# The end of "Deathly Hallows" - what J.K. Rowling really \*meant\* to write (SPOILERS)
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-deathly-hallows-what-j-k-rowling-really-meant-to-write-spoilers/414876
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [August 8, 2007, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-deathly-hallows-what-j-k-rowling-really-meant-to-write-spoilers/414876 "2007-08-08T16:41:10Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2007, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-deathly-hallows-what-j-k-rowling-really-meant-to-write-spoilers/414876/1 "2007-08-08T16:41:10Z")
So, we all can guess that J.K. Rowling really meant to write a different ending to her wizarding epic, but the evil editors changed it at the last minute. What was the original planned ending? I’m sure we can figure it out.
J. K. Rowling’s ending:
> [@](#):
>
> He’ll be all right,", murmured Ginny.
>
> As Harry looked at her, he lowered his hand absentmindedly and touched the lightning scar on his forehead.
>
> “I know he will”.
>
> The scar had not pained Harry for nineteen years. All was well.
What she really meant to include after that:
\*But something made him turn back again to look at the Hogwarts Express steaming out of the station. A tall, black-haired, handsome girl was staring at him, leaning out of one of the windows of the last coach, twirling a long, white wand in her hands. She seemed to be nineteen years old - surely too old for Hogwarts? And was it the sun reflecting off the scarlet paint what gave her eyes that red glow?
Harry had to close his eyes as a sudden searing pain on his forehead made him wince, and when he opened them the girl had disappeared. Had he imagined her? Ginny and Ron, laughing together, did not notice, but Hermione’s anxious voice broke through his daze.
“Are you all right Harry?” she said, peering into his face. “For a moment there I thought…”
“I’m fine”, said Harry, taking one last look backwards, but Ron slapped him on the shoulder and challenged him to a car race back to the Ministry, and his unease was pushed to the back of his mind.\*
---
### Author:  [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2007, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-deathly-hallows-what-j-k-rowling-really-meant-to-write-spoilers/414876/2 "2007-08-08T16:44:17Z")
Let’s be careful here; this could put us on a slippery slope that leads to soiling the webpages of the SDMB with fanfiction.
---
### Author:  [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2007, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-deathly-hallows-what-j-k-rowling-really-meant-to-write-spoilers/414876/3 "2007-08-08T16:52:56Z")
In my planned sequel, a young swiss wizard (let’s call him Arnold), just starting at Hogwarts, will gain Rose’s admiration as he foils the plots of the nefarious young new teacher of Defense Against the Dark Arts.
---
### Author:  [@Windwalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Windwalker)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2007, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-deathly-hallows-what-j-k-rowling-really-meant-to-write-spoilers/414876/4 "2007-08-08T17:08:54Z")
_The scar had not pained Harry for nineteen years. All was well._
And Harry was getting bored. He wondered if Tom Riddle’s old notes were still being held behind that locked door in the Department of Mysteries. He felt that he should make sure that everything related to the Dark Lord was destroyed for good.
However… It couldn’t hurt to take one last look at those notes himself.
“For defensive purposes,” he said out loud. In Parseltongue.
---
### Author:  [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2007, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-deathly-hallows-what-j-k-rowling-really-meant-to-write-spoilers/414876/5 "2007-08-08T17:51:03Z")
[QUOTE=Arnold Winkelried]
So, we all can guess that J.K. Rowling really meant to write a different ending to her wizarding epic, but the evil editors changed it at the last minute. What was the original planned ending? I’m sure we can figure it out.
J. K. Rowling’s ending:
What she really meant to include after that:
\*But something made him turn back again to look at the Hogwarts Express steaming out of the station. A tall, black-haired, handsome girl was staring at him, leaning out of one of the windows of the last coach, twirling a long, white wand in her hands. She seemed to be nineteen years old - surely too old for Hogwarts? And was it the sun reflecting off the scarlet paint what gave her eyes that red glow?
Harry had to close his eyes as a sudden searing pain on his forehead made him wince, and when he opened them the girl had disappeared. Had he imagined her? Ginny and Ron, laughing together, did not notice, but Hermione’s anxious voice broke through his daze.
“Are you all right Harry?” she said, peering into his face. “For a moment there I thought…”
“I’m fine”, said Harry, taking one last look backwards, but Ron slapped him on the shoulder and challenged him to a car race back to the Ministry, and his unease was pushed to the back of his mind.\*
[/QUOTE]
But why would Rowling have deliberately written one of the worst endings in the history of the English language?
The one in the book was better.
---
### Author:  [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2007, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-deathly-hallows-what-j-k-rowling-really-meant-to-write-spoilers/414876/6 "2007-08-08T18:12:49Z")
Not one of the worst - _the_ worst!
Bulwer-Lytton competition, here I come!
---
### Author:  [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2007, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-deathly-hallows-what-j-k-rowling-really-meant-to-write-spoilers/414876/7 "2007-08-08T18:35:39Z")
> [@](#):
>
> “He’ll be all right,” murmured Ginny.
>
> As Harry looked at her, he lowered his hand absentmindedly and touched the lightning scar on his forehead.
>
> “I know he will”.
>
> The scar had not pained Harry for nineteen years. All was well.
\*And then rocks fell, and everyone died. The end. \*
---
### Author:  [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2007, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-deathly-hallows-what-j-k-rowling-really-meant-to-write-spoilers/414876/8 "2007-08-08T19:35:09Z")
Speaking of the ending, I thought I read somewhere that the last word of the book was supposed to be “scar”?
Isn’t THAT proof that her ending was at least edited, if only from “All was well - for seventeen years, he had not felt anything from his scar”?
---
### Author:  [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2007, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-deathly-hallows-what-j-k-rowling-really-meant-to-write-spoilers/414876/9 "2007-08-08T19:43:07Z")
Originally it was, but in an interview somebody referenced in one of the other Harry Potter threads Rowling said that she had changed her mind. Whether this meant she had rethought her originally planned ending was not, to the best of my recollection, made clear.
---
### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2007, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-deathly-hallows-what-j-k-rowling-really-meant-to-write-spoilers/414876/10 "2007-08-08T19:48:02Z")
[QUOTE=Baldwin]
Let’s be careful here; this could put us on a slippery slope that leads to soiling the webpages of the SDMB with fanfiction.
[/QUOTE]
I began work on _Harry Potter and the Soft Machine,_ but it just didn’t go anywhere. 🙂
---
### Author:  [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2007, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-deathly-hallows-what-j-k-rowling-really-meant-to-write-spoilers/414876/11 "2007-08-08T23:22:52Z")
All was well is lame all by itself–it can only be improved upon. Blech.
---
### Author:  [@shamrock227](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shamrock227)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2007, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-deathly-hallows-what-j-k-rowling-really-meant-to-write-spoilers/414876/12 "2007-08-08T23:43:32Z")
All was well.
So, Harry and Ginny decided to take the boys to Holstein’s for a quick bite before the train left. Harry and Ginny sat across from each other in the booth. Harry ordered onion rings and scanned the songs in the tabletop jukebox while Ginny looked over the menu. James slid into the booth next to his Mother. Albus Severus was late, he was having trouble parking his broom. A shady looking man in black robes glanced at Harry for a split second too long on his way to the men’s room. Albus Severus finally got his broom parked and entered the diner.
**The End**
---
### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2007, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-deathly-hallows-what-j-k-rowling-really-meant-to-write-spoilers/414876/13 "2007-08-08T23:49:42Z")
“Frankly my Dear,” retorted Harry, “I don’t give a damn.”
---
### Author:  [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2007, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-deathly-hallows-what-j-k-rowling-really-meant-to-write-spoilers/414876/14 "2007-08-08T23:52:55Z")
[QUOTE=shamrock227]
All was well.
So, Harry and Ginny decided to take the boys to Holstein’s for a quick bite before the train left. Harry and Ginny sat across from each other in the booth. Harry ordered onion rings and scanned the songs in the tabletop jukebox while Ginny looked over the menu. James slid into the booth next to his Mother. Albus Severus was late, he was having trouble parking his broom. A shady looking man in black robes glanced at Harry for a split second too long on his way to the men’s room. Albus Severus finally got his broom parked and entered the diner.
**The End**
[/QUOTE]
Ack! No! No! No! No! No! :eek:
[Casts _Imperius_ on **shamrock227,** orders him/her to go jump into the nearest pile of cow manure]
---
### Author:  [@Civil\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Guy)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2007, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-deathly-hallows-what-j-k-rowling-really-meant-to-write-spoilers/414876/15 "2007-08-09T01:47:59Z")
And they all lived happily ever after. Except that no one ever does.
---
### Author:  [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2007, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-deathly-hallows-what-j-k-rowling-really-meant-to-write-spoilers/414876/16 "2007-08-09T05:08:14Z")
The ending was going to be:
> [@](#):
>
> Harry watched as Albus walked toward the train.
> “He really is the spitting image of you” said Ginny.
> Harry replied “Close, but no scar”.
---
### Author:  [@Manatee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manatee)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2007, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-deathly-hallows-what-j-k-rowling-really-meant-to-write-spoilers/414876/17 "2007-08-09T05:44:04Z")
Beat you to it by almost a year, **Dan** :
[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=7985229&postcount=11](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=7985229&postcount=11)
---
### Author:  [@Threadkiller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Threadkiller)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2007, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-deathly-hallows-what-j-k-rowling-really-meant-to-write-spoilers/414876/18 "2007-08-09T12:30:58Z")
[QUOTE=Arnold Winkelried]
So, we all can guess that J.K. Rowling really meant to write a different ending to her wizarding epic, but the evil editors changed it at the last minute. What was the original planned ending? I’m sure we can figure it out…
[/QUOTE]
I know the above is tongue-in-cheek but…
These are probably the same evil editors who have been whining to their own overlords that if only _they_ had been writing the series instead of that Rowling hack, the books would have made some _real_ money.
To
[quote the master]
([http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5\_172.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_172.html)) (waaaay out of context, mind you)
> [@Cecil Adams](#):
>
> And I’m queen of Romania!
May I be the first to nominate Arnold as the inaugural member of the Straight Dope Literary Advisement Board! 😃
---
### Author:  [@Trion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trion)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2007, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-deathly-hallows-what-j-k-rowling-really-meant-to-write-spoilers/414876/19 "2007-08-09T12:59:24Z")
**Lisa:** Can you tell me what happens at the end of the series?
**J. K. Rowling:** He grows up and marries you. Is that what you want to hear?
---
### Author:  [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2007, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-deathly-hallows-what-j-k-rowling-really-meant-to-write-spoilers/414876/20 "2007-08-09T13:19:23Z")
[QUOTE=Arnold Winkelried]
In my planned sequel, a young swiss wizard (let’s call him Arnold), just starting at Hogwarts, will gain Rose’s admiration as he foils the plots of the nefarious young new teacher of Defense Against the Dark Arts.
[/QUOTE]
_ **snort** _\*
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