So, Does Harry Potter Die In Book 7?

[FaninAma]

This was a discussion I had with my 13 and 16 year old daughters the other day so I thought it would be a discussion suitable for this board.

I say no because it would be major downer that would cause the movie company that produces the HP movies to lose a bundle on the next 3 movies as well hurt the DVD sales of the new movies( as well as the sales of the special complete package sets you know are sure to come after the last movie.)

So, unless JK has all the money she wants and didn't sign an agreement with the movie company agreeing not to kill off HP then I suspect ol' Harry lives on to fight another day after Voldemart is vanquished.

And I don't buy the argument that she kills Harry off just keep everybody else from using him in future books. Hell, how many times has Voldemart come back? Why would it be so hard to have the readers believe that , in a series based on total fantasy about witches and wizards, that even if HP were supposedly dead he couldn't be brought back in a manner acceptable to the fans?

Is there a dead pool on HP in Vegas? I'm thinking I may just want to lay a bundle on the side that says HP lives.

[Newbomb Turk]

So, unless JK has all the money she wants...

probably does.

[Ardmore_Sooner]

HARRY POTTER IS TEH DEBIL!

[olevetonahill]

I have an advanced readers copy , But I aint supposed to say .

[Chuck Bao]

After about five minutes of thought, I have two theories.

1) No, JK said the last book is her favourite. And, the whole series can't end on such a downer for all the reasons you mentioned, FaninAma. I suspect that the mention of the death of a major character is to get the hype machine going again.

But, there still needs to be a major sacrifice to conclude the series and permanently defeat Voldemort. Since the whole series is based on the cult of youth, I'm thinking a courageous and noble sacrifice of either Ron or Hermione. I could see JK concluding with a major heroine sacrifice with Hermione, the brightest witch of her age.

2) Yes, but not real death. Dumbledore comes back and shows Harry how to cheat death without using the dark arts. That easily trumps Voldemort's earlier vain attempts to come back and clearly shows that Dumbledore is indeed the greatest wizard ever.

JK has been incredibly brilliant way of tying seeming insignificant insights of the magical world into the future story line. Of the three unforgivable curses, the one that has not yet fully utilized yet is the Imperious Curse, which gives total control over a person. So, maybe there is a body double and remote control, so to speak. I’m just guessing here. However, I still can't see JK being all "the ends justifies the means" in this current geopolitical environment.

Okay, it took more than five minutes to type that.

[reevie]

Nah, she won't kill Harry. I say give her a 5 or 10 year break from Harry, then we'll see a 4 book series for Harry in college.

[Ike]

Yeah, he dies. She has said that this is absolutely the last HP book that she will do. Only one way to make sure that happens.

[Octavian]

he's a goner

[Frozen Sooner]

That dude's deader than a bag full of doornails. In fact, if I were writing it I'd not only kill him off, I'd have him turn evil in the last book and have Neville Longbottom kill him. Rowling has foreshadowed Neville being the real hero several times and has dropped some hints to that effect in interviews.

And Voldemort has only come back from death once.

[rufnek05]

yes he deserves to die, and i hope he burns in hell. i'm willing to bet he hooks up with that chick right at the last. bow chicka wow wow

[Ike]

That dude's deader than a bag full of doornails.

Is a bag full of doornails deader than a single doornail?

[Frozen Sooner]

Is a bag full of doornails deader than a single doornail?

Yes, by a factor of "bag full".

[FaninAma]

Theory one:
Neville is the one who gets rid of Voldemort. Harry Potter is a horcrux for a piece of Voldemort's soul and when Voldemort is finally vanquished and the piece of Voldemort's soul that resides in Harry is finally destroyed Harry reverts back into a muggle and has no magical powers.

Theory two:
Harry is the person referred to in the prophecy. He does vanquish Voldemort but crosses the veil in doing so but is reunited with his parents, Sirius and Dumbledore.

BTW, why have we never seen Dumbledore's brother appear in any of the books?

[Frozen Sooner]

I like theory one.

Except that I recall that non-magical kids of magical parents were pretty rare, right?

[GottaHavePride]

After about five minutes of thought, I have two theories.

1) No, JK said the last book is her favourite. And, the whole series can't end on such a downer for all the reasons you mentioned, FaninAma. I suspect that the mention of the death of a major character is to get the hype machine going again.

I disagree. To a writer, killing off the main character could still be a "favorite" book if it's done so well that she thinks it's amazing. Writers don't choose their favorites for the same reasons as readers.

Also, I don't buy that killing Harry off would affect movie or dvd sales. If that was a factor, I would assume that just the existence of books that haven't been turned into movies yet would affect the movie sales. However, I see no indication that knowing what's going to happen in the story has slowed ticket sales.

I would think that if she's good enough to write a death for Harry Potter that leaves people satisfied with how the story ends, fans will still line up to see it done on screen. The only danger would be if she couldn't pull it off convincingly and everyone was left thinking "we read 4,000 pages for THAT?" In that case yes, sales would probably fall off.

I'm sure there will be some odds going up on how it all ends.

[Scott D]

I can't wait until some sick bastard () goes all Kathy Bates in Misery on her

[royalfan5]

But what if the photon torpedo carrying his body doesn't burn up on impact with the Genesis planet, and his katra is elsewhere, for example an irritable southern doctor?

[olevetonahill]

Dumb asses
Remember Rambo ?
Read the Book 1st blood . then watch all those Movies !

[Scott D]

Dumb asses
Remember Rambo ?
Read the Book 1st blood . then watch all those Movies !

so are you suggesting that the Harry Potter books are written by a woman who gets physically ill at just seeing/hearing magic?