Sunday, May 27, 2007

What would ruin it for me

I've been thinking about various ways the last Harry Potter book could end and wondering if I could be severely disappointed. I've come up with a short list of things that, if they happened, I'd be so severely disappointed I'd feel it was a waste of time to obsess over these books for as long as I have.

First, if Dumbledore turns out to have been lying to Harry or manipulating things, using Harry as a way to save the wizarding world without regard to Harry's feelings. I don't think that'll happen but I've heard theories that amounted to as much. If it turns out Harry's faith in Dumbledore is misplaced, I'll be extremely disappointed.

Second, I really think I'll be pretty disappointed if Harry dies. Ditto for Ron, Hermione and even Ginny. It would have to be for a very, very convincingly good reason for me not to be disappointed.

Third, I'm kind of expecting a big surprise, along the lines of what we learned about Sirius Black and Scabbers in PoA and how Moody turned out not to be Moody in GoF. I've been expecting that ever since, when I read both OoP and HBP, and I was rather disappointed. True, I was spoiled for HBP, I never got to read the lightning-struck tower chapter without knowing what was coming, so maybe I'd have felt differently if I'd been surprised by that. So, if there's no big surprise, I'll be disappointed.

Fourth, if, after it's all over, there's a sense that it was all senseless (I felt this after OoP -- If Harry had just used the mirror to contact Sirius, if he'd not been fooled, it needn't have happened. I hope there isn't a death in DH that feels like that, I hope it feels like there was a purpose, like if the person hadn't died, Voldie would have triumphed.

I hope after I read the last book, I immediately want to go back and read them all over again. That's what I hope.

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