(possible spoilers)
I recently finished reading (for the first time) all the Harry Potter books, and I really hated the very end. It seemed so rushed and it didn’t go into detail on how the deaths of major characters impacted their lives afterwards.
To me, the ending seemed like ‘oh we won, now let’s skip to nineteen years later.’
Please tell me other people were disappointed with the ending of the books!?
(I’ve still never seen The deathly hallows part two movie)
by WallFlowerAries
28 Comments
I didn’t like the epilogue either. Everything else — amazing!
That epilogue is the worst thing I’ve read in my life
Let’s not even bring up the children’s names in the epilogue. I cringed so hard Tbh
Like many have said, she royally fucked up the epilogue. That was the chance to see how everyone’s doing and see what the world is like after all these years, but nooooooooo. We had to get the worst named children of all time with no real information about how anybody is doing.
One thing I finally put together this week:
>!”Wizards can leave an imprint of themselves upon the earth, to walk palely where their living selves once trod … I was afraid of death. I chose to remain behind.” — Nearly Headless Nick on becoming a ghost!<
>!Voldemort is 100% afraid of death and absolutely became a ghost. What’s does ghost Voldemort do? Does he terrorize the school? Try to lead a new band of Death Eaters?!<
Those are the questions that need answering.
I liked the epilogue at the time, only got disappointed by the children names and the couples. Now I realize it could have been way better. But honestly I just dislike Deathly Hallows, I read only once and thought it was quite boring and lacked something that was in the previous books. It looks rushed to me and the epilogue doesn’t convince me I’m wrong, even though it’s probably my favorite part
The only good thing that came out of the epilogue was the jokes about Harry’s kids name
Believe me, if you didn’t like the book ending……JFC. You better give the Part Two movie a hard skip. It felt just as rushed as the book. If you have pet peeves about random stuff being added in that was never in the last one, or having certain situations switched around (characters saying the wrong lines, but still have the same outcome) don’t freakin bother IMO.
Ironically enough, I adored the Part One movie. It was done perfectly.
I loved the ending but agree on epilogue not being good. Plus it allowed Malfoy to not face any consequences for how many attempted murders??
I’ve never been more frustrated than when I saw how Lupin and Tonks deaths were mentioned so briefly. The first time I read it, I didn’t ever register their deaths until later on. Not to mention how maddening it was to make Teddy an orphan just to parallel his life with Harry’s life. Was killing two important characters who went through so much together because of Lupin’s condition the right thing to do? Even after Lupin’s character development? Lupin could’ve been the link between the past and the present and finally be rewarded after everything he’s been through. He could’ve been the one to make difference regarding the werewolf matter and their discrimination. He was the parental figure in Harry’s life and has been the voice of reason way more than people give him credit for. It was a war and people will die regardless of how important they are, but man it would’ve been better if it was handled differently.
Edit: typo
The ending to that book was the most eye roll-inducing thing I’d ever read lol, I used to say it was like Jk Rowling went on tumblr and copied some bad Harry Potter fan fic
I only started reading the books when goblet of fire came out because my gf at the time was obsessed with HP, I read them so she could talk about it with me and I ended up a fan, but that epilogue was so dumb we ended up texting each other about how stupid it was despite being broken up, that’s how powerful a cringe ending can be
I love the last hundred pages of Deathly Hallows (minus epilogue ). I was also part of the generation that had to wait multiple years between books being released. The build-up was immense. I cried my eyes out every time I read it. I have read the entire series at least 25 times and I learn something new each time.
I never once felt it was rushed.
The movies – all of them – can go to hell. Especially DH part 2.
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My grandpa and I always talked about Harry Potter growing up, and he actually predicted the ending before it came out (at least what happens with Harry/the stone/etc.).
When we both had finished the book, I remember calling my Grandpa and he was like “called it! Except for the cotton candy epilogue”
So I’ve always called the end the “cotton candy epilogue”—just a little too sweet for my taste 🤣
I’ve read a lot of the responses here, and I will agree; the ending was rushed, deaths glossed over, and there was so many better ways things could have been tied up than what the epilogue especially did. However, not to defend JKR, but we do need to remember that these were written as YA novels. The point was to entertain tweens and young teens. And there was more “good guys” who died throughout the course of the series than most YA series will have. And I think after going through so many impactful deaths already earlier in the books (Sirius, Cedric, Dumbledore, etc), I believe her idea was to focus more on the happy ending than once again delving into the grief and survivors guilt of the rest. I also think there was a fair bit of just wanting to be done with it.
My thought when I first read it was she wanted to have a more gritty ending, where the good guys win, but the cost was high. The whole Thanos/Gamora of “did you win?” “Yes” “what did it cost?” “Everything”. But then just left the reader to decide for themselves how that impacted the survivors.
Tl;dr I think she wanted to have her cake and eat it too. She didn’t want to just say the cliche “and the good guys won and they lived happily ever after”. But instead just made it “and the good guys barely won and suffered tragic losses, but all of the survivors lived happily ever after”.
Back when the book came out, I was so relieved Harry lived that I didn’t really care too much about the epilogue. I certainly would have preferred something *much* different there…or no epilogue at all.
I think a lot of authors forget to ease out of their story. Think of how the *Return of the King* film continues after the ring is destroyed. That ending is beautiful and essential. It completes the story.
I found the last battle very well done. Much better than the film. Harry had stepped into his own and there was no more struggle.
Now the EPILOGUE had much to be desired. But the ending was satisfying.
Could’ve been worse. Could’ve named one of the kids *Renesmee*.
I thought it was fine honestly. I mean, they moved on. What can they do? Showing Ron and his family grieving over their son doesn’t make the book better. It would be at least 3-5 chapters of fluff just to reconcile the events of the last week of the book. Showing him going back for the Resurrection Stone would have been pointless as Harry understands death at this point. He knows it wouldn’t bring him joy.
Think about the Hallows too. He broke the Elder Wand because he knew that power wouldn’t mean he was a better wizard and it only sought to remind him of the huge losses that happened. The Resurrection Stone Harry knew he would never be happy with. The Invisibility Cloak he knew was invaluable. In essence, he became the brother from the story that accepted death in the end.
The characters reconciled death. They knew it was a huge sacrifice that won them the freedom from Voldemort and his terrors. Having an extra few chapters to show their mourning would not have really added anything to the story. The names of their children showed that the memories of the lost will never be lost and their legacy of saving both the non-magical and magical worlds lives on.
EDIT: u/Absolutelyperfect pointed out an error. Harry didn’t break the wand in the books. He put it back. So the wands power can fade with his death. Thanks for correcting me here. Its been a while since I read the books. The movies are more fresh.
Ever since the first time I read them not getting an update on Luna has bothered me. All the other people who fought at the ministry were mentioned and Luna was super significant in all the books she’s in. It felt weird to include Nevill and not Luna.
Yeah i always felt the ending didn’t have enough closure. it was the last book for crying out loud. she could’ve taken an extra chapter, hell even 2 to talk about the aftermath for everyone.
I don’t think too much into it. I enjoyed the series as a whole and the ending was nice.
It could have been worse.
Atleast you didn’t have Hermione ninja-jump out of nowhere during the climactic battle and stab Voldemort with the basilisk fang.
Or have Neville suddenly go insane and burn down all of Hogwarts with fiendfyre.
Yes I’m still salty.
You are not alone. I felt that a far better ending was the chapter before the epilogue, where Harry asks Kreecher for a sandwich. The “Albus Severus” “all was well” was pure garbage, and I can’t believe that was her ending.
Also garbage? The “Redemption of Snape” in which basically it’s all his fault that Voldemort went after the Potter’s, because he was “always” in love with Harry’s mom. I never for one second thought that Snape was “evil”, but his motivation that he was in love with Lily doesn’t make him “good”, and is a horrible reason to name your child after someone. Let’s not honor Lupin, or Sirius, or Fred, people who were really, truly there for Harry, and died putting it on the line for him. Let’s honor the guy who couldn’t just be straight with Harry and left him to blindly let Hermione figure everything out for him, and the guy who abused him the entire time he knew him, purely because he (Harry) looks like his dad, who he (Snape) hated. Pure garbage.
Clearly I don’t have strong feelings about this at all /s
My unpopular opinion back in 2007:
No epilogue.
Wait until 2017 before releasing a complete epilogue in novella format.
A bit late to the thread, but I thought it was kind of fitting. From the first book till the last, the series got more and more adult and serious. Not everyone gets a big finale, heroic ending, parades, you just move on and try to live your life and cope with the loss. Sure, it always could be better, but at that moment, it was good I thought. Harry became an ordinary wizard, had a family and tried to live his life finally, free of the weight of Voldemort.
So… here is my take.
I think there is a pre-superduperworldfamous author phase of Rowling’s life and an after phase.
In the before, she is a humbled mom. She builds this beautiful made up world from the one she is living in. Then it all blows up, but the story has already been planned to the T, she just has to write it out.
As she grows in fame, she builds on the story, but stays to the core. It has some human mistakes.
By the time she finishes her last book, roughly a decade has gone by and age has grown WITH her celebrity. She was not the same person that started the story. So she began feeding into the fandom.
I always saw that last scene as some weird fanfic the author wrote while having an identity crisis. So, to me it doesn’t count.
Leave it as if the flash forward didn’t exist, and you end up getting that original vibe.
The epilogue is trash and everyone knows it