OoP: What was the Point of this Death?

[psychic_serpent]

No: HPFGUIDX 63282

 
> Megalynn:
> > 
> > Ok I have to comment on Sirius' death, and not just a me too on 
> > the fact that it was a pointless death. It was so quick, it did 
> > nothing for the plot, there wasn't a buildup, there wasn't a 
> > goodbye. Harry has still never been told by anyone that they 
> > love him. This bugs me, and to kill off such an important 
> > character and not even well... it's like in Shakespeare, where 
> > if the person dies off-stage that meant Shakespeare did not see 
> > them as important.  I am not saying JKR finds Sirius unimportant 
> > at all, I just feel somewhat cheated that he died off-stage so 
> > to speak.
 

Grey Wolf: 
> The point of Sirius's death is that it *is* pointless. 

[snip] 

> Honour before life. He was ready to give his life to save Harry, 
and that's exactly what he did. And of course, there is a very 
important lesson here - the good guys don't always win. The white 
hat doesn't shoot the straightest or draws the quickest.  

> Megalynn:
> > Also, I had said many times that the one character that would 
> > utterly make me livid if they died was Sirius. He already lost 
> > his life once, and suffered dearly for no reason.  He more than 
> > anyone  deserved happiness once the war is over. I always 
> > pictured him getting married and having kids and making harry 
> > their Godfather after all this.

I'm afraid I have to disagree somewhat with the above.  (Folks 
who've seen me post something similar on other lists, forgive me. 
<g>)  It wasn't pointless at all, but I think the reasons go 
far deeper than simply giving Harry the opportunity to mourn someone 
close to him. That could have been accomplished by killing off any 
of the characters who are in his inner circle. The thing to ask 
ourselves is why Sirius in particular?

Sirius and Voldemort are doppelgangers.

Each of them sets out to prevent something happening--Voldemort's 
fall, Harry's being endangered by Wormtail--only to have the thing 
being avoided occur precisely BECAUSE they set out to stop it. 

For two years, Harry wasn't in the least bit of danger from Peter. 
Peter seemed quite content, in fact, to live as Ron's pet (apart 
from needing to be protected from Crookshanks constantly from the 
beginning of third year) and even stood up for the trio the time he 
bit Goyle's finger. I think he had come to think of Ron, Hermione 
and Harry, plus the Weasleys as a whole, as his family, and had he 
not been exposed as the true traitor, he would never have returned 
to Voldemort and assisted him in his returning to his body. Sirius
set all this in motion when he saw Peter in the newspaper he 
borrowed from Fudge.

Voldemort, of course, learned about a prophecy concerning Harry, and 
even though he didn't know the whole thing, went off half-cocked to 
Godric's Hollow, after he got the info from Peter, and tried to kill 
Harry, which was the very thing that brought about what he was 
trying to avoid (mostly, since he was, to borrow words from the 
Princess Bride, only "mostly dead").

His coming back may sometimes seem pointless, given the way he died 
here, but I think the purpose of his coming back is what I've stated 
above, to set certain events in motion and to be a counterpoint to 
someone else--Voldemort--who did something similar; it also gives 
someone who's on the 'good' side a rather black mark against him and 
gives us some much-needed grey areas. There are now two things he's 
done that have helped Voldemort. His plan to make Peter Secret 
Keeper was the first, and then his plan to avenge himself on Peter 
was the second. Perhaps that's why we don't see him get his revenge 
or get cleared; in a way, he carries a certain amount of guilt for 
many things that transpired (he even tells Harry that he feels 
guilty about all this in the Shrieking Shack in third year) and 
therefore the events he's set in motion may need to play out to 
their logical conclusion (Harry and Voldemort having their ultimate 
confrontation) before it can come out that he didn't betray the 
Potters.

On further consideration, I'm resigned to their being no memorial to 
Sirius in this book. Yeah, it would have been nice, but it's 
probably too soon. And while the statement that Sirius had become 
like a cross between a father and a brother to Harry seems somewhat 
spurious, given that they didn't really get all that close, I think 
the reason why the father/brother comparison was being drawn was to 
highlight the ways in which Harry and Sirius are also doppelgangers. 

"Father" could be thought of as a metaphor here, in that he set in 
motion so many of the events that "created" the mystique that is 
Harry Potter. "Brother" could be regarded metaphorically as well, 
in that they each endured a long incarceration (Sirius in Azkaban, 
Harry under the stairs at the Dursleys) with creatures who were 
adept at making others miserable (dementors/Dursleys). Another 
similarity between the two of them is that when Harry had the chance 
to kill Sirius, and later Peter (after learning that he'd been the 
Secret Keeper) he couldn't do it, whereas Sirius was quite willing 
to kill Peter and that was his main goal when he broke out of 
Azkaban. Harry's choices continue to make him who he is, and he 
chooses not to be a murderer, whereas Sirius does--hence the lack of 
redemption. He has no remorse for wanting to kill Peter, and 
therefore cannot be redeemed. I doubt that even had he lived he 
would ever have developed remorse for feeling this way about Peter.

I think the real lesson for Harry to learn from all this is not how 
to grieve, but how not to be like Sirius, who never got over his 
need for revenge--which was why he ended up in prison--and so that 
gave him a cursed life ("a half-life," as the people are described 
who would dare drink unicorn's blood). Harry came dangerously close 
to being very, very much like Sirius every time he blew up at 
Umbridge and made situation worse.  I also think that Harry needs to 
make sure he doesn't do what both Sirius and Voldemort did--set out 
to prevent something and by doing so bring those events about. He 
needs to face his future square in the face and deal with it head 
on. So while it may be dissatisfactory in some ways for a character 
to be a life-lesson for Harry, it's a contrast that's good for her 
to have in the books. I don't think it's for nothing at all, once 
you consider some of the deeper meanings.

--Barb
 
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