The Epilogue -- What did you think?

Honestly, I thought it was a little bit ... umm ... unnecessary? That's not the right word, I don't think, but I'm struggling to come up with a more appropriate one. I sort of felt it demystified too much, possibly. Or maybe I'm just too inarticulate at the moment to really describe how I feel? Anyone else?

Plus I thought Harry and Ginny's choice of names was slightly creepy!

I think it was a nice idea but I'm not sure I liked the way it was executed.

It was good to know that the trio had a happy ending but what about everyone else?

It was good to know that the trio had a happy ending but what about everyone else?Yes, I felt that everyone else had been left out. Of course, the person I really wanted to hear more about died (Remus :sad: )...

I was let down by it. I wanted to hear about every character. We didn't know who became headmaster/headmistress of Hogwarts, what the trio did as a profession etc.

Not exactly what I was looking for out of an epilogue and when I first read it I felt like it was a fan fiction with all those new names. I guess it is nice to have a brief glimpse of how their lives turned out though.

I would have been more interested in hearing what happened to everyone else and what sort of jobs and things people have.

I liked the epilogue for what it was there to convey to the reader, in terms of life carrying on, of Harry having a normal life now. For me, though, the epilogue would have been better had Harry arrived at a reunion of sorts with his friends, say at The Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade, where they each talk about how life is treating them and their families.

But either way, it doesn't really matter. What matters is that we see that Harry was able to move on. That's what I liked the most from the epilogue. That's what Jo needed to write.

But either way, it doesn't really matter. What matters is that we see that Harry was able to move on. That's what I liked the most from the epilogue. That's what Jo needed to write.

Right, epilogues are never really "necessary", they're just a service to the reader, showing you what happened to these characters that you cared about. That said, it didn't tell us much even as an epilogue. Though I have a sneaking suspicion that there's more meaning in Harry's discussion with his son than was apparent on my first read.

The names, though: yeah, not real keen on them.

The epilogue was dissapointing in my opinion. It doesn't really revealed much about the future of the people. I would love to know what job they had and other stuff and not what they named their children.

the large gap.. 19 years between the ending and the epilogue was not such a letdown for me. Perhaps someone could be persuaded to write more eh?

But.. yes the choice of names was a tad bit odd

I would really like to know what became of Harry and how him and Ginny got married, why he didn't go for Cho

same with Ron and Hermione.. why didn't she go for Krum and ... why didn't krum make an appearance in the book eh?

i think the omissions mentioned in various other books and the great disatisfaction with the epilogue was intentional...

what does everyone else think?

why didn't krum make an appearance in the book eh?
What book were you reading?

I didn't really like it, but I'm glad it was there. It gives the series a definite closure.

It did seem a bit..tacky? It just didn't work very well, I thought.

I liked the epilogue. I think there were some things left out, but all in all I like that we saw things going on as normal and that Harry was able to lead a normal life after all. I loved the kids names, I loved Ron and Hermione. The only thing I would have loved was to see if Neville had a family and if Luna did as well.

What book were you reading?

I probably missed something.. I am re-reading it.

I thought it was really drawn out when it came to getting Harry's children on the Hogwarts train. I agree it should have included information about all of the other characters

And the name of one of Harry's sons, Albus-Severus, was really corny

but whatever, I don't think Jo wanted to reveal too much, so that other people could make spin-offs. I agree with her, I don't want other people writing stories about Harry Potter, it would not be the same

When I first read the epilogue it felt very cheesy but as I read it with the whole book in mind it became much better. I think JKR was looking for a very sentimental, sweet ending. I wish that the epilogue would have mentioned Luna since she is one of my favorite characters.

i agree, I'm glad that she put it in, i just thought it could havebeen executed in a better way... and yes, i thought the names were kinda creepy too ( oh, yea, the person i've been named after has been dead for around twenty years now, cheers ...)

I think Jo may have wanted to stick to a more traditional epilogue where everything that happens to the characters afterwards are in paragraph form. The idea of Harry naming his kids Albus Severus, James and Lily...well alright, but what about what Ginny would want to name them. Scorpius and Albus Severus aren't exactly the most precious sounding names in the world, but I'm not a wizard and I'm definitely not in Harry's position.
It did read a lot like seven pages of really unnecessary fan fiction and to be frank, I thought: Jo, this is what you've been holding onto for so many years? I'm not saying I hated it, I just wished it could have been different. Of course, I didn't write the books so it's ultimately up to her.

What I loved the most about the epilogue was Harry and Ginny's second son's name, Albus Severus. Awww! My biggest complaint, probably would be that I did not see the houses united. I do not know that the names were creepy. That was my first, but fleeting, thought as well, until I realized Ginny has a huge family while Harry has no real family. So he creates bit of a family by naming two of them after his parents. Remember he never got to know them in the flesh, not after he was one year and a few months old anyway.

Of course, I would like to see more about everybody else, about what occupations they undertook, etc., but honestly, after the climax and denouncement, these kind of details would have been a bit of a letdown - they would have deemphasized the important moments in the last few chapters.

I didn't feel like it was much of an epilogue... I enjoyed it, but I agree, it wasn't the best part of the book in any sense.

It didn't suit the ending... It was as though she wrote it in a couple of minutes just to get it done. It seemed poorly thought out, and the names were ridiculous.

Why was Ted Lupin even at the station? He would be 19 and already finished with school. Strange place to be snogging someone at any rate... They didn't feel like the same characters any more. I know they've grown up, but this is the Trio here! I'm not going to read the epilogue when I reread DH, I think I would have prefered the ending just as it was in Dumbledore's office, without it.

There is so much I can say about the epilogue.

First, name choices. Who names their kid Hugo?!!! What kinda name was that? And the whole Albus Severus was creepy. Yes Snape did sort of redeem him self, but still. Wierd.

Second, the nineteen year gap. What happened in those nineteen years? There is so much that we missed in those years. I would have loved to see Harry and Ginny's wedding, Ron and Hermione's wedding, not to mention that all we know is that they are ok and nothing else has happened. We know nothing about their careers or what they did after the battle. I really wanted more than just "They lived happily ever after". This could also come from the fact that until now, we have only left Harry for a week to a month in the summer (book wise, not real time wise). We have been with Harry for seven years straight and then we skip nineteen years.

Third, where did everyone else go? They only other characters that we hear about are Draco and Teddy Lupin. We hear Ron mention Mr. Weasley briefly, but that is it. I wanted to know more about the rest of the characters, not just the trio. I have fallen in love with more than just Harry, Ron, and Hermione. I just felt that I wanted more.

Even though I write all this, I still have to give Jo Rowling thanks. She wrote a fantastic book, that will have generations to come fasanated by Harry's story. Thanks Jo.

Though the epilogue didn't give many details, I think that was best. It leaves vast amounts of room for more story.

Acorn, I have to disagree about one small part. We do not know that "nothing ever happened." Hopefully, JKR decides that something did and that she should write about it, though I don't know how likely that is.

Just posting my immediate thoughts before looking at the rest of the thread (oh oh), my impression was that it was a little...inadequate. There were so many questions left unanswered!


I wanted to read about all the other characters, not just the Trio and Malfoy.
What do Harry, Ron, Hermione, etc do for a living after they leave school?
What did James and Lily do for a living?
Why were they rich?
What happened during those missing 24 hours after James and Lily were killed?
Who does magic later in life?
What did Dudley see when he was attacked by the Dementor?
Does Harry achieve his ambition to become an Auror? Or would that be somewhat anti-climactic?I wish there would have been a real reconciliation between Harry and Petunia. You know, a scene where Harry says "We have to talk". And bring everything out into the open.

One more question is why did they wait 8 years before having children? 19 years later and Harry's eldest is only in his 2nd year? And did you notice Ron & Hermione's kids, as well as Malfoy's, apparently, are about the same age?

It was alright but I wanted much more from it, and it wasn't in the format i expected. I too wanted to know about every character, what their proffession was, where they lived...they way she wrote it felt a bit cheesey and like she'd cramed information into the conversation much too obviously.

First, name choices. Who names their kid Hugo?!!! What kinda name was that?


"Hugo Weasley". Kinda sounds like Hugo Weaving.

"Mister Anderson...!"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Matrix_smithheadfrontcropstandinginhallwaylo okingforwards.gif

The Epilogue was a let down, that's all i can say about it at the moment.

This was the only part of the book I wasn't too keen on. I'm working on deleting it from my mind and inserting my own version of events. I agree with others that it did have a "fanfic" feel.

I think it's cool that we know one of the Weasley sons had a daughter - but I want to know which one!

I was rather disappointed in the ending. I was really hopingto get just a little more insight into everyone's lives before they all ended up married with kids. I feel kind of jipped because of that. Plus I feel that the ending was rushed, kind of like JKR just threw it together in one night. To me, the Epilogue was the worst piece of writing she has produced...

The Epilogue...the epilogue... What a HUGE disappointment!!! I don't think it was intentional since she has stated several times that she was done. That being the case, why would she end on such an unsatifying note? You'd think she'd want to end it with a bang!
It reeked of cheesyness and the kids' names really were over the top--if not altogether creepy. Albus Severus? I think Harry and Ginny would have come up with better names... honestly. Lily and James was also too, too much. Another thing, Harry and Ginny's marriage seemed stale. I wasn't looking for a torrid romance on Platform 9 3/4, but maybe a little touch of wedded bliss?
Anyway, the only bright side would be that perhaps now JKR will seek redemption herself and write a couple of sequels?
After all, Ginny, R/H and even Luna were woefully underwritten.

I would like to say that I found the epilogue - now let's keep it family-friendly - incredibly awful. I was cringing when reading it.

What book were you reading?

Lol, yeah...isn't Krum the one who brings up the whole thing about the sign of the Deathly Hallows and it being Grindelwald's sign?

I think it's cool that we know one of the Weasley sons had a daughter - but I want to know which one!
Ok, the only name I wasn't able to assign to any parent what "Victoire". Victoire is a French name (like someone told me) and hints that she's the daughter of Bill and Fleur.

And yes, I also found the epilogue a bit skimpy on details...names were bad, too...if Rowling intended to do an epilogue like this, maybe it would've just been a better idea to leave it out. There's no real closure on any other characters except the main trio

I liked it, I had a big smile on my face the whole time I was reading it. But as you guys stated the choice of names for Harry and Ginnys children were a bit odd.

Personally I loved it. I am so happy Harry and Ginny got married and Ron and Hermione are married.

I liked the idea but it didn't include enough info about everyone else for my liking. I wanted to know what they were doing for a living etc!

Ron and Hermione also had a daughter---ROSE. She went off to Hogwarts in the Gosh-awful Epilogue...

Jo,
Please redeem yourself!!!

I was a little confused with all of the names, but no matter.

I did like the curt nod Draco gave Harry, like they've called a truce (for lack of a better explanation.)

I think the epilogue is what ruined the book for me. It didn't feel like a real ending. Perhaps what bothered me the most about it though is how soon the book was brought to a close after the battle.

So much went unsaid about what happened next. I felt like after the HUGE amazing Battle of Hogwarts, it just ended abruptly and we didn't really get to digest what happened.

I could have swallowed the epilogue if the ending had been longer. If she had ended after a funeral of the people who died. Or after SOMETHING. It just seemed to END all of a sudden.

I was so unsatisfied. :(

I think it was a nice idea but I'm not sure I liked the way it was executed.

It was good to know that the trio had a happy ending but what about everyone else?

I believe completly. I liked the way she wrote about how happy the trio was but what out George? How did he manage to cope with his twin dead. And there was no mention of Lune? I also would have liked to know how was headmaster. But maybe she left that all open for he fans to ponder about and give us something to discuss since there are no more books to talk about.

The epilogue feels very different from the writing style of the rest of the book and is much more reminescent of the early books in the series. Joe's style has evolved through the series and it was obvious that the bulk of the epilogue was written long before the rest of book 7. For me, it didn't sit too well with the rest of the book, but maybe that was intentional on Joe's part - a kind of return to normalcy after the dark and chaotic events of Deathly Hallows. It also does punctuate the series as a "children's series".

Yeah I could have done without it. I also got creeped out by Harry and Ginny naming their kids Lily and James and Albus-Severus. It just felt strange. Albus Potter... someone please get them a baby book. I agree, I wanted to know what happened to George? She killed his twin she can at least tell us how he dealt? And what about Percy? Who became Headmaster? And more importantly, did Harry become an Auror? the epilogue shouldn't have been published

I always elt she had to put some kind of epilogue in DH, but indeed it didn't contain enough people to satisfy me.
As someone said, maybe it should've been in the Three Broomsticks, talking about the daily news and their friends with a butterbeer in their hands, but never mind.
Amazing end

I personally wish it had more info in it.

I liked the epilouge but I feel it needed to have more about what happened to the other people. I also would have liked to find out how Teddy looked like.

I felt that out of everyone, she could have at least mentioned George as it was his life that was worse affected by the Battle. How did he move on from that?

The epilogue wasn't detailed enough for me. I was glad to know Harry married Ginny and Ron Married Hermione and that they all had children. I loved Harry naming his kids James and Lily but I hated Albus Severus :no:

I want to know what careers they all went on to have. I wanted to know more about George and how he got on after losing Fred. I wanted to know more about Teddy. Plus where do they all live? I feel like we were given some info for closure but just not enough. :shrug:

I quite liked it, personally. Rather than giving us a big list of occupations ("Luna's job was this, Charlie did this, blah blah blah"), she gave it emotional closure by showing Harry with his family. All the way back in PS, Harry longed more than anything for a family, to bring James and Lily and all their relatives back. But the dead are dead, and the epilogue focuses on the family Harry has built over the course of the series instead.

I also liked the line about Snape being the "bravest person Harry had ever met". Perfect closure for that relationship, too.

The style was indeed very different, but I liked that - it brought back memories of that innocence that PS had, the excitement of going to Hogwarts rather than the dread of what they're going to face.

Overall, I was quite satisfied with it. It was a nice little snippet of Harry's later life, but leaving lots of room to speculate on other characters, and what else happened during those 19 years.


I would really like to know what became of Harry and how him and Ginny got married, why he didn't go for Cho


Perhaps because he'd fallen out of love with Cho by the end of OotP?

You'd think Harry would have adopted Teddy as well, being his godfather and all!

Albus Potter... someone please get them a baby book.

LOL!! Yeah, it was more than a little gauche, wasn't it??? I agree...

I think this was great to be honest. Ginny bein my favourite character, i always wanted her and harry to get together. I was hopin she wouldn't die, and i wasn't sure if she would live, with all the thoughts harry kept havin of her.

Nice touch with the names of the kids and the malfoy nod.

You'd think Harry would have adopted Teddy as well, being his godfather and all!


Yea but Teddy has a grandmother who lost everyone but Teddy. I understand why she would raise him but that he would still be very close to Harry.

You'd think Harry would have adopted Teddy as well, being his godfather and all!

Wasn't Teddy's grandma (Tonks' mom) still alive? If so, it made sense for him to be brought up by her, rather than Harry.

We didn't know who became headmaster/headmistress of Hogwarts, what the trio did as a profession etc.
yeah i didnt think about that. I would expect harry to have become an auror, maybe ginny also.

I'd like to pretend that epilogue was never written...

It was the only portion of the book that I didn't enjoy. I think it would have been better if we got to know more about what happened to the characters from the series rather than their children.

I liked the epilogue, but I want more! What did happen to Luna and George and the rest. But other than that, it made me happy.

Yea but Teddy has a grandmother who lost everyone but Teddy. I understand why she would raise him but that he would still be very close to Harry.

Well that's very true, especially if Harry went back to Hogwarts for the first year of Teddy's life.
Poor Andromeda! She wasn't left with much of a family was she?

I thought the ending was...too cliche. Everyone got married and had babies...like everone expects at the end of a story. Sure it gave a conclusion as to how the trio lived out their lives after the downfall of Voldemort, but it left out far too much and gave some kind of useless information, like names of kids and that they were going to Hogwarts. And Harry recreating his parents through his children with Ginny...kinda weird. The epilogue gave nothing about their achievements after the final battle. I was really interested to find out what careers Ron, Hermione, and Harry each pursued, so I was disappointed by that. And how it just focused on those 3...I agree with the others who wonder about their other favorite characters. Overall, kinda disappointing J.K. It didn't live up to the rest of the book, which was amazing.

You'd think Harry would have adopted Teddy as well, being his godfather and all!
I like the idea that Harry and Ginny took care of Teddy after his parents death. :tu:


Ok, did I get this right?

Harry/Ginny:
1. James 2. Albus Severus *shudders* 3. Lily

Ron/Hermione:
1. Rose 2. Hugo

Draco/Unknown:
Scorpius

Well that's very true, especially if Harry went back to Hogwarts for the first year of Teddy's life.
Poor Andromeda! She wasn't left with much of a family was she?

Yea I felt really bad for Andromeda, she had lost her husband, her daughter and her son-in-law. I also hope that she and Narcissa made up because at the end I didn't feel Narcissa was really as bad as we were supposed to think she was. She just was weak and a product of her environment but she proved she loved Draco more then anything when she lied about Harry being dead.

I agree with everyone elese, the epilogue was very anti climatic. I found it to be a let down after such a good book. I too found the names very creepy. Character names, however are left to the author and it is not my place to judge her. I also remember that she had written this ending years ago. I think that maybe the reason I didn't feel that it fit was because of her growth as a writer. I really would have liked to know what jobs the characters had. I almost had a feeling that maybe the gaps were left for another purpose also. You have to leave your readers wanting more.

I agree, the epilogue was kind of cheesy, but it wasn't that bad. It really gave closure to the book. Now, there can't be any more speculating about whether Voldemort is coming back- I mean, his scar hadn't hurt in 19 years...

Does anybody know where the names Rose and Hugo came from, or did JKR just pull them out of a hat...

What everyone is asking for from the Epilogue is COMPLETELY understandable, but you have to take a step back and look at it from a writer's view, not a fan's. As a writer myself, I will address the following issues that people have aruged about so far in this thread:

1) Why there was an epilogue in the first place: I was wondering about this myself, because, well, there was no prologue. But yet if there WAS no epilogue, now let's be honest, wouldn't we all be complaining that Jo didn't write an epilogue for us? I know I would. And it's not like she could just tag on another: "Voldemort's dead, now let's wrap this up nice and neat by listing everyone from the series, from Kreacher to Aberforth, and what happened to them in a 40 page last chapter." It just wouldn't make sense.

2) Nineteen Years: Nineteen, such a random number isn't it? But that leaves more room for imagination, something that Rowling has kept CONSISTENT throughout this series. We plead for Jo to fill in the missing gaps (Harry's occupation, etc.), yet I believe one of the main points of the series was to re-open our percepts to imagination! So why have everything spoon-fed to us? Why not just, creat our OWN nineteen years! We'd be much happier in doing so, knowing that it was what we wanted.

3) Names: Oh gosh, the names, I couldn't help but laugh @ how RIDICULOUSLY cliche the names were. I agree with some of you, the ending DID seem a bit rushed, as if Jo threw in no effort to naming the children and finishing the epilogue. But again, what would YOU have named the kids? I mean, Lily, James, Albus, Severus, these were the most important guardians of Harry! Only befitting that their name should live on. As for Hugo, Rose, and Victoire, those seem pretty original to me! =]

4) More closure: This is definitely one of the sticking points that many people have been questioning. Basically, "what has happened to everyone else?" Again, I, for one, would LOVE to write about the nineteen year gap that Rowling has left completely open for us. If I wasn't going to write about it, I would definitely love to just daydream about it. I mean, seriously, hasn't she done enough for us? I definitely don't feel unsatisfied or cheated, in fact, I would have felt that way if Rowling left NOTHING for us to consider! There would be no EPILOGUE DISCUSSION PAGE if she had filled in all the gaps now, would there?

The Epilogue was not done perfectly, but let's just accept it as it is and just be content that we are allowed to use our imagination to create OUR own unique Potter Universe.

the large gap.. 19 years between the ending and the epilogue was not such a letdown for me. Perhaps someone could be persuaded to write more eh?

But.. yes the choice of names was a tad bit odd

I would really like to know what became of Harry and how him and Ginny got married, why he didn't go for Cho

same with Ron and Hermione.. why didn't she go for Krum and ... why didn't krum make an appearance in the book eh?

The choice of names was actually important...Albus Severus...shows Harry forgave Snape...that's an important reconciliation.

Harry was long over Cho and had already dated Ginny and was obviously smitten by Ginny still (e.g. Harry's birthday present from Ginny).

JK has been showing the evolving relationship/affection between Ron and Hermione for a while now. Krum has been out of the picture for ages, romance-wise.

After a lot of thought, I ended up liking the Epilogue. She ended the series the way every book ended: Hogwarts students leaving on the train (and yes, they were going home at the ends of the other books, but still, they were Hogwarts students leaving on the Express). Also, she ended with the same kids Harry meets on his very first Express ride: Ron, Hermione, Draco, and Neville. I think nearly everyone would have loved to have more detail about their favorite characters, but think how long the chapter would have been then! It would have likely felt even more forced than it already did. It also had the feeling of "life goes on," which was pretty prevalent in all of the books. I quite liked it.

I was very disappointed.. I got it spoiled for me and in the beginning I couldn't believe that Jo would name the kids that way.. It was all too cliché. Although Ron's humour was great but the rest was all.. Unclear in a way.

the only thing i'll say about the epilogue is that Albus Severus really got me. I cried so much hearing that name. I really respect harry for forgiving Severus Snape and accepting how brave he actually was.

I wanted to read about all the other characters, not just the Trio and Malfoy.
But that is how the story began. She went full circle in doing that. In the beginning it was bookish Hermione, ickle Ronnikins, arrogant Malfoy and Harry worrying in which house they would come and Ginny wishing se could go to Hogwarts, too. I think the epilogue gets better if you read the first few chapters of PS again...

What do Harry, Ron, Hermione, etc do for a living after they leave school?
I am so glad, she didn´t answer that question. The discussion if it were the right jobs for the trio would be worse than the constant H/Hr shipper discussions.


What did James and Lily do for a living?
I would like to know that too

Why were they rich?
She explained that. The money came from James family.

What happened during those missing 24 hours after James and Lily were killed?
Probably wasn´t important, nonetheless, I would like to know that too.

Who does magic later in life?
Now that is a question I really would like to get an answer to.


Does Harry achieve his ambition to become an Auror? Or would that be somewhat anti-climactic?
Like I said above. This question would start a new war!


One more question is why did they wait 8 years before having children? 19 years later and Harry's eldest is only in his 2nd year?
Ähm, I don´t know about you, but they were´, for a european couple pretty young when the ad James. 24 and 25. That is not old. And I don´t think many 17 year old think about having children


I have to admitt, I kinda liked the epilogue, the way she sent us back to the beginn of our journey together. Harry´s journey to adulthood started at a train station and it ends with the start of his children´s journey at, you won´t believe it, a train station. It´s poetic. You really have to think about the epilogue before you judge it and call it cheesy, there is more in those few pages than one might think at first or even second reading.

Oh and the names. I do know what you mean. Lily and James are ok, we expected it, but Albus Severus... At first I thought bääh, the poor child, but now I don´t think so. I mean you can shorten Albus to Al so it´s ok.
Scorpius is another matter entirely. The name is gross but soooooo Malfoy. I mean who names his child Draco? The Malfoys always were and always will be arrogant snobs and it shows in the name. We are aristocrats and we have "refined " names such as Lucius, Draco and Scorpius...:lol:

The only name that really put me off was Hugo. Who names their children Hugo? I am sure Hermione has an elaborate answer for it and several historic references. Victor Hugo, perhaps? That would be Hermione, yes! Oh and it´s nice. Their children´s initials are the same as their own H and R.

as someone here said, the epilogues are not part of the book, not in theory, i mean, they are just a service to the reader....
they are not part of the book itself, they are like an appendix...
and as far as this one is concerned, i feel that Jo really gave us a glimpse of what the trios life is at the moment...

Kinda typical, kinda confusing. Ginny was the coolest character, though, so it was a nice confirmation that she was with HP.

Why 19 years later though? What took so long to have kids of Hogwarts age?

One more question is why did they wait 8 years before having children? 19 years later and Harry's eldest is only in his 2nd year? And did you notice Ron & Hermione's kids, as well as Malfoy's, apparently, are about the same age?

Well, we shouldn't assume they got married immediately after the battle. Ginny would still have been underage, for one.

Also, the trio may have gone on to finish their education and then gone into specific job training. Auror training, if Harry did decide to do that, would take a few years. If Hermione chose something like Healing, that would also take a few years. Remember, these characters are teenagers still...why would they be rushing into marriage as teens?

JK has been showing the evolving relationship/affection between Ron and Hermione for a while now. Krum has been out of the picture for ages. Krum was obviously not important in the big picture of DH so didn't make an appearance.

But Krum was in the book. He was at the wedding and complained about all pretty girls being aready taken...

Yea I felt really bad for Andromeda, she had lost her husband, her daughter and her son-in-law. I also hope that she and Narcissa made up because at the end I didn't feel Narcissa was really as bad as we were supposed to think she was. She just was weak and a product of her environment but she proved she loved Draco more then anything when she lied about Harry being dead.

Thank god she did that. I was hoping that the Malfoys would grow a bit of backbone in this book, but they disappointed. After all the help that Draco had been given and after Harry saved him twice he still remained as cowardly as ever. All he could afford him was a "curt nod" on the platform! But I agree, Narcissa and her son were by no means evil people. Lucius I'm not so sure about.

I think nearly everyone would have loved to have more detail about their favorite characters, but think how long the chapter would have been then!

And think of all the dreadful expositional dialogue that would have been needed!

"Right," Harry said. I'd better get back to the Auror office. See you Saturday night, Ron, yeah?"
"Hope so, mate - depends if the match finishes before five, and if Hermione can get time off from the office. The Department of Muggle Relations has been pretty busy lately."
"This is Hermione," said Ginny, unfurling her copy of The Quibbler, edited by Luna Lovegood, as they walked back to the car-park. "Do you even think she'll try to get time off?"

... and continue until all major characters are namechecked. Ugh.

At the end of the day, the jobs didn't matter. This wasn't a story about careers, it was a story about love. JKR was quite right to place the emphasis on the family, and on the idea that Harry now has as much respect for Snape as he does for Dumbledore.

i agre with aliceandjaspers...
i think that rose and hugo are the names of hermiones parents actually..
i hope she lifted the spell on them..
and i really liked the epilogue

It left me with the impression that they all went on to lead happy and peacefull lives.That was good enough for me.

What's the point of an epilogue if it doesn't give you any closure? We've listened to Harry, Ron and Hermione discuss their careers since the beginning. JK planted that question in my head - it was the one I wanted most answered. I felt the Neville part was thrown in awkwardly...and I agree that some info about Luna should really have been included.

Yes - the kid names were creepy. As eeire as it is to ONLY name your kids after dead people, what is up with the names Rose and Hugo? Is that the best our girl Hermione could come up with?

At first I was slightly disappointed with the epilogue. I thought it was too short and not comprehensive enough, but then it came to me.

I believe that the ending being a little open-ended is a nod to fans, especially fan fiction writers, who are now able to keep conjecturing yet also ahve an established, albeit incomplete future point of reference. It's not that we would not have kept writing fan fics or debating point after point after point, but by leaving certain loose ends untied she gave us the gift of using our own imaginations (within certain bounds laid out in the story and epilogue, of course) so that the story's end didn't seem so final.

I don't know if that makes much sense to any of you, but I think Jo respects and admires her fans' imaginations as much as we respect and admire hers and, to me, this shows just that.

As to the content of the epilogue itself, I think it's great.

I don't think that the choice of names was creepy at all, but reflects Harry's personality - both his longing for his parents and a maturity through learning that even in death and despair, life continues and those that die never truly leave us as long as we remember them. It's fitting, no?

I do have to admit, however, that I was disappointed about the lack of tribute to or mention of Fred in the epiogue. He and George are two of my favorite characters and his death had the most emotional impact on me.

Then again, that just gives me the opportunity to create my own fitting tribute.

I thought it was nice to hear what happened later, but I have to admit that I got kind of confused with the names at first. It's too bad that we never figured out if Harry ever became an Auror, and what everyone else did.

Nope, it's just a "full circle" kind of thing. I didn't like it or hate it. It could have been done differently, but - well that's how JKR wanted it written, and at this particular point in time, I am not going to start arguing with her. What I am going to do is start again, at page one ...

Plus I thought Harry and Ginny's choice of names was slightly creepy!

I had the same exact thoughts too, Rotsiepots! I was thinking "Uh...why'd you name your kids after your parents? It's not like it'll bring them back." It's a bit like if somene lost a child, then they had another child and named it after them (e.g. Sarah dies in an accident or such; parents have baby girl, they name her Sarah). I don't know, it just put me off somehow. Middle names would've been fine though-my ancestors did that all the time! If a earlier child had died in infancy, occasionally, the deceased baby's name would pop up as another later child's middle name.
Anyhow, the epilogue wasn't what I had expected, but it was still somewhat satisfying. I think it was good of JKR to keep it simple and focused on the trio, lest it got too complex and she unwittingly opened more questions and plotholes.

Everyone seems to be so disappointed with this but I liked it a lot. I was especially happy to see Harry/Ginny get together. I kinda had a feeling they would, but I didn't know if JK would hold out.

I wanted to read about all the other characters, not just the Trio and Malfoy.
But that is how the story began. She went full circle in doing that. In the beginning it was bookish Hermione, ickle Ronnikins, arrogant Malfoy and Harry worrying in which house they would come and Ginny wishing se could go to Hogwarts, too. I think the epilogue gets better if you read the first few chapters of PS again...


Absolutely right.


Who does magic later in life?
Now that is a question I really would like to get an answer to.


JKR never said it would happen in this book. I believe, as I have since HBP, that it was Merope.

Well, we shouldn't assume they got married immediately after the battle. Ginny would still have been underage, for one.


Ginny is 16 in DH, and in Britain, 16 year olds can get married with parental consent. I doubt they did, though - I imagine there was another school year at Hogwarts after DH, so all the kids could still get their qualifications (though with a double-sized first year, because of all the new kids coming to school). Just a normal, happy year, with the trio and Neville as seventh years, Ginny and Luna as sixth years, and no Voldemort. Quite a nice thought, actually.

I thought it was disappointing at first but now I think I can understand why Jo could of kept it the way it was. I would liked to have heard from other characters though and Draco's receding hairline is always great. :lol:

I just want her to give us the info on the others eventually, ya know?

The epilogue was a bit of a let down for me. i expected to talk about all the other characters and what had gone on with each of them. i mean we dont even know if Harry became an auror or what anyone else did with the rest of their lives. I think it was a nice thought but like most people i think it was slightly disapointing.

I must admit, I was certainly hoping for more in the epilogue: as some of you mentioned, what about the others? I'd love to know what happened to Luna, I'm sure she must have become something extraordinary.
I felt kinda down after the outcome, although I was very happy to see that Harry was alive and well with a wonderful family :)

I had the same exact thoughts too, Rotsiepots! I was thinking "Uh...why'd you name your kids after your parents? It's not like it'll bring them back." .
Naming children after their grandparents or even their parents isn´t uncommon. My grandmother´s firstname (Maria) is my mother´s firstname and my middle name. My mother´s middle name is my sister´s middle name and the middle name of my grandmother. with my father that´s similar (You really don´t want to know what my parents would have called me, had I been a boy...). it´s not uncommon or creepy at all, we just all think it is, because, let´s be honest, we all had the same name ideas before and read and wrote it in thousands of fanfictions. That is what makes it creepy...

I thought one of the best parts of the epilogue was finding out that Neville became a professor--such a vinidcation for him after so many years of feeling like a useless student.

I also loved Harry telling his son that Severus was the bravest person he ever met.

But I also really would have liked to see how George went on without Fred. What became of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes? How would George get past that loss?

I was puzzled that Ted (Tonks' dad) seemed to be doing magic to help heal the wounded who came to his house at the beginning of the book. I thought he was a muggle and that was why Andromeda got blasted off the family tree--for marrying him. So was Ted the one who did magic late in life?

As I devoted reader, I feel I deserved more from the epilogue. I understand not wanting to write 50 pages detailing everyone but after countless pages of reading in 7 books, I think a full chapter was worth her time. Don’t get me wrong I loved this book and I loved the series but I wanted a chance to see her magic finish the story and to be able to say goodbye to these characters. I mean “Happily ever after” would have had the exact same effect on me as this epilogue did.

I feel like these character died, to be honest, because there will be no more written about them. I had no real chance to close on this series emotionally and frankly I find the lack of a true conclusion annoying because there will be no 8th book and no more explanation. In these few pages rather than finally closing all the threads and all the speculation and bring my mind at ease with a smile and a page flip, I get frustration and wonder about what truly happened to everyone.

I wanted to know how everything ended and how their lives returned to normal. I could guess most of the epilogue but the things I cant guess or even begin to think about are not there and I am saddened because of them. Half gestures on a train platform are not a substitute for the narrative I felt we deserved to end this tremendous series.

I was puzzled that Ted (Tonks' dad) seemed to be doing magic to help heal the wounded who came to his house at the beginning of the book. I thought he was a muggle and that was why Andromeda got blasted off the family tree--for marrying him. So was Ted the one who did magic late in life?

Ted Tonks is described as a "Muggle-born" by Sirius in OotP.

I didn't care for the epilogue very much. It seemed like fan fiction to me. I was kinda hoping for some information on the other characters. What happened to the Weasleys, McGonagall and the other teachers, and Luna? What do the Trio and Ginny do now? It just seemed kinda needless if you ask me.

I liked the epilogue alot. It just let you peer into their lives, and to see how harry and ginny were together, of course Ron and Hermione. But like said earlier I loved hearing how neville was a prof.

I would have liked to seen who was the new headmaster. Was it mcgonnagal?

I agree that it felt like mediocre fan fiction.

This is going to sound harsh but... I felt the epilogue was physically difficult for me to read.

I was expecting something more.. original? It was so cliche and sugary sweet. I didn't enjoy it. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't looking for some travesty or horrible event. While I know all of us were obviously invested in the trio and other major characters... what about everybody else? I suppose she wrote it so that it was open to speculation. But i imagined the epilogue to close as the first books begin describing a strange man with untidy black hair and a peculiar scar, reading a newspaper, the newspaper indirectly filling us in on what happened to certain characters. I wanted the epilogue to be subtle, but it was far from that.


I felt the book would've been just as, in my opinion, okay without that epilogue.

I didn't enjoy it very much

But then again who am I to judge? JK knows what she's doing.

It seems a lot of people were expecting an encylopedia entry rather than an epilogue, which is interesting.

A list of characters and occpations would have been interesting, but story-wise, the way JKR wrote it was far better. The story is about love, and from the beginning Harry has desired a family - now he has one, through the bonds he formed throughout the series. It looks to the future rather than the past, and completes the cycle.

For me, narratively, thematically and emotionally, that's far more satisfying than finding out what Ernie Macmillan did for a living.

The epilogue was certainly a letdown, but I cannot be too critical. Although it was good to know that Hermione and Ron, Harry and Ginny got married and had children, etc., I do not think an epilogue was necessary for that. After Voldemort was defeated, I think that everyone could guess that the two couples would end up like they did and that Neville would become Herbology professor.

I think that I would rather have had another 10 pages devoted to what happened immediately after Harry defeated Voldemort. It would have been better, in my opinion, to have the story continue in the same time frame (immediately after) and end on that note. I would have enjoyed seeing everyone's reactions, what the Weasleys had to say, Neville, Luna, Xenophilius, etc. Understanding the rebuilding process would have been better, considering we did not see what had to be done after Harry 'defeated' Voldemort the first time. The only reason I can guess why she did not do this is because she wanted to tie it up, in order for her to end Harry's saga. She did not want to be able to come back to the series 10 years later and continue writing an eighteen-year-old Harry. She can still do this, of course, which is why I am even more bewildered.

As for the names... I understand what JKR was doing, but, come on. How good does 'Albus Severus Potter' really sound? I would not think that Harry would want to be reminded of all his loved ones every time he addressed his children. It would be difficult for me, I know, to idolize/love someone named Albus and then identify my son with the same name: I would get mixed up.

Overall, it was unnecessary, considering, like I said, it would have been easily guessed that it would have worked out that way. The ending was too abrupt, and it was due to the epilogue. The readers did not truly have time to let everything sink in (all the deaths, what had been accomplished, etc.) before it switched to '19 Years Later.'

The epilogue was great.


If she had done an epilogue that described all the details of everyones future lives it wouldn't have left much to the imagination would it?


We would run out of discussion material very quickly, and that would make things quite a bore.


As for all the things that could still be said, she has mentioned the posssiblity of writing a sort of Harry Potter Encyclopedia sort of book, or however she put it.

But i imagined the epilogue to close as the first books begin describing a strange man with untidy black hair and a peculiar scar, reading a newspaper, the newspaper indirectly filling us in on what happened to certain characters.

Now that would have been hard to read. For me, there's little emotional resonance or story relevance to that. I'll definitely take JKR's.

I also loved Harry telling his son that Severus was the bravest person he ever met.


Actually of all the things in the epilogue or even book that bothered me that was the one thing that bothered me the most. The man who didn't care if James died was seen as the bravest man Harry had ever known? What about Sirius who went to Azkaban for a crime he did not commit? Or how Sirius risked and then lost his life defending Harry's? Or Remus living with the werewolves knowing full well how it hurt him not just physically but mentally as well? Or even Hermione who was tortured by Bella at the Malfoys? Or what about Neville? Look how he blossomed the last three years at Hogwarts and how he fought the good fight even while being attacked at Hogwarts his 7th year? I am sorry but for Harry to say Snape was the bravest man he had ever met was an insult to all the other brave people who had fought along side him.

There were 7 books of character development and story building, I simply wanted a way to close the series in my mind. I didnt want to speculate about everything at the end of series, I should know.

It was cheesy but I actually liked it, it lifted my spirits and it brought the whole story to a nice closure. But I would dearly love to know who Draco married! :P

I agree with you Calitranx, I too wanted to close the series in my mind.


I think the story would've been better off without the epilogue... But that's just my opinion... so yeah hope I'm not in some odd way offending anybody

I was not happy with it. It seemed exactly like a fan fic I read except the fan fic mentioned their jobs in passing.

I just wanted a little more closure because like someone else said, the characters are basically the same as dead now since there will be no more adventures except what we come up with.

I think the epilouge was okay but I'm sorry... Albus Severus?? Who names their child that? The one thing that I really wanted to know though was what happened to all the Death Eaters. Also we really can't be sure if that was a happy ending all their children are doing is going to school. I think that it would have been cool if one of the kid's had sung the school song.

Initially I really loved the epilogue, but after re-reading it, I felt terribly empty...I was so happy to see Ginny and Harry's relationship and marriage confirmed, as well as Ron and Hermione. But I felt there was this gaping void of missing information. As already stated we never find out about Luna or the rest of the Weasley family. We don't find anything out about Teddy Lupin, and we especially don't find out about anyone's careers. Nineteen years later was such an odd timeframe for it all. I mean, if you're going to do 19 years, then I agree with whoever said there should have been a reunion at the Three Broomsticks, where they swap stories, talk about their lives, careers, and families. We could have gotten all that information we craved.

I was also upset by the complete lack of immediate closure on the end of the book...We never see any funerals, learn how families coped, how Hogwarts recovered and how long it took for it to recover, who the new headmaster was, or what became of what to do with the students given that the year had been abruptly cut short by the attack. Did everyone have to repeat their year? Did the trio go back for their seventh year? Were new 11 year olds held back while everyone else caught up, were they integrated? It just all seemed to end so suddenly at the end of the book, that I felt like my book was missing pages or something, because the end just went off the cliff and ended right there, no closure. voldermort dies, dumbledore's painting sheds a tear, THE END.

And then immediately following this bizarre ending is a way-too-vague epilogue, that only settles the silly debates on who marries who, and how many kids they have, and how far into the future it's set. Don't get me wrong, I loved the closure on Har/G and R/Her, because I thought they made the cutest couples, but come on, what else is going on in their lives. Did Harry become an Auror and chase down former death eaters? Did he do this with Ron and Hermione at his side, or did they pursue different careers? What of Luna? Why do we find out Neville's career and nobody elses? Does George continue to run the prank shop by himself? Or perhaps he runs it with Percy, who discovered a sense of humour in the midst of battle. What became of the Malfoys, besides Draco? What became of Hagrid? And McGonagall and Flitwick , Trelawney, and Abeforth?

I don't know, but to me, there's just too many unanswered questions, and not all of which are appropriately wisked away with "Leave it to the reader's imagination". I feel we deserved to know about everyone and what they were up to, and not left to sit here pondering (and I'm sure at some point people may disagree with one another in a "what do you think they did" discussion) about what became of everyone besides the fact that they had kids who go to Hogwarts.

Speaking of the kids, I didn't think the names were bad. I wasn't a fan of Albus Severus....That poor child. But I felt James and Lily were touching. Someone mentioned before that Harry doesn't have any real family anymore, and that's probably why Ginny let him name them after his parents...But on the flipside, it's odd suddenly calling your kids by your parents names. I also though Hugo and Rose were a nice departure from the norm. Hugo seemed a bit off, for someone of non hispanic descent though. But Rose is a great name, I felt.

So all in all, the epilogue fell far short of what most were expecting, and the end of the book as well as the epilogue had a distinct lack of closure.

I hated it. It was a fanfiction-y addition to an otherwise great book.

For one, it wasn't written at all the way I thought it would be. I was expecting updates on many characters. How is George handling life and the WWW business? Did Luna take over the Quibbler? How did the Wizarding world rebuild itself? Those type of things.

And I couldn't keep track of all of Harry/Ginny and Ron/Hermione's kids! And all of their names weren't cute to me, it was just annoying.

I totally agree Smiggles, well put.

I was let down by it. I wanted to hear about every character. We didn't know who became headmaster/headmistress of Hogwarts, what the trio did as a profession etc.

I was feeling the same way. I wanted to know what they did for a living. And while it was nice to hear about Neville, what about Luna? What about the rest Bill, Fleur, etc. Why 19 years later? That seemed rather odd. I personally would have liked to have seen 10 years later and something else.

Another thing - I thought Harry's scar was gone after he was killed or would that have been only if he decided to stay dead?

Why not have Snape come in at King's Cross? I would have loved to had one more look at him. Snape is the boy!

While I truly liked most of the book, the epilogue was a slight let down. Now I'm depressed as there is no more HP books. :no:

At first, it remined me of some fanfiction I've read. :shrug:

But overall, I honestly liked it. It was a bit corny, yeah, but I'd rather have a corny ending than a sad one with Harry dying and never living for any other purpose. And I loved the way Harry named one of his sons 'Albus' even though his middle name is a little bit too... original. It was nice and corny at the same time, but I'm okay with that.

It seems a lot of people were expecting an encylopedia entry rather than an epilogue, which is interesting.

A list of characters and occpations would have been interesting, but story-wise, the way JKR wrote it was far better. The story is about love, and from the beginning Harry has desired a family - now he has one, through the bonds he formed throughout the series. It looks to the future rather than the past, and completes the cycle.

For me, narratively, thematically and emotionally, that's far more satisfying than finding out what Ernie Macmillan did for a living.

You are absolutely right. That´s exactly what I try to tell people since I finished the book! yeah for you, FaceofBoe

I thought the epilouge was very trite. Those who I have discussed it with agree with the opinion of it sounding like fan fiction. I read someone had said that it read like bad fan fiction, and I agree and disagree with that statement. I am mentally/physically/emotionally etc. incapable of saying anything JKR has written is bad. However, I can't stand fan fiction, so anything that reads like fan fiction is terrible to me. Her writing was ten times better than that of most fan fiction writers, but it still sounded like anything a semi-literate fan with half a brain could've written.

That being said, I didn't mind that there was an epilouge. However, rather than what it read, I would've liked to see more loose ends tied up, and less about the quartet ("trio" doesn't seem to work anymore) and more about the wizarding world as a whole. And I really didn't like the idea of it skipping 19 years. I also really didn't like the names that Harry chose for his children. Naming a brother and sister after two people that were married to each other just sounds odd.

And I have one more question, is it customary for English families to name their eldest child of that gender after their parent? I spent all morning looking up every character I could lay my hands on on Wikipedia and I found that all of the eldedst children of that gender of said family had their middle name be their mother or father's first name.

Thanks,
Mimi

I was disappointed by the content, but relieved that there WAS an epilogue that gave some info. The epilogue felt "tacked on" at the end, or "rushed" like it was written at the last minute. It doesn't feel like it fits w/the rest of the book. Written in a different voice, or something. Like, "oh yeah, by the way..."

I kind of expected her to end the book right after the final battle, and give us NO info about future. That way we'd know who survived battle and wouldn't be stressed about that, but there'd be enough mystery so we could each imagine the characters' future however it made us happiest. A Gone With the Wind kind of ending. I'm usually ok w/those endings, but would have KILLED me with HP.

Since she went to the trouble to DO an epilogue though, I'd have wanted to know what happened to Luna?!, what everyone's jobs were, who was the new headmaster/mistress after battle (probably McGonagall, but would like to know for sure), and more info on how the rest of the Weasley's turned out, like, "what was George like after Fred died?" Also, what was all that stuff in Godric's Hollow? Harry's visit there raised more ?s for me than answered. (What's up w/the statue him and the fam? Just a statue? Then why add it in? The sign at the cottage would have served same purpose otherwise.) What happened w/Kreatcher? And I REALLY want to know who taught DoDA after all these shenanigans?!

What about the rest Bill, Fleur, etc.

I think we were supposed to assume that Bill and Fleur were Victoire's parents. She was the Potter kids' cousin, apparently. :shrug:


I liked the epilogue for how everything turned out, peaceful and normal. Harry deserved a normal life. I'm obsessed with minor characters, so I kind of wanted a long list of occupations and spouses, but I liked it.

I liked the way it ended the circle, as someone pointed out, with the people Harry met the first time he went to Hogwarts. I thought all the new names were a bit confusing, though, but it's not surprising, really, that Harry would like to name his kids after James and Lily. I think it was sweet how Albus Severus were named after especially Severus, and I loved the "the bravest man I ever knew"-speech.
However, it seemed a bit, well, odd perhaps, the way it was. The writing style was complete different than rest of the book, and it seemed a bit "childish"... It makes me wonder whether JKR wrote the epilogue some years ago. Does anyone know anything about that?

Also I would love to get more details about the trio as well as finding out what happened to everyone else; Luna, Neville, George, Percy and the Weasleys etc. But I don't think all of that would have fitted into the Epilogue.
I'm hoping she will make some sort of encyclopedia, containing not only information we already know, but also things that happened later in life, you know, with dates and connections and everything.

Emotionally it was nothing more than let down for me to not know things about my favorite characters and about things I was truly concerned about. What was in the epilogue was trivial to me because I knew most of that was going to happen it had to. But the subplots that arent resolved are tragically missing.

It felt like JKR wrote the epilogue just as a self-indulgence. It reminded me terribly of rather bad fanfiction, and I disliked that it was presented as though the most important and interesting things about her characters were the name and number of their children! And that's really all we learned in the epilogue: The name and number of their children. We already knew they survived and could infer that they got married, or JKR could have written one line into the last chapter explaining they were planning to propose or whatever. So, I honestly feel the book would have been better had she left the epilogue off completely. :(

I suspect JKR was too sentimental about the epilogue that she wrote all those years ago to be objective about it, and she didn't change it very much, which explains why the quality of the writing itself is so much worse than the rest of the book as she wrote it so long ago when she was not as experienced a writer. But I am shocked her editors didn't ask her politely to tone down the sappiness a little, or at least provide relevant details on Luna, their jobs, and other events in the wizarding world.

I really don't mean to bash JKR. But my honest-to-goodness reaction was really hard disappointment. I just really don't think I'll ever like the Epilogue. It was happy and showed the trio married and everything, but it just felt like it had no real soul. Does that make sense? :(

I agree with those that didn't like it. I loved the book, and JKR is beyond brilliant, but there were a few disappointments for me. The epilogue was one of them. We could tell Harry/Ginny and Hermione/Ron would end up together. Like every wizarding family we've seen, they'd have kids, too. I didn't care to know their names. For me, it would've been so much better if the epilogue had taken place two or three years later instead of 19. That was a huge, huge gap. The trio was 36, 37 by then, and a lot changes in that amount of time. I wanted to know what happened with everyone else, it's not hard to include all that. It just seemed very forced, and I agree that it was more from her writing style in the beginning books. I wish she had just scratched it and started over. What's Harry doing, does he live at Grimmauld Place with Kreacher? A brilliant book, but there were some disappointments.

I felt letdown - a lot. By most of the things mentioned here but also I wanted to know how things changed / if they changed in the wizarding world in regards to elves/centaurs/giants etc. I mean, Jo makes that such a part of the series and how wrong the magical community is about not treating beings that are not wizards with the respect they deserve and how if they can all unite and overthrow Voldermort than they can all co-exist and make it better but then we don't even know if that happens or not.

Oh, I forgot; I was also baffled by the kids' names. JK went to a LOT of trouble to tell us all of Harry's kids' names, and made a big deal about them. Gave the first and middle names of all kids, made SURE we remembered who each kid was named after, and then...

Rose and Hugo?! What the heck was with the Rose and Hugo bit? Why go to ALL that trouble w/Harry's kids, then just give us ROSE AND HUGO as Ron and Hermione's kids' names, and not even spare an explanatory comment like, "Hermione picked the names at random out of her favorite book," or something? What the heck?!

It seems a lot of people were expecting an encylopedia entry rather than an epilogue, which is interesting.

A list of characters and occpations would have been interesting, but story-wise, the way JKR wrote it was far better. The story is about love, and from the beginning Harry has desired a family - now he has one, through the bonds he formed throughout the series. It looks to the future rather than the past, and completes the cycle.

For me, narratively, thematically and emotionally, that's far more satisfying than finding out what Ernie Macmillan did for a living.

This.

mmm i was just thinking...i guess there is a mistake in the Epilogue...
how come that Teddy Lupin, being 19, is on the hogwarts express??

mmm i was just thinking...i guess there is a mistake in the Epilogue...
how come that Teddy Lupin, being 19, is on the hogwarts express??

James said Teddy said he was there to see Victoire off. So Teddy was not going to Hogwarts. ;)

Oh, I forgot; I was also baffled by the kids' names. JK went to a LOT of trouble to tell us all of Harry's kids' names, and made a big deal about them. Gave the first and middle names of all kids, made SURE we remembered who each kid was named after, and then...

Rose and Hugo?! What the heck was with the Rose and Hugo bit? Why go to ALL that trouble w/Harry's kids, then just give us ROSE AND HUGO as Ron and Hermione's kids' names, and not even spare an explanatory comment like, "Hermione picked the names at random out of her favorite book," or something? What the heck?!


Ugh. Horrible names. Is Hugo for Hugo Bagman and Rose for Rosmerta(sp?) from Hogsmeade who Ron had a sorta crush on??

It was a bit overdone. A bit creepy. A bit fluffy. But I loved, absolutely loved that Harry named his kid Severus!

I liked the idea but I thought that the way it was written wasn't really that great, and I would have liked to know about a few more of the characters, like Luna and the Weasleys, and even the Dursleys

i think the omissions mentioned in various other books and the great disatisfaction with the epilogue was intentional...

what does everyone else think?

I completely agree.....I believe JKR has left it like that so that, if she ever decides to, she can do an 'in-between' book...post DH but pre epilogue....was a bit gutted tho...wanted to find out if Luna and Neville got it together, who became new Head of Hogwarts, what jobs they all did (did Harry become an Auror or was that job obselete with the vanquishment of Voldy?) and whether Luna went onto become the new ed of the Quibbler?? Also wanted to know about the Dursleys and Hermione's parents post battle?? Damn you JKR...more theories to ponder even after the books finished!!! lol

I thought it was VERY sweet of her to ensure Harry named his kids after the people he did....brought a tear to my eye and a lump to my throat....but then, I am an old sentimentalist!!!! lol

Personally I liked the epilogue. Though it would have been nice to learn more about the rest of the characters. But didn't Jo say that she might write some sort of Potter encyclopedia some day?
Maybe she'll answer all the questions there.

But, all in all, I thought it was a fitting ending to Harry's saga. Of course I may feel that way because I once wrote a similar ending for this book myself:

http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?p=4430402#post4430402

Not that I'm bragging.....:D

.

I was also upset by the complete lack of immediate closure on the end of the book...We never see any funerals, learn how families coped, how Hogwarts recovered and how long it took for it to recover, who the new headmaster was, or what became of what to do with the students given that the year had been abruptly cut short by the attack.

So all in all, the epilogue fell far short of what most were expecting, and the end of the book as well as the epilogue had a distinct lack of closure.

First I thought so, too. I thought there should have been one more chapter and then the epilogue but then I had to admitt, that it was only me who hadn´t found closure, it was only me, who needed to grief for all the people lost, Harry already had by the time he talked to his parents, Sirius, Remus and Dumbledore. And the book is about Harry and what sets him apart from Voldemort, love and his newfound ability to accept death as a part of life. It seems strange to me, that he should grief so hard for the people he lost, if he knows that they are well, that they are safe, that he will see them again...

And the lack of closure. I am pretty sure that, no matter what she had written, we never would have found closure. The reason for that is simple: There is no end and there never will be one, life goes on. Even if she had told us about their jobs and about what all the other characters were doing, we wouldn´t have been satisfied (Not to mention, she would have to write a 800+ pages story just to do everyone justice, from Aberforths adventures with his goat to Zacharias Smith´s fight with his beer belly). What happens next? And what about the children?...
Can you see the dilemma. Neverending story? We never can be satisfied, we never will know all the answers and that is life...

I hope this made sense. I am terribly tired and my brain feels a bit fuzzy...

The more I think about it, the more I realize how bad I think the Epilogue is.

It was high on the list of things that I was eagerly awaiting to read with the release of "Deathly Hallows". I was expecting an all-knowing narrator to tell the future of all the characters that played somewhat big roles in the series (Dursleys, Weaslys, Order members, Death Eaters, Hogwarts students and staff...). That would, to me at least, seem something more reasonable to look forward and tell yourself you'd one day get to the very end (this is what JKR said about this epilogue).

I wasn't expecting to a full-fledged scene with characters and dialogue! And the names of those kids don't help my opinion of it (couldn't they at least be their middle names?). To be honest and blunt, I read the epilogue wanting to finish the book already and begin the re-read. :relax:

I thought the epilogue was quite nice. A bit corny perhaps, but it gave us a sense of the future Harry, and it showed that none of the characters had really changed, except for that (especially Harry) was a bit more mature than his teenage self, which is how it should be.

Closure would have been if I understood where everyone went in their lives and where the world went after such a desperate time. She could have found a way to tie the threads together to make it a fitting end. I wanted more, plain and simple. The fact that I am left so empty and so emotionally unsettled by the lack of closure(an end to the series) seems to me a failure of a true epilogue.

I thoroughly enjoyed the epilogue myself. Of course I would have liked to know what happened to Luna and all that, but I thought for what it was - the epilogue was great. I think JKR's intentions with the epilogue might have been that she wanted to focus solely on the trio since that's sort of what the series centered on the most - the friendship and what the three of them went through.

And like someone else said - I think the omissions in the epilogue of certain characters was intentional on JKR's part. I think she wanted to leave elements of the story open and let the readers ponder just what they believed would have happened to some after the killing of Voldemort.

If she had answered ALL our questions in DH, what exactly would there be left to ponder?

I completely agree.....I believe JKR has left it like that so that, if she ever decides to, she can do an 'in-between' book...post DH but pre epilogue....was a bit gutted tho...wanted to find out if Luna and Neville got it together, who became new Head of Hogwarts, what jobs they all did (did Harry become an Auror or was that job obselete with the vanquishment of Voldy?) and whether Luna went onto become the new ed of the Quibbler?? Also wanted to know about the Dursleys and Hermione's parents post battle?? Damn you JKR...more theories to ponder even after the books finished!!! lol

I thought it was VERY sweet of her to ensure Harry named his kids after the people he did....brought a tear to my eye and a lump to my throat....but then, I am an old sentimentalist!!!! lol

JK has stated before that Luna and Neville wouldn't be a good match (Luna's wild theories would scare Neville.) Actually after reading DH, I think Luna and Dean Thomas might be good together. They had a few interactions in this book that were cute.

It was definitely lacking. I wanted to know about what happened to many of the other characters and how they were doing in life.

There would be plenty to ponder as there always is. Plenty of discussions about the amount of death or the symbolism. An end is an end is an END. There is no canon left and the fact that this books just ends after so little about what occurs after is a death to these characters. To me there is nothing left to build on in terms of discussion, just speculation.

I liked the epilogue.




I would really like to know what became of Harry and how him and Ginny got married, why he didn't go for Cho

Because he loves Ginny?



same with Ron and Hermione.. why didn't she go for Krum and ... why didn't krum make an appearance in the book eh?

Because she loves Ron?

Geez.

ps. Krum did appear.

But we can't have closure. We can't know what happened to everyone - that would have been several chapters of another book. Jo has given us a glimpse of the future. The full circle, parents seeing children off into their new lives as they themselves once stepped forward on their journey. All the characters are there. The story is ended. (Until Jo takes up her pen again.)

I actually thought it was a wonderful touch. I loved it, and I thought it was very well executed. I thought all of it was very sweet, and very great to wrap it up in a good light. I like happy endings.

On the other hand, in some ways, I think JKR was covering her bases, making sure that people didn't crush what she imagined of her characters with fanfic. It wouldn't be canon if it went against anything in the epilogue.

Further I think that showing that Harry named his son after the person he probably had most mixed feelings about ever (Albus), and the person that he resented most (Severus), shows that Harry has come to terms with it all, and his feelings that he shares about Slytherin redeem all the angsty, hateable things he did in HBP--at least to me.

I was hoping to find out what happened to everybody, it was sort of a let down, but I still liked it.

I liked it, personally. I thought it was a good ending and was what I was hoping for. :)

This was the biggest disappointing part of the book for me. I almost feel as if there should have been one more story chapter to detail the mourning of those we all cared for, the rebuilding, re-establishment of the Ministry and business' during the days, weeks and maybe a couple of months following the final battle, and then have the epilogue.

I wished it was longer. I wanted to know what happened to everyone else. :( It was cute, but still...Was a little upset there wasn't a whole lot more to it.

The epilogue was, in my opinion, not a satisfyingly well-written piece of literature. It read like a very silly, not very fulfilling (and certainly not very consistent, considering the style of the rest of the series) way to end the book. To me, it read like very poorly-done fanfiction.

I am glad that Neville is herbology professor. I am glad that there are two happy couples and they have children and they are all going to Hogwarts -- it is nice to know that the school keeps its doors open. I think that Lupin and Tonks' baby, Teddy, is a well-balanced person. I have no way to be certain. I also don't know what happened to the rest of the Wesleys, and who else may have perished during the seige of Hogwarts, and what teachers remain there. But the thing just seemed too sunshine and butterflies for my taste, and almost as though JKR scanned through the deepest desires of all of her fans for the happiest possible ending, deleting any other details that might distract from that.

I really liked it. I loved that they were seeing a new generation off to Hogwarts, and that we saw the peace they'd found in their lives. For me, it was a wonderful ending to the book and the series.

I do wonder what happened in the lives of the other characters, but I'm content to be left to my own imaginings on that. I think a large amount of information on all the characters I'd grown to care about wouldn't have felt right, and wouldn't have been as emotionally satisfying for me.

I both loved and loathed the epilogue. At first I wished it had not been there and that the book would have had another chapter wrapping things up while they were children. However, I don't know that this would have made me any happier. By the time I was reading the epilogue I already knew that this was the end of my adventures with Harry Potter. The same feeling came over me that must have come over Harry when his wand broke, the feeling of losing an old friend.

I don't think there was anything wrong with the names of Harry's children being included, though I think it should have been drawn out a little bit more so that their names didn't have to appear over and over in a short area for us to remember them.

One of my other immediate reactions was that there should have been information about other major characters in the epilogue, such as Luna and the rest of the Weasleys. In fact, I still kind of feel that way, but am no longer bitter about it. After seeing Luna's house and learning exactly the way she felt about Harry and the gang, it would have been nice to hear something about her.

I dunno, I'm still sad that there will be no more Harry Potter in the foreseeable future.

Quite a bit of a let down, Jo created this epic world, led millions of people on an adventure, and ends it... with a... short story.

I'm with most everyone else, what about everyone else?! What happened to Luna, the rest of the Weasley's, did Kingsley stay minister, what did George do without Fred. There is only one mention of the girl Ted is "snogging," which I am taking to be Fleur and Bill's daughter, because it's a french name and is a "cousin."

What do Ron/Hermione/Harry/Ginny do for jobs? Heck, who did Draco marry? Why haven't Harry's kids heard about him? James Potter has been at Hogwarts, I'm sure Neville has said something, yet James even wonders why everyone is staring at Harry.

With this disappointing of an epilogue, I really hope Jo writes something more, though apparently much hasn't happened in the 19 years.

Oh wow, the epilogue.

At the very end of it, I was happy. I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face. I knew that Harry and his friends were safe and happy. It was touching.

But on the other hand, I don’t feel as though we knew the 36 year old Harry. We’ve grown up with him, seen 7 solid years of his life … and all of a sudden we’re thrown this adult who’s life we haven’t seen for nearly two decades. I had to keep reminding myself that this Harry speaking to his son was not a teenager.

I don’t mind that we didn’t learn what everyone’s profession is, though, because it kept with the Harry that we’ve known for so long – it’s still him, just aged.

The whole thing reminded me of Wuthering Heights, though – the second generation, the blurring of the names.

Personally, I was much happier that it ended with a "bad" epilogue (I kinda liked it, everything came full circle for Harry in a way), rather than Harry in the Headmasters Office saying "I've had enough trouble to last a lifetime".

Be greatful, people... :lol:

I liked the epilogue. I think it came full circle with the trio. I was glad they had found peace. Knowing that Harry's scar no longer hurt and was only a memory of what they went through to get where they were was priceless. I do wish JKR would have elaborated more so on the rest of the characters. As all of us wondered what the trios jobs would be...did anyone get the impression they were living in a muggle society? They had driven cars to get to King's Cross and Ron had "magically" gotten his drivers license. It was hard for me to tell, but I definitely got the impression they were trying to give their children the best of both worlds.

When I read the epilogue I didn't have too strong of feelings about it at all. I wasn't greatly surprised by the names of the kids either except for the the Severus part. I just took it for what it was. They all lived happily ever after. It felt a bit strange though, boring even. At least the rest of the book was up to standards.

I have mixed feelings about the epilogue. What there was of it was nice...it answered a lot of my questions (though certainly not all of them) but it was so short on so many other characters that I was sad.

My great hope is that it can be fixed in the 7th movie...you know they will have more freedom to shoot that final scene so maybe we see some of the others at the platform and get some satisfaction at last.

I had hoped the epilogue would be a little longer. I wanted to find out a little more on each character, especially their jobs and such.

same with Ron and Hermione.. why didn't she go for Krum and ... why didn't krum make an appearance in the book eh?

Um.. he did. He was at the wedding.

I was disappointed in the epilogue overall. The writing seemed really disjointed and the listing of names was hard to follow. I laughed at Ron's driving test story, it showed he hadn't changed much.

I thought the 19 year span seemed a bit odd, and it seemed strange to not know what happened to at least the rest of the Weasleys.

Exactly. I agree with Ronni_SL.

I wanted to know what happened to all of the other Weasleys, some of the other minor characters (Luna specifically).

I also think her writing was a little odd in the epilogue. It seemed rushed and not properly thought out.

Albus Severus is a horrible name for any kid, period. Hahaha. I would have liked to see Harry have a kid named Sirius.

i did love the epilogue and i read it with a smile on my face and happy tears. but i think it could of been better in ways. for example made it longer with more detail and information on all the characters, like there jobs and how their were getting on... especially how George got on without Fred.

Im one of the few that really enjoyed the epilogue. Sure i would have like to see how everyone else is doing or what job everyone had. but what was said was great.

And I thought Albus Severus was a beautiful name. And although Draco's son's name sounded weird, it seemd appropriate for a Malfoy. i thought Hugo was a odd name. guess it would have been a bit overkill if they had named him Fred.. i would have liked it though. maybe George got married and named his first son Fred.

While it was nice to see the Trio older and with families, the Epilogue felt kinda awkward, or off. I expected, like others, a proper farewell for all of the characters, not just Ron, Harry, Hermione and Ginny.

I was disapointed - I wanted to know if Ron/Harry/Hermoine became Aurors - if they ever finished their education - it just wasn't enough.

I thought the epilogue was pretty bad. I mean fanfiction bad. I in no way would ever want to wish that it would be longer because it would be TORTUOUS, but how JKR written it after all the masterful writing beforehand seemed to show it was barebones but not enough. Really it just seemed so tacked on, which should have focused more on the heart of Harry Potter than just something so superficial as this. In some respect I guess this is what JKR intended for it to be, that life is normal, this is what everyone fought for a life that is boring, unneeding details and the such.

However at the same time it sounded so amatuer. Name dropping, continuing of certain elements in the book, ZOMG people looking like their parents that's hilarious. This was basically one of the worst things about the book.

The epilogue was written years ago and is written more like SS/PS than her more recent writing. I was very disappointed in it. It seems like the whole thing was just to tell us what Harry and Ginny's kids were named so we'd know that Harry realized Severus was the bravest man he ever knew. And where did those names for Ron and Hermione's kids come from?

How many times did Jo say she would tell us what happened to everyone. Not so. Did George continue on with WWW? Did Luna take over The Quibbler from her father? Draco and his family certainly must have gone through some life alterations considering their close brush with death at the hands of their master. But Draco seems to still be harboring his pure-blood mania and his hatred for the Trio; although I did like his son's name. But did he marry Pansy?

And what happened to the Dursleys? Dudley seems to have changed toward Harry, and maybe that led to further changes in his attitude, but we don't know.

Most importantly, to me, what are Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny doing with their lives? Are Harry and Ron auror's? What?

The epilogue was the only disappointment in the book.

I didn't really like it. It lacked information on the trio's lives and also about people crucial to the story like Arthur and Molly, Luna etc. One of the themes I felt was that he wasn't alone and didn't have to be, so why exclude those who were there when it got tough.

Blah didn't like it, I want to know MORE! I also didn't like how Harry and Ginny named James and Lily, just cheesy in my eyes. A;bus was fine but the James Lily part was just blah.

Rose and Hugo I was wondereing though we don't know Hermione's parents names, maybe those were them?

The epilogue could have been fine, but as it was, it really didn't give much closure at all. Albus Severus is indeed an awful sounding name, but the meaning is there. James and Lily were a little creepy. I mean, sure, he loved his parents, but naming your kids after both your parents? I think middle names for his son and daughter would have been more appropriate. In fact, I'd have given Harry a family of four. Albus Severus, one with Harry as a middle name, another with James and the last with Lily. Three sons and a daughter, it seems befitting of Harry and Ginny, in my opinion.

Draco Malfoy naming his son "Scorpius" was a bit cheesy. Why didn't he just name him "Sinister Evil McSoulstealer?" I think just something like Stephen would have been fine. It doesn't sound too evil, but it has the aristocratic arrogance of a Malfoy name.

She needed to focus on the present for a bit, before she moved into the future. Started with the immediately happenings after the battle, with Harry Potter agreeing to live with Andromeda Tonks and Teddy Lupin. Andromeda is the next of kin to take the child, but I can see her not wanting to raise it alone, and hence Harry agrees to help raise it. He also approaches Ginny about moving things forward, however, Ginny would obviously be more interested in her family. Her mother just duelled and defeated Voldemort's highest general in her name, plus they lost Fred and just got Percy back. I can see that leading to a lonely few months for Harry, who becomes sort of a player, making having little flings with Cho Changs here and there. I see Harry enjoying life, and living like Sirius would in his young years.

Kingsley Shacklebolt was named acting Minister of Magic, but who would take over then? Something about Shacklebolt doing such a fantastic job that he is invited to take the position on full time, only to abandon it when Aurors are sent on overseas missions to help keep the peace in foreign wizarding countries. This can tie in with Harry's story, who has the freedom to choose his path in the wizarding world by defeating Voldemort, but he decides he wants to go back with Ginny, after deciding over the holidays that he wants to spend as much time with her as possible, he signs up to do his final year of Hogwarts, which he missed because he was fighting Voldemort. Hermione also wants to do something similar, to get the best wizarding education possible, and Ron follows, because he wants to be with Harry and Hermione. Dean Thomas also shows up for the year, as does Neville Longbottom. Harry eventually decides that the life of an Auror, especially when Britain's wizards are requested overseas. Kingsley Shacklebolt and Harry Potter get a very good professional relationship going.

Minerva McGonagall is made Headmistress at Hogwarts, and we need three new teachers. Transfiguration is left open by McGonagall's promotion, and we get an entirely new character in the role of Transfiguration teacher. Maybe have them come in as one of the foreign experts of Transfiguration from the United States? Defence Against the Dark Arts are taken up by George Weasley, who cannot stay in the business he and his brother set-up. He becomes the first teacher in several years to retain the job for a second year, although Harry Potter is offered the post, and for a while it looks like he will replace George, until he decides to become an Auror. Muggle Studies is left open, and someone from the Ministry of Magic is brought in to teach it.

Once Kingsley Shacklebolt decides to lend his expertise to the Auror's Department, again, Arthur Weasley becomes Minister of Magic, riding the wave of popularity the Weasley family hold since Fred and Molly are named war heroes, and the rest of the family are recognised for their bravery and losses. Ron Weasley is sometimes a little upset about being overlooked, but Hermione writes a biography on Harry Potter, and their hunt for their journies together, painting Ron out to be a hero, as well as Harry. She becomes a famous wizarding writer, known as the greatest since Bathilda Bagshot, and perhaps even better than her.

In his seventh year at Hogwarts, Harry Potter excels at most of his subjects, showing great natural wizarding skill, whilst also performing well in Quidditch and heading up "Dumbledore's Army" which is an extracurricular Defence Against the Dark Arts program. They have a duelling tournament for fun, which Harry Potter surprisingly doesn't win, getting bested by Hermione Granger in the semi-finals, who goes on to lose to Neville Longbottom, albeit barely, in the finals.

To be perfectly honest, I think there is enough for an eighth book of a series, and then and epilogue like the one we got. There are still a lot of issues. Harry Potter has a child in his life now, in Teddy, and that will change his life. He also has his own house and is free of the world. Throw in the Hogwarts stuff, some development between Ron and Hermione, his relationship with Ginny, and how he gives up on it when Ginny is caught up with family, as he should be with his godson, and maybe throw in some development between Harry and Andromeda, Harry and Snape's portrait in Hogwarts, Harry and Ron (who develop a bit of rivalry, as Ron feels he is underrated as a wizard), Viktor Krum (who shows up to teach Quidditch at Hogwarts, when it is revealed that Madam Hooch was also killed in the battles). There aren't enough personal complications for you? Throw in a murder plot to get Harry. A number of wizards who don't want to give up on darkness, and a few that are trying to grab at power. I'm thinking Yaxley could be one of them, and Dolores Umbridge, another. Umbridge can lose her job at the Ministry because of Potter, so she decides to join Yaxley and maybe some others who hate Harry just as much. Maybe even have Mundungus Fletcher convert to their ranks. Don't have them focus on Voldemort, at all, but rather an organisation to get rid of Harry Potter.

Maybe give us some development on Flitwick? He seems like a powerful wizard, and I could see him feeling overlooked for McGonagall. This could lead to some teacher tensions. Not violent ones, but I think as J.K. Rowling as gone on, the purpose on her books has been more mature. She graduated from relatively innocent fantasy, to darker fantasy. How about now graduates even further and shows us the more human side to her characters?

Yeah, I realised I just suggested that Rowling write an eighth book, but I thought the 1-7 scheme was to show us Harry's time at Hogwarts, and him mature into an adult wizard, and I guess we've seen the end result, but I still think there could be one year at Hogwarts left in Harry, Ron and Hermione, and hence still some growing to go. I'm not asking for a long book, perhaps this one would be the shortest in the series, however I feel that the characters have enough legs on them in the wake of Voldemort's death to get another story out of it. Normally I wouldn't suggest mindless sequels to a piece of art, but Rowling kind of left things a bit too open for my tastes, especially since I got so invested in characters only for their to be little payoff.

Come on, Rowling. As a reader of all seven books, I need to know how the wizarding world moves on from here, how Hogwarts gets on its feet, how the Ministry of Magic recovers, and most importantly, the direction the life of the characters takes. The journey, not the destination. Just because Harry Potter didn't need to dodge green jets of light, doesn't mean there aren't stories to tell about them.

That was a lot to write about an epilogue, haha. I'll apologie and sum up: I didn't like it, Sally. Not at all.

I have to say I'm rather dissapointed. I love the fact that Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione all get married and are happy with their kids and life; and that Neville is Professor Neville now (which we always knew, lol) but I wanted to know more about the wizarding world and other characters.

I want to know about the Weasley family. They were very important in Harry's life. They were the first people that treated him like a family member. I would have liked to know if George kept the store. I wanted to know about Luna. I wanted to know what kind of jobs Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Hermione had, even Luna! I would have loved to know if Hermione got reunited with her parents. I wanted to know who was the new Minister of Magic. I wanted to know who was the new Headmister or mistress of Hogwarts. I wanted to know how the world coped after Voldemort's death. Yes, I am aware that I wanted to know many things, but after many years reading about this world and characters, I would have liked to know the outcome of them.

I do have to admit, even though I consider the epilouge a bit 'cheesy,' I found that I teared up when I knew that Harry named one of his sons 'Albus Severus.' I think the name is horrible, but at the same time, it was something so sweet and honorable to do. Harry turned out to be alright.

Well the thing you have an open ended epilogue. IMHO this seems to be a gift to all of JKR's fans and the HP fanfic writers. Granted some stories cannot be told but this epilogue is basically a fanfic author's paradise. Imagine all the stories that you can write from this.

Disappointment..yes to many. But to a lot it's probably a message for JKR herself to say continue believing in the Harry Potter world through your own world. Perhaps in some respect, where JKR has inspired so many people to read, she is now trying to inspire a lot more people to write.

Honestly? i didn't love it. I mean, I love that it was a happy ending...Ron and Hermione, Harry and Ginny, kids, Remus and Tonks' son, everyone so close...

But I felt like it took me too far out of the intimacy of the story. I like that there was an epilogue where we find out what happened to the trio and Ginny, but I wish it had been, say, 5-10 years later. Not 19. It seemed too far removed and I found it brought me down a little. I would have preferred to have glimpsed the two couples, maybe Hermione and Ginny pregnant, maybe finding out what they did as careers...

I dunno. I didn't hate it but it was weird for me.

ETA: When I say I would have liked to know about careers, it's not for the sake of knowing about careers in and of themselves...it's more that I would have liked a glimpse of the individual characters we came to love so much, and who they became, rather than just knowing that they were married and parents.

Also completely agree with those who have pointed out how much the epilogue stands out as having been written from the very beginning, when she wrote PS.

Yeah, It was just really, really weird for me.

I liked it- I think the reason she left out a lot is because she didn't want to egg on fanfiction or anything.

I'm pretty sure Victoire is Bill and Fleur's daughter. James says that if she and Teddy Lupin get married, then Teddy would be a real cousin; and Victoire is a French name.

Questions left :

What happened to Kreacher?
What are harry/hermoine/ron's jobs?
Who is headmaster?
Who is minister? what Happened to the death eaters? Is harry going to be an auror, but not much dark wizard left eh>:whistle: what do you think>

I would have liked another chapter before the epiloge.... Fred, Lupin & Tonk's funerals, the re-establishing of the ministry, Harry & Ginny getting back together, I think I needed some more closure & attention to wrapping up on a 7 book series....

I still think that she sould have given Harry twin boys named James and Sirius and they sould have been like Fred and George. If she HAD to kill off Fred, and destroy the wonderful twins, at least there should be another pair. It would show how life goes on and how Trouble-makers will always be at Hogwarts to help peeves do trouble.
and I was thinking, Sirius looks down from heaven and what would he say?? YO! down there! WHAT ABOUT ME??

I think it's cool that we know one of the Weasley sons had a daughter - but I want to know which one!

I assumed it was Bill and Fleur's daughter. French name, about the same age as Lupin and Tonks' son. But someone has probably said so already...I'm just commenting as I read!

The Epilogue really resembles fan-fic a lot. Let alone the confusion with the names, do the older charaters behave as they were married?
I grasp the main idea though- and quite like it.. Still, disappointingly written. :(

For me, this was the only major dissapointment of the book. Sure there were a few minor gripes throughout but they were passable except this. I was expecting at least a 15-20 page finale describing what the major characters did for a living, what happened to them. Instead we get a little scene at Kings Cross that gives us very little. Sure it was short and sweet but the fans deserve a much more detailed explanation. For example how's George running the joke shop without Fred? I could go on and on. I'm sure my sentiments are felt here throughout.

Meh. I think the epilogue could've been better. :grumble:

Honestly, I thought it was a little bit ... umm ... unnecessary? That's not the right word, I don't think, but I'm struggling to come up with a more appropriate one.

I do believe that is the right word. I would have been happy if she had ended it before the epilogue.

The epilouge wasn't anything special, but I'd rather have it than not.

I liked it, I thought it showed that Harry could finally be normal and have a family of his own, that he loved. I would of liked a little bit more info on others, but we can't have everything I guess.

Yeah, it didn't do it for me. It's cool to know where they all ended up, and to see that they are together, but I think it was...not great. I can't really explain it....

I think almost any epilogue would have been a let down, it is the end after all, and even though we got the happily ever after is there anything she could have written that would have been totally satisfying for us, a new breed of fanatics?

That being said, and the fact that it was 5am when I was reading the epilogue, it totally threw me trying to figure out all those new names and other than to show us the rather obvious pairings, what was the point?

I LOVED IT. It couldn't have been better. We needed to see Harry enjoying the normal life that he never thought he would have. And seeing his kids, particularly Albus Severus Potter, was really touching. And J.K's left us a chance to continue specualting on the other characters. Besides, If J.K ever puts all her character notes into print she'll probably tell us where all the others went. The point is Harry is Happy. Hooray.

I also felt that the epilogue was not up to JK's normal standard of writing and to finish as series of such power and popularity as Harry Potter with such a poorly written epilogue to me seems to be an insult.

She may have wanted to leave enough room for fan fiction to continue after she put down her pen, I feel that that could have been accomplished without this particular ending.

As for the names of Harry children, I think deep down the only name that is a real surprise is Severus, however I hope that James' middle name is Sirius, I think that there needs to be a Sirius Potter.

The name of Ron and Hermione children did shock me but I am sure that there is some reasoning behind them and congrats to whoever worked out the matching intials.

And to those who have said that Severus was in a way unworth of being called the bravest man that Harry knew, I am willing to agree and also in a way disagree, he had to murder the only man who had trusted him, lie to everyone else and then be used killed for doing his duty by Lord Voldemort.

Ok rant finished continue with the discussion

What are your thoughts on the books epilogue?

Personally i was expecting a little bit more as far as the distinct paths each of the trio chose as well as a sort of where are they now going over the main characters. Maybe it was JKR leaving me wanting more but i honestly did expect a bit more.

The epilogue could have been fine, but as it was, it really didn't give much closure at all. Albus Severus is indeed an awful sounding name, but the meaning is there. James and Lily were a little creepy. I mean, sure, he loved his parents, but naming your kids after both your parents? I think middle names for his son and daughter would have been more appropriate. In fact, I'd have given Harry a family of four. Albus Severus, one with Harry as a middle name, another with James and the last with Lily. Three sons and a daughter, it seems befitting of Harry and Ginny, in my opinion.
I agree. First of all... Albus Severus Potter? o_O Imagine having to write that on your homework. Sure, they're two of the most honorable names in the wizarding world, but, well, I think this is going overboard. And yeah, I would rather have the names of his parents as their middle names. Why doesn't Ginny get to honor her ancestors? I know Harry's parents are dead, but Ginny has dead ancestors. Why isn't one of their children called 'Fred' for example?

Draco Malfoy naming his son "Scorpius" was a bit cheesy. Why didn't he just name him "Sinister Evil McSoulstealer?" I think just something like Stephen would have been fine. It doesn't sound too evil, but it has the aristocratic arrogance of a Malfoy name.
I somehow can't imagine a kid named Stephen Malfoy, heh. I don't have a problem with Scorpius to be honest. I mean, his name is Draco, and it seems like all of his ancestors and relatives are named after constellations. Why would he break the tradition? Just because the name may sound a bit evil doesn't mean much. I consider the nod he gave to Harry in the epilogue a sign of unspoken respect between the two men. Draco's changed, and while I am sure Scorpius will be a Slytherin, I would not be surprised if he turned out alright.

She needed to focus on the present for a bit, before she moved into the future. Started with the immediately happenings after the battle, with Harry Potter agreeing to live with Andromeda Tonks and Teddy Lupin. Andromeda is the next of kin to take the child, but I can see her not wanting to raise it alone, and hence Harry agrees to help raise it. He also approaches Ginny about moving things forward, however, Ginny would obviously be more interested in her family. Her mother just duelled and defeated Voldemort's highest general in her name, plus they lost Fred and just got Percy back. I can see that leading to a lonely few months for Harry, who becomes sort of a player, making having little flings with Cho Changs here and there. I see Harry enjoying life, and living like Sirius would in his young years.
Yes, I agree that she should have spent more time covering the days immediately after Voldemort's demise. Would Harry live with Tonks's mother? I imagine he'd crash with the Weasleys. Tonks's mother will not have a problem raising Teddy (who seems to exhibit traits more similar to Tonks than Lupin and is evidently not a werewolf). Meanwhile, Harry will get to live and share emotions with the closest thing he's ever had to a family. Surely he'd feel better with the Weasleys than with a baby and an old woman he's never known.

Kingsley Shacklebolt was named acting Minister of Magic, but who would take over then? Something about Shacklebolt doing such a fantastic job that he is invited to take the position on full time, only to abandon it when Aurors are sent on overseas missions to help keep the peace in foreign wizarding countries. This can tie in with Harry's story, who has the freedom to choose his path in the wizarding world by defeating Voldemort, but he decides he wants to go back with Ginny, after deciding over the holidays that he wants to spend as much time with her as possible, he signs up to do his final year of Hogwarts, which he missed because he was fighting Voldemort. Hermione also wants to do something similar, to get the best wizarding education possible, and Ron follows, because he wants to be with Harry and Hermione. Dean Thomas also shows up for the year, as does Neville Longbottom. Harry eventually decides that the life of an Auror, especially when Britain's wizards are requested overseas. Kingsley Shacklebolt and Harry Potter get a very good professional relationship going.
I think that Kingsley would have to stay acting Minister for a few months, and he'd make sure that Umbridge, Yazley, and any other surviving threats are dealt with accordingly. Surely Azkaban has better security than dementors. Speaking of which, they would surely be a major problem for the ministry, dementors. Kingsley would not have to worry about anything near as much as Fudge or Scrimgeour; he'd basically clean up the mess (restore Hogwarts, track down and capture any death eaters or miscreants, restrict the dementors, etc). I can see Harry going back to Hogwarts, as well as everyone who wasn't able to get a full education (including Neville, Seamus, etc). Surely they will be allowed back by McGonnagall. Also, I see Ron retaining his prefect duties, while Harry and Hermione would be Head Boy and Girl respectively (James wasn't a prefect but he became head boy so why not Harry). I suppose The school would have to enchant each house to add another set of dormitories for the returning 7th years.

Minerva McGonagall is made Headmistress at Hogwarts, and we need three new teachers. Transfiguration is left open by McGonagall's promotion, and we get an entirely new character in the role of Transfiguration teacher. Maybe have them come in as one of the foreign experts of Transfiguration from the United States? Defence Against the Dark Arts are taken up by George Weasley, who cannot stay in the business he and his brother set-up. He becomes the first teacher in several years to retain the job for a second year, although Harry Potter is offered the post, and for a while it looks like he will replace George, until he decides to become an Auror. Muggle Studies is left open, and someone from the Ministry of Magic is brought in to teach it.

Once Kingsley Shacklebolt decides to lend his expertise to the Auror's Department, again, Arthur Weasley becomes Minister of Magic, riding the wave of popularity the Weasley family hold since Fred and Molly are named war heroes, and the rest of the family are recognised for their bravery and losses. Ron Weasley is sometimes a little upset about being overlooked, but Hermione writes a biography on Harry Potter, and their hunt for their journies together, painting Ron out to be a hero, as well as Harry. She becomes a famous wizarding writer, known as the greatest since Bathilda Bagshot, and perhaps even better than her.

In his seventh year at Hogwarts, Harry Potter excels at most of his subjects, showing great natural wizarding skill, whilst also performing well in Quidditch and heading up "Dumbledore's Army" which is an extracurricular Defence Against the Dark Arts program. They have a duelling tournament for fun, which Harry Potter surprisingly doesn't win, getting bested by Hermione Granger in the semi-finals, who goes on to lose to Neville Longbottom, albeit barely, in the finals.

To be perfectly honest, I think there is enough for an eighth book of a series, and then and epilogue like the one we got. There are still a lot of issues. Harry Potter has a child in his life now, in Teddy, and that will change his life. He also has his own house and is free of the world. Throw in the Hogwarts stuff, some development between Ron and Hermione, his relationship with Ginny, and how he gives up on it when Ginny is caught up with family, as he should be with his godson, and maybe throw in some development between Harry and Andromeda, Harry and Snape's portrait in Hogwarts, Harry and Ron (who develop a bit of rivalry, as Ron feels he is underrated as a wizard), Viktor Krum (who shows up to teach Quidditch at Hogwarts, when it is revealed that Madam Hooch was also killed in the battles). There aren't enough personal complications for you? Throw in a murder plot to get Harry. A number of wizards who don't want to give up on darkness, and a few that are trying to grab at power. I'm thinking Yaxley could be one of them, and Dolores Umbridge, another. Umbridge can lose her job at the Ministry because of Potter, so she decides to join Yaxley and maybe some others who hate Harry just as much. Maybe even have Mundungus Fletcher convert to their ranks. Don't have them focus on Voldemort, at all, but rather an organisation to get rid of Harry Potter.

Maybe give us some development on Flitwick? He seems like a powerful wizard, and I could see him feeling overlooked for McGonagall. This could lead to some teacher tensions. Not violent ones, but I think as J.K. Rowling as gone on, the purpose on her books has been more mature. She graduated from relatively innocent fantasy, to darker fantasy. How about now graduates even further and shows us the more human side to her characters?

Yeah, I realised I just suggested that Rowling write an eighth book, but I thought the 1-7 scheme was to show us Harry's time at Hogwarts, and him mature into an adult wizard, and I guess we've seen the end result, but I still think there could be one year at Hogwarts left in Harry, Ron and Hermione, and hence still some growing to go. I'm not asking for a long book, perhaps this one would be the shortest in the series, however I feel that the characters have enough legs on them in the wake of Voldemort's death to get another story out of it. Normally I wouldn't suggest mindless sequels to a piece of art, but Rowling kind of left things a bit too open for my tastes, especially since I got so invested in characters only for their to be little payoff.

Come on, Rowling. As a reader of all seven books, I need to know how the wizarding world moves on from here, how Hogwarts gets on its feet, how the Ministry of Magic recovers, and most importantly, the direction the life of the characters takes. The journey, not the destination. Just because Harry Potter didn't need to dodge green jets of light, doesn't mean there aren't stories to tell about them.

That was a lot to write about an epilogue, haha. I'll apologie and sum up: I didn't like it, Sally. Not at all.
I have to go, but I intend on coming back and responding to the rest of these. I read it all and I really like what you've come up with. :)

I wasn't super thrilled with the epilogue, but I did think that the name Albus Severus showed that Harry understood exactly how much Snape did for him. Of course, both names on their own seem a bit over the top for anyone, but together it's just a bad combonation.. and Albus seems like an old man's name, not a little kids.

I would have loved to hear more about Luna and Neville. For awhle I wondered if maybe they wouldn't get together (they were both a little "off") and then later after she and Dean went through the shared experience of the Malfoy's basement and him grabbing her hand as they ran off to battle - well, I had to wonder there too.

Come to think of it, Teddy was a bit out of place at the train station, and why is it that at 19 he just now moves in with godfather Harry and Ginny? Why not before? And why isn't he moving off on his own at 19? (granted, 19 is a bit young, but still). I assume that the girl he was kissing was Bill's daughter since she had the French name, but I don't know if JKR ever actually said it.

I personally loved the epilogue, the only thing I disliked was the fact that many of the character's futures were not touched (namely Luna - I've always liked her for some reason). I was so happy as to how the couples ended up, and I adored how Harry and Ginny named their kids after some of the most important people in Harry's life - helping to preserve the memory of these people who died to protect him forever. I did think that Ron and Hermione should have named one of their children after Fred, though. All in all, I enjoyed it (although this might have something to do with the fact that I never read fan fiction...).

Honestly, it looked more like a fanfic, but I guess it also suited, I mean most of us imagined that it would be some scene showing Harry's kids and Ron's kids. Though the names were a bit...out of the league! I can't imagine the name Albus Severus, they could have just had seven kids like the weasleys, and name them after the main char. who died like James, Sirius, Remus, Lily, Severus, Albus and Fred rather than a kid named Albus Severus!

And I would have expected the first kid to be named Albus, since it seems a little elderly!

JKR did pretty much confirm that Victoire was Bill and Fleur's daughter, since James Potter did say "our cousin!"

the epilogue was so...mundane in setting. i mean, of all things, it had to be platform 9 3/4?! i understand the idea that it is like coming in a full circle, but i expected something more from the author's perspective, telling us a story. like in chapter one of SS, it seemed like we were all settling in to hear a story from a story teller. not too many dialogue needed. but it was definitely a memorable epilogue...i loved how james seemed to channel george and fred in some places. i'm so proud that harry's second son was albus severus, but yeah, i did wonder why none of his children were named sirius.

and thanks for clearing up the names for ron and hermione's children!!! whoever you are!!! good one!!!

Yes, I felt that everyone else had been left out. Of course, the person I really wanted to hear more about died (Remus :sad: )...

agreed. I mean, I'm know it probably would have been cumbersome to go through everyone, but I would have liked to have known what happened to everyone else.

I must be a huge sap, but when I first read it, I started crying because Harry and Ginny did get married and life went on. I thought it was good for what it was suppose to be. As for the characters that weren't mentioned, I figure they are ok because there where no more deaths or crisis mentioned. It didn't bother me that we never find out what careers they had.
I did think it was a little odd about the children's names. I was expecting to see one boy with the name Fred.

As somebody said in a previous post, we can hope that James middle name is Sirius.

And what about Percy? All we hear is that he's at the train station admonishing first years about broomsticks. Sounds like he's still head boy. Is he headmaster? And if he is, why is he at the train station? Another question unanswered.

The one most confusing thing for me when I was reading the Epilogue was keeping all of the ne/old names straight. All of a sudden there was Lily, James, and Albus; all names that we have seen before but in a different contexts. I had to read it a couple of times to try and get everything straight.

Also, I wish that we knew just a little bit more about what was happening to the characters post Voldemort ... and not just the trio. There was so much investment made in many of the other characters and I wish we knew more about where they are in life. Oh, and why add that Ron learned to drive a car? I know that it's an allusion to "Chamber of Secrets", but I didn't think it necessary.

There are so many other things that could have been mentioned throughout the Epilogue, that this part of the novel just seems like a bit of a letdown. I'm just glad that it doesn't detract from the rest of the book.

Bleh. I thought the level of writing in the epilogue was so much inferior to the writing that I saw in the rest of the book. I'm sorry, I did like knowing some of the things there, but to me it really sounded like a one-shot fanfiction about the next generation and didn't really help anything along, in my opinion.

Overall, I could have done without it.

I enjoyed it actually. I must say I saw it coming, seeing the number of pages still left before I finished the last chapter, but overall it was a nice addition. I agree it could have ended the way it did at the end of the final chapter, since to me it ended rather perfectly, but going into the future nineteen years was neat, but not much of a surprise.

I like the epilogue I think Jo did a good job closing out the story. I do agree that there was a lot of information left out, but what I most wanted to know was that Harry, Ron, and Hermione were okay and happy, which is exactly what we got.

The epilogue, unlike what many people have said, was a good way to wrap up the story. I don't think it was anticlimactic or really dull. It was written the way it was supposed to be. The point of the Harry Potter series was to have everyone back to a normal life, to not have to live in fear anymore. The only fear in the Epilogue was Albus' fear of going to Slytherin. Everything was done, it was showing wizarding life the way it was supposed to be. Like the final line said, Harry's scar had not hurt for 19 years.

My only guess was that James Potter's (son of Harry) middle name was Sirius. I was kinda shocked that it wasn't his first choice, though.

The epilogue was definitely not necessary, but it did reveal an important point. Harry finally got what he saw so many years ago in the Mirror of Erised: a family. While it did feel a little contrived, it was a neat way to end the book. I felt like the book did need one more chapter between the last chapter and the epilogue. Something that sort of checked back in with the wizarding world, remembered the dead characters, read the Daily Prophet headlines, heralded Voldemort's death, etc.

I liked the epilogue, hated the names of the kids, but understood why she used them. I only wished she had talked more about Molly, and George! I really wanted to see what his life amounted to w/o his twin. There really was nothing in the book about Poor George after Fred died. I also wanted more info about Luna, Bill anf Fleur etc. I also kind of wanted Draco and Harry to at least say hello and shake hands. But I think that would have made it too far fetched in terms of elimitnating evil from the wizarding world. I think the reality is we always need to be vigilant. But I did find myself wanting Draco to smile at Harry or something. Maybe he is just embarrassed. I don't know.

well,um where to star.too short so many things unanswered yet.great to see harry married and stuff,I loved Albus severus,started crying again there...but...i did expect one tobe named after Fred,at least oneof rons not HUgo...where does she get that name..sorry all hugos but that kid must have been a Fred.

Then,what happens to luna...and whos teaching DDAD..its the curse lifted yes i suppose but..i wanted tobe sure.and then...what is harry working as...and ron ...and hermione...i loved the scen,great ...but information was missing ,a cuople of pages more wouldnt have hurted...

Neville,i loved that part.