Join hosts Ev, Sam, Sophia, and our guest Leah Jamison as they discuss the Harry Potter books as mystery novels.
In this episode:
- Identifying the Harry Potter mysteries book by book
- Count all the whodunnits in this episode
- Genre-bending is Rowling’s success in telling mysteries
- What is a mystery novel?
- Harry is not a great detective but he improves!
- Overarching mystery – wrong answers only
- What is the inciting incident of each mystery?
- Draco is a good suspect
- Scabbers is the new Ginny
Resources:
- Whodunnit Harry? by Robin Stevens
- Podcast: Reading, Writing, Rowling Episode 16: “Harry Potter and the Detective Ring”
Pub’s Jukebox:
Problem Solving Skillz by Harry and the Potters
He Didn’t Do It by The Moaning Myrtles
Oh man, I remember that! Alohomora 356 – great discussion, both in the episode and in the comments! I am looking forward to this episode!
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Some general comments:
MegatronDr. ClawVoldemort is behind it, but we don’t know what today’s scheme is.* Yes, yes, I know, Hermione is the real Watson. Haha. 😉
Yeah, I have fond memories of that one too!
I agree that it’s more often whatdunnit than whodunnit. What is Sirius doing in his quest to kill Harry? What is Voldemort after that’s being guarded at the DoM? What is Draco Malfoy up to? What was Dumbledore’s plan for Harry?
The even books seem to be the only classic whodunnits. Who opened the Chamber? Who put Harry’s name in the goblet? Who’s attacking students with necklaces and poison?
I’m having to try very hard not to wall-of-text… 😅
[about Snape being nasty, therefore villain] Well put, Sophia! Quirrell even says “Yes, Severus does seem the type, doesn’t he?”
[PoA] The real mystery is the friends we (or Harry’s dad) made along the way!
Love the “whys” for books 1-3-5-7! *chefs kiss*
[Hermione’s mysteries – timeturner and Krum] Hermione has obviously read “Twelve Fail-Safe Ways to Charm Wizards”: rule 4 – maintain an air of mystery to keep them intrigued. It’s certainly working on Ron.
[GoF] It’s a delightful touch that all of the suspects appear in the pensieve courtroom scenes: Karkaroff, Bagman, Crouch Sr. & Jr., and Moody!
I thought the same thing about James’s friends, lol.
[GoF] That is fantastic! Of course, all the suspects would appear there because Dumbledore is going full Sherlock at the time, trying to figure it all out… but it’s great that Moody is there too!
“Whodunnit” as a genre doesn’t necessarily mean the mystery is about identity. There is a crime: Who did it? Why did they do it? How did they do it? What did they do? The focus can be on any one of these questions, and the answers to others can be obvious.
In Potter, the crimes – like the characters – are often complex and changing over time. It’s rare for it to be a single incident that is complete and finished. For example, I agree that Prisoner’s mystery begins with Sirius escaping prison (interestingly, not a crime in some parts of Europe), but there’s an ongoing crime after that (of attempted murder) that gets resolved with the reveal in the Shrieking Shack.
I agree about the importance of clue fairness, and the books do fall afoul of it sometimes (Crouch Jr springs to mind). Part of the difficulty is the vagueness of the way magic works, so the reader can’t be sure of what is/isn’t possible.
Why do you think Crouch Jr. falls afoul of it? We know that people can change their appearance with Polyjuice (per CoS). We know wizards can fake their deaths (PoA, Pettigrew). We know breaking out of Azkaban is possible (PoA, Sirius). And Crouch Jr. was mentioned several times throughout the text. I feel like all the readers should have been clear that “Crouch Jr. faked his death, got out of Azkaban, and is masquerading as someone else” is wholly possible within the confines of magic. (Now would anyone guess that… not likely.)
I think CoS is actually less fair as a mystery. We don’t know how horcruxes work, we don’t know that possession is possible, so suspecting magical foul play for Ginny seems like more of a stretch.
A fair argument.
I will point out that while the reader knows about polyjuice, they don’t know how it behaves if the disguised person dies – they could just as easily revert upon death.
A reader is unlikely to tie their whodunnit conclusion to an assumption about how a particular type of magic works in this fictional world. Especially when they can’t definitively rule-out other suspects. A “fair” mystery allows a sufficiently-motivated reader to solve it just before the reveal.
I agree that CoS is similarly unfair – in neither book do we get enough information to be sure of what happened and who was behind it, largely because we don’t know enough about the methods involved.
Following on from the concept that – I think it was Sophia? – noted, the series ensures the reader doesn’t feel daunted by the heroes’ brains because while they solve a lot of the mystery, there’s always something as part of the reveal showing that they were wrong about an important aspect of it.
PS – Quirrell, not Snape, is helping Voldemort
CoS – a student is opening the chamber, but they’re not the heir of Slytherin (they’re being possessed by him)
PoA – Sirius is after Pettigrew, not after Harry
GoF – (as mentioned) the evil plot is for Harry to win the tournament, not die during it
OotP – the dreams of the Department of Mysteries are not because Voldemort is obsessed with it (though he is), but because he wants to make Harry obsessed with it
HBP – Draco is behind the attacks, but he’s being coerced
DH – Dumbledore does plan for Harry to defeat Voldemort, but by sacrificing himself
Thoughts? Better examples? Sherbet lemon?
In OP, I think the mystery is “what is ‘the weapon’ that Voldemort after in the DoM?” The reveal is that the “weapon” is the “knowledge of how to destroy Harry.” (Kinda anticlimactic, but that’s how I feel about OP)
I dunno that I agree with HBP. Draco being coerced isn’t much of a twist, especially once we see him crying to Myrtle. I think the twist with Draco is that there is no twist, which is brilliant in and of itself.
Otherwise, I’m in agreement. And all-around, a very elegant breakdown!
I think I’m in agreement with you, but the twist is still that Voldemort wants Harry to get it for him.
(I don’t like calling it “the twist”, but “the detail that Harry et al were wrong about” is too unwieldy.)
Feel you there. I blame the long wait (and too much fanfiction/speculation in the interim).