I get the feeling that she was setting Albus Potter up to be the next Dumbledore, so maybe he'd be a better hero than Harry ever was.

 

I know this is not exactly about the topic, but I always thought young Tom Riddle was a great foreshadow of the Horcruxes. Just no one really thought of the book since that plot point dropped quite quickly. No great deal of wondering if Tom made any other soul artifacts was mentioned in the books until the DH, so no one really thought along the path of Horcruxes.

Anyways, would of been nice to see a smart cast all around. Just wondering if Tom made any other evil book type things would've of been great to read.

(I almost wrote, would of been great. I lol'ed.)

 

If you want help with that, seriously, I'd be interested....

Apart from the obvious, and previously mentioned, more competent Harry, the thing I would most like to change is the authors desire to write at a level which is above her.

I'm not talking about the HP-Verse- it could be so much more then what Rowling did, and I'm glad that she didn't try to over-reach above her talents (Tolkien, for example, created a whole new world, religion and language and had the talent to write it well while most others would simply fail). What I'm talking about is the depth of her writing.

Fair enough using names and ideas from history, but the amount of Christian symbology and allegory in the final book alone which was used both needlessly and wrongly made me cringe. As a fantasy writer she has talent (duh), but her attempts to add a meaningful dimension to her writing backfired, and as a result other aspects of her writing were degraded (this mostly happened after OotP, and GoF to an extent).

So, if I were to redo the series, I would ensure that I wrote it within my limits as an author; if I had the skill of Tolkien, I would extend it to include the world of the Elves and Goblins- exploring religion and language while still keeping an interesting plot which mirrors real-world events (present and past). If I had the skill of Rowling, however, I would concentrate on the plot; fix the more glaring errors at the expense of trying to make the storyline something it would never be- a classic piece of meaningful literature.

 

I never said Change the past, but to utilize it once more atleast. Hermione talks about wizards who created paradox's and the department of mysteries had to go back and correct it.

What I'm saying is show why hermione was right in saying it instead of having harry just believe it and never test it.

Edit: To be fair, hermione stated it was impossible but never really justified it. Just like when she stated that Draco couldn't have been up to something.

She also never foreshaw the fact that harry could have saved himself with a patronus.

With out the proper explanation or reason its fair game in my opinion. And I don't consider a paragraph example to fit the bill.

The only thing poa addressed in regards to time travel was that a 13 year old girl who has access to a device that bends time can come up with the most un imaginative ways of using the device.

That and that Harry could have done anything he wanted to the timeline as long as he didn't know about, or was affected by it before he time traveled.

As to the IRL statement... name me a person who has actually traveled through time and don't use the atomic clock one or the clasic, I'm doing it right now...

I'm talking about back to the future, Bill and teds wild adventure, Dr who Targus time travel.

Everything else is theory till it actualy happens.

 

It just gives me an opportunity to point out that I neglected to mention the incorrect Must Of vs the correct Must Have.

Fair enough. I've heard that too, but being the cynical bastard that I am...

Ah yes, I remember Sir Molly of the round table. She was known for her treacle tart and a shriek that could split rocks.

Nice sig

Lulz. Everybody knows she couldn't disapparate because Voldemort destroyed her Saketsu and Hakusui with his Zanpakuto. :awesome

 

For the first few books nothing needs to be changed. Yes I hated Sirius' death so did everyone but it showed that JK had the guts to go and kill someone, something she seemed to lack in her latter books.

For HBP, there is so much there that should/could be changed i wont even go there.

DH is easier,

A) No Ginny/Harry. It make no sense and has started this whole net wide belief that Potters marry Red heads. JK never said that and it made no sense anyway.
B) Voldemorts Death shall not be to a technicality. I don't care if Harry has to use a nuke the fact that Voldemort died due to a technicality was stupid.
C) No, non scenically Harry surviving another AK. It makes no sense.
D) This is most important and crosses into HBP territory. Voldemort will not guard his Horcruxes with traps that can stump Dumbledore and almost kill him, then have all the traps when he is in power be defeated by a group of students that never finished school.

 

More than anything if I were trying to write a 'revised' or 'reimagined' Harry Potter series the first thing I would do is create a soap opera bible of all the characters, settings and various historical and future interactions between the two. She did something like this with her charity books but they were very obviously retcon jobs and attempts to add depth that didn't exist when she began writing.

The second thing I'd do is scan any contracts to ensure there was no mention of having a ghost-writer foisted on me if I didn't deliver the books within a specified period of time. To me this is the best explanation for the giant load of failure that is the last three or four books.

Then I'd sit down and look over the map I'd created with the soap opera bible and write out some sample history chapters for inclusion in places where background was needed for added depth and to move the plot forward. I'd include these in various books as interludes rather than depending on the brainy self-insert character I'd created with the elite name to info dump at all the appropriate places...

Finally I'd go back to the earlier books and flesh them out with details here and there to ensure that they have all the necessary foreshadowing to propel the story from book to book.

--bornagainpenguin

PS: I'd type more but the bar I'm at is closing and I need to get home...

 

I can think of a couple huge changes to the story line that would stay true to Rowling's original ideas but well make the latter two books not suck so much. One romance, Ginny is fine as a romantic interest, whats not fine is that she has zero screen time up until halfway through book five and then she's not even a close friend. A Ginny subplot starting in book three that would lead to a friendship in book four and sort of a falling out over Cho in book five, which leads to the realization that Ginny likes Harry more than a friend and them finally getting together in book six.

More interaction with Sirius is something else that would have greatly increased the books believability. No one really cares when he dies cause he has all of three or four scenes.

The biggest thing that I would change would be a completely redone graveyard battle in book four. Save the priori-incantum for the final battle. No Harry telling Voldemort that he's failed but the two clashing in a test of wands and magic. The shades that Harry is able to disgorge from Voldemort's wand would lend him their power, like the scene in DBZ at the end of cell saga where ghost Goku is helping Gohan.

 

I dunno if I'd change that much, really. I agree the most with people who said that Harry should definitely be more interested in learning magic, but everything else as an idea was okay - it was simply the delivery that sucked.

The Deathly Hallows weren't that far from left field. The Resurrection Stone was the only real stretch, but the other two were hinted at. The fact that the cloak lasted as long as it did was strange to me before book 7, and I always suspected wands were extremely important somehow. Most kids, when they get something new, are eager to pass it around or ask "Can I see it? Can I see it?"; in fact, it happened when Lee Jordan got his spider. But NO one ever hinted at seeing someone else's wand, or giving theirs up for someone to look at. That was finally verified when Ollivander explained the importance behind wandlore. So taking that, the Priori Incantatem effect, and the fact that normal wands choose the wizard, and it's not hard to figure out that a special wand would come into play.

Admittedly, I thought he'd end up "tuning" his, or getting Merlin's, or something along those lines, but still.

Harry's interest in magic aside, the series just needed to be longer - more thought out. The major ideas and subplots can stay.

Oh, and more action, especially in the final battle.

 

Have Harry gain a bit of strength in Occlumency, enough that Arthur Weasley died in the Ministry. The change that would go from this would be win:
Harry not connected to the Weasleys
Fufills need to have someone dead and if needed later on, we kill Remus off in the DOM.
Sirius can develop into a more 3 dimensional character.
Scrimegour could barter over pardoning sirius.
more Snape-Sirius fighting.
and no GINNY/HARRY!!!!!!!!!!!