New Question: You're JKR's editor!

[darrin_burnett]

No: HPFGUIDX 72974

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "surfurgurl627" 
<surfurgurl627 at y...> wrote:
> I agree with all the suggested edits except for Tonks- she is cool.
> But my biggest disappointment- after waiting throughout the entire
> book for Dumbledore to tell Harry everything- there was no 
explanation
> for why Voldemort had to kill James Potter but did not need to kill
> Lily. I assumed there was significance to this- but nothing. Can
> anyone suggest a rationale? I would hate to think JKR just forgot 
that
> issue.


All I can give you is my opinion, which is that it isn't all that 
big an issue.

The only source we have for the idea that Lily didn't need to die is 
from Voldemort himself, hardly trustworthy. And he gave that 
information, "she needn't have died" when he was trying to get Harry 
to give up the Philosopher's Stone.

I keep coming back to this and, so far as I know, it hasn't been 
justified sufficiently to keep me from doing so -- had V-Mort really 
wanted to spare Lily, he could have spared Lily. I can think of 
several ways just off the top of my head, starting with the Body 
Bind. There are also those nifty chains Snape used on Lupin and 
Sirius.

As for why he HAD to kill James? I still think it could be just as 
simple as "James was in the way."

Darrin