Kill Harry?

[magpie1112 at yahoo.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 24852

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., Bente13 at p... wrote:
> I don't think Harry will die in the books. Partly because I seem to 
> remember JKR saying something to that effect once (although I could 
> be wrong) but more importantly because it doesn't go along with the 
> tenor and theme of the books. They are childrens books, whether JKR 
> intended them as such when she wrote them or not (and I'm sure she 
> did, in one sense of the word at least; they're *about* children). 
> The fact that they appeal so strongly to adults too, is a fluke and 
a 
> result of good writing, but they're published and written for kids. 
> Kids reading these books want and expect Harry to triumph over 
> evil/Voldemort, not to die fighting him, even if Voldemort dies, 
too. 
> Where's the triumph in that? As adults, we can rationalize that 
> sometimes such a sacrifice is necessary (as indeed does Harry), but 
> in a child's mind, having him actually die is cheating. It would 
> violate the first rule of writing: give the reader the payoff. If 
> Harry isn't left standing at the end, so to speak, I for one will 
> feel that the whole series has been for naught.
> 
> Bente


I've always held on to the hope that JKR won't kill Harry because 
these stories started out as stories she told to her daughter.  And 
you'd want to tell positive, uplifting stories to your own kids, 
right?