Why now?

[slgazit]

No: HPFGUIDX 110677

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Bee Chase <luckdragon64 at y...> wrote:

> Whenever before has an author had to deal with this kind of fan
reaction while in the midst of writing her novels? She knows we will
not be happy and she is trying to prepare our minds for what is
coming. She has already joked about having to go into hiding when she
has revealed things the fan base was dreading. I still cannot believe
she will kill off Harry(I won't til the last word of the 7th book);
but there will be deaths and many of us will be furious.

A well known example from British literature - when Arthur Conan Doyle
killed Sherlock Holmes (having got bored writing novels about him), he
was met with such overwhelming readers rage that he ended up bringing
him back from the dead. Somehow I don't think JKR will sink that low
though...

Actually quite a few heros die or disappear at the end of fantasy
series, including those aimed at children. In the "Lord of the Rings"
Frodo Baggins effectively disappears from the world of the living; the
Narnia human heros conveniently die in a train accident, and there are
other examples ("Wheel of Time", "Chronicles of Amber"). After having
the hero reach the pinnacle of achievement and save the world, it is
hard for the author to figure out how to let them go on with life.
Anything else seems small and petty.

I have always wondered if the Mirror of Erised scene in the first book
may not have been a prediction where both characters gain their
heart's desire at the end of the series. Ron gets the fame and fortune
he has always longed for (and probably realizes they don't mean as
much to him anymore) and Harry reunites with his parents (which can
only happen in death).

Salit
(who hopes that Harry will survive nevertheless)