Happy endings and locked rooms

[eggplant107]

No: HPFGUIDX 164648

"justcarol67" <justcarol67 at ...> wrote:

> I very much doubt that JKR would give
> away the plot by titling the last 
> chapter "The Man Who Died." 

You could be right but I'm not going to take any chances, I intend to
skip over the table of contents until I finished the book. 

> the Prophecy, which seems to imply that
> only one will die (obviously Voldemort) 

"Neither can live while the other survives" is perfectly consistent
with both dieing. Granted the Prophecy does not demand that both die,
but it is consistent with it. All we know for sure is that where there
are now two eventually there will be only one, or perhaps none. 

By the way, you don't suppose JKR could be so revolutionary as to let
Voldemort win do you? No, of course not, silly question, I apologize.
Still, sometimes late at night I wonder if,
., oh never mind.

> and I don't think that he'll lose his powers 

I agree! The very very worst ending of the Potter series would be for
Harry and all other wizards to lose their powers to defeat Voldemort
and they become Muggles and even worse if they are happy about it. Too
many fantasy and science fiction stories end with the object of wonder
being destroyed, the astounding alien planet blows up, the incredible
creature is killed, the secret to the amazing invention is destroyed,
and the time machine is run over by a train and their exciting
adventure is forgotten; so everybody can go back to their safe and
boring pedestrian lives. For the live of me I can't image a more
unsatisfying ending.

> like a young British soldier returning
> from World War II 

Many of those noble and incredibly brave young soldiers had been
forced to do hideous things, and many of them suffered from Post
Traumatic Shock Syndrome for the rest of their lives as a result; If
Harry survives I expect he will have the same problem. We may have
seen a tiny taste of that in book 5 when Harry gets a little grumpy at
his friends and destroys Dumbledore's office.

> At any rate, I have every confidence that
> JKR can bring about a poignant, bittersweet
> ending that brings tears to all but the
> most jaded reader's eyes and yet have
> Harry survive to attend Hogwarts for a 
> belated seventh year along with Ron, 
> Hermione, and Neville and Ginny

But those are a list of characters that we readers love the most, if
they all survive what is there to cry about? I believe some or all of
the characters you mention will die.

Eggplant