На официальном
сайте JKR подведены итоги очередного читательского голосования. 68% набрал вопрос "Каково значение того факта, что Невилл является вторым мальчиком, к которому можно отнести слова пророчества?"
Ответ JKR читайте
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What is the significance of Neville being the other boy to whom the prophecy might have referred?
Finally, I am answering the poll question! I am sorry it has taken so long, but let me start by saying how glad I am that this was the question that received the most votes, because this was the one that I most wanted to answer. Some of you might not like what I am going to say – but I'll address that issue at the end of my response!
To recap: Neville was born on the 30th of July, the day before Harry, so he too was born 'as the seventh month dies'. His parents, who were both famous Aurors, had 'thrice defied' Voldemort, just as Lily and James had. Voldemort was therefore presented with the choice of two baby boys to whom the prophecy might apply. However, he did not entirely realise what the implications of attacking them might be, because he had not heard the entire prophecy. As Dumbledore says:
'He [the eavesdropper] only heard the beginning, the part foretelling the birth of a boy in July to parents who had thrice defied Voldemort. Consequently, he could not warn his master that to attack you would be to risk transferring power to you.'
In effect, the prophecy gave Voldemort the choice of two candidates for his possible nemesis. In choosing which boy to murder, he was also (without realising it) choosing which boy to anoint as the Chosen One – to give him tools no other wizard possessed – the scar and the ability it conferred, a magical window into Voldemort's mind.
So what would have happened if Voldemort had decided that the pure-blood, not the half-blood, was the bigger threat? What would have happened if he had attacked Neville instead? Harry wonders this during the course of 'Half-Blood Prince' and concludes, rightly, that the answer hinges on whether or not one of Neville's parents would have been able, or prepared, to die for their son in the way that Lily died for Harry. If they hadn't, Neville would have been killed outright. Had Frank or Alice thrown themselves in front of Neville, however, the killing curse would have rebounded just as it did in Harry's case, and Neville would have been the one who survived with the lightning scar. What would this have meant? Would a Neville bearing the lightning scar have been as successful at evading Voldemort as Harry has been? Would Neville have had the qualities that have enabled Harry to remain strong and sane throughout all of his many ordeals? Although Dumbledore does not say as much, he does not believe so: he believes Voldemort did indeed choose the boy most likely to be able to topple him, for Harry's survival has not depended wholly or even mainly upon his scar.
So where does this leave Neville, the boy who was so nearly King? Well, it does not give him either hidden powers or a mysterious destiny. He remains a 'normal' wizarding boy, albeit one with a past, in its way, as tragic as Harry's. As you saw in 'Order of the Phoenix,' however, Neville is not without his own latent strengths. It remains to be seen how he will feel if he ever finds out how close he came to being the Chosen One.
Some of you, who have been convinced that the prophecy marked Neville, in some mystical fashion, for a fate intertwined with Harry's, may find this answer rather dull. Yet I was making what I felt was a significant point about Harry and Voldemort, and about prophecies themselves, in showing Neville as the also-ran. If neither boy was 'pre-ordained' before Voldemort's attack to become his possible vanquisher, then the prophecy (like the one the witches make to Macbeth, if anyone has read the play of the same name) becomes the catalyst for a situation that would never have occurred if it had not been made. Harry is propelled into a terrifying position he might never have sought, while Neville remains the tantalising 'might-have-been'. Destiny is a name often given in retrospect to choices that had dramatic consequences.
Of course, none of this should be taken to mean that Neville does not have a significant part to play in the last two novels, or the fight against Voldemort. As for the prophecy itself, it remains ambiguous, not only to readers, but to my characters. Prophecies (think of Nostradamus!) are usually open to many different interpretations. That is both their strength and their weakness.
Заодно JKR ответила и еще на один вопрос в разделе Слухи:
Section: Rumours
The last part of the prophecy ('neither can live while the other survives') means that Harry and Neville will have to kill each other.
Inventive and intriguing, but wrong. See the answer to the poll question for a little more elucidation on Neville's relation to the prophecy.
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16.05.2005 в 23:52Спасибо.
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16.05.2005 в 23:55Пока что могу предложить только ПРОМТ...
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17.05.2005 в 00:07До-обрая ты.
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17.05.2005 в 00:16-
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17.05.2005 в 00:21Оwlpost переводить не захотела...
Из пустого в еще более пустое
Данная новость была бы очень важной, если бы вдруг не оказалась такой неважной. =) Сейчас поясню: сегодня Дж.К.Роулинг в рубрике FAQ на своем официальном сайте наконец-то ответила на вопрос, поставленный ей посетителями сайта (то есть нами!). Этот вопрос был, наверное, одним из самых серьезных и головоломных из всех, которыми фаны мучились с выхода "Ордена Феникса": "Каково значение Нэвилла в пророчестве?". Что ж, Дж.К. действительно не пожалела места на ответ, настрочив на несколько страниц А4, только вот - быть может, ВПС чего-то категорически не догнал? - ничего нового она так и не сказала. Вообще: перед нами одни лишь общие слова, риторика, очевидности и т.д., а чего-либо осмысленного - так и не поступило. Впрочем, чего уж расписывать - попробуйте сами.
Одно из двух: либо госпожа Роулинг опять немного села в лужу (все помнят Марка Эванса?), либо она просто цинично пудрит нам мозги. Лично я искренне надеюсь, что второе.
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17.05.2005 в 00:25А я давно ждала, когда же она про голосовалку вспомнит. Собственно говоря, вопрос про Невилла лидировал с самого начала - уже в первые часы после начала голосования он 67% набрал...
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17.05.2005 в 09:43Сплошная вода. Если бы я увидела в сочинении такое количество риторических вопросов на 1 странице, то без промедления влепила бы студенту пару. Пафос в ответах на конкретные вопросы допустим только в предвыборных компаниях
Хотя меня несколько смущает это:
So where does this leave Neville, the boy who was so nearly King?
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17.05.2005 в 10:47Большущее спасибо! Если бы не ты, я бы точно эту информацию пропустила!
Если честно, то меня ее ответ устроил. Я не хотела, чтобы у Невилла была какая-то "особая судьба" (а от идей, что на самом деле Невилл избран победить Вольдеморта, а Гарри так, самозванец (которые в некоторых фиках используются), меня вообще тошнит). Так что на интересующий меня вопрос она ответила - для сюжета это не имеет значения, а имеет только для психологического обоснования.
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17.05.2005 в 13:52Да уж, воды там налито - захлебнуться и утонуть. Я вчера долго перечитывала, пытаясь из этого потока сознания связную мысль выцепить...
А King - имхо, синоним к the Chosen One. Хотя, через 2 месяца посмотрим, нет ли там другого смысла...
Juxian
Всегда пожалуйста
А я, наоборот, прониклась этой идеей после того, как Seva написала своего "Избранного"