Survivors (was: Why we SHIP (WAS: A different and totally serious Harry 'ship)

[antoshachekhonte]

No: HPFGUIDX 98431

Kneasy says:
> I've never seen this quote before and it warms the cockles of my evil,
> dark, FEATHERBOA-bedecked heart.
> 
> The key word is - "survivors" - and the implications inherent in the use
> of that particular word. Plus the exceedingly pleasing admission by JKR 
> that she realises this sounds ominous, but does not add anything that
> might negate this impression.
> 
> Oh, happy day! Multiple deaths to come and the likelihood that there
> will be significant characters among the fatalities. Oh, splendid!
> 
> Time to make a list:
> 
> DD for certain- he's not described as increasingly old and tired
> for nothing. It's a foreshadowing.
> 
> Harry probably (the increasing possibility that Harry and Voldy are
> connected at some fundamental level posits that the fall of one will
> have a drastic effect on the other could be indicative, in addition to 
> other hazards to his health).
> 
> Snape (no place for such as he  in a brave new world).
> 
> Weasleys - at least 3; why else are there so many of them in the
> first place? A 30% casualty rate sounds reasonable. But which ones?
> Hmm. Bill and the twins maybe?
> 
> Bella, of course.
> 
> Fudge? Serve him right. So thumbs down for Fudge.
> 
> Draco? Why not. Slimy little tosser. His dad's a survivor though.
> 
> Peter - in a futile attempt to repay his life debt; incompetent as ever.
> 
> Luna - it's her own fault, she shouldn't be so irritating.
> 
> Any other worthy candidates?
> 
> Kneasy

I'm not sure that JKR wasn't playing with us in that quote. I mean, the series doesn't HAVE 
to end like a Jacobean tragedy, littered with bloody corpses.

Then again....

I take issue with a couple of your choices. 

I don't think Harry will necessarily snuff it. I think that's a less interesting ending to the 
series than watching him actually contemplate life-after-Voldy.

I hope there isn't a mass Weasley-cide. But if there is, I'm voting for Percy--in some sort 
of heroic, redemptive gesture. Bill and Charlie are posibilities--they're in the line of fire. 
But I honestly think the twins have been set up to usher in the joke-filled post VWII brave 
new world.... (It would be terrible if Ginny were the one to snuff it--she's the one who's 
already suffered most at Voldy's hands.) Ron seems like the most likely of the Trio to buy 
the farm, though that would be very sad. I think the Arthur and Molly--one or both--are 
the most likely casualties. Thematically, mythically, the death of the parents opens the 
opportunity for the children to assume their proper place.

I agree that Peter will buy it. But I rather think that his repayment of his life-debt will be a 
keystone in Voldy's defeat. 

As for Luna... Well, I don't find her annoying, just odd. You KNOW she's going to end up 
with Harry back in the Death Room at some point. Whether to walk through the veil or to 
talk to her mom remains to be seen.

As for others? Well, Remus seems highly likely to go down in a fanged-and-furry blaze of 
glory in the next book or two.

We don't know enough about Tonks to know what her role will be, but you know it's going 
to be central.

How about Aunt Petunia? Again, in an act of some kind of redemption, she might save 
Harry at some point. (That might be why the book six stay at Privet Drive is cut short, now 
that I think about it: if she dies, the Dursley's house would offer no further protection. And 
Uncle Vernon would be even less willing to have Harry around.)

I don't think Neville's going to be killed, but it's possible. And you know that he's 
intimately wound up in the fulfillment of the prophecy somehow--else why the inclusion 
of his name in the first place?

I feel a bit guilty saying this, but I'd be happy to see Cho go. Like Percy, it would be an 
opportunity to play the hero for once and actually do the right thing.

Hagrid seems a likely victim, too--leading Grownup!Norbert, Grawp and a few other 
giants, perhaps, against the forces of evil...

I will say, again, however, that I don't expect a bloodbath. Killing dozens of characters 
*lessens* the impact--readers become desensitized. Also turned off. So while I expect JKR 
to through more Sirius-like shocks our way, I don't expect books six and seven to be 
novelized versions of Sam Peckinpah movies.