She flinched, is all...

[emmessann]

Um, hi.  (waves sheepishly to f-list who are mostly not Potter-people.)  I haven't been able to get past one aspect of Deathly Hallows, and now that JKR has spoken publicly on it I just had to put this out there...

So JKR has confirmed, as most everyone guessed, that Remus (and presumably Tonks) were the unplanned deaths of DH.  What I've seen no-

Comments

[ljs]

I even think this may explain why Remus' and Tonks' deaths pass so quickly (which had a tremendous impact on me.) It wasn't any easier to kill them than Arthur; maybe she flinched again.

I think that's probably right. Even while she could tell herself that the death fit her pattern-making (ie. sets up Harry as godfather of an orphaned boy just as Sirius was), it couldn't have been easy.

I don't know that I could have borne Arthur's death in OotP.

[hugs]

[emmessann]

Arthur's death would have been just awful. I think that's part of why knowing he's the survivor gives me some comfort -- the alternative would have seemed dreadful to me, too.

[glitterdemon]

To derail this a little, I would think it would've diminished Sirius' death at the end of the novel as well. Until that point, you know, yeah, there was Cedric, but he wasn't as important a minor character, and I think the impact of Cedric's death was more in the shock that he did die, and how. Sirius' death was the first of a beloved character, and to have it be another death in that book would have made it... less, I think. And I think that's true from a purely narrative standpoint as well, with the first major death happening at the climax. I'm sure I could write a whole essay.

Not to mention it would have been weird to kill off Ron's father and the nearest thing Harry had to a father in the same novel.

[emmessann]

I think you're probably right -- Arthur's stay may have been equal parts an aesthetic and emotional decision. She's said she was a lot more blithe about James and Lily's deaths before her own mother died; if she'd planned Arthur's death in that same early phase, she may not have appreciated how much it would necessarily affect all the Weasley children and Harry.

Artistically, I think the timing and revealing of R/T's deaths are incredibly powerful.

[mythichistorian]

Well, it says something interesting about the wizarding world, because - really - aren't werewolves a little hard to kill as a rule?

The whole book felt rushed to me (which is odd, given the amount of exposition and procrastination in it), possibly because there were all sorts of stories obviously going on around the edges of Harry's experiences, most of which we only caught a fleeting glimpse of.

My first reaction on completing the text was - well, yes, okay - but I wouldn't have done it that way

[hermione_like]

where was Charlie bringing in the Dragon cavalry,

YES. Ever since HBP, I have been dying for a scene with Charlie leading a dragon brigade, swooping down just as an army of Inferi were about to attack. Dragons! Fire! Inferi! It could have been so awesome.

/random comment

[emmessann]

Heh. You might want to check out pir8fancier's posts; your reaction sounds similar to hers. (And then you should check out her fic; I think you'd get a kick out of it.)

Yeah, Remus has always seemed oddly fragile for a werewolf, but I look forward to fics that blissfully ignore this particular canon.

[mrstater]

Here via hogwarts_today...

When Remus' and Tonks' marriage was mentioned in Ch. 1 and then Bellatrix tried to kill Tonks in "The Seven Potters", I was sure JKR was going to follow through with the Remus vs Greyback/werewolves vs Ministry showdown she'd setup in HBP, and that Tonks would have a major plot involving Bellatrix to wrap up the DOM injury/survivor's guilt about Sirius storyline for her. They were so prominently featured for the first third of the book my excitement kept building. Then...they had a baby. Which I loved. But...then they died. And Greyback was getting comically konked on the head with crystal balls and we have no idea who took Tonks out or if she took anyone out first. It was like JKR dropped a major plot halfway through the novel

[emmessann]

Ohh, yeah, my hopes were high, too.

The thing with Greyback was weird. I was shocked that she left such a character apparently alive at the end.

[antennapedia]

Greyback and Umbridge both.

I agree with the reasoning that Arthur Weasley's death would have been inappropriate for OotP (kill one father figure, not two; it would have overshadowed Sirius' death), but would have worked in DH. I think mrstater's comment about a major plotline being dropped also feels right-- I was expecting more payoff from the Harry-Remus confrontation than I got. I was unhappy that his death was off-stage; I cared more about the character than that. (I cared more about Remus than I did about Sirius, and more about Arthur Weasley than both. Ssh.)

It felt a bit first-draft-y to me. Overall it was an intensely satisfying read, mind you.

[pink_n_violent]

i had not thought about what she said about two other characters dying in months. so it does seem like she just tacked that in. hmmmmmmmmm.

I feel so much better knowing this, somehow. I wasn't sure if I could accept Remus fic anymore, since I generally prefer for things to be true to canon. But far as I'm concerned, Remus' death is the AU version, one possibility among many --

i for one am completely ignoring their deaths. do you mind if i share your posting with my flist? i think they would enjoy it.

[innerslytherin]

Your icon makes me feel just a little bit better.

[emmessann]

Absolutely, please do share! Thanks for reading it.

[victorialupin]

(here via hogwarts_today

When I first read that MSNBC article, I wasn't quite certain that it meant Remus's death hadn't been planned. The writer says "Instead, another father dies in the end of Book 7," and I didn't know if JKR had indicated that in the interview or the writer just made an interesting observation. The only thing standing in the way of Remus being the "last minute" death is, I think, the fact that he was present with James, Lily and Sirius, which seemed to be a scene that JKR had planned for years beforehand. However, I can easily see her putting him into that scene at the last minute, after realizing that his death needed more impact.

Anyways, that's not really the point: the point is that I'll be completely devastated if when I watch the actual interview, it turns out that Remus and Tonks were the last minute deaths. It's strange, but it actually makes me much more upset -- and I was pretty darn upset -- to know that they could have lived and been happy. I'm glad it's helped you make peace with their deaths, but it's certainly

[hermione_like]

I agree. I didn't get the impression that Remus's death was the unplanned one, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was. (Still) Angry, but not surprised, as their whole storyline was just too rushed. (I was really hoping for a Remus-Fenrir showdown as well, and Peter somehow saving Remus's life as a way to repay Harry-to at least let him have one connection to his parents left.)

At any rate, I was 100% sure that Hagrid was the reprieve as well but I'm glad it was Arthur. OotP is my least favorite book, and if Arthur had died as well as Sirius, I don't know if I could ever read that book again. XD

[emmessann]

I think there's another version with quotes that makes it more clear it was Remus, although it's not 100% (but IMO very likely) that the other death was Tonks.

I thought Remus' part in the spirit-world scene, though incredibly touching, could have been filled by any other recent death -- Hagrid, when I thought it was Hagrid, and it makes sense Harry would bring back and say something similar to Arthur, too.

I'm sorry the info makes you feel worse, and I can totally understand feeling that way. I've been really struggling to find peace with this -- it has some RL parallels that particularly hit me -- and this was the first thing that helped.

[ellid]

There was another interview where she confirmed that Remus and Tonks were the unplanned deaths, and they died because she wanted to compensate for saving Arthur.