[HPforGrownups] Re: I think Harry will die (was: I don't think that Harry will die)

[Katherine Coble]

No: HPFGUIDX 160211


On Oct 23, 2006, at 1:30 PM, Jen Reese wrote:

> Eggplant:
> > Suppose Harry lives happily ever after, a week after you finish
> > reading book 7 you'll hardly think about it at again; but if Harry
> > dies in Ginny's arms covered in blood from grievous wounds
> > received in his heroic battle with Voldemort I'll bet you'll still
> > be thinking about it for a long time.
>
>
>
> Jen: These ideas seem mututally exclusive. You are saying that JKR
> doesn't want readers to fear death at the end of a well-lived life,
> but that her 'chip of ice' might cause her to write an ending where
> Harry is haunted continually by his past? That doesn't sound like a
> well-lived life. Maybe it's the terminology I don't understand. Or
> are you saying JKR wants to write Harry as an example of a life not
> well-lived and therefore he will fear death?

> .
>
> 
Katherine:  I think JKR has given us plenty of examples of lives well- 
lived and
well-ended.   Lily sacrificed herself for her son.  Dumbledore  
sacrificed himself for
The Order and the eventual defeat of Voldemort.  Snape is sacrificing  
himself for those same things, as well as for maintaining the  
relative innocence of Draco Malfoy.   Sirius sacrificed himself to  
protect the D.A. members at the ministry.   Bill sacrificed his looks  
and health for a good cause.   Rowling has permeated the stories with  
sacrifice.

Harry himself has known massive sacrifice on a grander scale than  
anyone else in the book.   Death is indeed harder on the living, and  
Harry has had more lives torn from him than most people could  
handle.   I think the message Rowling is trying to show is that while  
death diminishes Voldemort as he murders to tear his soul asunder,  
death combined with love makes Harry stronger.  The deaths he's known  
actually contribute to making him a more vibrant human being--the  
mirror image of Voldemort.

Eggplant, I'll be honest.  Your theory is not uncommon and sounds as  
though you, like many others, have come to expect bloody grand  
finales as the only satisfactory conclusion to entertainment.   In  
this case I think all who pray for a "bloody good show" to end book 7  
have missed one of the larger points of the series.

Harry will undoubtedly have a glimpse beyond the veil, but his  
untimely death will NOT factor into the conclusion.  I stand by that.

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