JKR borrows from heroic literature/ who dies?

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 154512

Distaiyi wrote: 
> Since we're citing JKR, she's repeatedly said her books are not
necessarily children's books. Thus I don't think you can assume those
4 characters survive.
> 
> I think she has always had every intention of killing Harry. I don't
see how he can survive. I see him much like Bilbo in LotR... he won't
be able to live on in this world, and rather than have him just
"vanish" I see JKR as finishing him off. He may kill LV first, but he
must die, his experiences have made him unfit for "normal wizard" company.
> 
> I'm still considering my theory about who must die to fufill the
prophecy, I'm thinking Harry kills Neville, then kills Voldemort, but
dies of magical damage suffered in the battle, so he can have his last
soliloquy with Dumbledore.

Carol responds:

Just a quibble or two here--Harry can't have a soliloquy with DD or
anyone else. A soliloquy is a speech delivered to oneself (or the
audience) when no other character is onstage (or at least, none can
hear the speech). And I think you mean Frodo, not Bilbo.

In the same interview in which JKR talked about giving a character a
reprieve (and I admittedly have only read the snippet, not a
transcript of the same interview), she talked about the temptation of
killing off the main character so that no one else could take him over
 and write more books about him (presumably after her death or the
copyright has expired??), but I don't think she would do that. For one
thing, we have "neither can live while the other survives." I think
that means that the winner (clearly Harry) will finally be able to
live, to be "Just Harry," to have normal relationships and finish
school and get a job like any other young wizard (or Muggle).

And although I suppose that JKR could have the narrator present the
POV of a dead person, but I don't think she would do that. Also, she's
made clear in one of her interviews that the Epilogue reveals what
happens to the characters who survive. Put that together with the last
word being "scar," and I'm pretty sure that Harry will survive. My
prediction for the last line is something like "Their seventh son
looked just like Harry without the scar." I suppose it's also possible
that Harry is the character who gets the reprieve, but I think she's
intended all along for him to survive.

Naturally, I hope that the character who gets the reprieve is Snape,
and that it isn't just a temporary stay of execution as the word
implies but an actual chance to live as a productive citizen of the
WW. What a waste of power and intellect and talent if he dies!
Hogwarts won't be Hogwarts without him--but then, Harry probably won't
spend much time there in Book 7.

I do agree that she'll have no qualms about killing off a kid
character, but I don't think it will be Neville. I think he's the
character who ends up teaching at Hogwarts (Herbology, of course). And
that Mimbulus Mimbletonia will somehow play a role. If the birthdays
on JKR's site (and the six drops of red, three drops of green potion)
are any clue, it will be Luna. 

I also think that more than two mainish characters will die (the two
she didn't originally plan on plus those she did). I'm guessing
Hagrid, Lupin, and at least one Weasley (probably Percy and either
Bill or Charlie, or possibly the twins--*a* twin would be worse,
leaving Fred or George without his other half).

But I confidently predict that the Trio will survive intact, with
Harry retaining his own powers but losing those acquired from Voldemort.

Carol, who thinks that Harry will somehow pass beyond the Veil and
return alive and whole