What the Triwizard Tournament tells us about procrastination

Listening to the Goblet of Fire Audiobook for the umpteenth time, I couldn't help but notice something I did not notice before, or at least I did not notice it as clearly. When Harry is chosen as the fourth champion in the Triwizard Tournament, he gives us three shining examples for how students prepare for an exam. There are probably a whole bunch of university students out there who can painfully relate to Harry's struggle with time in Goblet of Fire, as he "learned the hard way that year, time will not slow down when something unpleasant lies ahead." So here are the three ways to prepare for an exam, as shown by Harry James Potter himself.

The First Task - not knowing what to study and getting lucky because the task is something you can do without preparing (much)

When Harry is first chosen as a Triwizard Champion, he's in shock for quite a long time. Indignant that nobody believes he did not put his name in the goblet of fire and doesn't want to be a champion in the first place and having this feeling strengthened by the temporary loss of his friend Ron, Harry feels isolated and does not know what to expect of the first task at all and pushes it away in his mind. The reminder comes with Hagrid showing him what the champions can expect in the first task - dragons. Harry then proceeds to research in the library books for ways to fight a dragon, but to no avail. It is Professor Moody who tips Harry off by telling him to use his flying skills. With "just" one spell to master, Harry does not do much magical practice to prepare him for the task. He's very lucky indeed that he can use flying - which he is a natural at - to his advantage in getting the golden egg. Just like you are lucky if you do something that in german is called "auf Lücke lernen" meaning to only study certain parts of the subject matter and hoping only questions you studied for will be in the exam, and then there actually are none of the topics you did not study for in the exam. I don't blame you though, Harry. "Auf Lücke lernen" is something I wish I could master.

The Second Task - Procrastinate until the last minute

Ah yes. Haven't we seen that one before. I see it everyday during study-season when I look in the mirror. The endless circle of procrastination. It might be the most relatable of the three examples right now because like us this time of the year, Harry is still in post-Christmas-january-blues-mode. For the longest time, he doesn't pay the golden egg the slightest bit of attention, thinking he has "ages" to think about the second task. Funny thing is, he does have the time but doesn't use it to busy himself with the egg. During that time, Harry himself is the definition of procrastination:

"Avoiding doing something for as long as possible, sometimes not doing it at all." (urbandictionary)

Harry lies to everyone who asks about the process of his preparation for the second task - saying he has it "nearly figured out" when he hasn't done anything at all - and continues to feel worse and worse about the lie until finally, he pulls himself together and follows the clue Cedric has given him weeks ago to open the egg underwater. Harry is then presented with a riddle he has a mere few days to solve before the task begins. Of course, he is getting nowhere and eventually falls asleep in the library, waking up 10 minutes before the beginning of the second task, still with no clue. Once again, he gets very lucky indeed that the solution is brought to him by Dobby the House-Elf, who provides him with Gillyweed, the last-minute solution to breathe underwater, which technically makes this the first time Dobby saved Harry's wizarding backside. I think we all need a Dobby in our lives.

The Third Task - Actually preparing and hoping for the best

In the preparation for the third and final task, Harry has finally gotten the hang of things. He practices spells in time and has the huge advantage that he can assess the situation much better because he has gotten past dangerous obstacles before (because he's Harry Potter, duh!). He now has a much better idea of what to expect and which spells to practice to successfully handle the third task. There's also a feeling of relief because this will be the final task of the tournament and it'll be over after that. But sadly, as we know, Harry does not get the feeling of relief he so hoped for after the tournament. Not at all. The idea of an endless Triwizard Tournament seems more appealing than the return of Voldemort by far, but then the story we all love wouldn't have gone on so I'm okay with exchanging some Blast-Ended-Skrewts for Death Eaters. And the final task of defeating Voldemort is completed in the end.

Regarding different ways to study, the moral here I guess is to try and prepare for your exams like Harry did for the third task, do all that's in your power and do it well. Or just use one of the other methods and try to survive the exam somehow. Just try not to write blogposts about procrastination instead of studying for your Old English exam. That would just be pure procrastination.

Our Potions Master - Goodbye

Yesterday could've been such a great day. It all started off as a seemingly good day and then I checked my twitter only to hear the news of Alan Rickman's death. I honestly thought it was a fake or a fraud. I refused to believe it and chose to wait if the news changed. I am so sad to say they did not. You see, celebrity deaths don't usually get me that much. But with Alan Rickman passed, it's like I have lost part of my childhood. Not a giant chunk of it, of course not. But no matter how small, a part is now gone. I wish I could write an essay about what a great and talented actor he was and that I'd seen him in more productions than Harry Potter and Love Actually, but I haven't, so I can't. I wish I could've seen him perform on stage, but I didn't. It's weird to see someone go whom you've never even met, or who isn't even prominent in your thoughts but who still, as portraying Professor Snape, has always been there somehow. Not a giant figure who's influenced my life but he was just there, in the background. A person who has brought a complex character to life so brilliantly. And since I feel deeply connected to Harry Potter, also deeply connected to me. A sad day indeed.

I raise my wand for you, Alan Rickman. You will be remembered.

The Force Awakens - and so do my feels

So, there we are. My first blogpost and not about an unimportant issue, at that.
I am talking, of course, about Episode VII - The Force Awakens. Yes, my dear Padawans, the time has come. It is here. Has been for a while now, actually. And here am I, about to give my thoughts on this particular film. I hope you'll enjoy it.

MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW!

So, the lights dim, the curtain opens and we are greeted with a very familiar opening sequence, or "opening crawl". During which I may or may not have squealed. Right in the first sentence, we learn that Luke Skywalker - the name we've all been obsessing about due to him not being on any of the movie posters - has vanished from everyone's sight not long after the events of Return Of The Jedi. The #1 source of evil is now called 'The First Order", basically a revamp of the old empire with a splash of colour (red). The same old Star Destroyers but fancy new Tie-Fighters, Gwendoline Christie wearing new shiny armour that show her status as Chrome Trooper Captain Phasma, the villain clad in dark armour and robes, a black helmet giving off a certain Hipster-Darth Vader-vibe and - of course - not a Death Star, but a Starkiller Base with a superweapon, which is basically the Death Star integrated inside a planet. Of course - spoilers - said Starkiller Base gets destroyed once again. (They don't ever learn, do they.)

And then off it goes. Said same old Star Destroyer marks the first scene, just as it did back in the day of Episode IV.
But not all is "same old", on the contrary. This time around, we are introduced to :

#1: Stormtroopers as (human) beings that can think on their own
#2: a leading female character, Rey
#3: more than one person of colour in the galaxy
#4: more than one or two women participating and having leading positions both in the Resistance and in the First Order, as opposed to the Rebellion and Empire

which is wonderful! This film is much more liberal with the subjects of gender and race than any of the others. Which nicely reflects our current Zeitgeist, or at least what it should be like. (And is also realistic - I mean who would honestly believe that Lando is the only black person in the whole galaxy?) This, in my opinion, is one of, if not the biggest reason to love the film.

New characters and old ones

As for new main characters, we have Rey, a scavenger who her family left behind on Jakku when she was about five years old, Finn, short for FN-2187, a Stormtrooper who does not come from the Old Republic's clone army but was taken from his family who he's never met to become a Stormtrooper, and adorable new fan favourite astromech droid BB-8 whom you can't help but fall in love with. Yes, I'm counting the adorable sidekick as a main character don't judge me. There's also Poe Dameron, "the best pilot in the Resistance". He's the one we are introduced to in the first moments of the film on Jakku and apparently owner of BB-8. Having crashlanded on Jakku after his and Finn's escape from the Star Destroyer, he is nowhere to be found but is reunited with Finn and BB-8 at the Resistance Base. Rey, Finn and BB-8 are joined by an aged but still as sassy Han Solo and Chewbacca, the same as ever, and they have apparently gone back to old smuggling habits as well. Leia, no longer known as a Princess but as General Organa, leader of the Resistance is back to her charming, diplomatic self, but with a sense of sadness surrounding her from, as we find out, having lost her and Han's son to the dark side which apparently has drawn a wedge between her and Han. Ben Solo who now calls himself Kylo Ren, is the leader of a group called "The Knights of Ren" and apprentice to Supreme Leader Snoke, who appears to be this trilogy's supervillain. Kylo Ren seems to be fearful of not living up to the expectations of being as good (or in this case, as evil) a Sith Lord as his grandfather, Darth Vader, whose helmet he keeps in his chambers on a kind of shrine, and while being a fearsome, powerful leader, he is also quite agressive, hacking everything with his lightsaber the moment something goes wrong. Comparing this to Vader is interesting because Vader would've just force-choked someone instead of destroying "just" things. This might show that Ren is not ruthless yet as Vader was, that he still hesitates to kill out of rage. He very much reminded me of Anakin in Attack of the Clones (which draws a nice parallel because it is Darth Vader he wants to become, not Anakin Skywalker as he was then), just with greater power but the same lack of ability to control himself.

It's really pleasant seeing these characters interact, bright and talented Rey and grumpy Han Solo finishing each other's sentences, Finn being awkward and funny but also very brave and kind-hearted, Maz Katana being sort of like an orange, female Yoda, although she claims herself that she is not a Jedi, but can feel the force. She's the one to explain to Rey that she has found Anakin Skywalker's lightsaber - or rather, that it has called for her - in a key scene of the movie in which Rey has her first ever contact with the force.

As we are being introduced Rey, Finn and BB8 and follow their story, I am sure I was not the only one to be reminded of the events of previous Star Wars episodes, mainly, A New Hope.

I have no doubts that this new trilogy is meant to pay homage to, but also mirror the original trilogy. Thus The Force Awakens is basically a reflection of Episode IV, A New Hope. And when I say basically, I mean it really is. We have the introduction of our main character who lives on a desert planet, a cute droid that has an important message and always tags along. We have the grumpy/wise old man who is a significant character from the past, who the main character begins to see as a mentor/father figure. The main character slowly begins to learn that she can use the force and is given (although accepting it much later than when she is first introduced to it) a very significant lightsaber. The secret base of the evil force which is to be destroyed by the opposing rebels, but not without the father figure dying in said base, causing rage and tremendous grief in the main character, which again causes hatred for the killer she probably has a familial relationship with.
Yes, I am, as are many I believe, most certain that Rey is a Skywalker. The most obvious proof for that we find in the scene Luke's lightsaber "calls" for her in Maz Kanata's castle and then again during her fight with Kylo Ren when the lightsaber force-flies into her hand instead of Ren's. With her being left behind by her family and being very force-sensitive and apparently having some connection to the Skywalker family, I'm almost certain of her being Luke's daughter. She also has all the Skywalker women traits looks-wise. Dark hair, greenish brown eyes, sand clothes.

Some theories state that she might also be a daughter of Han and Leia's but that seems a little off to me because Han did not seem to recognise her at all, and didn't seem like he was faking not to recognize her either. She did have that moment with Leia at the end though, although they have never met before. But to me it's pointing more to the direction that she's Luke's daughter, not Leia's.  Also, the look in Luke's eyes when she meets him at the end was first full of surprise, then regret. Regret from having abandoned his own child, perhaps? Then again, they might have made it a bit obvious to mislead us and might come around with a major plot twist à la "I am your father" in the next film but so far, everything points to the fact that Rey must be somehow related to the Skywalkers, given this family is the thing the whole saga revolves around.

On a smaller note, although the new trilogy is not based on any of the (many) Star Wars books or so I have heard, I couldn't help but notice one big resemblance. In the books, Leia's and Han's son turns to the dark side as well, although his name is Jacen. Ben, however, is the name of Luke's child in the books.

Speaking of Luke Skywalker, whatever happened there ? This is actually the question I am most eager to have answered. Well that and 'How did Luke survive for 30 years on a planet that's apparently deserted, surely he couldn't have eaten fish the whole time ?' Jokes aside, but really, why does he suddenly have a mechanical arm like Anakin's while his arm in the original trilogy looked just like a human one ?? Where did Maz Kanata get the lightsaber he lost in Cloud City? Where did C-3PO get a red arm? Will the Empire/First Order ever learn when it comes to constructing not-so-secret bases/planet destroyers ? I hope we'll at least have some of those questions answered in the following films, I'm very much looking forward to it.


So, we have this wonderful combination of changes and new things, highly desirable ones at that, and Nostalgia, passing on the original "Star Wars" - feeling, passing it on to a new generation of children who get to idolize the fierce Rey and kind-hearted, brave Finn.

To summarize things up :

what I didn't like as much:

#1: The First Order's "Motivation Speech" scene right before they destroy the planets of the Republic. I mean it was really well done, but can't they ever use another dictator for a role model than Hitler?? That scene was basically 1933 with Stormtroopers. The use of the colours red and black didn't really help. I fear that this might give some people a false image of modern day Germany.
#2: The First Order basically having another Death Star. It felt not like Nostalgia to me, but more like microwaved leftovers. They really could've thought of something different there.


what I loved:

#1: The music. Good ol' John Williams. Oh the feels that music gave me.
#2: Rey. Pretty sure I fell in love with her.
#3: BB-8. No wonder he's a fan favourite, he won my heart right in the first 15 minutes of the film!           Now apart from wanting my very own R2-D2, I also want my own BB-8...
#4: An epic lightsaber battle
#5: Realistic representation of gender and race
#6: THE NOSTALGIA! THE MILLENIUM FALCON! And the use of that one catchphrase I just knew had to come:

All in all, J.J. Abrams did a better job than I ever would've expected him to. I remember when there first were news of a new Star Wars movie affiliated with Disney. I remember everyone being very cautious, skeptical and some even outraged about this new movie. Should there even be another sequel? How could a sequel of our beloved saga, now being owned by Disney, could ever live up to our expectations? Well, to mine it did. Greatly. I loved it and am excited for the years to come with Episodes VIII and IX. If you haven't watched it yet, you should go. In fact, you will go to watch this movie in theatres. *uses Jedi mind trick*