Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, released on 16 July 2005, is the sixth of seven novels from British author J. K. Rowling's popular Harry Potter series. Set during Harry Potter's sixth year at Hogwarts, the novel explores Lord Voldemort's past, and Harry's preparations for the final battle amidst emerging romantic relationships and the emotional confusions and conflict resolutions characteristic of mid-adolescence.
The book sold three million copies in the first 16 hours after its release, a record at the time which was eventually broken by its sequel, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.[1]
Synopsis
Plot introduction
Throughout the five previous novels in the Harry Potter series, the main character, Harry Potter, has struggled with the difficulties that come with growing up and the added challenge of being a famous wizard. When Harry was a baby, Lord Voldemort, the most powerful, evil wizard in living memory, killed Harry's parents but mysteriously vanished after trying to kill Harry. This results in Harry's immediate fame, and his being placed in the care of his muggle, or non-magical, relatives Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon.
Harry enters the wizarding world at the age of 11, enrolling in the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He makes friends with Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, and is confronted by Lord Voldemort trying to regain power. After returning to the school after summer break, several attacks on students take place at Hogwarts after the legendary "Chamber of Secrets" is opened. Harry ends the attacks by killing a Basilisk and defeating another attempt by Lord Voldemort to return to full strength. The following year, Harry hears that he has been targeted by escaped murderer Sirius Black. Despite stringent security measures at Hogwarts, Harry is confronted by Black at the end of his third year of schooling and Harry learns that Black was framed and is actually Harry's godfather. Harry's fourth year of school sees him entered in a dangerous magical competition called the Triwizard Tournament. At the conclusion of the Tournament, Harry witnesses the return of Lord Voldemort to full strength. When the next school year begins, the Ministry of Magic appoints Dolores Umbridge as the new High Inquisitor of Hogwarts. After forming an underground student group in opposition to Umbridge, Harry and several of his friends face off against Voldemort's Death Eaters, a group of Dark witches and wizards, and narrowly defeat them, though Sirius is slain in a rescue attempt. In the battle's aftermath, Dumbledore reveals Voldemort tried to kill Harry because of a prophecy that indicates he will destroy Voldemort.
Plot summary
Harry Potter accompanies Albus Dumbledore on a trip to persuade retired Hogwarts professor Horace Slughorn to return to teaching, before arriving at The Burrow.
At Hogwarts, Snape is named the new Defence Against the Dark Arts instructor, with Slughorn becoming the Potions teacher. Harry and Ron are able to enrol in his class, but Harry's borrowed book has notes and corrections that yield better results than the textbook's instructions, winning him a vial of Felix Felicis, a luck potion, on his first day in class. The book formerly belonged to "The Half-Blood Prince".
Harry becomes suspicious of his rival Draco Malfoy, after overhearing several of his conversations, and when Katie Bell is almost killed while attempting to deliver a cursed necklace under the influence of the Imperius Curse. Meanwhile, Ron is displeased with his younger sister Ginny dating anybody, forcing Harry to ignore his attraction. After an argument with Ginny in which Ron's dating inexperience is made clear, Ron takes up with Lavender Brown, creating a divide between him and Hermione. This rift is only mended when he accidentally consumes a love potion attracting him to Romilda Vane, and then poisoned mead which almost kills him.
Dumbledore privately tutors Harry, using his Pensieve to show Harry memories of Voldemort's past. Dumbledore asks Harry to retrieve a key memory from Slughorn regarding Slughorn's conversation with a sixteen-year-old Tom Riddle. Harry uses some of his Felix Felicis to acquire the memory.
The memories reveal that Voldemort splintered his soul into six fragments attached to objects called Horcruxes, while leaving a seventh piece in his body, in order to achieve immortality. As long as any of the Horcruxes exists Voldemort cannot be killed. Two Horcruxes have been destroyed - Tom Riddle's diary by Harry in the Chamber of Secrets[HP2], and Marvolo Gaunt's ring by Dumbledore. Three of the remaining Horcruxes are a locket formerly owned by Salazar Slytherin, a cup formerly owned by Helga Hufflepuff, and the snake Nagini. Dumbledore speculates that the sixth unidentified Horcrux may be something associated with Gryffindor or Ravenclaw, as Riddle would have wanted something from each of the houses of Hogwarts, which he regarded as his home.
After seeing Harry cast an unusual curse, "Sectumsempra" (a dark curse which leaves deep gashes) against Draco Malfoy, Snape attempts to confiscate the Half-Blood Prince's Potions book, but Harry gives him Ron's copy instead and hides his copy in the Room of Requirement. Harry gets detention from Snape and misses the Quidditch finals, but Gryffindor wins the Cup. During the victory celebration Harry spontaneously kisses Ginny, and with Ron's grudging approval they begin dating.
Dumbledore locates another Horcrux and asks Harry to accompany him to destroy it. They travel to a cave and retrieve a locket, but Dumbledore is weakened after drinking a potion to obtain the Horcrux. After they return to Hogsmeade, they see the Dark Mark over the Astronomy Tower at Hogwarts and hurry back to the school. Dumbledore and an invisible Harry are confronted atop the tower by Draco Malfoy. Draco admits that he was behind two attacks on Hogwarts students, with both objects intended for Dumbledore, whom Voldemort had ordered Draco to kill. Dumbledore offers Draco protection from the Death Eaters, and Draco cannot bring himself to kill Dumbledore, even with the urging of fellow Death Eaters once they arrive. Instead, Snape kills Dumbledore. Harry, enraged and freed from immobility by Dumbledore's death, pursues Snape, who reveals that he is the Half-Blood Prince and fends off Harry's attacks (and Buckbeak who joins in to help Harry) until he gets outside Hogwarts grounds and Disapparates.
Harry recovers the locket from Dumbledore's body, only to discover it is a fake left by someone with the initials R. A. B., who stole the real Horcrux and left a note about his opposition to Voldemort. McGonagall tries to question Harry about what he was doing with Dumbledore and he refuses to say. McGonagall calls a meeting of the Heads of House (with Slughorn taking Snape's spot) to decide what to do. They decide to close the school, but at Harry's suggestion, agree to wait until Dumbledore's funeral so the students can say goodbye. The Minister arrives and McGonagall lets Harry leave so he can avoid the Minister. The school year ends with Dumbledore's funeral. He and his wand are buried in a tomb beside the lake on Hogwarts's grounds. Harry vows not to return to school but to hunt for the remaining Horcruxes instead. Harry breaks up with Ginny to keep her safe from danger during his quest, and Ron and Hermione pledge to accompany him.
Development
Potter fans wait in lines outside a
Borders for the midnight release of the book
Prequels and sequel
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is the sixth book in the Harry Potter series.[2] The first book in the series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was first published by Bloomsbury in 1997 with an initial print-run of 500 copies in hardback, three hundred of which were distributed to libraries.[3] By the end of 1997 the UK edition won a National Book Award and a gold medal in the 9 to 11 year-olds category of the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize.[4] The second book, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets was originally published in the UK on 2 July 1998 and in the US on 2 June 1999.[5][6] Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was then published a year later in the UK on 8 July 1999 and in the US on 8 September 1999.[5][6] Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was published on 8 July 2000 at the same time by Bloomsbury and Scholastic.[7] Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the longest novel in the Harry Potter series, was released 21 June 2003.[8] After the publishing of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the seventh and final novel, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, was released 21 July 2007.[9] The book sold 11 million copies within 24 hours of its release: 2.7 million copies in the UK and 8.3 million in the US.[10]
Pre-release controversy
The record-breaking publication of Half-Blood Prince was accompanied by controversy. In May 2005 bookmakers in the UK suspended bets on which main character would die in the book amid fears of insider knowledge. A number of high value bets were made on the death of Albus Dumbledore, many coming from the town of Bungay where, it was believed, the books were being printed at the time. Betting was later reopened.[11] Other controversies included the right to read Potter books inadvertently sold before the release date, environmental concerns over the source of the paper used in the printing of millions of books, and fan reactions to the plot developments and revelations of the novel.
Right to read controversy
In early July 2005, a Real Canadian Superstore in Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada, accidentally sold fourteen copies of The Half-Blood Prince before the authorised release date. The Canadian publisher, Raincoast Books, obtained an injunction from the Supreme Court of British Columbia prohibiting the purchasers from reading the books before the official release date or from discussing the contents.[citation needed] Purchasers were offered a Harry Potter T-shirt and an autographed copy of the book if they returned their copies before 16 July.
On 15 July, less than twelve hours before the book went on sale in the Eastern time zone, Raincoast warned The Globe and Mail newspaper that publishing a review from a Canada-based writer at midnight, as the paper had promised, would be seen as a violation of the trade secret injunction. The injunction sparked a number of news articles alleging that the injunction had restricted fundamental rights. Canadian law professor Michael Geist posted commentary on his blog;[12] Richard Stallman called for a boycott, requesting that the publisher issue an apology.[13] The Globe and Mail published a review from two UK-based writers in its 16 July edition and posted the Canadian writer's review on its website at 9 a.m. that morning.[14] Commentary was also provided on the Raincoast website.[15]
Film
The film based on the sixth book was originally scheduled to be released on 21 November 2008, but was pushed back to 15 July 2009.[16][17] The screenplay was written by Steve Kloves, and David Yates directed the film.[18] The film is 153 minutes long, making it the third longest Harry Potter film of the series.[19]
Translations
Along with the rest of the books in the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was translated into 67 languages.[20] A translation into Scots Gaelic is planned to be released by Bloomsbury in July 2009.[21]
Textual changes
As with Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, the United States version of the novel has slightly changed text from the British version. One particular section has been remarked upon, where the alteration makes the nature of Dumbledore's offer to Draco Malfoy before Snape kills Dumbledore in the Half-Blood Prince explicit. The reason for the editing of the following text has not been explained on the author's webpage, but the British edition is more ambiguous. The text can be found in chapter 27, "The Lightning-Struck Tower". The U.S. text was changed to match the UK version with the publication of the paperback edition.[22] The parts added in the hardcover United States version have been highlighted in bold, below:
"[...] He told me to do it or he'll kill me. I've got no choice." "He cannot kill you if you are already dead. Come over to the right side Draco, and we can hide you more completely than you can possibly imagine. What is more, I can send members of the Order to your mother tonight to hide her likewise. Nobody would be surprised that you had died in your attempt to kill me — forgive me, but Lord Voldemort probably expects it. Nor would the Death Eaters be surprised that we had captured and killed your mother — it is what they would do themselves, after all. Your father is safe at the moment in Azkaban [...]"
—(U.S. Edition p. 591)(CND Edition p. 552), [HP6]
References
External links
Learning to read music in Braille and play by ear helped me develop a damn good memory.
