Rowling says 2 characters die in final Potter book- Page 6

[anjilly]

Posted: 6/27/06 at 11:33pm

What about Ginny?

True love conquers all!

She'll realize that this is something Harry has to do on his own, help out where she can, and then they will live happily ever after.

Updated On: 6/27/06 at 11:33 PM

[kissmycookie]

Posted: 6/27/06 at 11:34pm

Unless she is sacrificed...

[colleen_lee]

Posted: 6/27/06 at 11:34pm

Damn Anji, Stephen was right, that was a freaking novel.

But, I 100% agree.

[Patronus]

Posted: 6/27/06 at 11:35pm

I'd think that Ginny and Harry will live happily ever after. (once they get over the deaths of Hermione, Ron and anyone else who might bite the bullet)

I don't see them sacrificing Ginny. Harry deserves something that makes him happy moving forward into his life as an adult. I feel like Ginny has to be that something. That being said, Ginny is definitely Harry's Guinevere and will likely play a pivotal role as the girl power badass in book 7.

anjilly's theory pretty much illustrates a normal discussion over dinner in our house. It's why I fell in love with the woman.

Updated On: 6/27/06 at 11:35 PM

[anjilly]

Posted: 6/27/06 at 11:39pm

Colleen, when I post, I *POST*.

Gotta get it all out in one big grand way. Anything worth doing is worth overdoing. So on and so forth and forthwith and etc.

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 6/27/06 at 11:49pm

Again, Rowling likes to send her readers through different twists and turns. I don't think the sacrifice in Book 1 parallels Ron's death in the last book.

If we predict Snape will die, that leaves one person left...and if you take the prophecy literally, that leaves Harry or Voldemort.

[colleen_lee]

Posted: 6/27/06 at 11:55pm

Jo never said ONLY 2 characters were going to die in this last book, she said 2 originally unintended characters were going to die.

Updated On: 6/27/06 at 11:55 PM

[Patronus]

Posted: 6/27/06 at 11:59pm

Why wouldn't it be?

Book 2 and 6 were direct parallels.

Book 3 and 5 were fairly direct parallels

It stands to reason that Books 1 and 7 would go full circle. The message in Book One is that Harry can't do it alone and in order to learn that Ron figuratively sacrifices himself so that Harry can get to the Philosopher's Stone. I see a similar situation occurring in Book 7, but not so figurative.

While Rowling does send her readers on twists and turns they are never for the sake of a shock and are always supported by fact in the books and foreshadowed heavily.

With all of the parallels between the Harry Potter books and the obvious parallels to Arthurian myth the theory is supported.

If we predict Snape will die, that leaves one person left...and if you take the prophecy literally, that leaves Harry or Voldemort.

Go back and read the quotes from Rowling regarding the 2 deaths.

"One character got a reprieve, but I have to say two die that I didn't intend to die."

The headline isn't the entire story.

She isn't saying that only 2 people are going to die. This announcement was that 2 people she didn't original anticipate dying end up dying as she is writing. There is a huge difference there.

Frankly, Snape seems fairly obvious to me and I wouldn't see that as being a shock to either Rowling or her readers. I don't believe that Voldemort/Tom Riddle will die at least not in the literal sense of the word, but if she is going to kill him off I don't think that would have been a surprise or a change to her at all.



Updated On: 6/28/06 at 11:59 PM

[Atrias]

Posted: 6/28/06 at 12:09am

So I guess we should be asking ourselves, "Who do we *not* expect to die?". That might give us a clearer picture of who it might be.

[staticradar]

Posted: 6/28/06 at 12:48am

"Watch there be some weird twist, like Voldemort is really Harry's father, Neville is Harry's long lost brother, and Hermione and Snape are secret lovers, or something like that."

Well as for Voldemort and Harry being related JKR has shot that one down, I don't think anything like that would happen, too star wars and JKR is too original for that :)

I just want this to be over, but at the same time I don't. Is there anyway to know how everything ties together without meaning the end of the series?

[iHeartMyGeek]

Posted: 6/28/06 at 8:09am

Wow...I feel very un-obsessed with Harry Potter after reading all of everyone else's theories.

Let's face it--either Ron or Hermione has to die. It's got to happent o shwo the eternal bond of friendship yadda yadda yadda.

But what I don't understand is, how is she gonna fit ALL of this in the last book? Book 7 is gonna have to be longer than the Bible to fit all this stuff in. I mean, Harry still has to find a bunch of horcruxes, he still has to figure a ton of stuff out, all these people apparently have to die, and then he's got to have this rumble with Voldemort. How the hell is she going to fit all that into fewer pages than GoF?

A lot of people have said that J.K. Rowling wrote the last bookk before the first one and I just don't see that being possible. I mean, I'm a writer. SHe has done so much layering of so many different twists and sideplots and everything that I don't see how she could have done it. I do feel bad for her. SHe has a lot of pressure on her to finish these books and make them good. I just hope she can deliver on this last book.

Updated On: 6/28/06 at 08:09 AM

[staticradar]

Posted: 6/28/06 at 8:54am

She has had the last chapter of the last book written before she wrote the first and had every main plot point planned out from the beginning she has notebooks upon notebooks of back story on her characters and little things like that. She's planned this out well, but that doesn't mean her ideas haven't deviated. She's had some things change around as she starts writing, hence now saying she's killing off 2 more characters that she didn't intend to kill and giving one character she was going to kill a repreive. So we have to wait and see who it is.

She never said it wasn't going to be as long as GOF, she said it wasn't going to be as long as OOTP and possibly around or a little less then HBP, though I wouldn't mind if it was longer than OoTP! She has a lot of loose ends to tie up and honestly I don't think all of our questions will be answered.

Finding the horcruxes and the last battle will be the majority of what she will write and that can be done in one book, and interwoven in subplots and on the way through his journey he'll learn things about his past and about some of the things we have questions about (the portraits, the veil, ghosts etc, what's the deal with Lily's eyes, why did Voldemort want to spare Lily, etc...)

I've got complete and utter faith in JK and how she has this series planned and I'm sure it'll be amazing, whatever she does.

I honestly hope that none of the trio die, they would have to be able to see things through together and end up together in the end...it'd be heartbreaking if any of them died. Though it may happen. But I'm still holding out hope that none of the trio die, but one or more might get seriously injured and on the brink of death trying to save Harry.

There is so much speculation and theorizing going on in the HP community.

Does anyone listen to the HP podcasts like Pottercast and Mugglecast? I'm like obsessed with those haha and get a lot of interesting ideas from them and enjoy hearing there take on things.

[iHeartMyGeek]

Posted: 6/28/06 at 9:06am

*facepalm* I keep forgetting which is longer...GoF or OotP...how could I, I know...sorry, I meant OotP.

She must have had a lot of time to do all this, writing backstory for characters is no easy or short task. Her writing technique may not be one I'm terribly fond of (in one of the books, when ron said something, instead of just saying "Ron said something" she wrote "Ron ejaculated into the air." Yeah, I'd prefer just a simple "Ron said" thanks) but I do have to give her credit, her plot is more fantastic than mine will ever be.

[staticradar]

Posted: 6/28/06 at 9:14am

"Ejaculated into the air"? I don't remember that, lol, wow. Do you know what book and what version it was? (american, british etc) If it was the American it could be just translation because they do wierd things from the British to the American version.

[iHeartMyGeek]

Posted: 6/28/06 at 9:49am

It was definitely American and...I'm almost sure it was GoF.

[Patronus]

Posted: 6/28/06 at 9:55am

That's false. She didn't write "Ron ejaculated into the air."

The line is from OotP and it's Chapter 12, page 242 in the US version:

--
"Using defensive spells?" Professor Umbridge repeated with a little laugh. "Why, I can't imagine any situation arising in my classroom that would require you to use a defensive spell, Miss Granger. You surely aren't expecting to be attacked during class?"

"We're not going to use magic?" Ron ejaculated loudly.
--

The UK version actually reads (Pg. 218 ):
"We're not going to use magic?" Ron exclaimed loudly.

Who knows the reason for the change, but the word ejaculate does have multiple meanings and it's being used properly here so it's basically irrelevant.


Updated On: 6/28/06 at 09:55 AM

[staticradar]

Posted: 6/28/06 at 9:56am

it seems weird they wouldn't use exclaimed in the American books, since that's more common than ejaculated loudly, we think of ejucaulating as something a little differently lol

[iHeartMyGeek]

Posted: 6/28/06 at 10:00am

I'm pretty sure that happened once before that as well, becuase i remember havving this conversation with my friend before OotP came out.

[Patronus]

Posted: 6/28/06 at 10:10am

Nope. The only other time the word has entered the series is during HBP on page 627 in the US version.

--
"Snape!" ejaculated Slughorn, who looked the most shaken, pale and sweating. "Snape! I taught him! I thought I knew him!"
--

After doing several searches through files, search engines and the lexicon, there is no evidence of the word being used prior to OotP.

[staticradar]

Posted: 6/28/06 at 10:13am

Patronus you're good

I still think it's a weird way to translate it and not use exclaimed in the American books...hmmm I'll never get these publishers with some of the changes they have made.

[Patronus]

Posted: 6/28/06 at 10:16am

Thanks, staticradar.

It's the byproduct of moving beyond the "reading" of the books into the realm of "study". Geekdom occasionally has its perks.

[staticradar]

Posted: 6/28/06 at 10:33am

Haha I'm now in the analyzing phase when I reread them, and I tend to revist a book every month at least, been revisiting OoTP lately trying to see if I can pick up a few things in it. They are amazing books and are ones that you can read over and over without getting bored of them, you always notice things you never noticed before or understand something a bit better.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 6/28/06 at 11:39am

How much time do you all think Harry will be spending at Hogwarts in this book? The more important question, I suppose, is will Hogwarts even open? That was left somewhat in doubt at the end of book 6.

I suspect that it will, with a new Headmistress. Hopefully, Professor McGonagall (who has always been my favorite character in the series) will be taking the reigns. I think that Harry will use Hogwarts as sort of a base of operations. He won't be attending school there, but, as Dumbledore always told him, "You have friends here, Harry." It's also the only place (besides 112 Grimmauld Place) where he is somewhat safe. Although it's unclear if his safety was only because Dumbledore was there or not. So anyway, my thought is that he'll spend some time there, gathering information, and getting advice.

What about the role of Ron, Hermione, and Ginny? At the end of book 6, Harry insisted this was something he had to do alone (because he didn't want to put his friends in danger), but Ron and Hermione seemed to shoot that idea down. Do you expect the gang will stick together, as they always have, or will Harry leave them behind? I have this vision of them all sticking together again.

[spiderdj82]

Posted: 6/28/06 at 11:58am

I don't think it will take place at Hogwarts at all. Remember at the end of the last book, Harry, Ron, and Hermoine leave the funeral and walk to their destiny. If Ron and Hermoine die I will cry so hard (Yes, I am *THAT* attatched. haha). Harry has gone through so much crap and had so many people he loved die . . . let him at least keep his friends. And anjilly, I LOVE your theory about Voldemort turning into a muggle instead of literally dying. Wow . . . you and Stephen have some deep discussions about this.

[sweetestsiren]

Posted: 6/28/06 at 12:10pm

This is so interesting! I like the idea that Voldemort will be stripped of his powers rather than killed because it seems fitting, but is that really worse than death to him? Of course, his ambition is to rule the world and he wouldn't be able to do that without magic, but I think that he'd rather be living in any form, even magicless, than dead. And that's even despite his abhorrence for Muggles. Plus, without magic, he'd end up dying anyway. I mean, I do think that he will meet Dumbledore's "fate worse than death" end, but I'm not convinced that that's it.