Monday, June 11, 2007

Never Tickle a Sleeping Dragon

Why not?

Maybe if you tickle them, they let you ride them?

Just a thought. It just occurred to me to connect that Hogwarts motto with the cover art for the Scholastic Deluxe Hardcover edition, and that's what I came up with.

It's late at night. I'll probably think I was very silly when I wake up in the morning.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is the comment i posted on hpprogs.com and i thought i ort 2 let u know as you had a lot to say bout the deluxe edition cover.

To apoligise before hand 4 the essay but there is a extremly important point to it.

Amazingly enough i happened to be reading through “Fantastic Beasts & Where To Find Them”, and even more weirdly the section on dragons.
NO JOKE!!!!

There are a variety of extracts from “Antipodean Opaleye” and my thoughts in comparsion to the deluxe edition
-Unusually for a dragon, it dwells in valleys rather than mountains.
-…it has iridescent, pearly scales…
-…and glittering, multi-cloured, pupil-less eyes hence the name.
-…by dragon standards it is not particularly aggressive and would rarely kill unless hungury.
-…favourite food is sheep…
Now and this is the important bit
-A spate a number of kangaroo killings in the late 1970s were attributed to a male Paleye ousted from his homeland by a dominant female.

Pros that it is a “Antipodean Opaleye”
The deluxe front cover shows a valley.
The dragon has pupil-less eyes.
It isnt aggresive as “the trio” are riding its back.

Cons that it isn’t a “Antipodean Opaleye”
The scales are meant to be pearly but they appear more green.
They eat sheep, nz is famous for its lamb but where else is?
Wales!
Also the male could have well migrated to somewhere else valleyly after being kicked out of australia/new zealand.

I then researched the name “Antipodean Opaleye”
The second bit ofcourse the opaleyes of the dragon.
But then i looked up the meaning for “Antipodean”.

an·tip·o·des-Any two places or regions that are on diametrically opposite sides of the earth.

How obvious.
The UK and Australia/New Zealand are diametrically opposite on the globe.

It was then that i realised something.
Flicking the pages of “Fantastic Beasts & Where To Find Them”.
I found the “Common Welsh Green” dragon.

There are a variety of extracts from “Common Welsh Green” and my thoughts in comparsion to the deluxe edition.

-…blends well with the luss grass of its homelnd, through it nests in the higher mountains…
-…this breed is among the least troublesome of dragons, preferring like the Opaleye, to prey on sheep and actively avoiding humans unless provoked.

Pros that it is the “Common Welsh Green”
The blending in with its surroundings surgests it is of a green colour, as its title explains.
Lives in the mountains hence the mountains in the background of the cover.
Hermione appears to be covered in wounds where as harry and the other are not, does this mean hermione tried to suduce the dragon but because of its aggresive nature attacked hermione.
Being common and easy to find it would be an obvious choice of transport if they are trying to get somewhere in a hurry, as the floo network is under the controll of voldemort and brooms arent quick enough.
The book does not refer in ne way to its eyes as in the other articles on dragons,ie “Herbridean Black”(another welsh dragon) has purple eyes, the “Chinese FireBall’s are “extremly protuberant”.
The reference to the Opal in the article and the “antipodes” could mean the 2 dragon species are related and have similar features.

Cons that it isnt a “Common Welsh Green”
Well tbh i cant think of ne reasons why it cant be.

Well there we are.
lol

Oh!
Just one last thing.
I dont think Ron is on that dragon as the boy has the same colour hair as Hermione. The Red-Headed Weasleys are disstinguised by their hair and if this isnt Ron, who could it be?
I believe it to be Neville. As the prophecy was once true to him as well.
I wonder what role this book will have in store for him?

OMG
i was looking again and thought could the boy on the back even be Victor Krum as he is tending to Hermione.
Hmmmmmmmm

So HPProgs listeners of the world, what do you think?

Sam
West Midlands, UK.

Melissa said...

Sam, these are great points. Just one thing I wanted to say, though -- someone from Scholastic did say it was definitely Harry, Ron and Hermione on the dragon. I think the sunset lighting is affecting the hair color.