Last night I finished re-reading Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince. It was a lot of fun. In some ways I enjoyed reading it more the second time around. This time there wasn’t any concern or worry about someone spoiling the ending for me.
Rowling did an excellent job of creating all sorts of excitement and anticipation about the coming book. It doesn’t hurt that there is an immense amount of hype surrounding the release of Deathly Hallows. If you are a fan of the series it is hard not to get caught up in it all. Not to mention that the media and Scholastic public relations department are working hard to generate more. That is part of why Rowling is asking the public to ‘Help preserve the secrecy’ of Potter.
“As launch night looms, let’s all, please, ignore the misinformation popping up on the web and in the press on the plot of ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,”‘ Rowling wrote in a message posted Wednesday on her Web site, http://www.jkrowling.com/.
“I’d like to ask everyone who calls themselves a Potter fan to help preserve the secrecy of the plot for all those who are looking forward to reading the book at the same time on publication day. In a very short time you will know EVERYTHING!”
Her last line about knowing everything touches upon something that bothers me. When I read Harry Potter or Tolkien I suspend disbelief. I don’t try to view the world as I know it to be. I try to see the world as the author has drawn it. A place in which magic and magical creatures exist. It is a fantasy world and I know it to be that.
The thing that makes me a little crazy is the intense analysis in which armchair pundits try to claim that the author used character XYZ as a metaphor for life or scenario PDQ is really political commentary. That doesn’t mean that sometimes these things aren’t happening, it is just my commentary. I don’t want to get caught up in whether the Ministry of Magic is supposed to be representative of a good or bad government. I just want to enjoy the freaking story.
And now on to my own suggestion of which two characters are going to die in the story. If you don’t want to hear this please stop reading now. I haven’t spent hours and hours thinking about this so consider this to be just the random mutterings of one more fan.
Death Watch: Hermione, Neville, Hagrid and Snape will all die. Stay tuned. It won’t be long until we find out for certain.
I also enjoyed Half-Blood Prince much more the second time around. I wasn’t worried about finishing it quickly so that it wouldn’t be ruined for me, so I got to really get into the story.
Also, it is much better as a part of a series, than as a stand-alone book that people have been waiting two years for.
It’s funny when these “deep” analyses lead to alleged hidden meanings that the author him/herself denies. Tolkien in particular was vehement that LotR was in no way an allegory for the contemporary world, but that doesn’t stop the ivory tower critics from insisting they know better!
One of my favorite Asimov short stories addresses this issue in a very humorous way. It’s called “The Immortal Bard”. Ever read it?
On the death list, my 2% of a buck: No way on Hermione, your others are very possible.
We’ll know soon!
Kat,
Hmm..Can’t say that I’d be surprised to see that happen.
KRG,
Another day and we’ll see.
Ellie,
Eye and fork- two things that should never go together.
I just want to enjoy the freaking story.
Amen brother! Every time I see some long, involved analysis I want to stab my eye with a fork.
I have a vote for Percy, too, but I wouldn’t pin my hopes on it – it would be too easy. I to would suck if the only major female character got whacked, though. Not that I think that means she won’t 🙂
I wouldn’t doubt any of those you have listed. I’d just like to say that I’d be waiting for a Weasley to die, there are a lot of them (hopefully just Percy, the little prat).