Soccer Dad

Deathly hallows dead pool

Ever since before the publication of the Goblet of Fire, author JK Rowling has made a point of promising that certain characters will die in the upcoming book. She won't specify which character and may oversell it a bit. (I believe that she maintained that a main character would die in Goblet of Fire, but Cedric was hardly a main character before that book.) It is an excellent marketing technique, piquing the curiosity of her millions of fans.

In advance of the publication of the Deathly Hollow due out in a few weeks now, she has told us that two characters (presumably good characters) will die. She's also coyly let on that Harry Potter, her hero may not be immune from shuffling off his mortal coil.

While Presence has written that he feels (from the title words "Deathly Hallows") that Harry will sacrifice himself, I feel that given that Harry Potter is a children's series, that killing the main character would be too dark.

So with Harry Potter himself out out of the running, who are the two protagonists who will bite the dust in Book #7?

For the same reason I believe that Harry is safe, I also believe that Ron and Hermoine are safe. It would be too dark to kill any of the three main characters. I don't really have any proof for my feelings, except in the case of Harry.

One thing that JK Rowling is very good at is foreshadowing. She does have a future plan for Harry Potter and it's not the grave. Think about it. In the Order of the Phoenix, Harry led unauthorized Defense against Arts classes. In the Half Blood Prince, we are shown that Thomas Riddle wanted that position but that when he didn't get it, no professor had held the post for more than a year. Harry's fate, after book 7 is to be appointed Defense Against Dark Arts professor. (That Harry is established as being something of an alter ego to Tom Riddle/Voldemort serves as confirmation that this is his position of the future.)

Well maybe that's not a proof that Harry will survive, but I think the indication is pretty strong that he will.

Anyway with the Weekly Standard's Jonathan Last bringing up another (educated) guess as to who will die (h/t Baseball Crank), this is probably as good a time as any to join the speculation. The aspect of the speculation presented has this bit that I liked ...

I think this death needs to come early on in order to make the rest of the book feel dangerous. Everyone knows a big death is coming; most people expect it won't come until the end. Kill someone early and the stakes have been upped for everything that comes afterward.

One of the major (good) characters will be killed early on - either opportunistically or deliberately to send a lesson - and only one will be killed in the grand finale. That's what I figure too.

So who will die?

I've read speculation about teachers.

Professor Snape - At the end of the Half Blood Prince, Harry calls Snape a coward. Snape is offended by the characterization. My guess is that it's because he's betrayed Voldemort in some way and yet is going back to the dark lord. (Making Harry think that Snape killed Dumbledore was a way of hiding that betrayal. Harry wasn't particularly good at occlumancy.) Despite the risks, Snape will survive. If Rowling's sense of irony is intact, he will succeed Dumbledore as headmaster of Hogwarts.

Prof. McGonagall - I don't think that she's a traitor, but the speculation is interesting. As head of Gryffindor house that would be pretty surprising. I can see no reason why she would be immune. But I think someone else is marked.

Hagrid - In the Half-Blood Prince, Harry and his friends have moved on. Harry feels guilty about it, but magical creatures just aren't important when you're fighting to save the (wizarding) world. (Put another way, "Painted wings and giant rings make way for other toys.") Hagrid, like Sirius, has little else to do at this point. (Despite the promise of Harry living as Sirius's son after he finished Hogwarts, Sirius was kept on the sidelines for the next two books.) He won't survive the Deathly Hallows. And he is character who will be knocked off early. (I sound so sure of myself. Pride goeth before the humiliation.)

Mr. and Mrs. Weasley - I know that Ron's parents have been the subject of speculation, especially Mrs. Weasley. Given that they are members of the Order of the Phoenix, they certainly are at risk. Might Lucius Malfoy take his nastiness to the next level and kill one or both of them? I doubt it.

Ginny Weasley - While Elie's Expositions wonders why it seems that none of the professors at Hogwarts are married, I suspect that Ginny is more likely to end up with Harry than killed. Not that they'd get married at the end of the Deathly Hallows, but certainly I can see them headed back in that direction again.

Fred and George Weasley - In some ways the twins are the real heroes of the Harry Potter series. I hope to write about that soon! They're immune.

Neville Longbottom - As I read the Order of the Phoenix, for awhile I refused to believe that it was Sirius who would die. I had tagged someone else - Neville. Of course everything that applied then still applies. Neville has an aptitude for fighting the Dark Arts. His parents were incapacitated by Voldemort's ally, Bellatrix. Now he's 2 years older and probably even more sure of himself. In the final battle, I expect that Neville - who's come a long way from searching for his lost toad - driven by thoughts of revenge and overly confident of his own abilities will get careless and become vulnerable to a fatal spell.

Peter Pettigrew - Well, he might well get killed, but he's not someone who we really care about, so he doesn't count as one of the two. Still, I fully expect him to betray (and possibly kill) Voldemort, given all the abuse he's taken. (Just as Wormtongue turned on Sarumen.)

This wasn't meant to be a comprehensive look at all the characters. The main point of this exercise was to identify the likely victims of JK Rowlings' penchant for knocking off characters. Agree? Disagree?

UPDATE: Just One Minute reports on the betting in London that Harry gets killed. But Just One Minute thinks that JK Rowling is concerned for her legacy with her grandchildren. Which is more or less my view - that killing Harry is too "dark" for a children's series. Dave Kopel has more on Severus Snape as the (un)likely hero of Book 7, something that I discuss above. He's also right about assigning significance to characrers' names, though some of his examples seem a bit strained.

UPDATE: There's a U.S. futures market that has Harry Potter surviving rated as a 65% probability. Do the Brits know something their former colonists don't?

UPDATE II: Welcome to Galley Slaves readers, here's more Harry Potter on Soccer Dad.

Harry Potter, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Posted by SoccerDad at June 4, 2007 7:42 PM | TrackBack