This article is about the book. For information on the character, see Half-Blood Prince (character).
Cover of the UK and Canadian Children's edition by Bloomsbury
Cover of the USA edition by Scholastic
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, released on July 16, 2005, is the sixth novel in 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.
In 24 hours, the book sold 6.9 million copies in the United States alone, or 287,500 books per hour, making it the fastest selling book in history. It generated over $100 million in sales on its opening weekend, outpacing even the combined take of the top movies at the box office that same weekend. Bookseller Barnes and Noble reported sales averaging 105 copies per second in the first hour of sales.[1]
Dedication
Rowling became pregnant with her third child during the writing of this book, and often joked about them racing each other into the world. For this reason, the book has this dedication:
- To Mackenzie,
- My beautiful daughter,
- I dedicate
- Her ink-and-paper twin
Plot overview
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince opens in a darker setting than the previous books. Voldemort and his allies begin to act openly, causing widespread chaos and paranoia in Britain and convincing the Dementors to abandon Azkaban. Following a public outcry regarding Cornelius Fudge's mishandling of the Voldemort situation, Rufus Scrimgeour becomes the new Minister of Magic.
Early on in the story, Severus Snape makes an Unbreakable Vow to Draco Malfoy's mother Narcissa, with Bellatrix Lestrange as a witness, that he will protect Draco and aid him in his mission, although the exact details of Draco's mission are kept secret at this point.
Voldemort and his allies begin to act openly, causing widespread chaos, paranoia, and depression in Britain. Due to this increased Death Eater activity, security measures are increased at Hogwarts. Snape is given his coveted Defence Against the Dark Arts post while Albus Dumbledore and Harry Potter persuade Horace Slughorn to return from retirement to replace Snape as Potions teacher.
Because Slughorn only requires an "E" in the Potions O.W.L. for N.E.W.T. students, Harry and Ron find out that they are able to continue Potions, initially using the school's supplies. During the first Potions class, Slughorn lends Harry an old textbook marked as the property of the "Half-Blood Prince". Its handwritten notes help Harry to outdo even Hermione in Potions, and his performance in the first Potions class earns Harry a twelve-hour dose of Felix Felicis.
Harry suspects that Draco has become a Death Eater. He confides his suspicions to Dumbledore, who appears to pay no attention. Later, it is revealed that Dumbledore was trusting Snape to investigate.
After a victorious Quidditch match for Gryffindor (which Harry missed due to detention with Snape), Harry and Ginny Weasley begin dating.
The story contains increased interaction between Dumbledore and Harry. Along with Slughorn's reluctant help, Dumbledore uses his Pensieve to show Harry a number of memories throwing light on Voldemort's past. Having seen the last memory, Dumbledore theorises that Voldemort has split his own soul into seven parts, storing six of the pieces in Horcruxes to grant himself immortality as long as they exist, and leaving the seventh piece in his own body. While two of Voldemort's Horcruxes have already been destroyed (Tom Riddle's diary by Harry[HP2] and Marvolo Gaunt's ring by Dumbledore), Dumbledore believes that there are four more that must be destroyed. He and Harry set off to retrieve one (Salazar Slytherin's locket), and are successful in retrieving a locket from the expected location, though Dumbledore is heavily weakened in the process.
The two return to find the Dark Mark over Hogwarts. As they investigate, they are surprised by Draco Malfoy. Dumbledore paralyses Harry, who is wearing his Invisibility Cloak, allowing Harry to witness all the events that follow while remaining invisible and unable to interfere. The time taken to paralyze Harry prevents Dumbledore from defending himself against Draco, who disarms him. Draco reveals that he has allowed Death Eaters to have access to Hogwarts by using a Vanishing Cabinet in the Room of Requirement.
Other Death Eaters soon arrive and urge Draco to fulfill his mission, but he hesitates. Snape arrives shortly thereafter, and after a brief dialog, kills Dumbledore with the Avada Kedavra curse. The Death Eaters then flee. With Dumbledore's death, his paralyzing spell is broken, and Harry is again free to move. Harry pursues Snape, who identifies himself as the Half-Blood Prince before fleeing Hogwarts.
Harry recovers the locket from Dumbledore's body, and discovers that it is a fake. He finds a note inside to the Dark Lord, from someone with the initials "R.A.B.", who has "stolen the real Horcrux", intending "to destroy it as soon as [possible]", with the hope that when Voldemort meets his match, that he "will be mortal once more".
A funeral for Dumbledore occurs. Many prominent members of the Wizarding world including Rufus Scrimgeour attend. Dumbledore is entombed. Minerva McGonagall becomes the interim headmistress of Hogwarts, but she and the other teachers fear that the school may have to be closed down. Both McGonagall and (after the funeral) Scrimgeour attempt to obtain information from Harry he received from Dumbledore, but Harry believes he should act as if he were alive, and keep it secret.
After Dumbledore's funeral, Harry decides not to return to school so that he can devote his time to destroying the remaining Horcruxes and defeating Voldemort. He tells his friends Hermione and Ron about his decision, and the two insist on coming with him to seek out Voldemort. Harry breaks up with Ginny, saying that she would be at risk and that Voldemort would attempt to get to Harry through her. The book ends with Harry's observation that at least he'll get to spend one last happy day with his friends.
Points of interest
Emotionally, Harry matures greatly in this book, completing his transformation from the angry, petulant teenager of book five, into a strong, proactive young man, aware of his destiny and able to bear its burden. His reaction to the death of Sirius Black is in stark contrast to the death of Cedric Diggory - this time, Harry does not wallow in grief and lash out at those around him, but learns to accept the death and tries to move on, deciding that Sirius would not have wanted him to lock himself away and lose control of his emotions. Harry also shows more willingness to bond with those around him, particularly Dumbledore, who he cements a close mentor-student relationship with. His friendships with Ron and Hermione have also developed - he does not isolate himself as he did in his fifth year. Rowling points out the strength of Harry and Ron's bond of friendship several times, and Harry and Hermione's friendship has also developed to the point where they actually laugh and joke together - a development from Harry's opinion in book four that hanging around with Hermione was "just not the same" as hanging around with Ron. Rowling says that by this point, Harry has adopted Ron and Hermione as his family. Harry shows great emotional development — for example, ending his relationship with Ginny in order to keep her safe. By the end of the book, Harry has matured such that he feels ready to take on his burden of destroying Voldemort. He is now a more active hero, prepared to leave behind his childhood and actively seek out Voldemort and try to kill him, rather than simply trying to survive.
This is the first novel in which we see a Slytherin who is presented in a generally positive light - Horace Slughorn. Though many fans believe Severus Snape is still fighting on the side of the Order of the Phoenix, he has shown a lack of positive qualities in the novels, a sadistic quality towards his students, and racism as a younger man. Slughorn - though he possesses the Slytherin attribute of an attraction to power - is far from a Death Eater. In fact, he seems genuinely appalled and ashamed by the unintentional role he may have played in Voldemort's rise to power, and though he expresses surprise that Muggle-born wizards and witches can be as powerful as "pure-bloods", he does not discriminate against Muggle-borns - Lily Evans being one of his favourite students. Though Slughorn is not always likeable, and tends to have his favourites, he appears to be a generally positive character.
Controversies
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. [2]
Spoilers end here.
The Right to Read
In early July, the Real Canadian Superstore, a big-box grocery chain in Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada, accidentally sold fifteen 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. Purchasers were offered a Harry Potter T-shirt and an autographed copy of the book if they returned their copies before 16 July.
On July 15, 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. [3] [4] Canadian law professor Michael Geist posted commentary on his weblog;[5] Richard Stallman called for a boycott until the publisher issued an apology.[6] The Globe and Mail published a review from two UK-based writers in its July 16 edition and posted the Canadian writer's review on its website at 9 AM that morning.[7] Commentary was also provided on the Raincoast website.
In the same week, a Chicago Walgreens mistakenly sold a copy of the book. When the purchaser read about the Canadian incident on the Internet she said she would not turn herself in, but that she would not read the novel until the U.S. release date.
Environmental Concerns
Before and after the release of the book, the environmental organizations Greenpeace and the National Wildlife Federation urged consumers in the United States who planned to buy Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince to do so from the book's Canadian publisher, Raincoast Books [8], which published on 100% recycled, chlorine-free, ancient forest–free paper. The U.S. edition of the book, published by Scholastic Press, was printed with a percentage of recycled paper that Scholastic declined to make public. The Scholastic Hardcover edition of the book claims, on the last page, to be free of fibers from ancient forests.
Fan Reaction
More so than any of the previous books, fans of the series were polarized by the revelations of the sixth book. Rowling herself expected this when she stated on her website:
- Book six does what I wanted it to do and even if nobody else likes it (and some won’t), I know it will remain one of my favourites of the series. Ultimately you have to please yourself before you please anyone else! [9]
Fans on one end claimed Harry's supposed 'lack of reaction' was out-of-character while others criticized his 'immediate' acceptance of the death at the end of the book. Supporters argue that the events of Book 5 changed Harry considerably and his reactions are in accordance to the events which transpired. The other and arguably most controversial point of contention was the romantic subplots of the books. Fans who predicted a different outcome viciously attacked the book and have gone far enough to create hate sites denouncing the 'changes', while others were of the opinion that the romance was rushed. Supporters of the book argue that thematically and stylistically, the relatively brief central romance makes sense given the wider story of Harry's lifestyle and burden, and was well signalled by hints in earlier volumes.
There is a section of the adult fan base that believes this book to be inferior to others in the series. According to them, the plot of The Half-Blood Prince is weak, and the book is not as action-packed as its predecessors. The identity of the half-blood prince character has no apparent bearing on the main plot of the series, and since Harry, Ron and Hermione's main concern throughout this book is to solve the mystery of this character's true identity, the driving plot of the book is not truly resolved. Also, vast tracts of the book deal with Harry passively receiving instruction from Dumbledore regarding Lord Voldemort's past, and this slows down the pace considerably. This view is in part countered in statements made by J. K Rowling, in which she has stated that book six is very much to be regarded as the first half of a two-volume work, with book seven rounding up the story. It remains to be seen to what extent book seven will explain the relevance of these side stories.
Despite these debates, book 6 was hailed by critics and considered by many to be a fine addition to the series and by others to be the best of the immensely popular books.
Spoilers
The plot detail "Snape kills Dumbledore" along with a list of chapter titles were leaked on the Usenet group alt.fan.harrypotter as early as July 14, 2005—two days before the official release date. A number of direct scans from the book were also leaked, with the spoiler highlighted to attract viewers' attention. This leakage enabled some people to run around release parties shouting the spoilers. In the month since the book's release, the spoiler has grown to become one of the most popular and widespread ever.
Spoilers end here.
Editions
- Bloomsbury (United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, etc.)
- Raincoast (Canada, etc.)
- Scholastic (United States, etc.)
Mistakes
On page 10 of the American edition, there is a sentence that reads "The site, therefore, of Fudge...". The word should be sight. In the Bloomsbury Edition (p. 15, line 28–29 there) the word is spelled correctly.
There are an unknown number of books with pages 533–564 replaced with the preceding pages 501–532. The extent of the misprint is unknown. One was purchased in the Concord, New Hampshire Wal-Mart.
In Chapter 22: After the Burial, UK and US versions, page 454, Professor Slughorn mistakenly refers to Ron Weasley as Rupert, which incidentally is the name of the actor that plays Ron in the Harry Potter movies, Rupert Grint. This is not actually a mistake, Slughorn has been using various names that start with "R" instead of Ron's real name to show that Slughorn doesn't think of Ron as important enough to remember his name. One will notice that Harry's name (for instance) is remembered. This is not a mistake on J. K. Rowling's part! This is where Slughorn makes his "mistake": "‘I have had it all tested for poison,’ he assured Harry, pouring most of the first bottle into one of Hagrid’s bucket-sized mugs and handing it to Hagrid. ‘Had a house-elf taste every bottle after what happened to your poor friend, Rupert.’"
In the first Hungarian edition of the book, the page 617 had incomplete text, so an extra page was inserted with the correction.
Missing text
As with Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, the American version of the book has retained text edited out of the British version. In this case, however, the reason for the edit has not been explained on the author's webpage. The text can be found in chapter 27, "The Lightning-Struck Tower", and the parts missing from the British edition have been highlighted in bold, below:
"[…] He told me to do it or he'll kill me. I've got no choice." (Dumbledore says)"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 […]"
(US Edition p. 591)[10]
Spoilers end here.
Translations
Various publishers have announced release dates for local translations of the book [11]:
- Afrikaans October 2005
- Bulgarian December 13, 2005
- Catalan February 23, 2006
- Chinese (Simplified) October 15, 2005
- Chinese (Traditional) October 1, 2005
- Croatian October 15, 2005
- Czech December 19, 2005
- Danish October 15, 2005
- Dutch November 19, 2005
- Estonian November 2005
- Finnish March 16, 2006
- French October 1, 2005
- German October 1, 2005
- Greek December 2, 2005
- Hebrew December 23, 2005
- Hungarian February 10, 2006
- Indonesian January 2006
- Italian January 6, 2006
- Latvian February 3, 2006
- Lithuanian - early 2006
- Malay - December 2005
- Norwegian November 19, 2005
- Persian September 2005
- Polish January 28, 2006
- Portuguese (Brazil) November 25, 2005
- Portuguese (Portugal) October 15, 2005
- Romanian November 26, 2005
- Russian December 3, 2005
- Serbian September 10, 2005
- Sinhalese April 1, 2007
- Slovenian February, 2006
- Spanish February 23, 2006
- Swedish November 9, 2005
- Tamil January 14, 2008
- Thai December 3, 2005
- Turkish October 1, 2005
- Vietnamese September 24, 2005
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References
- ^ "'Harry Potter' Conjures Up Record Sales" by the Los Angeles Times
- ^ "Greenpeace to U.S. Potter fans: Buy Canadian" from the CBC
- ^ "Half-Blood Prince International Release Dates" from Veritaserum.com
- ^ "Bets reopen on Dumbledore death" from the BBC
- ^ "Editorial: Harry's legal wizardry" from the Toronto Star
- ^ "Harry Potter the right to read" from Ottawa Citizen
- ^ "The Harry Potter Injunction" by Michael Geist
- ^ "Don't Buy Harry Potter Books" by Richard Stallman
- ^ "Much Ado As Harry Potter Hits the Shelves" by The Globe and Mail
- ^ Dumbledore Clues by David Haber
