Lupin fans and possible death predictions

[caliburncy at yahoo.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 27822

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., retaksbor at h... wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at y..., caliburncy at y... wrote:
> > Well, I don't know that the people who predict Lupin will die 
> > think so because they assume he is "expendable".  There are three 
> > kinds of people who die in stories:
> > 
> > 1) Bad guys ("Expendable" or prominent character; it doesn't 
> > really matter)
> > 2) "Expendable" good guys
> > 3) Prominent character good guys
> > 
> 
> Doesn't that cover everybody in the novel?
> In the series, putting aside what the reader thinks,in the end, you 
> are either a deatheater or not a deatheater.  You are either good 
> or bad.  In each category you are either prominant or 
> "expendable."  Who doesn't this classification people who could 
> die in this story cover (other than muggles, who would not at all 
> be missed by the reader)?

Umm, yes, that does cover everybody.  It was supposed to.  *Anyone* 
CAN die in a novel, that was not the point of that e-mail, to show who 
might or might not.  The purpose of those categories was to illustrate 
the different ways that those kinds of deaths affect the reader, in 
response to Cindy's complaint that she thought people viewed Lupin as 
"expendable".  (It makes more sense if you read the paragraphs after 
the categories.)

For example, the reader rarely cares if a category 1 character dies.  
Nor do they care much when a category 2 character dies.  Usually the 
purpose of a category 2 character is that someone (i.e. Joe Security 
Guard, who had a two minute walk-on part before his death) had to die 
to illustrate the presence of a danger, but the author did not want to 
make this a main character for obvious reasons.  This is what 
"expendable" means in regards to character deaths, so I was pointing 
out that Lupin does not fit this category.  The reason some people 
think his death would be a powerful story-telling tool is not because 
he is expendable (category 2), but because he is NOT, and therefore 
his death would be an emotionally-moving scene (which puts him in 
category 3).

That was all.  Nothing profound, I was just making a minor point of 
order.  That was the point of the categories.  It was not a list of 
criteria or categories for who it makes the most sense to predict 
would die.  I suppose I could make one of those, but that's another 
question entirely.

-Luke, who was very surprised to have to revisit one of his posts of 
old