Plot Hole: Difference between revisions
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** The ''entire plot of Harry Potter'' is born in a giant plot hole. The deaths of the Potters is the defining element of Harry's life, and yet in book 7 we are shown that its entirely possible for a resident of a house under a Fidelius charm to be their ''own'' Secret-Keeper, and thus be completely safe. Had James or Lily just used themselves as a Secret-Keeper, nothing happens.
*** It gets worse. Even if you attempt to handwave that the use in book 7 is a later refinement of the Fidelius Charm that they did not know back then (which is not an entirely unreasonable supposition given that the Fidelius Charm was old and lost magic that Lily had just rediscovered), there's still a plot hole. Both the Potters and the Longbottoms are hiding out in separate locations at this time; nothing stops Frank Longbottom (or Alice) being the Secret-Keeper for James Potter (or Lily), and vice versa. At which point Voldemort can just sit and swivel, because he's not getting anywhere.
** Rowling is horrible with Plot Holes. In book 6 it is off-handedly mentioned that using the Imperius charm to force family members to murder other family members is 'a common Death Eater tactic from the first war', and yet despite having it clearly demonstrated that nothing stops the Muggle residents of Privet Drive from being physically violent with Harry Potter ''and'' Harry's address being public record as of his Wizengamot trial at the beginning of book 5 ''and'' Voldemort being active in his attempts to murder Harry during this time period and being stymied only by the blood protections on Privet Drive, the obvious logical leap of 'Just Imperius Vernon to shoot Harry' never occurs to Voldemort for a moment.
*** The counterpoint of 'perhaps the blood protections would save Vernon from being Imperio'ed by Voldemort' is refuted by the fact that when off the grounds of Privet Drive, demonstrably nothing stops Voldemort from using as many Unforgivables on Harry himself as he wants. And Vernon couldn't hope to resist the Imperius on sheer willpower like Harry did.
* In the case of ''[[Dead Souls]]'' just because parts of the second half of the novel are literally missing, since Gogol originally wanted to destroy the whole text. Sadly, the complete story is now [[Lost Forever]].
* In-universe example in ''[[The Kite Runner]]'' - as a child, Amir writes a story about a man who cries pearls. The man in the story isn't weepy by nature, and has to do increasingly horrific things to make himself cry. At the end of the story he's murdered his wife. The servant, Hassan, points out that the man could have just cut onions instead and Amir is shocked that even uneducated and illiterate servants can know about things like plot holes.
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