Ok, on JK's last diary entry, she said:



What do you think this means? Not that I think that house-elves will play a huge role, but what do you make of it anyway? First, I would say that it means that Harry will be going somewhere where there are house elves. How else would we see them? The novels almost exclusively follow him, so it seems that we are going somewhere where there are house-elves. I say house-elves plural because JK says "them" and "they." So where do we know that has multiple house-elves? Not even the Malfroys had more than one, and they were about as rich as it gets. But where do we know has them? Hogwarts. Perhaps Harry returning to hogwarts is made a little more likely? And it can't be for a visit (I would think) because how would harry be there long enough for there to be house-elf problems?

and generally, what do you think her house-elf problems might be? any wild theories?

-Fish

I think that she is referring to the problem of how to come to a satisfactory conclusion of the story of the house-elves. They have been depicted as a type of slaves, with everyone in the wizarding world except Dumbledore and Hermione taking it for granted that the house-elves are there for no other purpose than to serve. The only house-elf who is ready to accept liberty is Dobby, all the other house-elves are horrified at the idea of not having a House to work for. They do not seem to be ready for freedom, however just it may be. Dobby and Hermione are ahead of their times.

So Jo Rowling has a problem. She wants to bring the message that slavery is bad, but just granting liberty to the house-elves is not going to sit very well with the wizarding world, and most house-elves would be like Winky and refuse it. Plus, who is going to give them this freedom? Not Dumbledore, because Dumbledore won't speak on behalf of anyone any more unless it be through his portrait. Not Hermione; as schoolchild she does not have the power Nor could she convince a single house-elf at Hogwarts to rebel against their enslavement. Who else then? Harry? S.P.E.W. hasn't really been his cause.

I am curious how Jo Rowling is going to resolve her house-elf trouble, and whether whatever she comes up with will be as convincing as the resolution of the other major issues that come to a head in Book 7.
At least I'm glad that she isn't taking the easy way out and leaving it hanging . . . which is what I may have done in her place. It is a hot issue, after all.

You forgot to mention Harry. If you recall his dialogue with Winky at the beginning of GoF, he too frowned at the idead of houseelves being condemned to eternal slavery and wondered why Dobby asking for wages is such a bad idea. He treats Dobby like he would a friend. Kreacher is a different story. That piece of trash was directly responsible for Sirius's death and in Harry's book that's as bad as Snape being the cause of his parents death. I find myself agreeing with him on this. Remember, he tricked Malfoy into freeing Dobby when he had no reason for doing so. Why? Because he understands what it is like to be illtreated and would not wish a similar fate on someone who doesn't deserve it. This is what makes Dobby loyal to him. He freed Dobby without expecting anything in return and that's why Dobby respects him even more.

Hermione's views on house-elf enslavement and her is more of her know-it-all intentions manifesting themselves. She's smart and genuinely cares for many pepole and has something of what we call "helping people thing" and is slefless. But this also makes her overlook and underestimate ceratin aspects. She believes that she knows whats good for others better than they do themselves, the house elves being the prime example, her attitude towards Luna being another. Rather than getting to the depths of the reasons surrounding house elf enslavement she decided that her setting them free would be the best for them. She genuinely cares for house elves and wants to see them happy but chose the wrong way to hepl them. Like they say, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

I believe house elves would not be much of an issue in the last book save for Dobby and Kreacher and their status in canon is likely to remain unchanged. Dobby (and/or Kreacher) may scarifice themselves to save Harry, Dobby out of personal loyalty and Kreacher forced to do so to save his master (howsoever unwilling) and repay the debt

I believe that house elves will play a minor role, but an impertinent one nonetheless. Finding an ending that fits the storyline will be difficult for JKR, but it will definitely be something refreshing.

I personally believe that the 3 house elves mentioned by name (Dobby, Winky, Kreacher) will have roles that will benefit Harry. Dobby acts as Harry's protector, as Fawkes did the the Chamber of Secrets. He'd be willing to give his life for Harry in an instant. Winky lived with Barty Crouch Sr. and Jr. for quite a long time. She's probably heard things from the Jr., being that he was in on the "reincarnation" of Voldermort. He (Voldy) had been planning his return to power for years, and I bet he'd been planning his attacks on major players like Harry for years as well. She's bound to have heard something. Kreacher lived with Regulus for a significant amount of time. Death Eaters tend to be a bit "cocky," and I have no doubt that he'd disclosed something of use to his mother, whom always seemed to have Kreacher near. I want to believe that the locket theory regarding Kreacher is true as well. And if so, Kreacher may know of the location of other horcruxes, possibly with a bit of veritaserum.

Interesting question there. I think JK might be refering to various House-elves we have come across over the years, like Dobby, Winky and Kreacher.
May be Jo is having trouble deciding how to end their stories, which is quite understandable. Here’s how I think it would happen:
Dobby: Well he has spent a part of his life at Malfoy house so he must know an awful lot about the other Death Eaters. He might have useful information for Harry. Well if he has it’s good for our hero. Dobby is very loyal to Harry so I also agree with Remember my last… He just might end up giving his life for Harry.
Winky: She’s a drunk House-elf, who hasn’t got past the shock of being dismissed. So we must hope that she manages to do that in the next book. But I don’t really think that she will have very important information for Harry about the Death Eaters. Barty Crouch Jr. was imperiused by his father so may be he didn’t talk that much about the subject. And besides Winky was dismissed before Jr. got involved in reincarnation of Voldemort.
Kreacher: He might just as well die. Sorry, evil thought. But I haven’t got past his betrayal to Sirius. But at least he will achieve his life long ambition of being beheaded, stuffed and perched upon a wooden plaque like his mother.
Hey! Don’t count my comment on Kreacher’s fate against me. I support S.P.E.W. and would like all the house-elves to be free. But it’s just that I liked Sirius too much.

I did not equate this to anything in the book at all. I took it to be JK's quirky way of saying that she was having trouble getting her husband/kids to help out around the house so she could get her book done

Funny, but I took it to mean that too Like she was having trouble with her kids not listening to her and so she used the metaphor of the house elves. Which is kind of interesting...if she sees her kids as house elves Or maybe she has servants to fetch and carry for her and she's coming over all Queen Victoria on them

Who knows with JKR? She could be using a metaphor, or she could mean that she's literally having trouble with their direction in the story. I can't imagine that being the case because she seems to have everything else planned out so well. If she doesn't, then what was all that stuff about SPEW, Dobby and Winky for?

Please, Jo, don't tell me that was book padding?! *sigh*

Well, this thread certainly got me to look at this comment in a different way. It honestly never even crossed my mind that she was talking about the house elves in the book, but it's an intriguing thought. Maybe, after haviing it all planned out, she reached a point in the story where she realised that it just wouldn't work. I can't imagine that she has planned out the whole series and then just gone through and written seven books without ever changing anything.
But, if nothing else, I think it's fairly safe to assume that house elves will play a role in book 7. She's built them up so much, and developed the idea of them having freedom, as well as making it clear that they have their own brand of very powerful magic, so I'm sure they'll come into it somehow.
(Now watch my face get red when the final book comes out and it contains no mention of house elves )

I also thought she meant her family. I hope that JK resolves her issues with house elves in the series. After using so much background plot, it would be a shame if they did not have their story completed.

JK has admitted that she has made changes. The most grievious error was writing 1/3 of Goblet of Fire before realizing that it was wrong. She had to write it all over.

Maybe she's just deciding where the house Elf's stand now as it's nearer the seventh book. They make some kind of stand.

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I'm cruder than anyone so far, I took this to suggest she was having trouble with servants. Granted, on second glance if that was the case, likening herself to a dictator is pretty scary, so the greater likelihood is that it is her family or her characters, and she has shown that she DOES sometimes talk like her characters are real in her life.

This seems as good a place as any to raise a question: what does everyone make of the fact that JKR is now worth 1 BILLION dollars, behind only Oprah Winfrey in the 'wealthiest women in entertainment' scale, ahead of Martha Stewart?

I think it's probably just a quirky passing statment, nothing much to be looked into. If there is something in it, it's not the kind of entry you'd get to the point of quickly, so I guess we'll just have to wait and see what unfolds when Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is released.

Well, I doubt she has literal servants, in that sence (an assistant maybe. Perhaps a nanny or housemade. I don't know), but if she does, I doubt she would call them "house-elves." that would be pretty demeaning, no matter how she painted herself. And, on the way she spoke of herself, note that she called herself "author." It sounds to me that she's refering to characters. She anthropomorphizes (personifies) her characters a bit, but she is still talking about characters. She's saying that the characters seem to want to do one thing, that their characters would want to act in a certain way, but the author side of her knows that it can't work that way, that she has to do something else. It's a common problem in stories, especially towards the end. There are plot events you know need to happen, but you struggle with finding a way of making the character do that and believeable. Many authors (Jo, for example) conceive of their characters as being almost like real people. They have wills and desires, and she, as author, knows what they would or wouldn't do. It's one thing that makes a good author, and it is a major reason why Harry Potter is so successful as a franchise. The characters are so real. But sometimes the author needs an event to happen, and so she struggles to get the character to do what they want. "The author is the dictator" is a common way of understanding the author's role in the act of writing. Sometimes, even though your imaginitive side that "plays" (like a child) the events of the characters out in your head, the part of you with a plan and a structure has to intervine and rein it in.

I think that it makes sense that Jo would be wanting to wrap up the house-elf storyline. I don't see why it wouldn't be the characters. That seems to be the most obvious reading, but that's me.

-Fish