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Top Secret Researcher
Original Poster
#1 Old 12th Mar 2011 at 2:27 AM
Default What I Can't Stand
Sure, I love Harry Potter, but I got surprisingly emotional when I reread the books and read about Sirius Black (my favorite character back when I was reading the Order of the Phoenix and past books), Dumbledore, and Fred Weasley all dying. Are you kidding me?!
I was mad because:
Sirius Black: I was upset he died because he was an awesome godfather, although it was true that he accidentally thought of Harry being James. Plus, he was just THAT awesome of a wizard.
Dumbledore: Dumbledore was very wise, and I thought he went to a waste by dying for a fake Horcrux.
Fred Weasley: C'MON, IT'S FRED WEASLEY! Without him, the Weasley twins aren't the Weasley Twins! Without him, George isn't as much of a funny prankster and jokester anymore. He was personally the best out of the twins, though.


ENTJ
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Mad Poster
#2 Old 12th Mar 2011 at 10:12 AM
With the first two deaths, isolating Harry was key to the progression of the storyline. Even though Harry was destined to kill Voldemort and he was the only one who could do it, it's quite clear that behind Harry's motivation to kill Voldemort was also a lot of revenge. Voldy killed his parents, and both Sirius and Dumbledore were like father figures to him. Essentially, Voldemort was killing everyone Harry loved. If, say, Sirius hadn't died, and Harry moved in with him at the end of the third book and Sirius hadn't been killed by Bellatrix in the fifth, then, well, the storyline would be completely different. Harry wouldn't feel so isolated and alone, he wouldn't feel the insane need to have Bellatrix dead, and the story would have progressed at a much slower rate. Harry would have probably distanced himself from the Weasley family, considering he'd have a live-in father figure of his own, and really, all the Marauders just had to die as a coming-of-age-stepping-into-the-big-shoes-oh-look-I-need-to-shave bit of life.

Fred's death...welp. That was just monumentally depressing. In an interview with JK, she said she knew she was going to have to kill Fred from earlier on in the series, even though he was among her favourite characters. As Bukowski said, you have to kill your babies.
Banned
#3 Old 22nd Mar 2011 at 9:52 AM
practiley everyone dies in deathly hallows includeing my favorite chacter snape!!
Field Researcher
#4 Old 11th Aug 2011 at 8:39 PM
Oh I pity them all!
Instructor
#5 Old 11th Aug 2011 at 9:15 PM
Character death should be more than just a cheap plot device. You don't have to have everyone die to prove a point.

But I guess we all should have expected it since the first paragraph of the first book shows an orphaned baby. Cheap rhetoric from the start but I was willing to go along with it since I had no emotional connection to those characters yet.
Field Researcher
#6 Old 12th Aug 2011 at 9:42 AM
Quote: Originally posted by PixCii
With the first two deaths, isolating Harry was key to the progression of the storyline. Even though Harry was destined to kill Voldemort and he was the only one who could do it, it's quite clear that behind Harry's motivation to kill Voldemort was also a lot of revenge. Voldy killed his parents, and both Sirius and Dumbledore were like father figures to him. Essentially, Voldemort was killing everyone Harry loved. If, say, Sirius hadn't died, and Harry moved in with him at the end of the third book and Sirius hadn't been killed by Bellatrix in the fifth, then, well, the storyline would be completely different. Harry wouldn't feel so isolated and alone, he wouldn't feel the insane need to have Bellatrix dead, and the story would have progressed at a much slower rate. Harry would have probably distanced himself from the Weasley family, considering he'd have a live-in father figure of his own, and really, all the Marauders just had to die as a coming-of-age-stepping-into-the-big-shoes-oh-look-I-need-to-shave bit of life.

Fred's death...welp. That was just monumentally depressing. In an interview with JK, she said she knew she was going to have to kill Fred from earlier on in the series, even though he was among her favourite characters. As Bukowski said, you have to kill your babies.

According to you,Ron,Hermione,Ginny and all the Weasleys also must be dead!
Inventor
#7 Old 12th Aug 2011 at 11:33 AM
Besides Fred's death I think all the other deaths was perfect for the plot. All dumbledore's secrets coming back.. so interesting
But poor Fred.. well I guess it would have been a bit unrealistic that a family of ten didn't lose one of its members :/ While Harry and loads of others lost.. everyone..
Mad Poster
#8 Old 12th Aug 2011 at 2:18 PM
Quote: Originally posted by KindGenius
According to you,Ron,Hermione,Ginny and all the Weasleys also must be dead!
Welp, that's not what I'm saying at all. I don't think that my paragraph insinuated anything as drastic as that. I'm simply saying that Rowling had to kill off a lot of people who supported Harry because that's what the smartest thing for Voldemort to do was - isolate him entirely. However, because of the OotP and the MoM, plus the sheer competency levels of certain characters (Hermione, the Weasleys, etc.) they were able to defend themselves against Voldy and his band of merry Death Eaters.

However, if I've misinterpreted what part of my post your very vague accusation was addressing and you were talking about the last part regarding killing babies (that's a very good short story, actually. I suggest you read it!) then that would also mean every character in literature would die if authors followed that rule to the ends of the earth.
Field Researcher
#9 Old 12th Aug 2011 at 9:07 PM
Quote: Originally posted by PixCii
they were able to defend themselves against Voldy and his band of merry Death Eaters.

Well,Sirius was able to defend himself from the Death Eaters.And Lupin,and Tonks,and Dobby,and Fred...
Field Researcher
#10 Old 12th Aug 2011 at 10:14 PM
I think the trade-off of Lupin and Tonks for Arthur Weasley was a bad choice. Arthur's death in book 5 would've had much more impact, and I loved Lupin and Tonks - plus, after Lupin had all the "oh no I'm so damaged I can never be part of a happy family" issues, I thought that it was a bad decision to kill off the character instead of showing that hey, people with serious chronic illnesses and related issues can actually have long-term happiness.

Fred's death I get, but I was never happy about the interview comments of how "George never really got over his sibling's death" combined with George marrying his brother's Yule Ball date (as if both twins were interchangeable to Angelina?)

Sirius and Dumbledore were necessary for the plot, so I can accept those. I think if JKR had wanted to go for major impact, though, there should've been two major changes: Hagrid should've died (I think that would've been a higher-impact death for readers overall than anyone else in DH), and it should've been a Hogwarts professor or other character we knew that got killed in the opening chapter, not Charity Burbage, who we'd never met before. Killing someone like McGonagall, Trelawney, a Weasley, Mad-Eye - that would've had the most impact.

PixCii, in a lot of cases, it wasn't the "sheer competency" of the characters that kept them alive; there was a matter of sheer luck involved as well (take a look at Fred's death for a good example of random chance playing a factor.) Otherwise, there's no way a character like Trelawney would've survived the Battle of Hogwarts while we lost so many other characters (relatively speaking.)
Mad Poster
#11 Old 13th Aug 2011 at 1:40 AM
Quote: Originally posted by KindGenius
Well,Sirius was able to defend himself from the Death Eaters.And Lupin,and Tonks,and Dobby,and Fred...
Well, yes, they may have been in other circumstances, but Bellatrix was also able to defend herself against Molly Weasley most of the time. Just because they were capable characters doesn't mean they couldn't be surprise attacked. Plus, it's a plot device. If every single bloody person who had helped Harry along the way had survived, there wouldn't even be a series as his parents wouldn't have died. Think about it logically.
Field Researcher
#12 Old 13th Aug 2011 at 9:08 AM
I know It's a plot device.But I don't have only logic on my mind,I have feelings too.So,I cannot stop feeling pity to characters even if it is a plot device.
Lab Assistant
#13 Old 15th Aug 2011 at 2:06 AM
Honestly, and I know this sounds cold hearted, I'm glad the characters who died, died. Without their loss, the plot could have turned out...different.

I have to disagree with the proposed death of Arthur Weasley, as you're only looking into the effects on Harry, not Ron, his greatest friend. How would HE react to his father being killed because he was friends with Harry Potter? Would he have gone with Harry and Hermione to hunt Horocruxes? It could have ended very, very badly...

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Test Subject
#14 Old 10th Oct 2011 at 3:33 PM
Sirius and Dumbledore dying made perfect sense, one of the Weasleys dying made sense... what bothered me about Fred was the way they watered it down in the movie. What distracted him in the book right before he died, causing him to die in the middle of his final laugh, was a pretty powerful moment. I knew that Snape wasn't as bad as he acted, but i was actually sad when he died, like shed a tear in the theater sad, but the death that made me the saddest of all was Dobby... still makes me sad when i think of that marker "Here Lies Dobby, A Free Elf".
Scholar
#15 Old 19th Nov 2011 at 10:00 PM
As an author myself, I understand what JK meant when she said she always knew Fred was going to die. I already know which of my characters will die, and why they have to. I agree with Pixcii. For the plot to have turned out the way it did, characters would have had to die for Harry to act as he did. However, I do still feel pity for all of the characters who die, and the ones they left behind. I cried both times I saw the Deathly Hallows in theatres, not to mention when the other characters died.

THE CAT HAIR WIZARD
Theorist
#16 Old 26th Nov 2011 at 8:35 AM
What I dislike from the series? The final battle between Harry and Voldemort. It's kinda... anticlimatic
Lab Assistant
#17 Old 11th Dec 2011 at 5:39 PM
I know right?! I was so mad/upset when Remus, Fred and Snape died! I know JK had an option between Remus and Arthur, but I would choose to let Remus live anytime :/ I get Sirius dying, he was the only family had and all that, but Fred dying was just FAIL. I cried so much :/

Harry Potter rox though. And always will

Life Stage: Young Adult

Traits: Artistic, Bookworm, Dog Person, Over-Emotional, Good

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Instructor
#18 Old 12th Oct 2012 at 6:05 AM
I wasn't pleased with the way Remus died. It was mentioned just in passing in the books, and that got to me really bad because he became one of my favorite characters. Also, I was upset over Snape, I LOVED Severus Snape. He's my second favorite character, Harry being number one.
 
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