Sunday, July 10, 2005
6. The Half-Blood Prince – Not
Let’s take a look at some candidates.
It is unlikely that an author as in command of her medium as J. K. Rowling would introduce a wholly new central character at this late stage in the story. (Although new supporting characters such as a Defence Against The Dark Arts teacher would be allowable.) But this does not mean that the Half-Blood Prince has to be one of the main characters. It might be a minor character or else somebody we know of through references made by other characters.
Some commentaries, for example our favourite one, an editorial by Ryan MacDougall on TheSnitch.co.uk, consider the possibility that Aberforth might be the Half-Blood Prince. We also toyed with this idea for a while. In order for Aberforth rather than Albus Dumbledore to be the prince, one of two things would have to be true. Either Aberforth would have to be the first-born, i.e. even older than Albus, or else if he were younger, he would have to be a half-brother of Albus who had obtained his princely status from the parent they did not have in common. Aberforth’s being older than Albus does not fit with the description of the Half-Blood Prince, who is said to only have some grey mixed in with his tawny hair, whereas Albus is already completely white-haired and Aberforth is described as old with grey hair. The second possibility, that of Aberforth being a half-brother is a real one… but that doesn’t make the hair colour fit any better ! Moreover, nobody in the Order seems to think there is anything special about Aberforth; they just think he is odd. He is not marked out as being in any way more powerful, or intellectually or morally superior to Dumbledore, and surely this would have to be a given for a prince in a story as well-turned as Harry Potter. So Aberforth’s being the prince would not help further the story because he would not be able to contribute anything which Albus himself could not contribute equally well, and the notion that Dumbledore has been allowing Harry to be exposed to so much danger over the years for the sake of the former’s brother would seem rather selfish and not something Dumbledore would be likely to do. Ryan MacDougall also discards Aberforth but for different reasons.
We can also immediately discount a variety of other characters such as Snape, Dudley, Hagrid, Harry, Voldemort, Dumbledore and Daedelus Diggle because of their hair colour, stature, appeal or degree of authority. Admittedly, in the case of Diggle, we have very little information, but a comic character whose name rhymes with ‘giggle’ is hardly likely to turn out to be the Half-Blood Prince.
Caradoc Dearborn has been suggested by some as the best candidate. While there is some interesting reasoning behind such a choice (see for example TheSnitch.co.uk: “Who is the Half-Blood Prince”), ultimately we were unconvinced. Caradoc Dearborn is only mentioned once, and this is just not sufficient for readers other than real Harry Potter fans to have noticed his existence. A Half-Blood Prince has to have made more of an impact on the reader than this in order not to seem like a completely new character, brought in by the author like a Deus Ex Machina. Some other suggested candidates such as Blaise Zabini suffer the same handicap.
In our next post we will disclose our hypothesis on the identity of the Half-Blood Prince. Our choice fulfils all the required criteria. He is a known figure of authority who has had a presence throughout the books, is possibly of high birth and has a strong claim to be a leader of the forces of good.
Let’s take a look at some candidates.
It is unlikely that an author as in command of her medium as J. K. Rowling would introduce a wholly new central character at this late stage in the story. (Although new supporting characters such as a Defence Against The Dark Arts teacher would be allowable.) But this does not mean that the Half-Blood Prince has to be one of the main characters. It might be a minor character or else somebody we know of through references made by other characters.
Some commentaries, for example our favourite one, an editorial by Ryan MacDougall on TheSnitch.co.uk, consider the possibility that Aberforth might be the Half-Blood Prince. We also toyed with this idea for a while. In order for Aberforth rather than Albus Dumbledore to be the prince, one of two things would have to be true. Either Aberforth would have to be the first-born, i.e. even older than Albus, or else if he were younger, he would have to be a half-brother of Albus who had obtained his princely status from the parent they did not have in common. Aberforth’s being older than Albus does not fit with the description of the Half-Blood Prince, who is said to only have some grey mixed in with his tawny hair, whereas Albus is already completely white-haired and Aberforth is described as old with grey hair. The second possibility, that of Aberforth being a half-brother is a real one… but that doesn’t make the hair colour fit any better ! Moreover, nobody in the Order seems to think there is anything special about Aberforth; they just think he is odd. He is not marked out as being in any way more powerful, or intellectually or morally superior to Dumbledore, and surely this would have to be a given for a prince in a story as well-turned as Harry Potter. So Aberforth’s being the prince would not help further the story because he would not be able to contribute anything which Albus himself could not contribute equally well, and the notion that Dumbledore has been allowing Harry to be exposed to so much danger over the years for the sake of the former’s brother would seem rather selfish and not something Dumbledore would be likely to do. Ryan MacDougall also discards Aberforth but for different reasons.
We can also immediately discount a variety of other characters such as Snape, Dudley, Hagrid, Harry, Voldemort, Dumbledore and Daedelus Diggle because of their hair colour, stature, appeal or degree of authority. Admittedly, in the case of Diggle, we have very little information, but a comic character whose name rhymes with ‘giggle’ is hardly likely to turn out to be the Half-Blood Prince.
Caradoc Dearborn has been suggested by some as the best candidate. While there is some interesting reasoning behind such a choice (see for example TheSnitch.co.uk: “Who is the Half-Blood Prince”), ultimately we were unconvinced. Caradoc Dearborn is only mentioned once, and this is just not sufficient for readers other than real Harry Potter fans to have noticed his existence. A Half-Blood Prince has to have made more of an impact on the reader than this in order not to seem like a completely new character, brought in by the author like a Deus Ex Machina. Some other suggested candidates such as Blaise Zabini suffer the same handicap.
In our next post we will disclose our hypothesis on the identity of the Half-Blood Prince. Our choice fulfils all the required criteria. He is a known figure of authority who has had a presence throughout the books, is possibly of high birth and has a strong claim to be a leader of the forces of good.
# posted by Nahs & Nai @ 11:34 AM 
