Half Blood Prince

[Athena Appleton]

the more I think about it, the more certain I am that it's someone we've never heard of, or only heard of in passing.

The title and the DADA teachers have both always been something new to each book, so I think she'll follow the tradition of introducing new people/situations for the titles and the DADA teachers until the end...

[jarvan49]

I cant picture JK Rowling intorducing a new character this late into the series. It has to be someone mentioned in passing because making a character that we have heard about before into the HBP would be kinda wierd. Its like yeah we know that much about someone and then oh by the way, you are the HBP.

[Alice I]

I cant picture JK Rowling intorducing a new character this late into the series. It has to be someone mentioned in passing because making a character that we have heard about before into the HBP would be kinda wierd. Its like yeah we know that much about someone and then oh by the way, you are the HBP.

I disagree with this because it is completly possible to introduce a new character and develope that character quite well in the space of only one book.
Novelists who do not write seriues books do it all the time

[highsorcerer]

My best guess would be Hagrid - he's half blood (giant), and possible royalty on the giant side.

[TDM]

well, i'll mention someone that no one has even touched upon yet:

Peter Pettigrew

why not? wouldn't it be fantastic if, the one that was least talented among the Messrs was actually a prince all along. seriously, think of it. every other Messr had something special about them:

James: Quidditch
Remus: Werewolf
Sirius: became "immune" to dementors

and here's Wormtail, everyone thinking that he's dead. already has an Order of Merlin, First Class, and his finger rotting in a box. now, he has that nice shiny silver hand, and we have not seen him since book 4. which brings me to a topic that i will discuss in a thread that i am about to post called "Messrs". but yeah, very unlikely theory, but i wouldn't doubt if Peter came back over near the end of book 6, became a fugitive like Sirius, and Dumbledore gave him a second chance. then, once the series is over, ship him off to Azkaban, where he will rot (though not by the dementors, but by some other force that is bad, too). well, i'm done now.

[jarvan49]

My best guess would be Hagrid - he's half blood (giant), and possible royalty on the giant side.

Good point Highsorcerer,

Tom Riddle basically had Hagrid thrown out of school so wouldn't it be cool if Hagrid got to learn some magic because he is the half blood prince. That way, Hagrid kinda gets payback against Tom Riddle/Lord Voldemort.

[jarvan49]

sorry for the double post.

another reason i think HBP is hagrid is that dumbledore always seems to trust him. Dumbledore sent hagrid to originally get harry. then Hagrid was sent to help harry buy his school things and pick up the stone.

There have been other times when it seemed that dumbledore really wants to keep hagrid around.

[Athena Appleton]

eeeeehhhhh.... *shrug*

I think Hagrid is one of the least likely people...

At what point is really too late to introduce a character, build him/her up, and make them a major character of the stories?

I mean, in each book, someone new has been introduced, and by the end of the book, it doesn't feel rushed that they were there, and they were people who had MAJOR implications on the plot...

I think it would be much more odd to have a huge twist using a character we already know so much about (Hagrid, Lupin, Malfoy, etc.)

To touch on the "royalty" point, I don't know... I mean, yeah, Hagrid is half-blood, and so is Lupin, but neither of them really show signs of royalty. Lupin accepts that he's an outcast, and Hagrid pretty much told us in his speech about going and talking to the main giant guy that he's at the bottom of the totem pole.

Hmmm...

Not that it makes much of a point, but Lupin isn't half-werewolf/half-wizard... when she (Rowling) said that he's half-blood, she must have meant half-muggle/half-wizard... Lupin became a werewolf when he got a werewolf bite.

"I was a very small boy when I received the bite. My parents tried everything, but in those days there was no cure. The potion that Professor Snape has been making for me is a very recent discovery. It makes me safe, you see. As long as I take it in the week preceding the full moon, I keep my mind when I transform.... I am able to curl up in my office, a harmless wolf, and wait for the moon to wane again."

Also, in Order of the Phoenix, Lupin comforts a man who has been bitten by a werewolf, knowing that that man will have to spend the rest of his days as a werewolf.

[choki]

I got something in my mind...but I don't think this will ever make any sense...

Half blood prince is the descendent of King Arthur unbelievable...but during that time, based on legend of course, there was Merlin, the greatest wizard ever! (see the link?)
And the fact that the legend of King Arthur might be the actual thing itself. I mean historians have found that legendary castle (I forgot the name)

[highsorcerer]

While Camelot is a good answer to the legendary palace of King Arthur, his line was sort of interrupted. He sired Modred, but he and his son ended each other's lives.

Indeed, the term prince implies a certain heritage. With all apologies, Prince is a title granted by heredity. Prince Charles is first in line for the throne of England, his two sons are next in line - and I find it unlikely his brothers and sisters (or their offspring) would make their way into a work of popular fiction. This leaves other monarchies (such as in the Netherlands, the middle-east, or in the magical world). I picked Hagrid only because he's half-blood on two counts (wizard and giant), and magical creatures (like giants) might have their own social structure.

[Eol]

I think the HBP is definitely going to be someone new. It most certainly is not Draco, his mother is Narcissia Black and we saw from the family tree that she's a pure blood. As for Lucius, he wouldn't be a part of Voldy's inner circle if he wasn't a pure blood.
I was thinking along the lines of the HBP being someone from beyond the veil, perhaps a story from the past. We haven't had any indication from JK about a Wizarding royalty, although families like the Malfoys and the Blacks have Manors and titles.
As much as I like Hagrid, and Highsorcerer does make a good case for why it could be him, I don't think that Hagrid would be oblivious to the fact that he's a decendant of royalty. One of his maxims (or rather his father's) was never be ashamed. This gives me the impression that he would have comprehensive knowledge of his history.

[Dumbledores Master]

I reckon its Colin Creevey. The title could have gone with book 2 and who was mentioned in passing in book two? Colin Creevey

Who has not dwindled into a person to further the plot? Colin Creevey

Whose dad is a milkman? Colin Creevey

I think she told us about his dad because she was giving us a hint as to it being him.

COLIN CREEVEY FOR HBP

[choki]

But Colin is a muggle born. He was among those muggleborns who were petrified by basilisk.
It was only mentioned that his father was a milkman and they were delighted when Colin received a letter from Hogwarts. No mention of his mother though. But it's rather unusual for his brother, Dennis, to have wizarding power as well. I mean...two wizards born to same muggle parents...

Perhaps, the missing link lies in Colin's and Dennis's mother. She could be a witch.

[Athena Appleton]

I think she told us about his dad because she was giving us a hint as to it being him.

Really? Because I think she told us about Colin's dad because she had to point out that he was muggle-born, and therefore he would get attacked by the baselisk.

Just like she passed over Justin Finch-Fletchley (sp?), Penelope Clearwater, and Filch. She had to establish that certain people weren't purebloods so that they could be attacked.

In Chamber of Secrets, it's almost certain that the "half-blood prince" was Riddle, because she doesn't give the book a title until she's got most of the book conceived. If the half-blood prince were Colin, Colin would have had a much larger role in CoS.

But I think she kept the title, changed the person the title was talking about.

[Phinea Rogue]

That's possible, it could have been Tom Riddle then and now it may be someone else.

Just a thought - Regulus means "prince", "little king" or "petty king" (though I don't think it's him, he was a pure-blood).