Lily died before James? - No Room for Error.

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 103243

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "vmonte" <vmonte at y...> wrote:

> 
> vmonte responds:
> 
> My gut feeling is that she has made a mistake, again. I think that 
> her American publisher was right all along.
> 
> If James was killed after Lily then he might not have been at GH at 
> all. So who did Voldemort kill?  He says that he killed James first?!
> So why is the order wrong? She must have made a mistake on her 
> website! (...followed by a long list of unanswerable questions...)
> 
> vivian

Asian_lovr2:

As I said before, I felt the same way you feel; it had to be a
mistake, but JKR couldn't have made it any plainer.

--- Quote - www.jkrowling.com - FAQ Text Version ---
http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/faq_view.cfm?id=19

Section: F.A.Q.

Q: At the end of 'Goblet of Fire', in which order should Harry's
parents have come out of the wand?

A: James first, then Lily. That's how it appears in my original
manuscript but we were under enormous pressure to edit it very fast
and my American editor thought that was the wrong way around, and he
is so good at catching small errors I changed it without thinking,
then realised it had been right in the first place. We were all very
sleep-deprived at the time.
- - - End Quote - - -

Points-

** James first, then Lily

** That's how it appeared in my original manuscript...

** my American editor thought it was the other way aroud...

** (JKR) changed it without thinking...

** then realized IT HAD BEEN RIGHT IN THE FIRST PLACE. (0bviously, my
emphasis added)

Yes, it's hard to believe, but I can't see any room for for doubt. She
say three times in three different ways that the orginally published
version was the correct version, and the later corrected version was
the wrong version. James first, then Lily came out of the wand. The End.

Yes, it's confusing.

Yes, it suddenly makes the plot infinitely more complicated, and gives
us one more mystery to resolve when there are already too many
mysteries to resolve.

Yes, it's making my brain hurt.

Yes, it undoes conclusions, beliefs, and opinions that I've held for
years. 

Yes, it does open up a whole long list of unanswerable questions,
equal to your list plus many more.

But, it is none the less correct. As much as I want to believe she
once again has made a mistake. She said the same thing in too many
ways and with too many variation for there to be room for misinterpretion.

I see no recourse other than to accept this as a fact. 

Let me re-enforce the rumor that the scene where Harry's parents were
being killed in the movie 'Sorcerer's Stone', JKR insisted that they
NOT show James in that scene.

As much as my brain wants it to be 'something else', I have no choice
but to accept 'James before Lily' as the order they came from the
wand. James died last, so he came out first.

Don't know what else to say.

Steve/asian_lovr2