Do Golems dream of magical sheep?

 

Quoted for mother-fucking truth!

You just know that, apart from Hermione, the (amazingly accepting and well-adjusted) Potter children, and maybe Dumbledore, the whole of the Wizarding World just shrugged and said, "Well, that golem creature was clearly using dark magic and got what it deserved (+for killing that little girl). It's not like it was human, anyway."

They're not going to recognize him as the tournament winner, not for one god-damned second! Especially not since he was portkeying the competitors out of the maze. That certainly doesn't show anyone that he was better or even as good as his competitors. That's not even touching on other issues such as his right to live rather than be dissected in the DOM.

So what did he prove and to whom did he prove it?

To the Wizarding World: That he was too inept to save himself because he wasn't as good as a human?

To James & Lily: That, despite being a creepy and unwelcome aspect of their return to the real world, he at least proved useful in allowing them to escape their magical panic room and he finally served his primary function in saving their REAL son.

He did NOT go out in a blaze of glory with his middle finger thrust defiantly at god and society, he went out with his head bowed in acceptance of a fate that was handed down to him by a pair of uncaring parents and a society that uses anyone they can get away with using, all the while turning their noses up at the victims.

Where's the fucking point? That it's a crapsack world and Harry was its unfortunate victim? That he was set up as a decoy target by the Potters and, when he didn't die and it came right down to it, Lily and James couldn't even bring themselves to give half a shit about the new life that they created in the image of their son?

It's a cop-out.

It would have taken more time and effort to turn this into a story about Harry fighting against racism and oppression to prove that he was as human as everyone else, so why bother...

Could have been so much more.

 

Good story.

Amazing ending.

A lot of you are complaining because you wanted Harry to upstage those motherfuckers in the wizarding world and show him his true worth.

But how unique is that? Every single story I've read with an abused/victimized Harry has ended up with him winning.

It's so common it's a cliche.

The fact that BajaB went for the other route, to get his readers angry and emotive, indicates far more maturity in a writer than any fanfiction writing in general. In the classics, the most famous books in the world, the hero doesn't always win. In fact, he loses more often than not.

But that's the beauty of it. A great book has a message, something that draws out the emotions of us. The purpose of a book is not to ensure that the hero wins. It's to ensure that the readers will be influenced by it. And by killing off golem-Harry, proving that he can't overcome the obstacles he's facing, BajaB has created a fic which is more than just a good read - he's given us something we'll remember after reading, a potential moral dilemna in an unfair and unjust world.

So...

A story in which the hero does not defeat racism and oppression is twice as powerful a story in which the hero does defeat racism and oppression. Especially if the author wants readers to think about the racism and oppression in the world.

 

Meh. I won't say you're wrong about that, but I will posit that it often comes down to a matter of taste and/or who the audience is (not to mention circumstance).

Regardless of how meaningful/powerful the ending was or wasn't, my point stands that the people who think this represented going out in a blaze of glory are dead wrong. There was nothing glorious about this Harry's death. He didn't prove anything to anyone in the end except to the few people who didn't really need it proved to them because they already knew.

I suppose he did 'show them what he was made of'... at least in terms of carbon content.

 

I really liked this fic. Most everything Baja's posted is very interesting and creative and this one's no exception.

As for my two cents, the more I'm reading responses (and the reviews on ff.net), the more I think Baja really nailed the ending perfectly. Not necessarily in terms of a satisfying conclusion, but in that it feels like people are reading the same ending and seeing it in whatever way they choose.

Some see golem!Harry's death as proof he was just a tool to be used and discarded, others see it as vindication that he was as human or more than those who judged him. It's almost as if the ending fails or succeeds based on what you expected of it and what you expected of Garry.

I know that seems like a patently obvious observation, but it's different in that no one's debating the content of the ending, just their own interpretations of its value.

Haven't seen a fanfic as discussion-provoking as this in a while.

5/5 for more reasons than simply pulling off angstiness in an interesting way. I'm not in love with where the story went at times, but the idea was consistent and solid from beginning to end. It's well written and finished. And different enough from anything I've read previously to surprise me often.

 

I actually really liked the ending, along with the entire story.

In the end, Harry didn't need to stick it to the wizarding world any more. I felt it was about he truly accepting who he was and why he existed and about showing the ultimate defiance in the face of adversity.

Brilliant, 5/5.

 

Meh. And every single fic I've read where Harry duels Voldemort, none of them show Harry tripping over something and falling into an AK. Because it doesn't make for satisfying reading, even if it would logically happen sometimes.

Perhaps some people really did reach the end and thought "Wow, the bigotry of the Wizarding world in this story makes me think about the bigotry in our world!" (though I have my doubts). I just thought "Why did I read 10 chapters of this shit just to get annoyed at the prospect of the smug Potters living happily ever after?".

 

I'd be pissed two if I had read four more chapters, as the story ended in six. I'll bet they were anticlimactic.

 

I was satisfied with the ending. Wasn't really expecting it at all but it was still good. Overall there were some bits of the story that made me cringe but I liked it.

4.5/5(rounded to 5)

 

I'd like to submit to those of you who didn't like the ending... a bit of death row logic. When asked why he tried to commit suicide, a death row inmate replied something like this. (I can't find the exact quote any more. T_T)

They control when I eat and when I shit, when I sleep and when I exercise. Who I see and what I say. They control my entire life behind these bars.

Fuck'em, I was just trying to take control of when I die.

-=-=-

Course, G!Harry wasn't a death row inmate, but every aspect of his life was controlled. Every aspect would likely continue to be controlled afterwards. He had to take something back, and did it in a way that would make people think of him as more than just a thing.

Sure it won't make a lot of people think that way, but who the fuck cares about them? The fact that it would mean something to some people was the only thing that mattered.

If this makes no sense to you, I blame 4am.

5/5

 

It was a good effort. The ending was, as stated earlier, a bit pat for my tastes, but it followed the path I expected from Baja. 4.5/5 from me.

Janus said it all.

 

And if he had set out with that in mind it may have actually been relevant.

He didn't want to die, though, and wasn't even in a situation (at least not yet) where they were planning on putting him to death.

 

This passage, taken from the ending, is the story in a nutshell. Garry went out on his own terms, ending his life in a manner that he, himself, could accept. In the end, as we all die alone, isn't that what really matters? Whether society or his "parents" ever acknowledge him is immaterial; ironically, they are shown to be less than human for not recognizing Garry's humanity.

I disagree about Garry's future, Warlocke. BajaB deftly hinted throughout the story that Garry's fate after the TWT was not in doubt and that his was a fool's hope. Every attempt at recognition failed and served only to dig him in further. His deepening despair as the story progressed paralleled this.

There are several excellent stories where the demise of the hero is part of the message. One of Dick's was already alluded to. Kurt Vonnegut's Harrison Bergeron is another. Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Coocoo's Nest (mentioned in one of the threads I've read on this story) is a third. I disagree that his death was "meaningless" or that the author's ending was a "cop out." Quite the opposite: the ending, poignant and poetic, was the focus of the story.

Still a 5/5 from me. Longer or less briskly paced and the angst would have become tiring. Shorter, and the emotional investment in Garry wouldn't have been there.

 

How did he go out on his own terms? It was either get eaten by beasts or blow himself up, neither of which was the end goal. If anything, towards the end of the story there were hints of those who understood his cause, and Dumbledore wouldn't have let them just snatch him away. Having Harry, someone to whom the circumstances have always been opposed, simply give up in the end and toss the real Harry the portkey so he could die instead was a surrender. The fight for humanity was too hard for him, so he gave up. Life, especially Harry's, is never easy, that doesn't mean he an heroes and says, "Ah fuck it, I had no chance anyway." That's not a dignified death at all.

Sometimes people have to keep fighting for the right to live as an equal, and Harry was doing a good job of it. In the end he had every right to live, and true courage is knowing that and fighting on, not submissive acceptance.

It felt so rushed, I hardly believe it was a part of the same story. He's fighting, Real Harry's fighting, oh woops here comes a random second skrewt and some other <insert deadly beast>s, time to die, it was never really worth it anyway.

 

The difference Jack, is that he really had nothing left. Past? Gone. Future? Probably gone. Oh sure he might have been able to stick around for a while and hold on but in the end, what is he really?

Don't think about this as Harry going out. Think about this as a Horcrux that developed morals and feelings of its own, because in the end that's all Garry was. He didn't actually have a soul of his own. Did that make him less of a person? Not really, but it did end any prospectives of a life he could have possibly had.

On top of all that, you're right, Dumbledore and his friends may have been able to protect Garry. The fact would remain that one day, they're going to have to finish off Voldemort and a living Garry is in the way of that. Canon Harry ate it to destroy the Horcrux, but that bit of soul is all Garry has.

I don't care how you view Dumbledore, one day things would have to come to an end and Garry would be the first to go. Oh sure they may not kill him outright, they might use him up like a pile of charcoal first, but the end result would be the same. Voldemort couldn't die while Garry lived. Period.

So your past is gone, your future is gone, all that's left is the present. Garry took one of the ridiculously few options left open to him before they disappeared entirely.

Personally, I'd like to go out with a bang too.

 

The only ending I'm willing to admit under the circumstances is that the explosion wasn't contained by the wards and it killed all of them.

 

Planet obliteration, awethumb. :awesome

 

I liked the ending, with Garry ending things on his terms. By choosing martyrdom, he freed himself from the negativity that surely would have followed him throughout his life.

 

What?

The whole theme of the story was that Garry was more than just a horcrux. No one understood what happened to him on that Halloween night, but it made him into a real being - Pinnocchio shit, I know. If he'd just been a regular horcrux, he would have turned out exactly like Voldemort; think of it as possesing Ginny, but without having to eliminate Ginny's soul.

Again, Garry was more than just Voldemort's soul. The prophecy applied to him, not the real Potter, as he was the marked one. Dead Garry means all of them are fucked.

LOL. As far as I know, gays that kill themselves haven't freed up a lot of the negativity about homosexuals. And I think Garry is now a fucking pussy, so his death has created even more negativity.

I bet Jim thought he was a pussy as well.

 

I agree with a lot of what you said except that. The author even left a note on that at the end.

This ending sucked to me. Not because he died, but because he gave up. He puts all of this willpower through a flippin' splintered to hell wand to summon an explosive cup, but he can't be bothered to summon the will to live anymore? Or just keep fighting?

Screw that.

Yeah that works - if the hero dies for what he believed in. If the hero fights racism and oppression till the last wisp of breath leaves his body and still dies - that's inspirational.

If the hero rolls over and says, "Fuck this," just because there's another hurtle on the track - that's crap.

That's where this story went wrong. If Harry had entered that maze to save everyone knowing he would die, I would have liked the ending, but he didn't. He wanted to live and decided that it wasn't worth the effort anymore.