The deaths of Tonks and Lupin (was: "Bad Snapers," Karma, and the End of Snape )

[potioncat]

No: HPFGUIDX 175600

 
> Lanval:
> You got me at a total loss there. I neither know what to make of 
> Tonks's death, nor of the purpose named by JKR. If she wanted to 
> show a happy orphan (maybe that was important to her? did she feel 
> she had showed orphans, or rather the people who adopt/raise them, 
> in a a bit too negative a light?) she didn't have too many choices; 
> it was either Teddy, or for Bill and Fleur to have a child and then 
> die. There aren't too many young couples around that we've *met*. 
> But -- still. 

Potioncat
JKR said in her Dateline interview that she considered every death 
carefully. She wanted to mirror Harry's state in this case (IRRC). 
She was going to kill Arthur, but he was the last of Harry's father 
figures and she felt that was too much.

I don't know if there is a link for this interview, but I felt a lot 
better after seeing it. Knowing why she wrote some of the scenes gave 
a different perspective. 


> Lanval

> 
> Can Tonks be blamed for leaving her child, and is her death in 
> battle karmic justice? I can't say. As a mother, my first reaction 
> would have been for one of them to stay with Teddy. Then again, she 
> was an Auror, Lupin was also in the Order, both knew this was IT, 
> the all-important battle, and Teddy wasn't left alone (I do hope 
> they got Andromeda's consent on the issue). Teddy was also still an 
> infant. To leave an older child would have been worse, IMO.


Potioncat:
Her son was as safe as he could be with his grandmother. Tonks had a 
more urgent role in helping to bring down LV. If LV won, Tonks's 
being alive wouldn't be so much help to Teddy. 

Today we have couples in the military that find themselves deployed 
at the same time, leaving children with relatives. It's not an easy 
decision at any time, but I can fully understand why Tonks felt her 
place was to fight.
>