Deaths in the Series

[Bart Lidofsky]

No: HPFGUIDX 192160

Another post made me think about a general question for discussion: the 
many deaths in the Harry Potter series, onstage and offstage.

Doing this with numbered questions (like the listelves)....

1) JKR had a knack for getting you to care about a character, then 
killing the character off (most blatantly with Cedric, but certainly 
with others). Which character's death upset you the most (and why)?

2) Some deaths were pretty much required for the plot to go on (most 
notably, the death of Harry Potter's parents). Some were a little more 
subtle. What were some of the deaths you considered to be necessary for 
the story (and, of course, why)?

3) And, of course, because people do die in wars, some of the deaths 
were pretty much gratuitous. But it can be argued that JKR went 
overboard in some cases, killing characters just for the sake of adding 
to the death tolls. Which character's death do you consider to be the 
most gratuitous (and, most importantly, why?).

To avoid short-circuiting the subject, I'll hold off on my own choices 
for a day or so.

Bart