Unfogging the Half-Blood Prince Cover Art v2.0

[HarryPotter]

I've just seen the back cover, and I have a few theories...

The hands belong to Harry and Dumbledore, because of the colour, texture, age of their skin, and because comparing with the clothes they wear on the front cover they look pretty simillar. Also the firey ray looks quite a bit like the spell coming out of Dumbledore's wand.

I think that probably both Dumbledore and Harry will have to go across that forest depicted on the other cover, till they reach that lake of this back cover, they will take it and reach the Pensieve on that pillar, that would be the same as the one on the other cover, with the green flames and all.
Now I believe that Pensieve is not Dumbledore's, but someone else's, they are going to dig into the memories of someone really powerful

Could it be the Half-Blood's Prince Pensieve? Someone who left his memories protected into a very dangerous place, keeping them safe until the chosen one could see them?

in any case, I'm positive Harry and Dumbledore will have to unite forces/powers to do something really important for the plot.

The Ring... the mark on it resembles awfully a lightning bolt shape, but comparing it with Harry's, they have clearly a different shape. Could it just be broken?

One wild theory: JKR said that there were elements on the film of PoA that made her get goosebumps, because they were so foreshadowing of what was going to come.
Draco, Crabbe and Goyle were wearing golden rings. Could it be related with those rings? If so, the ring would have to do with Slytherin
Could it be a symbol of purebloods? It is broken... someone who they thought was pureblood but wasn't and got his/her ring broken?
Is the Half-Blood Prince a Slytherin? Too many green-snakey-dragonish symbols on the covers...

[Luned]

Is it me or is there writing on the cave wall, just above the boat? I can't tell whether it's shadows or words.

There is definately a reflection in the water of the boat having something in it, but we can't see anything in the boat, unfortunately.

The two hands are interesting, at first I thought it was Dumbledore and Harry, now I'm not so sure.

I think because Dumbledore's on the front cover he has a more important role in the book, even more so then he has done in all the others.

[Mizaru]

Originally Posted by NYCwitch920

Edit: Silver ink pot , that is really interesting about the marriage thing. I doubt a marriage would be so important as to appear on the cover art though.

On the contrary! I think it could be very important to the plot...say, if it were a full-blood and a muggle born, thus producing a half-blood offspring...



Does this cover make anyone else lean away from the pensieve theory? My mental image was always one more like a bowl, not a bird bath. I mean, it could be an older one, but I just don't think it is... I'm probably wrong, usually am

[Saz_k]

i think, the two hands are harry and the hbp joining forces because they know they are stronger than Lord v (sorry if its been said i have not read all the posts) the back cover in somwhere under hogwarts, some sort of really strong magic dumbledoor is protecting (it has been said that hogwarts is prehaps the safest place on the planet)

[redhanded]

Does this cover make anyone else lean away from the pensieve theory? My mental image was always one more like a bowl, not a bird bath. I mean, it could be an older one, but I just don't think it is... I'm probably wrong, usually am

[/quote]

Yes, I agree, it could be something slightly different to a penseive, but it does have certain similarities, I pictured it like a bowl too, but as this has green light we can assume that if it is a penseive its not Dumbledore's one. Perhaps its possible to have different shapes of penseive, characterized according to the person who owns it?

[shimmers711]

Hmmm...being the HBP is a good guess. Many people are thinking that the HBP is bad or evil, but what if it is good and helping Harry out with whatever the spell is. The ring does have a resemblence to Harry's scar, but it does seem as well defined as on harry's head. I am still trying to figure out why the boat is glowing.

[Briar Filth]

Originally Posted by MPPMarauderGirl

PS: On the same note: The "R" in Potter has a weird shaped branch near it. It almost looks like the handle of a knife.

I see it! I've heard people talking about it before, but I never knew what they were on about. Very odd! I wonder why it's there or who it belongs to.

[MPPMarauderGirl]

Originally Posted by Luned

Is it me or is there writing on the cave wall, just above the boat? I can't tell whether it's shadows or words.

I thought there were carvings on the wall as well. COS, the link to HBP, is the only book that has writing on the wall. I do wonder though. On the HBP deluxe edition, there appears to be a knife near the "ER" in POTTER; you can clearly see the handle. Gryffindor had a sword in book 2, and now there appears to be a knife on the cover of book 6.

Originally Posted by Briar Filth

I see it! I've heard people talking about it before, but I never knew what they were on about. Very odd! I wonder why it's there or who it belongs to.

It could be a sword, as well. But I'm not entirely sure if it is. The only reason I think it may be, is because of COS and Gryffindor's sword. Maybe it's this book when he finds out he's related to GG? It does look like a knife, because it looks like you can only cut something with one side of it. However, it could be double-dipped, so-to-speak; meaning, it does appear to have a little bit of an edge at the top.

[silver ink pot]

Clasped Hands are a universal wedding symbol.
http://images.google.com/images?q=we...=Search+Images

I don't know if the ring has anything to do with a wedding or not. It could be a ring that Harry inherits from Sirius.

My kids and I were talking about the picture, and they came up with some interesting ideas.

The Half-Blood Prince might not even be born yet. For instance, if someone got married in the book in June, they could have a baby by March of the school year in the book. Harry might have to help protect the prince.

My son said, why would a baby be important, since he won't even be two years old by the end of the series? Well . . . Harry was a baby at the beginning of the series, so it would be full circle. Harry might help protect the HBP in Book 7, just as he was protected as a baby.

I don't think I'm overanalyzing, since no one else knows whose hands those are on the cover.

[FLASH_RUPERT]

Woo, the whole cover! It looks really interesting; I can't figure out what all the new clues mean, though. Possibly Harry inherits a magical ring?

hey where's the ring?>....i mean on which cover page? adult...or what?

in the US deluxe cover page .......on the side of it......in the bottom i can see ashadow figure......can u guys see that or is it just me?

[glenien]

Originally Posted by HarryPotter

Could it be a symbol of purebloods? It is broken... someone who they thought was pureblood but wasn't and got his/her ring broken?

I totally agree with that. The ring looks too much evil to me. It has a dark stone which is never a good sign.

[daz]

Well i dont think its Dumbledore and Harry with there hands clasped unless they have planes to get married. Maybe its Lilly and James as we do know there is stuff we dont know about Lilly.

[PotionStudent]

But for marriage, we don't know any good candidates for marriage... The kids are too young , the teachers too busy, no engaged couple around. The only "marriable" couples would be Percy/ Penelope (but I doubt Percy took the time to have a sentimental life! ), or Fred and George with the girls who were dancing with them at the Yule ball - but idem, they seem too busy for homemaking. Or Bill and Fleur, but that seems soooooo farfetched.

Oh, oh, I know.... Snape and Tonks! (joke!)

Anyhow, the theory of a magical ring and power "exchange" or whatever via the handshake seems more probable for me, in my humble opinion

[FLASH_RUPERT]

this is what i can see in these three cover pages:
~ UK cover page:
harry dumbledore ..they look a bit strange....dumbledore has used a spell or maybe is showing harry some kind of spell so powerful....it seems like that spell is protecting them frm something b/c it's kind of .....aroung both of them..

~ UK adult cover:
an old potions book in an old house......the book is not in it's good shape....maybe it belongs to DD or snape.....

~ US deluxe cover:
looks like they're trying to find something maybe someone's house as seen in UK ADULT COVER....looks like they're in the forest or something...i can see a shadowy figure on the side bottom of the cover.....as i mentioned earlier

[HarryPotter]

I've modified a bit the "wall" with Photoshop, using curves and ink contours, to see if that helped to identify better the "message"



I see "Sevesh" (Severus?), or something of the kind.

I have a theory about the cave: Gringotts? Where better to keep a very valuable Pensieve than there?

There are definitely areas with water in Gringotts Bank (Harry manages to see a lake on his travel down to the vault in PS)

*Thinking*

[PotionStudent]

I agree on Gringotts

[Oddsbodokins]

Originally Posted by glenien

I totally agree with that. The ring looks too much evil to me. It has a dark stone which is never a good sign.

I don't think that the ring has a particularly evil look to it myself...I don't think that most inanimate objects are evil. I disagree that just because it has a dark stone, it must be a dark or evil ring. You could be right though!

I think that it will most likely be ---->

• The Black ring (which could be magical for all we know)
• The Half Blood Prince ring
• A talisman that protects Harry's mind from Voldemort
• Something that helps Harry chanel his energy?
• A wedding ring

Maybe if we build off of a list for everything on the cover we wont repeat as many ideas and we could organize what has and has not been already suggested?

[glenien]

Originally Posted by HarryPotter

I've modified a bit the "wall" with Photoshop, using curves and ink contours, to see if that helped to identify better the "message"

I think I can see the word "alive" in it! Look carefully!

Edit: I colored the word with red. Can you see it?



Although I can't see any Severish or Syro Where is the "S"?

[merlin455]

I'm not sure, but I think the sign on the ring looks a bit like a snake...
If the ring refers to the Prince, this could be a clue he is a Slytherin... A descendant of Salazar Slytherin maybe ?

For the two hands... There are too many possibilities... Here are just a few suggestions :
- Harry and Dumbledore,
- Harry and Tom Riddle,
- Harry and the HBP,
- Tom Riddle and the HBP.

[Briar Filth]

Originally Posted by HarryPotter

I've modified a bit the "wall" with Photoshop, using curves and ink contours, to see if that helped to identify better the "message"

I see something like 'Syro....' and that's about it lol