Should Harry Potter die?

[Penny & Bryce Linsenmayer]

No: HPFGUIDX 2171

Hi --

eggplant88 at hotmail.com wrote:

> J K Rowling can't just come right out and say that it would be
> absolutely impossible to write an 8'th book in the series because
> then she'd be giving the entire game away, but in a recent biography
> of her by Marc Shapiro she comes about as close as you can get to
> saying that Harry Potter will die at the end of book 7 without
> actually saying so.

Well . . . .I do agree with you that she certainly can't say anything
definitive.  However, because she's not being definite does not mean
that Harry will die.  I think she's joked about it, and she sure wants
to keep the mystery going.  There are certain things she could say that
*would* indicate Harry will likely die or that *would* indicate that she
just flat-out has no interest in continuing the series past Book 7.
But, she really hasn't said any of those things.  My personal take on it
is that she planned out 7 books and hasn't had the time or energy to
truly focus on whether she'd have interest in writing more (or writing
prequels as someone suggested).  So, she's tried to keep her options
reasonably open but at the same time, avoid leaving her fans with any
expectations that the books might continue.

As for the Shapiro book -- it's not worth the paper it's printed on.
For starters, it's an *unauthorized* biography -- these are *never*
reliable.  But, even if you discount that huge initial strike against it
& buy it anyway (as I did), anyone who knows anything about JKR is
immediately appalled.  Not only is it replete with typos & grammatical
errors (and it's geared for the 9-12 yr old set in any case), but it's
also full of internal inconsistencies & flat-out mistakes.  These
inconsistencies & errors are the type of things that the author should
never have missed if he'd been careful & cared about his subject.  But,
even if *he* wasn't taking the time to do a good job, any editor worth
his/her salt should have caught the more glaring errors.  He couldn't
even be bothered to get the birthdate of his subject correct so . . . .
the end result is I sure wouldn't trust a word this book says.  You're
far better off reading the interviews that he based the book on (and the
others that have come out since the book was released) -- they're better
written & tell a consistent tale.

> I stand by my prediction, poor Harry will not live past his 19'th
> birthday.

Nah!  As someone else suggested, he'll be battered & bruised & war-weary
(and will have suffered some losses along the way), but he'll still be
standing when the series ends I imagine.

Penny



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