The Body Count

[dr_c]

I don't have anything particularly profound to say about the characters JKR has recently moved back and forth across the "will/won't survive" line for Book VII. This is because all I really think we can say is that the characters in question are secondary, along the lines of Neville, Luna, Weasleys-older-than-Ron, Hagrid, Lupin, Tonks, and maybe

Comments

[rj_anderson]

I don't think Ginny, or Ron, or Hermione, are anywhere near that safe myself. Harry, yes, for all the good reasons you mentioned. But arguing that a character can't die because they're emotionally close to the hero seems to ignore the long-standing tradition of killing off the hero's love interest/sidekick near the end of the story, not only to show that the villain is Really Really Bad, y0, but also so that the hero flips out and goes into the final battle feeling as though he has literally nothing left to lose. For that reason I'd put Ron and Ginny's chances at 30% and 45% respectively. Hermione's death is much less likely because she's the most central female character, and I think JKR knows how that would devastate a lot of little girls (not to mention the flames of feminist wrath that would erupt in her direction if she turned her lone heroine into a sacrificial lamb and left the defeat of Voldemort entirely in the hands of The Boys), and ultimately she'd achieve the same dramatic effect by killing off Ron

[rj_anderson]

I agree with Doc. I think Harry needs Ron and Ginny *alive* to be able to defeat Voldemort, rather than their death urging him on. And I must say I don't see Hermione as the heroine by any definition; I think her fate is tied with Ron's.

~GP

[zsenya]

I'm starting to get a little annoyed at friends and family (bless their hearts) who have picked up their phones and dashed off emails in the last two days to say "JK Rowling is predicting deaths in Book Seven!" CBS even had Bob Schieffer raise his eyebrows and look awed by the revelation. Maybe I'm too cynical, but my reaction was first: people have *already* died. It's not like the deaths of Cedric, Sirius, and Dumbledore were *insignificant*. Not to mention Harry's parents. We've always expected people were going to die. In a way, I'm kind of relieved that she's only forecasting 2-3 "major" deaths

Doomed to Die

[justjaney]

Ok, somehow managed to zap my last attempt at a post. Too bad I can't remember what I was saying, exactly...

When I heard that JKR had given a character a reprieve, I immediately thought of Lupin. Before he seemed to have a bit of a target on his furry chest, but after HBP and Tonks, it seems as if he has more of a chance. Why launch the new loveship if you are only going to ram it into an iceberg in the next book? I see that other people have come up with this point already. There are some v clever people in this fandom.

When I heard about the two doomed to die, I thought right away about Fred and George. I guess because they seem like a matched set, and she did say two. They also seem to be putting themselves into harm's way a lot, and they have managed to fit a lot of living into their short lives. However, I think I may have jumped to Fred and George because I love them so and would miss them terribly

[liriop]

Well, you don't know me. But I had to post because I agree so much with you. That's what I thought when I saw Melissa's and Emerson's guesses. I only disagree about Snape. I think that his chances of death are 80% or more, because after he murdered Dumbledore, even if he made it at the Dumbledore's request (which I don't believe), there seems to be no right place for him in the wizarding world.

[dr_c]

Thanks, and welcome!

Yes, I can see your point that maybe I overestimated Snape's survival chances, and agree with your phrasing ("no right place for him in the wizarding world"). I'll probably do another round of this a week or two before Book 7; perhaps my estimate will have changed by then.