Harry Potter

Oh, absolutely, that was definitely the start of it.

According to Rowling, she's been planning the thing with Nagini for years. Obviously, there is no way to prove that. But then again, there's no way to prove she didn't.

"For years" could technically mean as few as two.

“Years” is relative. Deathly Hallows was published more than 10 years ago - had she come up with it then?

If she had...well, I agree that’s kind of a weird thing never to mention, and has some pretty problematic elements beyond even the general premise of “transformed woman of color essentially being a white man’s pet”.

Edited by KarkatTheDalek on Oct 1st 2018 at 4:48:14 AM

No idea why, but I feel reminded of George Lucas.

Was she supposed to be an Asian woman according to Rowling, or was that just the movie casting choice?

she said she had the secret for 20 years btw.

just because something isn't a retcon doesn't mean it's well done or properly foreshadowed.

One of the biggest problems authors have is foreshadowing. Too much foreshadowing means people can guess the twist ahead of time. Too little and everyone calls Ass Pull. I am willing to believe that Rowling did always have the idea in her head that Nagini was originally human, but she definitely didn't foreshadow it enough. My guess is that she assumed that she'd never have a chance to actually reveal it, so instead contented herself with basic Amplified Animal Aptitude.

This is Rowling we are talking about, though. If she planned it, she would have foreshadowed it meticulously. With enough effort, you could always figure out future plot twists.

I remember a blogger, pre-Half Blood Prince, writing an elaborate essay that correctly predicted both Snape's romantic relationship with Lily, and his true allegiance to Dumbledore.

If Rowling had planned Nagini being a woman, she'd have name dropped the disorder somewhere, and the name of the woman before she turned, or something like that. There would also be more hints that Nagini was being very human, instead of just an above-average-intelligence snake.

Edited by Redmess on Oct 1st 2018 at 12:51:53 PM

but JKR also has a habit of leaving backstories in the supplemental material only.

Snape and Lily's romance was key to the central plot and planned from the beginning. Nagini's backstory wasn't essential to the plot at all, so there was no reason why she had to drop clues about it.

She's omitted stuff before, Dean Thomas' backstory being a major one.

Also, if people are assuming Nagini is like Scabbers, a woman just living out her days in snake form, I think they're wrong. I'm assuming the curse is more like with a werewolf transformation, meaning you lose your humanity as you make the transition from woman to beast.

Edited by ElementX on Oct 1st 2018 at 12:39:44 PM

Nagini having been human wouldn't have been too hard to fit in the books. During the "Harry and Dumbledore run through the Horcrux identities" bit, say.

"Nagini? Voldemort's snake?"

"Yes, Harry. Interesting thing about her; she used to be human but got cursed to turn into a snake. Wild."

Actually, it would be totally in character for Dumbledore to not mention that unless he thought it was absolutely neccesary to know.

True.

Rowling could have found a way to make it relevant easily, though.

Harry: Is there any way I could use Parseltongue to convince Nagini to leave Voldemort's side for at least a moment?
Dumbledore: Doubtful, since she's actually a cursed human who believes Voldemort is the only person who cares about her. Let's discuss the relationships between abusers and their victims another time.

Imagine if the Trio figured that one out in DH when hunting them. Would they have been able to do it, or telling someone to do it as easily then?

Well, I also think that Nagini being human at one point and also a Horcrux probably would have been a neat little step leading into 'BTW, Harry is a human horcrux'.

Since Dumbledore is apparently aware of Nagini's fated curse and Harry is aware that there's something oddly intelligent of Nagini, there's no reason he couldn't have asked during the Horcrux rundown converstaion of 'Hey, professor, that snake seems oddly intelligent when I am in its head. What's going on?'

I see very easy ways this could have been integrated.

It couldn't have been integrated because this is an idea she only came up with this year and is talking out her ass about being an old, unused one. She can't foreshadow something she wouldn't think of for another 11 years.

Well, we can't really say whether or not she really came up with it just now or years ago. She might have dismissed it back then.

In all honesty, Nagini being a magical creature would make more sense than her being a woman turned into a snake.

Like someone said above we have no way to prove if she did or didn't have this in mind for many years. Personally, I can buy that she had the idea for Nagini once being a person in the back of her mind somewhere. Maybe she should've just said "I wrote this idea down for Nagini a while back but ultimately never thought to use it until now" instead of "I've been holding onto this secret for all these years." Either way I don't see it as something to get too worked up about.

Well, it certainly doesn't feel as wrong as "Bellatrix and Voldemort had a lovechild, and it was EVIL!, because EVIL GENETICS!"

I mean, there was a rather unsettling message about some people just being "born evil" due to family history in the books to begin with, but that "cursed child" business does NOT help with that.

TBH JKR having this idea and sitting on it for years is completely in character for her. If you read into the theme park making and some other stuff, JKR is often very tight lipped about the structure of her world.

It can be a bad decision without her lying.

Yeah, this is the same woman who put a chekov gun in the first book and used in the seven one, years later.

Now about nagini...sometimes I wonder if rowling really want to continue HP but dosent know how as the main novel is over.

Which one are you referring to? Grindelwald's single mention suddenly playing a huge role, everything about the Invisibility Cloak, Dumbledore's vision in the Mirror of Erised? Some other one I'm forgetting?