Oh, the speculation! Will poor Harry lose his own life in the fight against Voldie? People seem pretty split on this issue; I'd say at least a third of the HP readers think Harry is going to die. Dan Radcliffe has even said that he hopes Harry dies. And that when he dies, he's naked. And cuddling with a horse.
All that aside, I'm pretty skeptical. Again, not putting it past JK, but it just doesn't make sense. People keep saying that this is a "christ-story" as evidence that Harry will die, but I don't find HP to have nearly as much connection with Christian imagery and metaphor as many other books. And even many blatant christ-stories don't include the death of the savior. Case in point: Aragorn, LotR. He's tested, he has to sacrifice, but he lives through the book and gets to boink Liv Tyler. What I mean is that there are many ways to tell a story about a prophesised redeemer, and many of the ones we're familiar with don't include the hero being killed.
But my real skepticism comes from something much more technical. Throughout the novels, we only see what Harry sees - with 2 exceptions. (1) The interaction between the human and magical ministers (2) Snape's conversation with Bellatrix and Narcissa. Aside from thos conversations, we have no insight beyond what Harry experiences. If you're writing a book that's almost a first-person narrative without actually being in first-person, what do you write when the character dies. Would JK just switch to a more omniscient voice in the final chapters? Wouldn't that be obvious and annoying? Would she write a bunch of Book 7 like that? It wouldn't seem to flow very well with the other 6 books, would it. Technically, I can't think of a good way to make that work (which certainly doesn't say much.) Maybe have the very last words of the next-to-final chapter be Harry's dying thoughts? (JK has said that the very last chapter is sort of a prologue with info about what happens in the lives of the characters in future years.)
I think what's most likely is that Harry will have to sacrifice something really, really big. Ginny? Ron? Or maybe something we haven't even thought of. Regardless, let's all keep out fingers crossed that I'm right, and that Harry defeats Voldemort, marries Ginny, and everyone lives happily ever after.
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4 comments:
Um...why is your website pink and purple now....I had to minimize when i opened it at work so no one would think i am a fruit. Anyways I have a new thought about the Harry beaing a Horocrux and needing to die theory...that Neville is actually the 7th Horocrux and harry will have to kill Neville...put that in your pipe and smoke it.
Ooh, I like that! That would be awful, but it would make sense and it ties up a lot of questions about the deal with Neville, what Harry will have to sacrifice/ be willing to do. Great theory!!
Okay, I'm with you on Harry not dying. That's just not the sort of story I think JK is telling. I could see Harry losing an eye, or a leg, or his memory, or anything. I just don't see him dying.
Mostly because, as we know from the prophesy as Voldemort has chosen to interpret it, neither will live while the other survives. Do we really think JK is writing the sort of book where Voldemort lives? And if Harry dies by killing Voldemort, what's the point of the prophesy?
I'm not saying I don't WANT Harry to die. I'm fine with tragic endings. I just don't think JK is necessarily that dark, or that bold. All along, it's seemed like she's writing the sort of book where good, eventually, and sometimes at great cost, triumphs.
I agree. The whole time we've been going along with Harry's ups and downs, through school, friendship, quidditch, death threats from Voldemort, love, learning his parents' stories ... that boy has an amazing life force and I just can't see it getting snuffed out.
I am always amazed at what a good friend Harry is able to be to Ron and Hermione even though he was never allowed to have friends his whole childhood at the Dursleys. I have a feeling that his friends must mean more to him even than Ginny does. I reckon it's Ron who's going to go ..
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