TBAY: Bill is Ever So Dead with DIMINISHED CAPACITIY (was: Lupin is Ever so Dead

[errolowl]

No: HPFGUIDX 55155




I slouched under my bulky coat, my wide brimmed hat doing its best to 
keep the rain off me even as I eased into the first hospitable 
looking place in that desolate street. As taverns go it was not 
particularly splendid, but then, it did get me out of the cold
 
Besides, who was I to quarrel when there was a drink to be had. The 
storm had caught me unawares. Hurricane Jo was not expected for some 
time yet, but sundry summary showers were already making life 
difficult.

 A deafening roar of sound hit me as I paused to get my bearings, and 
it occurred to me that getting a drink here might be harder than 
expected. The lone bartender was engulfed in a crowd of boisterous, 
fierce looking women ...The Royal George Tavern...I was guessing that 
was George.....not a bad looking sap...and quite definitely the only 
other male in the room. And scurrying to fill glasses at the bar 
amidst assorted gasps of
 "...oh not Lupin!"...."It has to be Hagrid"
...you're just making excuses...Of course, He's ever so
evil...I`d rather he *died*..."

I've always held that I had a high developed sense of self 
preservation refined through a highly misspent youth, but right then 
the lure of a scotch on the rocks clouded my judgment and I found 
myself edging my way toward the bar. At any other time I would have 
prudently fled from such a crowd-- one never won an argument with 
women anyway --nor, apparently, could you get the bartender away 
either. Not his fault I'm sure for he couldn't even see me
beyond a large contraption spewing out shiny little discs. The discs 
found me however, an energetic couple landing on my hat brim, and I 
gasped.

"DIMINISHED CAPACITIES"

Oh my God! Did people actually go around wearing badges like these 
then? And if you wore it on your hat, did that suggest your state of 
mind?! I think Ron had the better option – his just said SPEW. My 
random thoughts were interrupted by a loud protest from beside me

"You don't think there can ever be too much carnage, do you Captain?" 

An impressive figure wearing sea captain stripes 
answered. "Theoretically, I suppose it's possible, but really, do you 
really think we're looking at that. The problem ahead will be that 
JKR will be too paring with her carnage. Look at her track record. 
All those people miraculously spared in CoS. That grand finale was a 
bit goofy, if you ask me. And in GoF, the great and painful death 
turned out to be Cedric Diggory. The series needs blood and carnage, 
to be taken seriously, and we FEATHERBOAS are just acknowledging the 
fact. She runs no danger of desensitizing us to death, as it stands 
right now."

"But.. but.." interrupted another "You just proved my point. JKR 
herself doesn't think that too many Bangs are a good dramatic 
policy. "DIMINISHED CAPACITY is a Big Bang theory. Why, under Steady 
State, it would fall apart. DC insists that Bangs are important. So 
important, in fact, that it is vital to space them and not over-
indulge in them, otherwise they become less Bangy, and we end up with 
a Steady State!"

I decided that the only way I was going to get any attention ..or a 
drink...around here was to make myself heard. "I think DIMINISHED 
CAPACITIES works quite well as far as it goes, though I must submit 
your badges are awful."

Half a dozen heads turned to look at me and I could see them taking a 
quick inventory of me. Finally the person who had been manning the 
badge making machine took a tentative step forward. "Err, I'm 
Abigail.. you don't like my badges? But....but they explain the 
acronym and everything!"

I tried out my most charming smile. "Oh, I've nothing against
the badges really...just, err... have you ever thought of a logo 
instead of an acronym?"

By now, all the people at the bar were looking at me as if I was 
crazy. Having opened my mouth, I was forced to blundered on "...I
agree that too many deaths will desensitize people to later deaths. 
In fact I'll go further and say that by extension, too many main 
characters dying early will numb people to main characters dying in 
the grand finale. And admit it – the grand finale is the biggest
bang JKR is working toward. The deaths have to be fewer, paced out 
better, and gradually build up to a crescendo. Both Lupin and Hagrid 
are too *close* to Harry for JKR to spring that on us yet.
Hagrid's death would bring almost as much soul searching from
Harry as Ron's death would –don't you think that after so
much
emotion, any future deaths will seem repetitious and a tad tedious? 
Harry would go through the same degree of agony over and over
again"

That's kind of similar to what I was saying, Abigail intervened 
cautiously. "If it happens once, it's devastating. If it happens 
twice, we're very distraught. By the third time, we're so paranoid 
and, yes, desensitized, that we can't work up the emotion to care."

Encouraged by that I whipped off my hat and moved closer to the bar. 
"Uh,uh. I'd say we're dealing with DIMINISHED CAPACITIES
with a Progression spin to it. And our Jo frequently does that to 
build up tension. Look at the victims in CoS for example - a cat 
they'd all love to kick, an annoying if good at heart tag along,
a classmate and a ghost Harry considers a friend, a prefect 
(connected via Percy) and one of his best friends. That's a 
progression of importance to Harry all right. Oh, and though Ginny 
might not be more important than Hermione, the added grimness lay in 
that she's most probably dead, even beyond petrified.

Applying the progression to the deaths we've had to personally
deal with so far. 

1.The potters – but we never knew them, nor saw them die, but the 
form the basis of our introduction to dealing with death.
2.Quirrel – Enemy. A weak, unsympathetic character, no
description of the death
3.Riddle – Enemy. A more sympathetic character through the book,
but eventually the villain – and its only his memory that dies.
Non-horrific description of `death'
4.Buckbeak – Non Human. A creature they get attached to (more
because of Hagrid), a more deliberate buildup of the execution-that-
did-not-happen
5.Frank Bryce – a sympathetic character we are barely introduce
to dies instantaneously, Harry doesn't even know him
6.Cedric – a sympathetic character, a competitor and acquaintance
of Harry, dies instantaneously in Harry's presence

Projecting:
7.Person X – a sympathetic character, much better known to Harry, 
some one he looks up to or considers to definitely be on his side, 
but not his inner circle, death might be described
8.Person Y –  some one on the inner circle, though not the
immediate inner circle, who's death will devastate Harry. A
prominent secondary character.
9.Person Z – One of the Trio, or very very close.


So no, I don't think the OotP death will be a "BIG" death
in the sense of a primary character or even a prominent secondary 
character dying. JKR is overly sensitive to death – she cried
over Cedric for goodness sake! So the statement that it's a
"Bad death" doesn't necessarily mean a prominent one.
I'm not counting the "Enemy" section though – Barty
Jr's death has made it open season on them all, and the readers
are 
not going to mourn all that much." 

"Lupin's storyline has been resolved." Abigail insists. "Can you 
point out a Lupin-related arc, apart from the ongoing intolerance- 
against-werewolves, that remains open? I think it's going to be 
Lupin."

Elieen nodded- "I've known Lupin's going to die since his
appearance in PoA. 
 I've been hoping it won't be a Book V death, 
that he'd linger on a little, but Abigail's arguments are oh-so-
persuasive in that direction." Eileen pauses. "I rather agree that 
JKR can't push all the deaths to the last books, and Lupin is the 
only person I see who can be quickly killed off."

I had to shake my head "But that's because you foresee SO
many deaths in the near future my dear--a bit Trelawnesque if I might 
say so. I contend that there are only three more attention worthy, 
good guy deaths. And in that case, there's still time for a 
progression. There's no rush to kill Lupin, unless he's ever
so evil, in which case he doesn't count in the same way."


"I'll tell you when he dies." Pippin snapped "Lupin's going to be 
around through Book 7. Which only makes sense. Your villain has to 
die in the last ditch." 

This was greeted by silence so I cleared my throat and hurried on:

"So, if anyone buys my progression, who are the probable
candidates for X? IMO Both Hagrid and Lupin count under candidate Y, 
as do the twins. Dumbledore and Sirius along with the trio might 
compete for candidate Z. They'd be reserved for books 6 & 7.

"Well, even then" a voice interrupted "there are sooo
many characters that fit the requirements of candidate X –
there's Colin and Percy and Cho and McGonagall, even Neville.. or
how about Snape?"

"Ah, but none of them are as perfectly set up as our dear Bill.
What function does Bill play in the narrative? He's just one of 
many "elder brother' figures--talk about redundancy and
usurped roles. And his make up is startling similar to Cedric – 
excellent student, straightforward, handsome and well liked – and
has been conspicuously pushed into the forefront of activity.
He's someone liked and respected by Harry, and the first of
Harry's generation to actually qualify for being on the
battlefront. Besides there are too many Weasleys – one definitely
has 
to go.(Ah! I can just hear a snide remark from Draco...) And Bill can 
definitely prove to be a loyal friend beyond anything Harry expects. 


Why bring Bill into the story so much in GoF? He practically took a 
year off from Gringotts – or had an awful lot of traveling to do
just to support Harry. Molly turning up at the tasks in lieu of 
Harry's family is understandable, but why not Arthur along with her? 
He's around in England isn't he? Or why not Charlie who's
also over from Romania around the time of the tasks? 
Nope, it had to be Bill, untiringly dragged in all the way from 
Egypt. Smacks of a conscious agenda to me!!

Marina has another approach: "Think back to every action movie
you've ever seen. How can you tell when a character is going to die?"

There's a long silence while everyone ponders the question. 
"When something good is about to happen to them?" ventures Cindy 
after a while.

"Exactly!" Marina bangs the table so hard that everyone's glasses 
jump. "When that veteran cop talks about retiring at the end of the 
case; when the baby-faced rookie soldier reads that letter from his 
pretty fiance back in Iowa; when that hard-bitten commando waxes 
poetic about the Montana ranch where he's going to settle down once 
the mission is over -- that's when you stamp 'Dead Meat' on the 
character's forehead."

I grined cheerfully." I know you're using that as an argument
against Hagrid, Mariana--and you believe that happy things don't
seem to be on the cards for Lupin. But don't you agree that
Bill's just about ripe for romance and settling down? What say we 
hear more about his dreams and aspirations in OotP? After all,
it's a fact well established that a single young man with a good
job must be in search of a wife...

So Nope, Its not going to be Lupin or Hagrid yet – OotP is
Bill's stage....oh, and George, could I have a scotch on the rocks
please?"

Errol