No Mr. Potter, I Expect You To Die!
And so it has been decreed that “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” will be published on July 21. The announcement came out today, and I know I’m pretty excited about this finale as well. But of course, not as excited as Scholastic.
In New York, Scholastic shares rose about 1 percent this morning. In a year without Harry, his absence becomes an excuse for falling sales.
LOL, yes whenever I do a poor job, I blame it on the lack of Harry Potter as well. The funny thing is that the Potter series is not necessarily a huge cash cow in and of itself.
Many fans will pay much less for “Deathly Hallows,” with Amazon.com quickly announcing the book would be sold for $18.89, a 46 percent discount. Price competition has been so intense over the years that many retailers have acknowledged they don’t make money on the fantasy series, depending instead on customers buying other books along with Potter.
Even though Bunky got a hardcover copy of the last book, I actually read a digitally transcribed version of “The Half-Blood Prince”. It was just a lot more convenient. I’m sure this last book will make for a great ending, and while it will be sad to see the series go, I’m glad that there was always a definite end in sight.
I kinda prefer not having all the little hints that Rowling likes to give away about if characters will die or not. While I understand the marketing aspects of the tactic, it kinda takes away from that surprising gut punch surprise that usually accompanies a character’s death. Plus when it turns out to just be someone like Cedric dying, you feel let down. “Cedric who,” you say? Exactly.
Of course the big question is whether or not Harry will die. Everyone is worried that Rowling will kill Harry off to prevent the horror known as fanfiction. And with a “major character” set to die, everyone is nervous. Personally, I doubt Harry will die. As great as a Neo-Mr. Smith ending would be *heavy sarcasm here*, what would have been the point of the whole story? Watching Harry grow up to be a sacrifice? Lily’s life given up for pretty much nothing? And how can you kill off Harry’s best friends? It would really just destroy the reread value of the series, and that has always been a huge part of the greatness of the Harry Potter novels. I think Rowling is much too smart to make this mistake, and is just doing her usual tease. When she says she gave so-and-so character a reprieve, I’m sure she never really seriously considered doing the deed.
I’m guessing the doomed “major” character will be Hagrid or something. Every other loveable father figure in this series has died so far. Hagrid’s next, I’m calling it right here and right now. You might as well give him an extended chapter and an orange mecha cause the “loveable” giant is as good as done. Also, some ensign that they meet and love in this book will probably die, ensuring that the character has some super-devoted fans for years. That or Cho/Ginny will die. I could see that happening. See how these little misleading hints just make you look for things that aren’t there before you even start reading? I’d prefer to go into the book fresh.
Still, there’s always this possibility: Ms. Rowling could just write another series. “At some point she’ll come out of retirement and pull a Michael Jordan,” said Mr. Searby of J. P. Morgan.
Now are we talking the wearing-the-4-5 Jordan on the Chicago Bulls or are we talking the old-and-oft-injured Jordan that played for the Washington Wizards? Time to make a spinoff series about the young wizard’s darker and more emo second cousin, Larry Potter.
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I’m betting on Ginny, since Cho is pretty much irrelevant at this point.
Well pretty much any love interest of Harry’s has a good chance of dying young.
If Ginny dies, millions of kids will be scarred for life! Besides, if she dies then what was the point of him giving her up at the end of the last book? Actually though, at this point in time, all I want to know is what the heck is going on with Snape lol. I am sure HP won’t die because this series is really not one of those Neo-Mr.Anderson kind of angst-filled melodrama. it is still traditional in that goodness will triumph over evil. I don’t want Hermione to die because she is just sooooo preeety (
Yeah, I like Hermione a lot in this series and really do want to know what the heck is up with Snape. I think he’s not completely evil, just cause he is one of her best characters in the series.
I think my comments got cut off cause I used a bracket, anyway I was going to add that it is definitely tooo late to worry about the horror of fanfiction
Ha, I like the idea of a spinoff series! Perhaps a prequel wouldn’t be a bad idea, if it went into the rise of Voldemort et. al.
I feel that it’s pretty clear that Snape is one of the goodguys working undercover for the badguys. If I’m wrong, I’ll treat Kabitzin to dinner at the next New Year’s gathering. That is, if he shows up.
My head tells me Ender is right but my heart refuse to accept it. IF Snape was evil, then it is like the last 5 books didn’t mean anything. Potter was right in the first book about him. I just can’t see Dumbledore commit that big of error in judgement that he would just trust him blindly without reason.
I suppose it is to Rowling’s credit that I can’t even believe it after what Snape did lol. I still hold out hope for a double/double agent haha.
I’d be there for a free dinner, but how could you be wrong when you agreed with what I said =D?
Ah, I think I got your opinion confused with Catnip, who was still somewhat ambivalent about Snape’s status. Deal still stands though!
I’m of the opinion that Snape only did “that thing” at the end of the book because Dumbledore pleaded with him to do it. Otherwise, Snape’s cover would be blown. You’d think he would enjoy it more if he really was evil. Maybe give some kind of torturously long-winded speech before the final blow. Plus he would have killed Harry on the way out for the xp chain.
Maybe he has just learned from previous evil villains that it is really not that efficient to have a long-winded gloating speech before killing your arch nemesis. One tends to get interrupted.