Did You Grow Weary of the Repeated Miraculous Escapes?

[WaikikiWizard]

My wife and I read the book together (separate copies!): I found myself throwing up my hands and thinking, "Not again! Not another battle with the DE and Voldemort, and against all odds, outnumbered 3 to whatever, surrounded on all sides, locked deep within enemy strongholds, they all escape again!" The escape from Privet Drive, the escape from Tottenham Road, the escape from the wedding, the escape from the Ministry of Magic, the escape from Godric's Hollow, the escape from Malfoy manor, the escape from Gringotts, etc.:

Any one else feel there too many, incredibly miraculous escapes in the plot?

[TnK]

So.... You're saying they should've kicked it in the first 200 pages or so? Man.. that story would've ROCKED!

How else can you make a book seem very chaotic and open-warfare-like without miraculous escapes? At least there were sacrifices during those escapes. Dobby's death, Mad eye's death, Ron's splinching... Harry got clocked in the face by Hermione's spell... I'd say they went through alot to get out of tight jams.. but hey if you like stories that end with 2 of the main characters dead in the first hundred or so pages.. right on!

[Hippogriff1]

There were quite a few of those miraculous escapes, but the trio and the order do have such pretty good instincts (and brains with Hermione). I actually liked how Aberforth had the other part of the mirror (I knew that would be important somehow) and that he called Dobby to save them. The dragon escape was pretty cool, although I did expect the dragon to notice that there were three people on its back.

[BoJangles27]

The thing i wished we could have seen more of was raids. I loved the raid on the ministry. I just wish they could have done a couple more. The miraculous escapes are what the potter series is all about i think. They have happened in every book. Something extraordinary and unexpected happens to save them and in turn pushes the plot along. For instance, the escape from the manor left harry with a new wand and became the proper wielder of the Elder Wand

[mao]

I also think there was a rather too great portion of LUCK involved and the plans the trio has made were sometimes just stupid: The Ministry, Gringotts....

I found the escapes partly overdone as well, but in the end we have to admit: there were many deaths after all, so it IS realistic.

[sickoftv]

Yeah, it strained credibility. But then, that's nothing new for the series. The fact that the betrayer of Lilly and James Potter just HAPPENED to be hidding out as Ron's rat has always kind of rubbed me the wrong way. The riddiculously unlikely event that a person who was imprisoned for X number of years and then placed under the imperius curse for the rest of the 15 years between V-diddy's fall and the Triwizard tournament could perfectly impersonate Mad-Eye Moody after only a month or so to study the habits and personality changes that developed in the 15 years since Barty Crouch Jr. saw Mad-Eye last.

I think the escapes were mostly plausible, except for the ones in the ministry and the Malfoy Mannor, though neither of those were excecuted flawlessly. Those two bothered me a bit. It's clear that Harry got the drop on the DE's in the Cafe, Privet Drive was orchestrated by Snape and well executed by Moody, the Wedding was general chaos that almost everyone escaped from unscathed, and Gringott's... well, I just don't think that the Goblins ever stopped to think an intruder would free on of their dragons then RIDE IT. There are far more expedient ways to commit suicide, most of which involve a far lesser degree of immolation.

[BelleSnowyOwl]

I never thought about it, but I don’t think it bothers me. Harry defeated Voldemort at the age of one, he survived the Killing Curse – he can pretty much do anything.

[WaikikiWizard]

Originally Posted by TnK

So.... You're saying they should've kicked it in the first 200 pages or so? Man.. that story would've ROCKED!

How else can you make a book seem very chaotic and open-warfare-like without miraculous escapes? At least there were sacrifices during those escapes. Dobby's death, Mad eye's death, Ron's splinching... Harry got clocked in the face by Hermione's spell... I'd say they went through alot to get out of tight jams.. but hey if you like stories that end with 2 of the main characters dead in the first hundred or so pages.. right on!

No, I was terrified that JKR would bump one of them off!

I mean that some of the escapes were not as necessary as others, if that's the correct phrase: maybe cut out some of the escaoes that did not result in obtaining one of the Horcruxes, or maybe making the escapes go smoothly. At some point, Voldemort must be thinking that he has got the absolutely worst henchmen ever! If that's true, how could he possibly believe those knuckleheads could help him conquor the whole world?

[freeFALL]

It made it suspenseful, i was screaming at the book praying they'd escape. I thought surely they would lose Ron or Hermione along the way.

[TnK]

After reading your reply though, I actually started remembering all the escapes. Only 3 of those were with Harry as himself without being invisible or having others taking polyjuice potion to become him. Godric's Hollow, Malfoy manor and Gringotts. Even then, though, in Godric's Hollow, it was just a snake keeping them there.

[Cindy116]

I felt that way a bit too....I mean really. But I do wish someone very close to Harry died. Or at least a more dominate character that shows Harry suffers a great deal...well more.

[Mitchamus]

I thought the number of escapes was awesome... proved that they were really up against the odds... it made the book fantastic to read.... on a constant high..

I also love camping.. so I thought the idea of them living in a tent and moving on all the time truly attractive way to hide!!

[TnK]

Originally Posted by freeFALL

It made it suspenseful, i was screaming at the book praying they'd escape. I thought surely they would lose Ron or Hermione along the way.

Some little turd behind me in line when we were buying the book said out loud "I still can't believe Ron dies". My heart fell out of my shorts, then returned and pulsated with hatred for the little booger face. I went on reading the final book, WAITING the entire time for that fatal spell which would latch on to Ron. Torture.... pure torture.

[Magi]

The Ministry and Gringotts plans were completely suicidal, and they were extremely lucky.

However, most of the other escapes were a lot less contrived as some of the escapes from previous books. The trio actually had to rely on their skill for many of them:

Tottenham road:
Harry and Ron both sat facing the entrance, and Harry was watching the two "workmen" as they drew their wands. In this instance, the trio outnumbered the DE 3:2. Harry's alertness and speed saved them: pure skill.

Lovegood house:
The DE were realistically cranky at Mr Lovegood and thought it was yet another hoodwinking attempt (he seemed to have a record). It was perfectly plausible for Hermione to use the circumstances to modify Lovegood's memory, blast him down the staircase, and then Dis-Apparate. Yes, it would have taken great skill, but Hermione is a skilled witch, and Harry and Ron are no slouches. Yet another one that was largely skill.

Godric's Hallow:
Really really narrow! Harry was foolish to go alone with Nagini/Bathilda. Alarm bells were ringing in my head when Harry went up the stairs. But keeping in mind that Voldemort wants to finish Harry personally, the escape wasn't hugely surprising. Hermione was almost defeated by Nagini, but it was a pretty close match. Considerable luck was involved, but mostly skill and power.

Malfoy Manor:
OK, this one was pretty lucky. But they had the Dobby-factor! Equal measures of luck, skill, and outside help for this one.

Hide-outs on the run:
The trio were pretty good with their hide-outs. What impressed me most was Hermione's preparation and choice of distinations. She was very quick and foresighted at the same time. If it weren't for her beaded purse (what a heroic instrument! lol) and protective enchantments, they'd probably have been discovered much sooner than when Harry triggered the Taboo and lured Snatchers to them. Compare the Trio with Dean/Ted/Dirk/Goblins, who didn't really hide themselves at all. Pretty much all skill and good preparation.

[Madeline]

When you put it that way, there were quite a few miraculous escapes. I think it was easier for me to accept them because with every escape there was also some kind of setback: Moody was killed, Dobby was killed, they lost Gryffindor's sword, Harry's wand was broken. At the time I too preoccupied wondering what what else could go wrong for them.

[GOODBYEsunshine]

it was kinda a cycle?
it was like they were in hiding, then they were caught, then they went in to hiding again...repeated like 4 times.....but it wasn't tiring at all, cause each time was different (i quite enjoyed the time they spent at grimmauld place when kreacher was all nice x])

[Thuldorn]

The other thing to keep in mind here is destiny. Being a magical world and being that it was destined to be Voldemort vs Harry only the fates had to conspire to let him escape every time until they both decided to face each other. So in our world it might seem contrived but in Harry's world it simply had to be, anyone else trying to stop Harry was bound to meet with some odd disaster.

[g_black]

Not really, because I dont think that they were miraculous. Yeah, there was a little bit of luck involved but a lot was talent. Mainly Hermione's.
It's not like anyone escaped unscathed, either emotionally or physically. They experienced loss and I think this balanced it all.

[Arial]

I wish there were more...lol. This was action-packed.

[Hogwarts Lake]

It's not like they didn't lose anything! The wands lost, broken...Dobby, Mad-eye, Ron splinching, the sword, Gimmauld place. They just got lucky sometimes. And it wasn't just luck either - Hermione is really intelligent, a lot of quick thinking helped them. And about the dragon not feeling them: I guess to the dragon they must feel like flies or fleas I doubt it felt them that much. And I think the dragon was just thinking about escaping at the time so I don't think it cared who were on its back.