was Re: Interview w/ JKR [Sirius]

[curly_of_oster]

No: HPFGUIDX 72780

Sometime yesterday, the following exchange occurred:

Marianne said, re: Sirius' death:
> I was devastated for days, but that's because Sirius was my       
> favorite character.  So, the final two books have lost a lot of   
> their potential allure for me.

Dublina replied:
> > <Dublina> Are you for real?  It is probably getting to THE best 
> > bit - how could one character do this to your demise            
> > your 'potential allure'?>>

Now me:
First of all, I found the response "Are you for real?" to be, well, 
kind of rude.  Or maybe it's condescending?  In any case, it really 
rubbed me the wrong way.  Each of us has our own reasons for liking 
these books, and our own emotional reactions to them, and seeing 
such a dismissive response to someone's reactions bothered me.

That said, I must also say that I can very much understand what 
Marianne is saying, both on a more general level, and also because 
to some extent I feel the same way.  Oh, I like the series for a lot 
of reasons.  I like Harry and his friends, I like the whole HP 
universe, and I'm hooked on the story.  I'm definitely in this for 
the long haul.  But that said, my *strong emotional* involvement in 
the story *has* been tempered somewhat by the events of OOP.  Let me 
elaborate:

I only started reading the books a little over a year ago.  I 
finally decided to try Sorcerer's Stone, and brought it on a car 
trip I was taking with family.  I liked the book so much that when 
we got back home and stopped at the mall to pick up something for 
one of my nephews, I went to the bookstore and bought #2. <g>  Over 
the next couple of weeks I read CoS and PoA, and although it was 
coming out in paperback in several weeks, I didn't want to wait, and 
bought GoF in hardcover.  At one level, I was already hooked, 
already a fan, partway through the first book.  

However, what made me a major, serious fan--the kind of fan who goes 
online to see what the fandom is like, the kind of fan who searches 
out and subscribes to a list like HPfGU--was 'Prisoner of Azkaban.'  
And I know I'm not alone.  I know plenty of adult fans who *enjoyed* 
books 1 and 2, but who developed a deeper attachment to the series, 
who were well and truly hooked in, by learning more about the 
*adults* in the series, by learning more about Harry's father's 
generation, and by the introduction of two fascinating (to some of 
us <g>) new adult characters.  For anyone whose strong emotional 
attachment to the series (regardless of the fact that they liked the 
first two books and/or that they are still interested in the plot as 
a whole) was precipitated by, e.g., PoA, I think it is only natural 
that events of OOP might cause a 'loss of potential allure.'

On a related note, I think another part of the 'problem,' so to 
speak, is the length of time between books 4 and 5.  We all had so 
much time to think, analyze, interpret, and--perhaps most 
importantly in this context--speculate.  *I* only had one year, not 
three, and that was still enough time for me to get even more 
involved in the story and in the characters.  As fans, many of us 
gave a fair amount of mental energy to discussing not only what had 
already happened in the books, but also what *might* happen, how the 
story might proceed, and how the characters might develop.  I think 
this sort of speculation is fun, but I also think it helps to feed 
one's emotional attachment to one's favorite characters.  Then, if 
one has been waiting a year (or two, or three) to find out where 
character X's part of the story will go (and yes, I know this is 
*Harry's* story, not Sirius', or Snapes', or Dumbledore's, etc.), 
only to find out that that character isn't going anywhere anymore, 
it's a blow.

Think about it in terms of other characters.  If you love Snape, and 
can't wait to find out if he's really on the side of light or dark, 
how would you feel if he had been 'accidentally' killed in some 
sudden and arbitrary fashion, before we ever found out?  If Ron is 
your favorite, and you want to know if his Mirror of Erised vision 
comes true, and he dies suddenly in the next book, how will you feel?

I readily admit that Sirius was my favorite character.  I also 
readily admit that his death colored my reaction to OOP and that it 
is, at least for now, tempering both my emotional involvement in the 
series and that feeling I previously had of 'when is the next book 
coming????'  That said, there was a lot in OOP that I liked.  I 
still care about the story, about Harry & Co.  I *still* want to 
know why Dumbledore trusts Snape, whether Neville will have a 
greater role vis a vis the prophecy, how Harry's final confrontation 
with Voldemort will play out, etc. and so forth.  I'm still a fan.

Related to all of this, I liked what Kelly had to say on the subject:

"In a way, I can understand. I have read series where my favorite 
character was either killed or not always featured/present. It is 
harder to read when you know you won't be seeing that character. On 
the other hand, I still read and enjoy these books because I've 
already invested a lot of time into them and therefore have come to 
like other characters and want to see what happens next in the 
story. As I said, I liked Sirius quite a bit, but I also like Harry, 
Ron, Hermione, Snape, Lupin, Dumbledore, need I continue naming 
names? Every character in this series could die but Harry, and I'd
still read it to see how his final confrontation with Voldemort 
turned out.  Heck, I'd probably still read it if every character, 
including Harry, died but Neville, and it was down to him to take on 
Voldemort.

Yes, this series will not be the same without Sirius. Harry's world 
will not be the same now that he has known Sirius and lost him. I'm 
sure we will all cope somehow, though. It's just too bad we'll have 
to wait so long to see how Harry does cope with this loss."

Well, this has gone on rather longer than I might have expected.  
I'll stop now. <g>

Lisa