The One Character Who Must Not Die

[Kenneth Clark]

No: HPFGUIDX 171650

There are going to be further deaths in Deathly Halloows, we
know that, and personally, I'm not too bothered about who they
are. But there is one character who simply must not be allowed
to die and that is Hermione.

I say this not because of any personal infatuation but because
her death would be the most reactionary ending to the series
imaginable.

Only two characters have roused themselves out of the historical
rut that the wizarding world has got itself into, Dumbledore and
Hermione. Here we have a world where blood purity still persists
amongst a significant section, where hatred and fear of other
magical creaures is the norm, where foreigners, even magical
ones are stereotyped and where elf enslavement is regarded as
"natural". Almost all our heroes are to some extent critical
of some of the above but only Dumbledore and Hermione are shown
as questioning the corrosive effect of these beliefs on wizard
society. Dumbledore calls for unity across the wizardimg world,
for alliances with the Giants, accepts Dobby as a "free elf"
and condemns blood purity. Hermione rails against all of these
in even more strident terms. Both are acutely aware of what such
beliefs are doing to their fellow wizards and witches. These two
are the true revolutionaries in the Potterverse. Most others are
barely conscious of most of these 'problems'.

We have already 'lost' Dumbledore. If Hermione were likewise to
die JKR will have cemented the series as, ultimately, a backward
looking conservative, reactionary tome where, after the defeat
of Voldemort, it is 'business as usual', a happy-ever-after where
none of the real ills that the books so mercilesssly expose, can
ever be dealt with. The very last thing we need is a dead martyr
whose ideals (and ideas) for the future are left for others to
'take up'.

Only by ensuring that Hermione triumphs will we be assured
that she will continue to trumpet the defects of the Potterverse,
the need to radically examine the beliefs of her fellow wizards,
beliefs which have directly led not merely to the rise of
Voldemort but to the fragmented response to him, the failure
to unite across all the magical boundaries and to continue
the fight for freedom and equality.

I can't believe that JKR can possibly be contemplating Hermione's
death. More than one generation of readers would be betrayed.

Ken