Book 7: Why Harry Should Die.
List two more voices to the “Harry should die” list: Author Chris Paolini (Eragon) and Actor Edward Speleers (portraying Eragon in the movie). As stated in their interview with USA Weekend:
Paolini: “You know what she could do? Have Voldemort die and then have Harry die at the same time. If you have death in the last book, it has to be important death.”
Speleers: “In theory, it should be Voldemort. But part of me thinks Harry should die, following in his father’s footsteps.”
No disrespect intended to either of these guys, but it all sounds a little too cliched to me (having both die at the same time sounds too much like Rocky II when both fighters knock each other out at the same time), and if we know one thing about J.K. Rowling it is that we should expect the unexpected.
She’ll definitely have something up her sleeve, something that no one is expecting…i.e. Snape and Dumbledore at the end of Book 6. No one really expected that to happen. “Wait. No. That didn’t just happen. How could that happen?”
Do I think Harry should die? I really hope not. But I think we should all start talking as if it’s inevitable that Harry dies…and that we want it to happen. Why? Because if we keep talking about it, it won’t happen. Call me superstitious, but they moment you talk about a bad thing happening, and start expecting it to happen, it won’t happen.
“Today I’m going to win the Lottery. I feel it. This is the day.” But it isn’t the day. It seems people only win the Lottery when they’re least expecting it…when they buy a ticket on a whim while picking up a gallon of milk, just to see what happens.
So, I hope Daniel Radcliffe keeps talking about Harry dying at the end of Book 7—and I hope reporters keep asking the question of him again and again until it becomes burned into our minds that the inevitable outcome is Harry’s death.
What it comes down to is we’re all at the mercy of J.K. Rowling and the vision she’s had of the story arc for years and years. And that’s really not such a bad thing—she hasn’t let us down before, why think she’ll start now? If we’re expecting it, it won’t happen. And then J.K. Rowling will work her magic and truly surprise us…yet again.
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