if Harry Survives

[Doriane]

No: HPFGUIDX 74090

Oryomai writes:

> I've said before that I don't *really* think Harry will live...I'm 
> more of a fan of "Harry-will-die-and-everyone-will-forget-about-
> him," but if he lives I think it's a dream.  He'll wake up and be 
> an eleven year old still under the stairs at the Dursleys, but 
> he'll know that he can survive them.  Or, perhaps he'll wake up and 
> find a letter coming through the mail slot for him.

Beth Replies:

> The dues-ex-machina plot device is total doo-doo - if Harry "wakes 
> up" and discovers that all seven books worth of adventures was just 
> a dream, I think JKR will have to go into hiding to avoid the lynch 
> mob that will be after her. I HATE (hate is not even a strong 
> enough word) - the "Alice in Wonderland" method - let's write 
> ourselves into a corner we can't dig our way out of, and then cheat 
> the readers by avoiding the responsibility of formulating an 
> original ending in lieu of a convenient, easy way out. 

Doriane adds :

I couldn't agree more with you, Beth ! The whole idea of it all being 
a dream gives me the creeps big time !

> Personally (I have said it before, but what the hey) I wouldn't 
> mind if Harry died the ultimate hero, saving the world from Evil 
> Lord Thingy. It almost has a religious feel to it - evil reigns, a 
> boy is "prophecised" to save be born and save the world, and is 
> later told that he is the chosen one, but must face the choice - 
> turn his back on destiny, or possibly die to save the world???

At first, before OoP, when we were just toying with the idea of the 
Prophecy, I liked this idea. But now that the Prophecy came out for 
sure, I've come to hate it. I just hate it when someone gets stuck 
between a rock and a hard place just for being born at the wrong 
time, in the wrong place, to the wrong people. That "sorry, Harry, 
but you've got to be a world hero or everyone is gonna die" theory is 
disgusting to me. Right from the first book, JKR has made it clear 
that she believes in free agency. True, choosing between his death 
and everyone else's death would still be using his free agency, but 
it's not much of a choice. So I do hope JKR will come up with 
something more interesting than that. Not just black or white, but 
something more grey, something where Harry can truly create his own 
destiny, not just choose between the two possibilities others created 
for him.
 
> At this point, I wouldn't be surprised to find out Lily was a 
> virgin 

Lol ! Well, a virgin I don't know, but for now she's still a saint. 
But James isn't anymore, at least, which was such a relief to me 
(even though I didn't want him to prove SUCH a jerk...)

> and Ron will eventually betray him :-P. 

Many people have already expressed this possibility.

And here goes for my theory : Harry survives, even though quite a few 
other people don't. He's completely overcome his acting-the-hero 
problem (not that he's got that much of it anyway), and dreams only 
of a quiet, peaceful life. So he goes away in the sunlight, with a 
nice uncomplicated girl by his side (Luna ?), and they go and live 
far away from civilization, have kids, take in Hagrid as a nanny, 
raise Thestrals and Hippogriffs that they train and then sell to 
transportation companies, and play Quidditch on week-ends. Once in a 
while they visit DD in Hogwarts, or Mr and Mrs Weasley (senior or 
junior - I'm a R/Hr shipper ;-) come and visit them. What do you 
think :-) ?

Del