Euthanasia or magical solution? (Re: Do any list members think Dumbledore..)

[Jen Reese]

No: HPFGUIDX 147105

Ceridwen:
> Would JKR introduce euthanasia into a series that is supposed to 
> be for growing children?  She has already introduced senseless 
> death, children losing their parents, people being tortured into
> insanity, and other things that, recently, people have thought to
> be too nasty for kids to deal with.  However, euthanasia is a 
> current political hot-potato, widely debated with no concensus in
> a child's real world.  Would she seek to influence children to 
> perhaps go against their parents by bringing it up and offering 
> this solution to them?

Jen: I think a straightforward "Dumbledore asked to be killed" 
solution (regardless of how it came about) would definitely put 
euthanasia on the table. I don't think JKR would shy away from this 
but *could* see her having a more inventive solution than simply a 
Muggle one. Why make it plain vanilla when it could be something 
deeply magical? It wouldn't be the first time Harry doesn't 
understand what he's seeing because the WW works in mysterious ways.

He didn't know he was creating a life debt from Wormtail by showing 
him mercy; he didn't know he had to participate in the tournament 
because of a 'binding magical contract' until Dumbledore laid it 
out. He didn't know how Lily's sacrifice protected him, how 
Voldemort could get inside his head, why he had to live with the 
Dursleys and so on. None of us still know why LV taking Harry's 
blood was so critical. 

I don't believe JKR will introduce a new concept into the series, 
but ancient magic has never really been explained. I doubt it can be 
put into words completely (convenient, that <g>) although there 
could be something going on which is Dumbledore through and through. 
If anyone would know a way out on the tower, he would. 

Maybe I'd just like to think his dying act strengthened Harry and 
undermined Voldemort since he gave over a good portion of his life 
to that end. Perhaps the gleam is even connected to the tower, 
something Dumbledore put together in GOF which gave him an idea for 
the future. Voldemort thinks shedding blood weakens his enemies and 
it would be so fitting if Dumbledore shedding his own blood, like 
Lily, proved to be important for defeating Voldemort in the end.

Jen