Deaths in the Series

[jules]

No: HPFGUIDX 192177



--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Bart Lidofsky <bart at ...> wrote:
>
> 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)?

Colin Creevey's death upset me the most. I'm not even sure why, maybe it was just the final straw in the line of deaths stretching from the beginning of DH. And he was so young, he shouldn't have been involved at all.

Which isn't the same as the death that made me the saddest--that was Snape's.

> 
> 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)?

Harry's parents, Sirius, and Dumbledore. In other words, all of Harry's direct mentors, who had to die so he could prevail as hero.

> 
> 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?).

Lupin and Tonks. Most of the students fight and survive, and even Fred's death was a freak accident. But Lupin--a werewolf, and Tonks--an Auror for god's sake!--are *both* taken down (almost simultaneously) by Death Eaters who hardly get a hair out of place in the process from the way we hear it. Puh-lease! And all to make Teddy a Harry-esque orphan, but with loving guardians rather than the nasty Dursleys. I'm still pissed.

Julie