[HPforGrownups] Re: Deaths in the Series

[Bart Lidofsky]

No: HPFGUIDX 192168

On 6/28/2012 1:44 PM, Scott Smith wrote:
> One thing that bothered me was the lack of Weasleys (except George,
> or was it Fred... I can never keep them straight) dying. Think
> about, Bill an Charlie had to be strong magic users, the twins would
> probably be easily distracted trying to be clever, Arther and Percy
> were pencil pushers, two students and a middle aged housewife. Nine
> of them and only one death? What are the odds.
Bart:
     Remember what I said about JKR's knack of making you care for a 
character, and then killing the character off? Well, here's a place she 
cheated (although she had written that she wanted to see Arthur bite the 
dust, and gave him a last-minute reprieve). Because, although we grew to 
care about Fred and George, I cannot recall a single thing in canon that 
would enable us to differentiate between them. I have known a number of 
identical twins in my life, and, no matter how friendly they were with 
each other, they were all sufficiently different in personality that 
there was never a real problem telling the difference. To the point 
where many of us don't even remember which one got killed. Essentially, 
from the point of view of the reader, they were a single character in 
two bodies. So, by killing one of them, JKR gets to kill a Weasley 
without actually killing one.

     I HOPE someone will prove me wrong, but I doubt it.

     Bart