will NBC also cancel Merlin before its 13-episode run is over? The last The Listener scored a .7 share in the 18-49 demo on a Thursday night, while Merlin, whose ratings continue to sink, scored a .9 in the same demo in its last Sunday night outing.

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Four and a Half Torches (Out of Five)

It’s really, really good — the best Harry Potter movie so far (by far).

As great as it is, it’s important to keep in mind that this isn’t just a movie; it’s a movie based on a book.

And not just any book: part of one of the most popular, most beloved book series of all time. The pressure to stay true to the book, and not disappoint its legions of fans, must have been enormous.

But as every screenwriter knows, and as the producers of this franchise have surely learned by now, a movie is not the same thing as a book. They are completely different mediums. For a book adaptation to be successful, it must be reinvented for the screen.

Past Harry Potter movies haven’t always succeeded at this (then again, they didn’t have source material as good as Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince — possibly the series’ best book).

But this time it all comes seamlessly together. Director David Yates (who also directed Order of the Phoenix and will direct the final two movie installments), and screenwriter Steve Kloves (who has written all the previous Harry Potter installments except Phoenix) made significant edits from the book, but they were all sound choices.

In a summer that, as usual, is full of movies like Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen — not even real movies, but, rather, mere excuses to show explosions and merchandising tie-ins — it’s particularly gratifying to see a movie about thoughtful, articulate teenagers — not the cocky, arrogant ***holes I’m so used to seeing on American theater and television screens.

“You’re kind,” Dumbledore tells Harry, “a trait people repeatedly undervalue.”

When a female approaches a dinner table, Harry frickin’ stands up!

This is one part of these British books that the movie is extremely faithful to, and it gives Half-Blood prince an old-fashioned, yet timeless feel.

Visually, it’s hard to imagine a movie looking any better. It’s pure professionalism all the way.

Of all the great actors that have toiled in Harry Potter movies, Jim Broadbent may be the best of all, delivering a truly impressive performance as Professor Horace Slughorn. And Michael Gambon shines even brighter than usual as Dumbledore, with a particularly meaty role in this installment.

Likewise, Half-Blood Prince benefits greatly from decisions made years ago, long before Yates was involved: the casting of Daniel Radcliffe and especially Rupert Grint and Emma Watson, who have all never been better.

In a better world, Broadbent and Grint might both be up for Oscars, and I’d give the movie a shot at Best Picture as well (at least in the Academy’s new incarnation with ten nominees). Alas, Half-Blood Prince will probably have to console itself with merely being the year’s top-grossing movie.

Much of the Half-Blood plot revolves around burgeoning teen romance. For the most part, it’s touching, but there are a few times when it plays things a little too broadly — the one thing that the movie takes straight from the book that it probably shouldn’t have.

Still, if you’re a fan of this movie series, you’re sure to love this latest installment.

Looking to buy anything Harry Potter-related? Support TheTorchOnline.com by purchasing it through this link.

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What do we know about the new Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince movie that opens July 15th? Quite a bit:

• It’s directed by David Yates, who also directed Order of the Phoenix (and will direct the two-part Deathly Hallows).

• Steve Kloves, who wrote the first four Harry Potter installments (and who also wrote and directed The Fabulous Baker Boys), wrote the screenplay.

• Because of a salary dispute, Professor McGonagall will be played not by Maggie Smith, but by Dakota Fanning, determined to take on the ultimate acting challenge, in prosthesis (just kidding).

• A prelude opens the film: the collapsing of Millennium Bridge in London. The collapse of a “muggle bridge” is briefly mentioned in J.K. Rowling’s book, which is set in 1996, but not at the beginning, and the author does not specify the bridge. The actual Millennium Bridge was not built until 2000. The films, unlike the books, are set in “the present.”

• Hero Fiennes-Tiffin, the 10 year-old actor playing 11 year-old Tom Riddle (and who has already made a big splash as a result of the trailer), is the nephew of Ralph Fiennes (who, of course, plays the adult Riddle, Voldemorte), the son of his sister.

• Jim Broadbent (the Professor from The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe) plays Potions Professor Horace Slughorn.

• The three people on earth who don’t already know the ending are really going to be surprised!

• The movie’s production budget was an estimated $200 million, the highest Potter movie budget to date (Philosopher’s Stone, cost $100 million; Chamber of Secrets, $125 million; Azkaban, $130 million; Goblet of Fire, $150 million; Phoenix, $150 million).

• The set designer, Stuart Craig, has worked on all the films (in collaboration with set decorator Stephanie McMillan) and been nominated for Oscars for his work on Philosopher’s Stone and Phoenix. Craig is also leading the designers who are making the Harry Potter’s World of Wizarding attraction at Universal Studios in Florida.

• Quidditch is back (missing since the fourth installment).

• Jessie Cave plays Lavender Brown (Ron’s love-interest), beating a reported 7000 other girls for the part.

• Robert Knox, who plays Marcus Belby, was stabbed and killed on May 27, 2008, just days after filming ending on May 17 (though Knox had finished his role much earlier).

• Dumbledore shows Harry far fewer of Tom Riddle’s memories in the Pensieve than in the book: supposedly just two. (But they’re supposed to be really good ones!)

• The character of Harry Potter is 16 in the book; the actor who plays him, Daniel Radcliffe, was 18 at the time of filming.

• Emma Watson really did seriously consider not coming back for the last two (now three) entries in the series — though by ultimately choosing to do so, she doubled her pay, to 2 million pounds per film.

• For the first time in my life, I’m not at all sick of the Harry Potter hype. Maybe I’ve built up an immunity?

Looking to buy anything Harry Potter related (or any other media)? Support TheTorchOnline.com by purchasing it through this link.

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Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince will be released on July 17th (U.S.).

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