No offense taken anymore. 
The very first ‘Peanuts’ strip (Here comes Charlie Brown…Good Ol’ Charlie Brown, yes, sir…There goes Charlie Brown…How I hate him!) got Schulz hate mail for the same reasons as the OP.
Real conflict, real costs, real hate… are part of life - sheltering kids from it is pointless and makes for poorer arts.
:smack:
A wizard did it.
I’m with irishgirl. It’s Rowling’s story and she should do with it as she pleases. There isn’t really any way she could end the thing that would truly piss me off – well, maybe the it’s-all-a-dream scenario. But even that she could probably pull off.
Which isn’t to say I don’t speculate – I do, of course. I’m another who thought the spoiler in the linked article was pretty lame. That a least two characters will die is pretty much a given. Myself, as I’ve said before, I don’t expect any of the Big Three to be on the casualty list. But pretty much anyone else could go. If we were doing a poll and I had to vote, I’d say that Snape will die (probably in the final battle with Voldy; and possibly saving Harry’s life) and Charley Weasley (because a Weasley’s gotta go and I don’t want it to be one of the twins).
But Rowling could (and probably will) fool me. She’s done it before.
And can’t she write faster?
I agree that the story is Rowling’s to do what she likes with it–to an extent. She must stay true to her characters or have them volte face in a believable way. She cannot literarily say, nyah, nyah-jokes on you! to her readers. She cannot cop out and make the wrapping up a shallow one (the only a dream is one example of this).
I doubt she’ll do any of the above. I hope that Harry lives, as well as Neville et al. But I can accept any one of their deaths, if they are written well and obey the exigencies of plot and character. Anything else is unacceptable.
I think the OP may have meant something similiar. I am 43 and I find myself desiring happiness more and more. At times I want to scream along the lines of, “is it too much to ask for one ray of hope? A bit of cheer? something?” Life does shitty things to people and wishing for a bit of vicarious joy in HP is no crime.
Re Disney–there are dark spots in Disney (nevermind that the whole concept of Disney to me is a black hole, never mind dark spot!)–but the emphasis is definetly on “wholesome”-whatever that may mean…
How about the weaselly Weasley? Percy? He could become a non-nitwit and then die heroically. I’m hopeful.
That would be nice, jsgoddess – he’s certainly the Weasley I could most spare.
But I think Rowling will keep ol’ Percy around, and I don’t think she’s going to rehabilitate him either. I think she’s using him as an illustration of what Sirius said to Harry – that the world isn’t just made up of nice people and Death Eaters. Percy is a sycophantic little toady, out for what he can get. And he’ll remain a sycophantic little toady, out for what he can get. If Voldemort won the war, then Percy would be first in line to be a Death Eater. Until then, he’ll be circling the Minister of Magic. I have a pet theory that being a member of the Order of the Phoenix will help Arthur Weasley in his career – I think, after the war, he’ll be a good deal higher in the government than he is now. Maybe even in line for Minister someday. That’s when Percy will come back to the family. Arthur and the rest of the kids won’t trust or believe him, but will tolerate him for Molly’s sake…
I do think one of the Weasley’s will have to die. I don’t think it will be Molly or Arthur or Ginny, and, as I said in my previous post, I don’t think it will be Ron. So, eliminating Percy, that leaves Bill, the twins, or Charlie. Bill’s already lost his face, so I tend to think he’s off the hook. The twins are a definate possibility – the loss of one or both would be a Maximum Emotional Impact. I wouldn’t put it past Rowling, frankly, but they’re favorites of mine, so I’m hoping agianst hope that they’ll be spared. That leaves Charlie, whose death would be a Medium Emotional Impact. We readers haven’t seen him enough to get too attached to him, but we’d see his loss through his family’s eyes.
That was an excellent, well-written book, and it grabbed my emotions to the extent that I don’t think I can ever read it a second time.
Excalibre you forgot the last line**
Harry felt his forehead and it was gone. It had all been a dream. He had no scar.
I think we should send her a case of RedBull, expresso and some cold meds.
It was clear from what I wrote that it was a dream.
No, JK has revealed earlier that the last word in the Harry Potter series is going to be “scar”.
“Harry kissed Ron full on the lips, letting his fingertips graze the lanky redhead’s jaw. Then they both climbed into hi scar.”
- from Harry Potter and the Broomstick of Flesh
I’m SURE there’s some HP slash fic among all the fanfic out there. I’m just, quite frankly, afraid to look.
I think the twins have become much more likely, because she’s said that she’s had to kill off two characters that she intended to spare, while another got a reprieve. I think this means that she changed her mind on which Weasley to kill off, and that it’s going to be both twins instead of one of the others.
I looked once. Yeah, it’s there. It’s ample. If we could find a way to convert Harry Potter slash into energy, no one would bother drilling for oil ever again.
Nope, we could leave all the “drilling for oil” up to…ah, I can’t even say it. Further horrible jokes enclosed in spoiler box for your protection.
Of course, we could put a whole other meaning on Ollivander saying “Mmm…yes…thirteen inches, a little on the whippy side…”
Read the other six Harry Potter books. She kills off major characters in every single one of them.
J.K. Rowling needs more publicity? I doubt that.
You seem to be forgetting that it’s her book, not yours. She invented Harry Potter, and she’s free to do what she wishes with him. I think irishgirl said it very well in post #57.
And here, for your spoiling pleasure, is the real ending to the Harry Potter septology:
Despite the rumors (sorry, “rumours”), Ginny does not say, “Is that your wand in your pocket or are you just happy to see me.”