Thread response post #4

[brimtoast.livejournal.com]

This post is to gather thoughts and discussion since it's been quiet here lately. So if you have something to say, this is the place.

Mine:
Quirrell is the one who tried to kill Harry during Quidditch. That part is exactly like the books (though clearly he's doing it for a different reason). And this puts Macnair in Snape's role. Just for fun, here's that scene from the book:


Below, in a shadowy clearing, stood Snape, but he wasn’t alone. Quirrell was there, too. Harry couldn’t make out the look on his face, but he was stuttering worse than ever. Harry strained to catch what they were saying.
“…d-don’t know why you wanted t-t-to meet here of all p-places, Severus…”
“Oh, I thought we’d keep this private,” said Snape, his voice icy. “Students aren’t supposed to know about the Sorcerer’s Stone, after all.”
Harry leaned forward. Quirrell was mumbling something. Snape interrupted him.
“Have you found out how to get past that beast of Hagrid’s yet?”
“B-b-but Severus, I —”
“You don’t want me as your enemy, Quirrell,” said Snape, taking a step toward him.
“I-I don’t know what you—”
“You know perfectly well what I mean.”
An owl hooted loudly, and Harry nearly fell out of the tree. He steadied himself in time to hear Snape say, “— your little bit of hocus-pocus. I’m waiting.”
“B-but I d-d-don’t —”
“Very well,” Snape cut in. “We’ll have another little chat soon, when you’ve had time to think things over and decided where your loyalties lie.”
He threw his cloak over his head and strode out of the clearing. It was almost dark now, but Harry could see Quirrell, standing quite still as though he was petrified.
“Harry, where have you been?” Hermione squeaked.



-Since he didn't have Hermione to help with research, Harry probably found out about the Philosopher's Stone (the "something totally wizard") for the first time while eavesdropping. If Quirrell and Macnair were talking about it, Quirrell likely wants it. Right now my theory is that he's a solo resistance fighter, trying to overthrow Voldemort but not part of the Order.

-Does someone want to take a crack at Amycus's latest post? I looked up the Black Dahlia. She's a murder victim. And then the other Elizabeth is... queen Elizabeth? Anyway, there's a lot there, and I'd be interested to see what people can get out of it.

-No theories right now, but this seems worth highlighting: "The Lord Protector will hardly forgive [Macnair] a third time, no matter what the excuse." So what was the first time?

I've been a little distracted lately, but as always I really enjoy the personalities of the characters and love watching them interact with each other.

Comments

[lucky-guess.livejournal.com]

Okay -- this is a little disjointed, but here's what I was able to find out about Amycus and his craziness.

1. Diana: Diana is the goddess of the moon, which is closely tied with the color silver. One ceremony honoring Diana was at Lake Nemi, which was called the "Mirror of Diana" (http://www.roman-colosseum.info/roman-gods/diana.htm), where women would leave offerings. So there's silver, mirror, etc.

2. Two royal Elizabeths: The first is obvious -- Queen Elizabeth. The virgin Queen -- it's no small stretch that she would be linked to Diana. The second Elizabeth is a little trickier. I found out that another royal Elizabeth -- the Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna of Russia -- was also linked with Diana. I found a bit from the book "The Paradise Myth in Eighteenth-century Russia" (http://books.google.com/books?id=C46rAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA38&lpg=PA38&dq=Elizabeth+Diana+Goddess&source=bl&ots=Kj52Udjv08&sig=QswFxub0ZYyBryxtGqHgdMJoiGg&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result) by Stephen Baeher. Here's the pertinent quote:

"During the reign of Elizabeth, the goddess Diana was also identified with the monarch and occasionally linked with paradise. For example, Sumarokov's 1775 Birthday Ode describes Elizabeth as Diana pursuing wild beasts, much as the English monarch had been described some 150 years earlier."(p. 141)

"Here" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_Elizabeth_of_Russia) is the wiki entry on the Grand Duchess Elizabeth -- she was popular and well-loved during her lifetime. She was the older sister of Alexandria, the last Russian Empress and was the granddaughter of Queen Victoria on her mother's side. When her husband was assassinated, she sold all her worldly goods and founded a convent, becoming the Abbess. Lenin ordered her killed – she was taken prisoner, and was tossed down a mine shaft along with some grenades. Later, she was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church.

3. Silver bath purple dreams stuff: This part is a little more out there, but still connected. Other than the obvious -- silver = moon = Diana, purple = royalty (i.e. the two Elizabeths), here's what else I dug up...

There wasn't much out there about silver baths, but I did find a passage describing the story (play? myth?) of "Agamemnon" (http://www.angelfire.com/art/archictecture/articles/agsum.htm). The background: Clytemnestra is pissed, because Agamemnon sacraficed their daughter to Artemis -- who is the Greek version of Diana. So she kills him along with this chick Cassandra who was also there. Here's the description of the pertinent scene quoted from the link:

The palace doors open and Clytemnestra stands with the two bodies of Agamemnon and Cassandra, a silver bath and a purple robe. Cassandra's body has been arranged obscenely on top of Agamemnon's and Agamemnon's blood has bespattered Clytemnestra.

Silver bath, purple robe... I'm drawing at straws, but the colors and the connection with Diana/Artemis, however slight, seemed worth mentioning. And the murder part was interesting too.

So... that's what I've got.

[lapin-agile.livejournal.com]

This (http://alt-arthur.livejournal.com/4483.html?nc=5) conversation adds to what we know (and probably requires a reconsideration of some of our speculation) about the Philosopher's Stone.