Dumbledore's Death (TBAY) (WAS Dumbledore's dispensibility)

[marinafrants]

No: HPFGUIDX 39590

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "cindysphynx" <cindysphynx at c...> wrote:
> Who says Dumbledore's death has to be violent?  *Who* says 
> Dumbledore's death has to be *violent*!?!  Is that the question?  
> 
> Bangers, that's who!  ;-)

The Dead Flamingo Bar is quiet and empty this time of day.  The 
chairs are piled upside down on the tables.  The neon Butterbeer 
sign in the window is turned off.  The only occupant is a slender 
young man with long eyelashes, who's admiring his own reflection in 
the mirrored bar top as he sips on a dry martini.  The squeak of the 
door swinging open makes him look up.

"Hello, George."

"Marina!"  George hops off his bar stool, smiling happily.  His legs 
wobble a little, and he has to put his glass down quickly and catch 
himself against the bar.  "Darling!  Long time no see!"

Marina frowns disapprovingly.  "Really, George.  Martinis at 9:30 in 
the morning?"

He arches one flirtatious eyebrow.  "And your point is?"

"Never mind."  Marina refuses to be sidetracked.  "Look, George, I 
need you to stop being merely decorative and start being useful for 
a change.  People have been speculating about Dumbledore's death--"

"Now, Marina.  You know perfectly well I'm a Snape specialist.  I 
don't see why you keep trying to drag me into conversations about 
other characters."

"But they're claiming his death must be Bangy!  I figured since 
you're so anti-Bang--"

"Forget it."  George crosses his arms over his chest, looking 
determined. "I will not be dragged into non-Snape conversations.  
Unlike you, I still have a life."

"Yeah, sucking down martinis in empty bars at 9:30 in the the 
morning."

"I won't do it."

"But George, look what Cindy says!"

> Besides, canon *requires* that Dumbledore suffer a mind-blowing, 
> violent death.  There's a pattern in the wizarding world as to how 
> people die, you know. 

George frowns. "I don't care.  I will not point out that JKR thrives 
on setting up apparent patterns, only to break them up when they 
become too predictable."

Marina perks up immediately.  "Why, you do have a point there, 
George.  After the first two books, I was sure that each book would 
end with a Harry-Voldemort confrontation, but that didn't happen in 
PoA, did it?"

"No.  And I'm not talking about it."

"And after Harry and Ron missed the Sorting in CoS and PoA, I was 
sure that they'd miss it every time from now on, so that JKR would 
never have to write more than one Sorting Hat song.  But in GoF they 
made it to the feast just fine, complete with new song."

"Hmph."

"And Remus Lupin breaks the pattern of DADA teachers being revealed 
as evil at the end of each book.  This is brilliant, George!  
Dumbledore *must* die a natural death, simply because it would break 
such a long-standing and well-established pattern.  Everyone expects 
him to go down fighting, but Jo never does give us what we expect, 
does she?"

"I'm not saying a word."

"Fine, be that way.  But what about this?"

Cindy:
> In the face of all of that, JKR is planning a death for Dumbledore 
> from natural causes?  He's going to slowly deteriorate, scribbling 
> out his will whereby he carefully decides who should get his 
> Pensieve?  I can't get that scene to Bang.  Not even a little bit.

"Not interested."  George rolls his eyes.  "I will not waste any of 
my time explaining that Bangs are nothing but cheap thrills.  *True* 
emotional impact doesn't come from fights and explosions and 
violence.  I will not remind anyone that the big exciting climax of 
PoA consisted of a bunch of guys standing in a room yelling 
exposition at each other -- yet it's one of the most memorable and 
oft-discussed passages in all the books."

"Another good point."  Marina nods happily.  "After all, what do 
people remember most about Cedric Diggory's death?  Is it Wormtail 
casting AK?  No.  It's Voldemort coldly hissing 'Kill the spare.'  
That one line of dialogue has more impact than a hundred catwalk 
fights over rivers of lava.  Jo understands this.  Jo does not do 
cheap thrills."

George has finished his martini while Marina was talking, and is now 
mixing himself another one.  "Besides," he mutters as he places the 
olive just so, "one must consider irony.  And helplessness.  What 
would be more ironic than Dumbledore, one of the most powerful 
wizards of all time, being brought down by old age just when his 
power is most needed?  What could make Harry feel more helpless?  
You can't fight natural causes.  You can't even try.  You can't even 
glare at them defiantly and call them insulting names.  It would be 
the perfect illustration that magic can't solve everything."

"It would also be FLINT-proof," Marina points out.  "Let's face it, 
any battle-related death for Dumbledore would have us nitpickers out 
in droves.  We'd be sitting here saying things like "Why didn't he 
Apparate out?' or 'None of this would've happened if he'd worn 
Harry's Invisibility Cloak' or 'Couldn't Phoenix tears have healed 
him?'  But you can't nitpick a natural death.  If it's gonna happen, 
it's gonna happen.  *And* you can make it as sudden and traumatic, 
or as slaw and painfully drawn-out as it needs to be.  It's a very 
flexible plot device"

"I won't even get started on precedents in other texts," George 
continues.  He's starting to warm to his subject.  His face is 
flushing with excitement (or maybe gin).  "Remember Luke Skywalker 
coming back to complete his Jedi training and finding Yoda dying of -
- you guessed it -- old age?  I was with you in that movie theater, 
Marina, and let me tell you, no one in the audience was saying "Hey, 
where's the big space battle" during that scene.  No one was 
complaining that since Obi-Wan Kenobi died a violent death, Yoda 
must have one too.  There wasn't a dry eye in the house, I tell you!"

"But you're not talking about any of it," Marina says quickly.  She 
really doesn't want George to launch into a rant on HP-SW parallels; 
chances are he wouldn't shut up for a week.  "Because it's not Snape-
related."

"That's right."  George sits back down and sips his latest 
drink.  "Now go away.  Come back when you've got a decent Snape 
discussion going."

"No problem, George.  Thanks."  Marina kisses the young man on the 
cheek, pats his butt, and leaves the bar.

Marina
rusalka at ix.netcom.com