Harry Potter

Gaaaaaaah! J.K. Rowling has announced that two characters will die in the final book of the Harry Potter series, but she won't say which ones and she won't say when the book is coming out. We already lost Sirius! We already lost Dumbledore, for goodness' sake! I don't know how much longer I can take the suspense! Exclamation point! Exclamation point!

Comments

Anonymous said…
I think the more interesting comment is where she states that someone gets a reprieve that originally was going to die. Horcruxes, Felix Felicis and dual prophesies, the clues are there, do you see the central thesis? (At least the one that I have been preaching is there.)
Anonymous said…
Sorry. The above was Roy.
Tooz said…
well, shoot. I've not read the phoenix one or halfblood prince, and now I know who is dying. shoot, shoot, shoot. I even have the phoenix one checked out to read.
Becca said…
Just try to forget about it, and read them anyway. It's definitely worth it. It might make Half-Blood Prince a bit more poignant.
Suze said…
oh, i didn't mean to spoil it for anyone. i just figured that anyone who's a fan would've spent 2 solid days reading the latest book the instant it came out and then re-read the entire series for a refresher...like me.
Anonymous said…
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Suze said…
who are you, most recent anon?

yeah, it took 2 days because i'm a person who needs to sleep at night. plus, wasn't it last summer that the half-blood prince came out? i was, like, 6 weeks preggers so give me a break!
Becca said…
I got it on my birthday, and we had just gotten back from the roadtrip vacation back East. Tom was very gracious in letting me curl up and read. I did get some sleep, but I was done in about 2 days. Then I sat in shock. Then I began cursing that I didn't have the last book!

And I have my theories about the next book.
Suze said…
R.E.B.
Right, Roy?
I have always made it a point to be standing in line at Wal-Mart at midnight when they start selling the book. Then I take it home and read it all night until I have finished it, somewhere around 1 or 2 the next afternoon. Then I do what needs to be done around the house. Then I go to bed at like, 6 p.m. because I'm exhausted. Then I get up the next morning and start reading the whole series all over again and work my way through until the most recent book is finished (again) in case I missed anything.

And Suze, I read the item on that yesterday, too, and am cursing the fact that she's killing off characters! Argh!

Amazon.com has a feature where they will e-mail you the second they find out when it will be released. I signed up for it yesterday!
Roy? As in Roy C- who liked to sleep in window seats in high school?

Or a different Roy?
Steph said…
Now I'm all distraught. I've had Harry Potter on the brain anyway because I recently went through an annual rereading binge, plus relistened to the tapes of HBP while painting my house.

When Sirius died, I remember being so disconsolate. I put down the book (I stopped reading! For like, more than an hour!), went on a long walk and kept thinking, "why on earth am i so upset about this? he's a fictional character!!" But there you go. I have a bad crush on Sirius. Which is probably why, while I was quite sad over the demise of Dumbledore, I didn't have to take long brooding walks in order to go on with life after reading HBP.
Suze said…
You have a crush on Sirius, too? OK, so I'm not the only kook out there who wants to marry him. Sigh.
Becca said…
Sirius isn't really dead. I'm 90% certain of it.

Dumbledore will be reborn in some way this will be critical to Harry's success.

And Neville is going to feature very prominently in this next book. I personally think the Prophecy was about Neville, not Harry, anyway.

And of course, I have no inside knowledge. Just guessing.

So says the little known Aztec word verification god, Auxqgxtl.
ann said…
pretty sure you and steph have the same crushes on the same people. i remember reading somehting about you both having crushes on john stewart and david sedaris. if i were either of you, i'd keep a close watch on my husband around my cousin. :-)

and if becca wants to have another son one day and name him after herself and one of my favorite characters on wkrp in cincinnatti, she could name him "hrbkq."
Steph said…
Oh, I don't have a crush on David Sedaris. He's too gay to be crushable. I idolize him, but if Susan has a crush on him, she's on her own, baby.

However, the trend Ann points out is potentially distressing. Then again, name me one liberal, heterosexual, female news junkie who doesn't have a crush on Jon Stewart. As for Sirius Black, I think J. K. Rowling has a crush on him herself. She made him sexy on purpose.
Becca said…
Jon Stewart is mine, y'all. I called it way back when he was cohosting Short Attention Span Theatre with Caroline Rhea.

Go ahead. I'll wait while you look it up on iMDB. Told ya I'm old.

And yeah, I get Stephen Colbert, too.

I don't really have a crush on Sirius. Now I'm sitting here wondering if something is wrong with me because I don't. But if I were back in school, I'd be all over Fred and George like butter in beer.
Steph said…
Hmm. I would say that choosing the likes of Fred and George over the likes of Sirius might be an indication of mental health. Alas. I guess Sirius appeals mainly to those of us with a penchant for scarred, moody and cantakerous men. (Thank God my husband fits the bill so well--at least the moody and cantakerous part.) I was so disappointed when they cast Gary Oldman as Sirius in the movies. Not because I don't think he's terrific, but because I don't find him hot. How sad is that?!

I need to get a life.
Suze said…
becca, becca, becca. Rowling wouldn't cheapen the death of Sirius and Dumbledore by bringing them back! That's the stuff of badly written network spy shows, not serious literature. Nearly Headless Nick said it to Harry after Sirius died, that he was really, really gone.

Jon Stewart is MINE, y'all. AND Stephen Colbert. So keep yo mitts off.
I, too, was disappointed at Gary Oldman as Sirius. Not NEARLY sexy and dangerous enough. Played him waaaaaaaaaayyyy to geeky (yes, I find most geeks hot, but not Gary Oldman!). Here's my top five list of sexy actors who could have done better as Sirius Black:

5. Hugh Jackman (he'd need to work on changing the Aussie accent to a Britisher)

4. Joseph Fiennes (but he'd need to work on the dark and dangerous a bit. It's there, it's just untapped at this point)

3. Johnny Depp (I'm sorry, but he's just hot and has proven he can do dark but seriously sexy roles. He's only #3 on this list though because he does such a darn fine job as Jack on POC)

2. Alan Cumming (he'd need to buff up quite a bit, but he is sexy in his own twisted dark way. Did you see him and Cyndi Lauper on the Tony's from Threepenny Opera? SO HOT!!!!)

1. Colin Firth (he's been doing quite a bit of fluff roles lately, but he does angst sooooo well. I can totally see him deranged, moody and sexy in this role with longer hair. Ohhhhhhhhhh yeaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!)

Now that I've proven what a geek I, I think I'll go update my blog before I get tarred and feathered.
Becca said…
I would follow Hugh Jackman to the ends of the earth. I have no idea what it is about that man, but he has it.

Now I know how my mom felt about Tom Selleck.

Alan Cumming? No. I've seen him on Graham Norton and he's just way too flaming to pull off Sirius on screen. Maybe another character, like Voldemort's second (what's his name) in HBP.

I need to go back and read HBP, obviously.
Suze said…
i have to admit, i don't get the thing with hugh jackman, but i seem to be the only straight woman on the planet who doesn't. they're always making jokes about that on the show "scrubs."

now, colin firth is a totally different story. ditto johnny depp.
Anonymous said…
Ok. I am little concerned about displaying the degree of nerdiness that that I am about to show, but oh well. Suze, no I wasn't speaking specifically R.A.B. but to the overarching thread that Rowling is crafting for the novels. Choice is the defining characteristic of everyone in the novels, specifically Harry, Snape and Voldemort. In many ways, these three characters are the same character and their personality differences are simply a manifestation of their choices. All three were raised in horrible circumstances, all three extremely talented, all three ridiculed, etc., etc., etc. Rowling is trying the show us that our actions are what put us in boxes, not the world. Voldemort becomes the Black, Harry the White and Snape the Grey.

As to the infamous events in HBP, there is one factor that proves Snape’s innocence during the invasion of Hogwarts. Felix Felicis. Slughorn informs us readers that this potion causes the imbiber to become extraordinarily lucky and have most of their actions succeed. Ron, Hermione and Ginny all drank the potion on that fateful night, but remember what happened. Ron talked about messing up by allowing Draco and the Death Eaters to pass by, Hermione talks about failing because she failed to notice Professor Flitwick stunned in Snape’s office. These are very unlucky coincidences, especially since they were supposed to be “extraordinarily lucky” at the time. Unless you believe that the potion simply doesn’t work, there is only one conclusion, it was lucky that Ron failed to stop the Death Eaters, and it was lucky that Hermione failed to notice Flitwick stunned in Snape’s office. If Ron had stopped Draco, the Death Eaters never would have seen Snape kill Dumbledore. If Hermione had seen Flitwick stunned, the Order would have tried to stop Snape from going up the tower. Remember Dumbledore had an “ironclad” reason for trusting Snape, and unless I am remembering wrong, there is only ONE thing in the magical world that is described as “ironclad”.

As for predictions, mine is that Draco is one of the two mentioned that are going to die (unless it is Harry AND Voldemort) and my rationale is that in PoA there are numerous references to dead ferrets and what does fake-Moody turn Draco into in GoF? Draco is going to be given a choice very similar to the one he was given on that tower but this time he won’t hesitate, and it is going to kill him.

Ok, enough being a nerd for me. I had better get back to getting some work done.

Roy

p.s. yes this is the Roy that liked to sleep in window seats (and yes I still do)
I have a picture of you asleep in the window seat. Just found it the other day. Hope you're doing well.

As to Alan Cumming, yes, he is "flamin" in most of his stuff. However, he just ended a run on Broadway as Mack the Knife from the Threepenney Opera. Google it for pictures of him and Cyndi Lauper, and also Google the Tony awards for pictures. When he is himself, yes, he's very obviously homosexual. In his role as Mack? Well, let's just say "Wowza!"
Okay, this blog entry made me start reading HBP again last night. I was up until after midnight. It's all your fault!

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