What if Harry dies?

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 85186

> Tonks:
> > > Some recent posting made me stop and think for a while this 
> evening 
> > > as to what the reaction *would* be if Harry meets his end in book 
> > > seven... or six for that matter. ... what kind of awful mess has 
> > > Pottermania created if Harry were to die?
<snip> 
> 
> 
> Geoff:
> 
> (1) I would throw the book across the room!
> 
> (2) This raises an interesting point. If the story is seen from 
> Harry's POV, does the book come to a full stop at that point? I 
> suppose we would go into epilogue mode or something similar.

Carol:
Your POV observation makes sense to me. Thanks! Also, think of the
thousnads (millions?) of young readers who idolize Rowling now but
would feel betrayed if she killed Harry. Yes, she writes primarily for
herself, but I can't see her doing that to them. (Besides, she'd have
to go into hiding to avoid having tomatoes thrown at her--or worse.)
Hardly anyone would buy the books once the word got out, so I don't
think her publisher would allow her to do it. And she cried when she
killed off Sirius, who barely qualifies as a major character, and
she's made it fairly clear that she won't kill off Hagrid or Ron, so
she probably feels even more strongly about killing Harry. "There will
be more deaths," she said in an interview (I can hunt up the reference
if anyone wants it), but readers will have a hard enough time if she
bumps off Neville or Ginny. I just can't see her killing off Harry
himself. (As for killing him in Book 6--that's not going to happen.
How's she going to write a whole subsequent book with a dead
protagonist?) I personally would consider killing Harry a copout, on
the same level as "it was all a dream." Only an author who can't think
of a way to weave all the loose ends into the fabric of the story
kills off the protagonist and considers it a denouement.

Carol