But between GoF and OotP, she gave his age, during an online chat, as "35 or 36". It's been unclear if that was as of PS/SS or OotP, but it's guidance. If it was as of ps/ss, then the Bellatrix dates are more reasonable for them to overlap at Hogwarts, though, even if not in the same year (which I never thought they were anyway).
I assumed that the 35/36 comment was meant to apply to the most recent book published at the time, which would be GoF since I think she said that around 2000? (Don't quote me on that though.) Either way, though, I haven't really seen anyone explain why it's important that Bellatrix and Snape do have some overlap in their schooling, not just their gang membership. I think what we're supposed to be taking as important from Sirius' statements is the relationships that overlap and how that develops both the plot (the Death Eaters Sirius mentions — save Wilkes — all go on to be relevant later in the book) or the characters (Snape is suddenly confirmed as having been hanging around with a pretty dodgy crowd of people, which foreshadows the revelation that he himself was a Death Eater). Snape attending school with Bellatrix at any point seems fairly immaterial to me since it really doesn't have any bearing on any of this stuff. Which is why I have little trouble justifying Bellatrix's advanced age in comparison to Snape, since I can't see how it matters. :)
Oh, yes, I knew about that. It was one of the comments I was referrring to when I said she'd given us 'approximate' ages. I hadn't thought of the possibility that she meant that was his age in the first book, but you're right, it could well mean that.
I like the way you call that comment 'guidance'--it's a good description. I think it's unreasonable for fen to extropolate information from those sort of comments and treat them as hard facts, and then accuse JKR of messing up when they don't align with other information she has given us. The date of Bellatrix's birth is written down in black and white, so I set more store by that than a date worked out by fans based on vague information which JKR was asked off the top of her head. She probably has all the right dates written down at home somewhere.
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branchandroot
(no subject)
Date: 2006-02-22 03:14 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-02-22 05:25 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-02-22 11:02 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-02-22 10:59 am (UTC)I like the way you call that comment 'guidance'--it's a good description. I think it's unreasonable for fen to extropolate information from those sort of comments and treat them as hard facts, and then accuse JKR of messing up when they don't align with other information she has given us. The date of Bellatrix's birth is written down in black and white, so I set more store by that than a date worked out by fans based on vague information which JKR was asked off the top of her head. She probably has all the right dates written down at home somewhere.