Why now?

[Pat]

No: HPFGUIDX 110662

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "sad1199" <sad1199 at y...> wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Barry Arrowsmith 
> <arrowsmithbt at b...> wrote:
> > JKR seems to be giving us a lot of information and hints lately.
> > 
> > I wonder why?
> > 
> >> 
> > Remember -  these books were not conceived with a fan-base in 
the 
> > hundreds of millions in mind and it's totally impossible for  
all 
> of us 
> > to get the ending we want. Me - I'm already getting prepared.  
I  
> can 
> > think of three endings that would satisfy me - and all of them 
> have low 
> > probabilities of coming to pass. So it's likely that I'll re-
read 
> > volumes 1-6 fairly frequently and  pass the final one on to a 
> Charity  
> > shop. I  expect to  read it just once.
> > Unless she surprises me, of course.
> > But I'm not very  optimistic about  that.
> > 
> > Kneasy
> 
> sad1199 here:
> 
>[snip} 
>.... the only ending I would like to see is Harry defeating 
> Voldemort and going on to live a happy ever after... My SHIP is 
> R/Hr, I would like to see Harry starting a more adult relationship 
> in book seven with maybe Luna or Ginny...[snip] 

> I would like to see Snape either condemned or redeemed.[snip]

As 
> I posted earlier I just CANNOT believe that JKR would allow Harry 
to 
> die at the end. It just doesn't happen.[snip]

 Again, I posted earlier if Harry 
> dies I may just burn all of my HP books and start a long chain of 
> furious, scathing letters to the author. 
> 
> Have a Happy Love Filled Day  sad1199


Pat here:

You see, that is just what Kneasy is talking about.  So many people 
have already decided on how the books should end, that they are 
setting themselves up for disappointment if it's anything but their 
vision.  The problem with that is that the books are JKR's vision, 
and we are all just lucky enough to be spectators, with no control 
over the outcome.  I like it that way.  I love the in-depth 
sleuthing we all do, and the picking apart of the characters and 
their motivations and their histories.  I love all that.  There have 
only been a few times that I guessed right about what was coming in 
the next book, but I've never been disappointed with them.  Why?  
Because they aren't my story to tell.  And JKR does such a wonderful 
job of putting in unexpected twists and turns in the plot, that I'm 
fine with it--and wonder how I ever thought she'd go in my direction.

There are children's books where the hero/heroine dies.  Think--
Bridge to Terribithia (ooo, spelling problem there), for one.  It's 
a very sweet story that deals with the deal of one of the 
characters, in a way that helps children understand it.  Both my 
daughters read it when they were in elementary school and loved it.  
And I'm sure that's not the only one--it is just the one that came 
to mind right now.

And as for liking or not liking the ending to a book, it doesn't 
mean that people in general will discard their books and never read 
them again.  Gone With the Wind is one that I have read many times, 
(as well as watching the movie) that has the two main characters not 
ending up the way all the fans wanted.  They survive, although some 
of the other important characters do not, yet they are not together, 
and if you read carefully--they probably will never be.

Sometimes having an ending that is well written and consistent with 
the characters can be enough, and you don't have to have it your 
way.  That's how I felt about Gone With the Wind--and I'm sure 
that's the way I will feel at the end of the 7th book.  Whatever JKR 
does is OK by me.  And when you think about it--I don't really have 
that choice or that control, anyway, now, do I?  Nor do any of us.

I see Kneasy's point that all of a sudden JKR has changed her 
approach to fandom.  And I have also wondered about it.  But it may 
be just as simple as her getting closer to the end, and being more 
comfortable with all the fans out there--that had to be very scary 
and intimidating when she first started and still had most of the 
series left to write.  And maybe now that she has written so much, 
she is venturing onto the fan sites more and enjoying all our 
misguided theories.  She may not have wanted to do that at the 
beginning because she might have worried that it would taint her own 
ideas about Harry's story.  Whatever it is, I'm enjoying the 
change.  She still gives us all these tidbits, and we think we have 
an answer, when all we really have is 10 more questions.

Pat (who will be happy with whatever JKR does with Harry, because 
she'll make it the right thing--even if I end up in tears)