The Bull's Eye on Hermione's Back (WAS Doomed, they're doomed! [)

[sladjanast]

No: HPFGUIDX 46299

> --- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Cindy C." <cindysphinx at c...> wrote:

> > Here's the sad tale of woe that points to Hermione as dying a 
> > miserable and premature death in OoP, all IMHO, of course.
> > First up, JKR is really beating the "horrible to write" drum, 
isn't 
> > she?  At one point she might have even said writing this death 
> > would "crucify" her.  She says she's not enjoying it at all.  So 
> > whoever bites the bullet in OoP has to be *Big!*
> > 
> > But JKR gave us some other clues, didn't she?  She first 
mentioned 
> > this bit about "horrible to write" quite a long time ago.  She 
has 
> > to be aware that lots of folks are betting on Dumbledore or 
> Hagrid.  
> > She knows what that Hagrid actor said about his contract.  Yet 
> there 
> > she was just this week, telling some reporter again how oh-so-
> > horrible the death would be...
 
Then she writes:
 
> > Look at that!  JKR *volunteered* that whole bit about the bad 
> > death.  She didn't have to say that, now did she?  It's like she 
> > couldn't wait to repeat the bit about the horrible death.  Oh, 
JKR 
> > is sitting in her mansion, laughing her head off that no one has 
> > come close to figuring out what she has in mind.  If we've all 
> > guessed it correctly in Dumbledore or Hagrid, I'd expect JKR to 
> back 
> > off a bit or stay mum about the death.  So that means to me that 
> the 
> > Hagrid/Dumbledore consensus is way off.
 
 
I have to say a few things here:
 
First and foremost, while I do think there is always some kind of 
interaction or even a relationship between writers and their 
readers, I cannot imagine such thing as a writer who is aware of what 
the readers expect and therefore writes the exact opposite or 
whatever is the furthest from the general expectations, just to be 
able to say 'There, I win, you lose'. I somehow cannot imagine JKR 
writing what she thinks will come as the greatest surprise because of 
this little game some readers play with her, in their minds only, 
I 'm afraid, the game where they compete how to best predict what 
will happen while at the same time losing some finer points of the 
book,the author, the literature, if you will. I also recall JKR 
saying that the story, the whole story, has been in her head from the 
very beginning and that she feels strongly it has to be told a 
certain way and will not be changed along the way for the sake of her 
readers wishes or for the sake of contradicting their guesses for 
that matter. This is what I find to be one of JKR's finest traits as 
a writer, the fact that she is here to tell her story which, 
therefore, has a deeper meaning than just cheap twists, unexpected 
events, little suspected turns etc. And does she (JKR) spends her 
time reading through the most fantastic theories proposed here and 
probably elsewhere so that she could trick us all? Surely, that 
would explain the postponing of the new book, but still? And, surely, 
this horrible death cannot be JKR's tweaking, it must have been there 
from the very beginning, in the writer's original plan? So, if it is 
Hermione, it is not becouse the readers, or rather the list 
members,least expect it, is it?

Cindy also writes:  
 
>I mean, if I were JKR and I had established the 
> > lynchpin of Book 5 as the death of Hermione, I'd be a little 
> worried 
> > that no one seemed the least bit bothered by that potential 
> > outcome?  Oh, JKR is sweating now, rightfully worried that 
> > Hermione's death might not be met with the outpouring of grief 
JKR 
> > needs to make OoP work.  So she keeps hinting at the horrible 
death 
> > during interviews -- even when no one asks her about it.
> 
Let's see if I understand this correctly: she 'keeps hinting at the 
horrible death' so that we could be more upset when we find out it's 
Hermione, therfore JKR herself? So, JKR is going to kill Hermione 
to see if we, the readers, would be really, really sorry if JKR 
herself died? And, as she 'knows' that we probably would not feel the 
appropriate amount of pain, she advertises the death that really is 
her own, even when no one asks her about it just to ensure her 
share of the readers' grief? If anything of this turns out to be even 
remotely true I am afraid that will mean that one of my favourite 
writers is a plain psycho. However, let's all hope for the best.

For my part, I have been entirely obssesed with 'the gleam', I 
expect someone rather unhappy to die so that he/she can turn into a 
ghost and thus provide a 'learning link' to the world of those 
particular creatures but also that this particular death may not be 
the 'horrible death' about which I don't think at all. I also 
consider Dobby to be a special fan indeed and am not very happy 
with how Peter Pettigrew was demoted into such a horrid and complete 
villan as he spent almost three books being a regular pet and even 
bit Goyle/Crabb in SS in a regular pet-esque way, not very smooth 
in my opinion. I wish to read in detail about Dumbledor's brother and 
find out Bloody Baron's story, and most of all, hope to see a book 
called Hogwarts, A History when the HP series is over.

Sladjana