So much for spoilers

[Laura]

No: HPFGUIDX 56090

Dicentra spectabilis wrote:
> > >
I found this on Book Magazine online 
(http://www.bookmagazine.com/archive/issue10/potter.shtml)
It was written in May/June 2000, right before the release of GoF.  At 
the end of the article there are a bunch of "spoilers."  Check these 
out:
> > >

Devika wrote:
> > > 
This is great!  I've always thought that we should make a record of 
all of the rumors and serious speculation about OoP so that we can 
check it afterwards to see how much of it actually came true the way 
we thought it would.  At the very least, I think it would be 
entertaining.  I had forgotten a lot of the speculation for GoF, so 
I'm glad you found this.
> > >

Me:  You've just completely changed my mind. =)  Before I couldn't 
resist a peak at some of the OotP spoilers and was so mad at myself 
afterwards.  Now I'm going to go find them and make a list. =)


> > >
* The first truly evil female character makes her debut.
> > > 

I think that might be a misprint or an exaggeration or just a plain 
old mistake.  Obviously, we're all thinking of a number of 
pssobilities.  I seriously doubt the credibility of that if we aren't 
given a view of just *how* evil this evil female is, since no one can 
say for sure who it is.  It seems rather weak that we're told 
that "one of the female characters introduced in GoF is truly evil." 
and then not given a clearly evil character.  If they're talking 
about Mrs. Lestrange, well, she had a very small part in GoF, didn't 
she?  I would bet she has a pretty large role in the series as a 
whole, but only JKR knows that for sure, and I don't think she wrote 
these spoilers.  So it seems odd that they mentioned such a small 
part...oh well, I'm done rambling. =)

> > >
* There will be a number of deaths, including that of one character 
readers have grown to love. Rowling has said Voldemort will be shown 
not as a mere pantomime villain, but as a truly evil entity. Only by 
the killing of someone that readers care about, she says, does one 
get a sense of how evil it is to extinguish a human life.*  
> > > 

As others have said, Cedric, Bertha, Frank, Crouch Sr.  That's 4 
deaths.  And the one we have grown to love is Cedric.  He's a minor 
character in the first 3 novels, but I think we grow to love him 
*within* GoF.  He's rather friendly, he is bothered by his dad's 
extreme pride/rudeness towards Harry, he helps Harry with the Egg 
Clue, and by the end of the book I think we see him as a really nice, 
really decent guy.  He argues with Harry for a full page about who 
should take the Triwizard Cup.  He tells Harry that he (Harry) 
deserves it more than he (Cedric) does.  

< < <
But Cedric didn't move.  He merely stood there, looking at Harry.  
Then he turned to stare at the cup.  Harry saw the longing expression 
on his face in its golden light. 

<snip nearly a page of Cedric trying to convince Harry to take the 
cup>

He stepped over the spider's legs to join Harry, who stared at him.  
Cedric was serious.  He was walking away from the sort of glory 
Hufflepuff House hadn't seen in centuries.  

"Go on," Cedric said.  He looked as though this was costing him every 
once of resolution he had, but his face was set, his arms were 
folded, he seemed decided.
< < < GoF, Chapter 31: The Third Task, p.632-634 US paperback edition)

I know that made me like the guy a whole lot more.  Very noble.  
Reading his death hurts.  Take a step back from all the calculating 
we do here, all the speculation and analyzing.  And read it as just a 
story.  The kid was killed.  Just because he sort of got in the way.

While we're on the topic, do the same thing with PS.  I hadn't read 
it in a long time, and I went back to read it just after finishing 
GoF and reading all about LV and realizing just how evil he is.  (I 
tend to read them in random order, whichever I feel like reading at 
the time)  Just read the first chapter.  About Lily and James Potter 
being killed.  The first time I read the book, I sort of glossed over 
it.  You know, the classic Rohald Dahl move of an orphan.  This time 
it brought me almost to tears.

-Laura