Like clay in the hand of the Potter

[vovat]

Hey, the last Harry Potter book comes out next month! Honestly, I've been on so much of an Oz kick recently that I haven't been thinking too much about Harry, but what with all the theories I've been seeing about what will happen in the final book [1], I might as well get in my two knuts on some of what's been proposed.

Harry dying: I really don't think it'll happen. Sure, it would be a noble self-sacrifice and all if Harry were to end his own life in order to vanquish Voldemort, but it would be too disappointing and disturbing to the readers. Well, unless Rowling thought, "Sod the readers! I'm already a billionaire!", but I don't find that too likely.

So, then, who IS going to die? I can't say I know. Harry has already lost so many people that offing another close friend (Hermione, one or more Weasleys, Hagrid, or Lupin) almost seems like overkill, but I still expect it. I really hope it isn't Hagrid, not just because he's one of my favorites, but because he's already been through so much (both in terms of physical danger and being tormented by Draco Malfoy and his ilk) that I'd like to see him emerge triumphant. A lot of people seem to think it's a foregone conclusion that he'll die in the final book, though.

Has Rowling given an actual number for how many major characters are going to die in Book 7? It seems to me I've seen the number five tossed around, but I can't recall where I've seen it. With the last two books, we could be pretty sure that, once we knew who died, everyone else was safe. Maybe this was done on purpose, to avoid making the books any scarier than they already were. Of course, they happened so late in the books so as not to allow for much relief, but I know a lot of people pretty much figured it would be Dumbledore who was the main casualty of Half-Blood Prince, effectively meaning they didn't have to fear QUITE as much for the rest of the principal cast. With this last book, though, it sounds like the threat of death will be looming throughout the story for just about everyone. I'll be really surprised if we don't see the final downfall of Voldemort and a relatively happy ending, but "relatively" might be the key word in that sentence.

Snape: While the ending of the sixth book initially left me thinking, "Wait, so Snape is really evil after all?", looking again at his flight from Hogwarts and the tips he gives Harry in the process, I think it's much more likely that (however much it might annoy him) he's still on Harry's side. It COULD be seen as the villain gloating and taunting the hero, but I doubt it. Besides, while making Snape a total villain might be an interesting twist, wouldn't it kind of negate the "you can't trust appearances" moral of the first book?

Harry's scar as horcrux: Kind of makes sense, but also kind of doesn't, because why would Voldemort put a piece of his soul into someone he was trying to kill? That still allows for the possibility that it was a rush job ("Crap! I'm dying, and I still need one more horcrux! Eh, that forehead will do.") or a mistake, but can a horcrux BE a rush job or a mistake? I don't think we have enough evidence to know for sure.

The other horcruxes, and the structure of the story: For all of the twists and tangents in the earlier books, they basically all fit the same structure--Harry and his friends go through another year at Hogwarts while Voldemort and/or his followers brew an evil plot in the background, and the plot finally comes to a head at a time conveniently close to the end of the school year. All the talk at the end of the sixth book about the remaining horcruxes and the possibility of Hogwarts closing down makes me wonder if the last book will be less along these lines and more of a traditional quest story. Half-Blood Prince made finding ONE horcrux a huge challenge and a major contributing factor in Dumbledore's death, and it turned out not to even be a real horcrux. So I definitely expect a LOT of challenges involved in tracking down the rest, especially since clues are few. As such, even though I pretty much expect Hogwarts to stay open despite the professors' discussion at the end of Book 6, I doubt there will be much occasion for Rowling to focus on school-related issues.

Okay, I guess that's about it. I doubt there's anything all that original in there, but hey. Feel free to let me know what you think about any of that stuff.

[1] Not to mention ENTIRE BOOKS. There's a book out in stores now called something like What Will Happen in Harry Potter Book 7. Talk about a book with a short shelf life! Sure, maybe a few people will pick it up off the discount shelf after the release of Deathly Hallows to see how totally wrong it ended up being, but not that many.

Comments

[rockinlibrarian.livejournal.com]

[1] Not to mention ENTIRE BOOKS. There's a book out in stores now called something like What Will Happen in Harry Potter Book 7.
I wonder if Rowling ever reads stuff like that. And laughs and laughs... or maybe says, "hey wait a minute, that IS a good idea?" Or "oh, I guess that was too obvious, maybe I'll have to change that" which might end up sucking because maybe the way she originally intended WAS the better way and that's why it WAS obvious.... Of course, that could be a good argument for why she WOULDN'T read stuff like that.

I agree about Harry dying. I think what's most likely is that it will LOOK like he will have to die, and he will make the choice to go ahead and die, but someone else will nobly take the fall for him. I just hope it's not Ron or Hermione. Sorry, I'm not so attached to Hagrid enough to care TOO much... but I don't think his death would have the same dramatic impact plotwise. It would be SAD, but I'm not sure if it would move the plot except for being sad.

I had a theory from book 1 on that Neville would die in one huge final act of heroism, one to more than justify his being put in Griffindor house. I'm still kind of rooting for that to happen. Not that I want Neville to die, but that he gets one really huge act of heroism. He's just had rather minor and sometimes silly acts of heroism in the past. I also had a theory from book 2 until about halfway through book 5 that Ginny would give her life to save Harry, but I'm not so sure anymore. She definitely would for her family, but I'm not sure about for Harry. Even if her feelings for him now ARE more serious than they were when she was eleven.

I haven't heard an official number of people to die. The only thing I heard relatively was that she changed her mind on who would die since she started writing, and one who was going to die will live and two that weren't are going to die. The switch of two for one leads me to believe the Weasley twins might get it, because can you seriously see one of them doing anything without the other? If one goes, so will the other. Maybe Ron was supposed to die, but his brothers will jump in and save him instead. Then again, maybe the two aren't related at all.

I think if Harry is a horcrux, it DID happen accidentally. And maybe it's not that he's an OFFICIAL horcrux as just something that acts in the same way. I don't know if there's an actual horcrux spell that needed to be cast or anything!

And yeah, Snape has to show some redeeming acts, because it's not poetic justice otherwise. He's too well-developed a character to be All Evil All the Time.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

I think there might be legal complications if Rowling were to admit to reading books of the "What Will Happen" variety, in that, if she had come up with a similar idea, one of the authors could potentially sue her over it. I very seriously doubt any of the fans who write books like that WOULD do something like that, but I know that authors often prefer to keep on the safe side by avoiding speculation and fan-fiction. I remember reading one of the Terry Pratchett newsgroups prior to the release of The Fifth Elephant, and Terry (who was known for reading the groups himself) became upset over some speculation that was going on, particularly one comment to the effect that they thought Vimes would have a child.

Sorry, I'm not so attached to Hagrid enough to care TOO much... but I don't think his death would have the same dramatic impact plotwise. It would be SAD, but I'm not sure if it would move the plot except for being sad.

Well, Hagrid WAS really Harry's first friend, from a few months before he'd even met Ron. Still, I agree that it wouldn't have anywhere near the same level of impact on the plot.

I definitely think Neville has an important role to play. Whether or not it will result in his death isn't something on which I'm prepared to speculate.

I don't know if there's an actual horcrux spell that needed to be cast or anything!

I just glanced at the chapter of Half-Blood Prince where the horcruxes are explained, and Slughorn says (on p. 498 of the Scholastic edition) that there IS a spell. We don't know enough of the details to know whether this spell could backfire or anything of that sort, though.

[loz]

I'm going to try not to think about characters dying, but I will say that I never once thought anyone would think that HBP showed that Snape was evil after all and I was really surprised when lots of people did think that.

[zimbra1006.livejournal.com]

Agreed! I thought that we were probably supposed to initially think, in our surprise, "oh he was evil after all," but there's way too much evidence to support the opposite. Plus, to have spent 6 books making him seem kind of shady and the kids always suspecting him of doing something evil, and have him actual *turn out* evil would be a pretty crappy plot device. If Snape doesn't turn out to be a hero I will be really shocked.

[yosef.livejournal.com]

I'm really hoping Harry doesn't die, but I feel like, if she does, she'll do it in some way where it's really well done and makes sense (and I will therefore not be annoyed).

With Snape, I was thinking maybe he will be actually evil to prove that not even Dumbledore was perfect... but yeah, then in that case, it would only show that the first impressions of 11-year-olds are good to follow (which would actually go in line with all the other times where Dumbledore is wise enough to trust Harry and them... but of course if Snape's evil, Dumbledore was wrong so maybe not so wise to trust kids, but then again, they were right so...).

Since the last word of the book was revealed long ago to be "scar," I'm fairly surprised there haven't been any joke contests to write the best final sentence. Maybe that's just me who thinks that could be amusing though (not that I've even tried to think up some final sentences anyway).

[vovat.livejournal.com]

With Snape, I was thinking maybe he will be actually evil to prove that not even Dumbledore was perfect...

Isn't it mentioned somewhere that Dumbledore rarely made mistakes, but when he did, they were big ones? I know some people have taken this as a hint that his trusting of Snape was one of these big mistakes, but keep in mind that we never found out WHY Dumbledore had such faith in Snape. Harry insists it's because Snape claimed to feel sorry for betraying the Potters to Voldemort, but Dumbledore never says this. That is, he does say that it's true Snape felt sorry, but not that that's his reason for trusting Snape. And considering how important life-debts seem to be to wizards, I would imagine Snape must at least feel guilt over the fact that he ended up doing the exact OPPOSITE of what he was supposed to do, even if he felt indifferent or even happy about James's death on a personal level.

but yeah, then in that case, it would only show that the first impressions of 11-year-olds are good to follow (which would actually go in line with all the other times where Dumbledore is wise enough to trust Harry and them... but of course if Snape's evil, Dumbledore was wrong so maybe not so wise to trust kids, but then again, they were right so...).

It's kind of a paradox, isn't it? I think it would be more likely that Harry and his friends had been right all along if the first guy they suspected hadn't been the obvious red herring to the readers as well as the protagonists. For the kids to suspect someone nobody else would and turn out to be right might make for a good lesson in listening to kids, but for them to suspect the same person just about anyone would suspect and turn out to be right...well, not so much.

Since the last word of the book was revealed long ago to be "scar," I'm fairly surprised there haven't been any joke contests to write the best final sentence.

"Harry grew up and tried to live a normal life after that, but battling the most powerful evil wizard of the past several decades to the death is the kind of thing that's bound to leave an emotional scar."

"And, to paraphrase Sigmund Freud, 'Sometimes a scar is just a scar.'"

"And, as it turned out, Voldemort's favorite character from The Lion King was Scar."