A Hero's Death - Basis in mythology??

[nkafkafi]

No: HPFGUIDX 99836

>Hedwigstalons wrote:
> Hi!
> Would anyone out there be able to give me the msg. # of a posting by
> Hans (may be from last summer) that talks about heroes and needing 
to
> die (meaning Harry)? I thought the hero _can't_ die, but it seems
> that they can - Argh!! Not the fate I want for our Harry!!
>

Kneasy:
<snip>
In fiction (and reality) heroes quite often come to a sticky end. 
It's one
of the more depressing aspects of being a hero. Some pop their clogs
in a mutual blood-fest with the arch enemy (Arthur, El Cid), some cop
it in the neck from another monster at a later date later (Beowulf). 
<snip>

Neri now:
It is certainly true that the hero can die, but it depends a lot on 
the genre. Mythological heroes (which Kneasy mostly mentioned, some 
of which I snipped) usually die in the end of the story (although 
there are some notable exceptions - Odysseus, Perseus, Rama). In 
fairytales, OTOH, the hero almost always lives happily ever after. 
Modern (last 200 years) adventure literature, mainly for children but 
also for grown-ups, is modeled more after the fairytale genre than 
the myth genre, and the hero usually survives. Even when he "dies" he 
might still be resurrected (Sherlock Holmes being the famous 
example). This is also true for Science Fiction, which includes many 
cases of "universe building" more impressive than the Potterverse. 
The style of HP is typical to this kind of literature. It is 
certainly not myth or "modern myth" like LOTR. If I had to bet on 
Harry's chances based on the genre's statistics I'd say he has about 
95% chances to live.

Neri