The Deaths of Beloved Characters, and related subjects

[catherine at cator-manor.demon.co.uk]

No: HPFGUIDX 23648

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., meboriqua at a... wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Eric Oppen" <oppen at c...> wrote:
> 
> > One thing that kind of bothered me about the death of Cedric 
Diggory 
> in GoF was that it didn't have the impact on me that the death of a 
> character we'd gotten to know well through the first three books 
would 
> have had.>
Jenny wrote:  <snip many comments which I agree with, particularly:
I think Cedric's death was set up to be as tragic as it 
> possibly could...   
> Cedric's death is not an act of vengeance or defense.  It is simply 
> killing to kill - "Kill the spare".  Cedric was hardly seen as a 
> person to Voldemort.  He was just a pebble in the path to be kicked 
to 
> the side.  I thought that was pretty chilling.
In fact, Cedric's death is so tragic because of the 
> randomness of it, and his death is just the start.  

I so agree with this.  I have said many times before that this is one 
of the most horrific death scenes I have ever read, and that the 
sentence "Kill the spare" sends shivers down my spine.  This scene 
for me was an amazing bit of writing.  Many people have commented on 
this list that Voldemort cannot be truly taken seriously and that he 
is almost a caricature of an evil character.  I have to agree with 
this in part, because Voldemort is not a rounded character - he is 
depicted as pure evil without any redeeming features - this makes him 
pretty one-dimensional -  but the one thing which did make me think 
that Voldemort had to be taken seriously was his casual disregard of 
another's life.  There are not many instances when a death occurs in 
a book like this - totally without provocation, without need, just 
for the hell of it.  The fact that it was Cedric, and that we 
supposedly don't have as much invested in him as in other characters, 
for me made it much worse, as I felt that I had sold him short in 
some way.  I also feel that if the person to die had been someone we 
had loved more, the impact would have been lesssened, because it was 
what we were expecting.  

I disagree with Eric's comments that perhaps it should have been 
Neville who should have died.  I feel that JKR is building Neville up 
to something - he has several very telling scenes in each book which 
develop his character further, and I don't think that this has come 
to an end yet.  Conversely, after the initial shock, it felt natural 
that it should be Cedric (if anyone) who should die.  I felt that JKR 
had drawn Cedric out as much as she felt necessary.  She shows the 
Hufflepuffs in a very strong light through his characterisation.  He 
is not a caricature of a hero, which is how Harry initially sees 
him.  He is not egotistical, he is brave, hardworking, fair and very, 
very honourable.  I hate the comment that Crouch/Moody makes about 
how the best people are the easiest to manipulate - it makes Cedric 
into a pawn, and he is worth a lot more than that.


I have a hypothetical question.  If Harry had refused to take the 
cup, and Cedric had been forced into taking it, what would 
Crouch/Moody have done to resolve the situation?

Catherine