Dead Potter?

[billroper]

Personally, I doubt this. But the actor who's been reading Harry Potter in the US audio books says he thinks that Rowling intends to kill off Harry in Book Seven.

Comments

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

I've been admitting that possibility to myself since HBP. I really think it would be a downer, though, and not merely because we love the character. That boy had gone through the shit-wringer. I don't want seven thick books with the moral Life Isn't Fair.

[bedlamhouse]

And that final sentence?

"For there, in the chapel, framed for all to see, the preserved skin fragment containing His famous scar."

where's my pitchfork?

[tigertoy.livejournal.com]

On the one hand, book 7 will be more interesting to read if we don't know for sure that Harry will come out alive and well. On the other hand, if she does kill him, hundreds of millions of fans will rise up and smite her, and I will be among them.

[phillip2637.livejournal.com]

First reaction: Reichenbach Falls...probably with a comparable backlash.

(But I suppose that creating an uproar and then backtracking could be a marketing plus.)

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Or else, "And on his forehead, at last, there was no scar."

Re: where's my pitchfork?

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

But by then she'll have already cashed the checks.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Or else else, "And there, on his glasses, there hung a metal hook."

[madfilkentist]

This is supposed to be the last Harry Potter book anyway! But I suppose she might want to close off any demand for sequels.

On the gripping hand, she should realize that killing off your character seldom accomplishes that purpose.

My own prediction for Book 7: Harry will be the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.

[tnatj.livejournal.com]

"But what of Little Nell???"

Seriously, no, generally you don't kill off your main character in a bildungsroman. You may scar the character (figuratively as well as literally), tear him up inside, kill off comrades and loved ones by the dozen; but you don't kill off your protagonist.

The reason is simple: Rowling has asked the reader to identify with Harry for six books now. Killing him would be tantamount to killing the readers. No, no, no, no.

My main candidate is Snape.

Saying that, I'd be fit to be tied if Rowling does the "it was all a dream" resolution, though.

[ericcoleman]

And he wakes up, and he's in the little closet under the stairs ... and has to go through the whole thing again ... more book sales !!!

[vixyish.livejournal.com]

Or else else else, "...and flights of Thestrals sing thee to thy rest."

Dead Weasleys...

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Oh, Snape's toast no matter what. Although Anne convinced me he's heroic toast rather than dark betrayer toast. To be brutal, I think the ones likeliest to die are Neville, Ginny, Percy, and Mr. Weasley, with the Twins right behind.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

... God sa-ave... the... Quee-ee-een!"

[vixyish.livejournal.com]

Ooo, I like it.

[cyohtee.livejournal.com]

Oh, spirits, no, not the Dark Tower again! :)

Re: Dead Weasleys...

[cyohtee.livejournal.com]

Ron & Ginny need to die, and then Harry and Hermione can live to comfort each other forever more. ;)

With a link back to Book One?

[tnatj.livejournal.com]

If JK comes up with something like this at the end of book seven ...

Harry Potter woke up with a start. Light seeped through the cracks in the staircase above him.

Oh, no, it couldn't be! Harry felt for the door casement he dreaded to know would be there. It was there! He pushed it open, slightly.

"Wake up!" called a rude voice, the voice of Harry's cousin. "It's my birthday, you slug!" The door to the closet under the stairs flung open, and there he was, belligerent face almost in Harry's eyes: Dudley. Just as he was — aged just as Harry remembered him — before Harry had ever left for Hogwarts!

Harry struggled to find his glasses. And found them, the bridge broken and hastily mended with tape. He didn't remember them to be in such bad shape!

What's happened??? Harry was in shock. The last thing I remember was Snape dying ... and Voldemort ... Voldemort ... What happened to Voldemort?

Harry pushed Dudley away. What was going on? Could he have dreamed the whole seven years? So vividly? He remembered the searing pain above his eyes. But now he couldn't feel a thing on his forehead, and with his right hand, he reached up to touch the place. His scar ... where was his scar?

THE END

Oh, please no. No no nonononono!

Re: Dead Weasleys...

[tnatj.livejournal.com]

Shipper!

Actually, if the magical world is "nothing but a dream" then Harry is now motivated to find (a) Hermione Granger on his own in the muggle world.

Re: Dead Weasleys...

[tnatj.livejournal.com]

Yes, I agree with Anne, also. Snape is tragic hero toast, aka flawed hero toast. The only question is what setting Rowling uses to toast him. I can forsee his death extracted by a thousand cuts.

Neville? I don't think so. Although J. K. did mention she was going do something special to/for him.

I don't know about any of the Weasleys: I think that they are too obvious a target. Except for Molly Weasley. I'll take a huge flyer and give Mrs. Weasley the black spot.

Re: Dead Weasleys...

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Blatant H/Hr shipper, but I don't need Ron or Ginny to die. Well, maybe Ginny. *mRRROWWWRr*

Re: Dead Weasleys...

[cyohtee.livejournal.com]

Yes, I am a Harry/Hermione shipper, but I have been worse. I was a Giles/Dawn shipper from the Buffy series (I was even justified in Once More With Feeling. They had in the final lineup when they all line up hand in hand, Willow & Tara together, Xander & Anya together, Buffy & Spike together, and Giles & Dawn together, so the director (Joss himself) thought so too, otherwise he would have put them at either end of the line rather than together! See!) even if it did mean that Giles was a pedophile...

Actually, I find myself rather disturbed at how attractive I found Emma Watson in the last 2 movies. She is too young for me to feel that much attraction...

:)

[mneme]

Oh, I don't know, I could see it.

Everyone's wrong. Harry's not the prophesied one -- Neville is. So Harry dies in his "final" confrontation, and Neville kills Voldemort.

[jabberwokky.livejournal.com]

I also have a sneaking feeling that Neville is the prophesied one, but I am pretty durn sure that Harry is the last Horcrux and will die in book seven as the final act to kill Voldemort. If he's dead, the last shred of soul that is Voldemort has to be killed... likely by Neville, probably being assisted by the ever trusty R&H. Harry might not be dead at the very end of the novel -- this is a fantasy setting -- but I think he will die at some point in the story.

[(Anonymous)]

FWIW, Dan Radcliffe has said this before, I think in the extras for the 2nd movie for one.

[johnridley.livejournal.com]

sorry that was me. Darn browser won't keep me logged in.

[billroper]

I thought that Rowling had promised an epilogue showing the characters some time in the future. I've long expected that Harry will be teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts.

Given that Voldemort's death should lift the curse on the position, I suspect he'll do it for a long time.

Re: Dead Weasleys...

[billroper]

Actually, I think Percy is the one who's toast in book seven. Dissing your parents the way that he has is a good way to end up opening up a place at the Weasley dinner table for Harry. Hermione will just have to squeeze in next to Ron...

[allisona.livejournal.com]

I thought this post was pretty amusing: He's dead when we're through with him..