Posted on 06/26/2006 5:25:47 PM PDT by freepatriot32
4 hours ago
LONDON - Author J.K. Rowling said two characters will die in the last installment of her boy wizard series, and she hinted Harry Potter might not survive either.
"I have never been tempted to kill him off before the final because I've always planned seven books, and I want to finish on seven books," Rowling said on Monday's "Richard and Judy" television show.
"I can completely understand, however, the mentality of an author who thinks, `Well, I'm gonna kill them off because that means there can be no non-author written sequels. So it will end with me, and after I'm dead and gone they won't be able to bring back the character'."
Rowling declined to commit herself about Harry, saying she doesn't want to receive hate mail.
"The last book is not finished. But I'm well into it now. I wrote the final chapter in something like 1990, so I've known exactly how the series is going to end," she said.
Rowling said people are sometimes shocked to hear that she wrote the end of book seven before she had a publisher for the first book in the series.
"The final chapter is hidden away, although it's now changed very slightly. One character got a reprieve. But I have to say two die that I didn't intend to die," she said. "A price has to be paid. We are dealing with pure evil here. They don't target extras do they? They go for the main characters. Well, I do."
Rowling is the richest woman in Britain _ wealthier than even the queen _ with a fortune estimated by Forbes magazine last year at more than $1 billion.
Whatever she writes next, Rowling is sure of one thing: It won't be as successful as Harry Potter.
"I don't think I'm ever going to have anything like Harry again. You just get one like Harry."
That is my fear, because they are two of my favorite characters. Although have you noticed that at least twice they have inadvertently helped the bad guys? They sold Draco the Peruvian Darkness Powder; they shut the other student in the vanishing cabinet, which led to him figuring out the secret passage from Hogwarts.
Besides, if Harry is the horcrux, why would all the Death Eaters be trying to kill him? Granted, Snape yells at the end of HBP that they are not to kill Harry, that he is the Dark Lord's, but even so, they've made a lot of attempts to whack Harry up to that point. Kind of careless, I'd say.
Finally, if Harry was the horcrux, don't you think Voldemort would have just grabbed him rather than messing around trying to get the sorcerer's stone from him in the first book? Why try to get the stone when your horcrux is right there?
Harry? No. It's his series and he has to kill Voldemort. He's destined to be a great auror. She could kill off Harry, but the fans wouldn't like. Granted, she's already the richest women in England and she'll be done anyway, so it's possible. But not likely.
Hermione: she's Rowling alter ego. She gets to live and prove that mudbloods are wizards, too.
Ron: No, unless he realizes that he loves Hermione and wants to marry her. Then he's doomed. And he might get killed, too.
Ginny: She's destined for something big. She's the first female Weasley in generations. However, that doesn't preclude her from dying after or while doing something great. Longshot.
Fred and George: Likely one will buy it. It'll be shocking, probably the most shocking because they're close without being the main characters. F+G are serious wizards even if they are jokesters. It takes a lot of knowledge to create silliness like that, even though their parents wished that they'd put their efforts to better use. One dies, the other avenges his death and tries to live without the other (or live with a picture hanging in his room). Twins have a special bond and they probably have a magical bond that once severed, could spell doom, insanity or depression for the other. Likely target.
Percy: He's been a putz. He'll either stay a putz and pay a price for it, or he'll come back to Harry's side and have some kind of heroic death, a la Darth Vader. Likely target.
Snape: Doomed. Either he really isin the employ of Voldemort (not likely), in which case, he's a dead man for offing Dumbledore and anything else. Or he's working for Dumbledore and Voldemort will dispatch him. Voldemort suspects already. Might have something to do with an Unbreakable Vow.
Dumbledore: IF he faked his own death and is actually alive, he won't die twice. Yes, death is death but Albus seems to know a lot of the old magics, and seems to be capable of things that no one else is. Especially because he has his phoenix to protect him. Phoenixes rise from their ashes. They also have the power to teleport someone to outside of Hogwarts.
Hagrid: Hope not, but it's possible.
Neville: Better not be. He's already "lost" his parents. He's got serious avenging to do. He won't die in the process. If he does, I'll steal every copy of the book in print and edit the pages.
The other characters (at least the ones on the good side) are further to the fringe to be the ones that we are concerned about (except for the one or two obvious ones that I'm forgetting because it's nearly 11pm at night and I just got back from the end-of-term party.)
That's my $.02.
TS
Does that mean McG is next? she'd be his "mother figure"
Which Hogwarts student can cast any spell flawlessly?
Hermione of course. Harry and Voldemort get into a standoff and Hermione slips up and nails Voldemort.
Rowling won't kill Harry. There are 3 more movies, yet. I'm thinking that Tonks or Lupin buy it in #7.
*ouch*
Ah, but Dear Voldie was already in the Horcrux business. If he went to Godrick's hollow with the intent of killing off the Potters and creating his final horcrux, he would have done all the preparations necessary.
One more thought, Suppose there is a threshold of soul needed to keep a person alive?
Voldemort may have tread too close to that edge with his 7th horcrux, and that is why it took over a decade to recover enough to become even minimally active.
It would be a great twist, especially if they had filmed the ending at the time of the first movie when Harry was a little boy. At the same time, very sad.
Maybe Ron & Hermione were neighborhood kids he had never actually met, just seen out the window. They could do a lot with all the characters.
I'll have to check out The Other. Thanks!
I don't know. LOL!
The creepiest part about him to me was his haircut, because I wore my hair like that (sans the super short bangs)-- cut and color-- for a really long time.
I can't see Rowling killing off HP, maybe that's what a lot of my doubt comes down to. No matter how masterfully she could accomplish it, she would be vilified by most. Snape is a goner, I can't see any way around that. As for the other death, I'm starting to get the feeling, based on nothing, that Ron won't be around for his spin-off series.
Oooh, that would be good!!
ou probably have your finger on the weak point, but the explanation I read theorized that making Harry the horcrux wasn't intentional; it was a byproduct of the splitting of V's soul when he killed Harry's mom.
The strongest argument for, to me, is Rowling's teasing demurral on explaining her personal faith, saying that if we knew that then everyone from 10 to 60 would be able to predict the end. If that faith is any kind of a Christian faith, then the hero must die to accomplish "salvation." But would that also include a resurrection?
It certainly would make for a gut-wrenching, jaw-dropping, tense conclusion; and an interesting and more three-dimensional growth of Harry from a self-centered, loosely-principled, serial-lying teen to one who'd lay down his life to destroy evil.
I think there are going to be lots of surprises. My biggest fear is insulating myself from spoilers. I'm very seriously considering having my wife and myself take the day off, or two, shipping the kids off, and having a readathon -- for the first time, ever!
Which is rather a compliment to someone I consider a second-rate (at best) literary talent, but am beginning to think of as a first-rate plotweaver.
Dan
Get it on tape. Then the whole famn damily can share the experience.
It would be a great twist but what a depressing thought!
I thought that.
Female authors always throw in a "super female" alter ego.
I predict she will try and have a Hermione spin off series which will be UBER-PC.
I was always surprised the PC hollyweird types allowed harry potter to get as large as it has with a inteligent boy (gasp!) as the lead.
*grin*
Let me know what you think of it. I read and enjoyed it a very long time ago and wonder how it holds up with a fresh reader.
Used copies are available at Amazon.
*face meet desk*
How did I miss that?!?!?!
Crabbe and Goyle (the kids) might die out of their sheer stupidity. Or their stupidity might save them, keeping them from the final battle as useless.
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