The co-protagonists and minor characters in Book 7

[lupinlore]

No: HPFGUIDX 142683

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "justcarol67" 
<justcarol67 at y...> wrote:
>
> We all know that the plot of Book 7 will require Harry (presumably
> with some help) to find and destroy four Horcruxes (locket, cup,
> Nagini, and something from Ravenclaw) and, ultimately, to confront 
and
> defeat Voldemort. Most of us assume that Snape will perform some
> crucial role and that Pettigrew's silver hand will come into play.
> 
> But what about the other (not so minor) characters, especially Ron 
and
> Hermione? What will Hermione do if she doesn't have the Hogwarts
> library at hand to do her research? And what about Ron's skills at
> chess, and for that matter, his fear of spiders? (I'm
> oversimplifying--of course there's more to the two characters than
> these few traits.)



Excellent questions.  In point of fact, how much time can be spent 
even with MAJOR plotlines?  As you say, we have four horcruxes, and 
JKR has said that the path to destroying them will be "twisting" 
and "difficult."  That seems to mean a significant portion of the 
book will be spent on this quest.  We know that Ron/Hermione has to 
get off the ground, the Harry/Ginny will continue (come on, who 
REALLY believes it's over?) and that the final confrontations with 
Voldemort and Snape will have to take place.  We also know that the 
last chapter is a postscript and that Umbridge (and thus presumably 
the Ministry) has a role to play.

Put all that together, and let's assume (for the sake of assumption) 
she wants to keep the book no longer than HBP.  That doesn't leave 
very much room for many secondary characters or story-arcs, and it 
doesn't leave a great deal of room for the primary ones.  One of the 
strongest and most widespread criticisms of HBP was that it was 
extremely rushed and parts of it seemed to be a "paint-by-numbers" 
exercise, yet there was not nearly so much happening as will have 
to, at a minimum, happen in the last book.

To continue with specifically answering the question, though, I 
think we will have to have, besides all the above: 1) a final scene 
with the Dursleys, 2) at least a brief look at Bill's wedding, 3) 
some end to the Pettigrew character arc, 4) some end to the Draco 
character arc, 5) some explanation of what is or is not going on at 
Hogwarts, 6) the end of Bellatrix, 7) some mention of what happened 
to Fawkes, 8) clearing up the last mysteries about James and Lily.  
Even if a lot of these things are handled in a very perfunctory way, 
that's still a lot.

I would certainly like to see an end to Percy's arc, but JKR may 
have done all with that character she plans to do.  Ditto with 
Neville and Luna and Lupin and Tonks.

I tend to agree with Steve on this one.  JKR has set herself an 
enormous task, and it's going to be very difficult to pull off.  
We've had two books that consisted in large part of wheel-spinning.  
The fact is that the crucial plot points out of OOTP and HBP could 
easily have been included in one book the size of PoA.  Many of us, 
prompted by JKR's remarks, had hoped that after being mired down for 
700 poorly-written pages in OOTP she would take the opportunity in 
HBP to tie off some plot lines, but very few of them in fact came to 
a close.  Now she will either have a brilliant masterpiece 
(altogether unlikely considering her dismal performance beginning at 
the very end of GoF) or an enormous dud with all the gripping 
writing of OOTP and the fascinating characterization of HBP 
(altogether likely, unfortunately, but one can always hope against 
hope).


Lupinlore