EDINBURGH, Scotland (AP) -- "Harry Potter" novelist J.K. Rowling has said her young hero will survive to the seventh book in her series about the young wizard, but refused to say whether he would reach adulthood.
Rowling on Sunday teased a group of fans with morsels of information as she gave a public reading of "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" at the Edinburgh International Book Festival in the Scottish capital.
"He will survive to book seven, mainly because I don't want to be strangled by you lot, but I don't want to say whether he grows any older than that," Rowling told the youngsters.
She encouraged the fans to try to piece together future plots for themselves, and urged them to focus on why Harry's nemesis, the evil warlock Voldemort, had not been killed.
"There are two questions I don't think I've ever been asked and that I should have been asked, if you know what I mean," Rowling said.
She told the gathering they should be asking themselves "not 'why did Harry live' but 'why didn't Voldemort die?' "
The second question they should think about is: "Why didn't Dumbledore kill, or try to kill, Voldemort?" she added, referring to the headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
More than 500 people had tickets to see the author read from the fifth book. She is still working on the sixth book, but has already revealed the title: "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince."
But she remained tightlipped about the title of her final book in the series.
"I'm not going to tell you, I'm sorry. The trouble I would be in if I did. My agent would have me hunted down and killed," she said.
Rowling further teased her fans over whether Harry's pals Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger would be boyfriend and girlfriend by the end of the series.
"I'm not going to say. I can't say. I think I've given quite a lot of clues by now on this subject," she said. "You are going to have to read between the lines on that one."
Posted by Sanity or Madness? on :
So, basically, to truly kill one both need to die, then.
Posted by Lightning Lad on :
My thought exactly. Is Voldemort a future version of Harry? Or the evil side of Harry and one can't exist without the other?
Posted by Sanity or Madness? on :
I don't think the "future version" is an option - we've seen too much of Riddle's history.
I think it goes back to the Curse That Failed linking them, as she's shown more than once. Voldemort didn't die because of the bit of him that ended up in Harry (that caused Harry to be a Parseltongue, etc). At the end of the day, I see Harry, realising this, and killing either Voldemort or himself in a muggle way - with a sword, a gun or a knife or something, and the other dropping dead.
Posted by Cobalt Kid on :
I think both of them dying has become too obvious an ending by now. I'd like to see Rowling surprise us with a way for Harry to survive.
Also, if part of Voldemort is in Harry, there should be something of Harry in Voldemort. Maybe this is important in some way?
And I think Ralph Fiennes as Voldemort is an excellent casting choice. He was scary as the Red Dragon, but he was absoluting frightening in "Schindler's List". The perfect candidate IMO, also b/c he's never had a role that fit him so well, we wouldn't be reminded of it (like it'd be too hard to see Christopher Lee, the villian of all villians, as Voldemort).
Posted by Spellbinder on :
I really don't think Harry will die in the seventh book. She has said that there is only going to be one more major death in the series, and I believe that it will be Voldemort. I think putting Harry through all of these trials and tribulations, only to kill him in the end, would be disappointing.
Posted by Cobalt Kid on :
I agree on that. I know I'd feel very dissapointed to see him die in the end, especially after all he's gone through in the last two books.
Besides, he and Ginny Weasel need to get married Posted by Spellbinder on :
Personally, I think Harry will end up with either Hermione or Luna Lovegood. Ron will end up with whichever one Harry doesn't end up with Posted by Cobalt Kid on :
Hermoine and Ron will probably be the one I find the most satisfying. When she kissed him on the cheek, he sure became aware that she was a girl real quick! I wonder if we'll ever see a heavy make-out session, interupted by Harry?
Neville should get a girlfriend too! He's one of my favorites, especially after the last book, and I hope his story ends happy (after he gets revenge on that witch Lestrange).
Posted by rickshaw1 on :
Dumbledore didn't kill Voldemort because he is his nephew. At least, thats what i would guess.
You know who Voldemort's dad was. But i don't think anyone ever said who his mother was. If she was dumbledore's sister, then He would have a reason to have been holding back all those years. And more than likely, as it has been alluded to, witching power runs to families in her books.
Just a guess, anyway.
Posted by Sanity or Madness? on :
Didn't Dumbledore say that Voldemort was the only living descendent of Slytherin tho (on his mother's side)? Pretty big lie if DD is too.
And I seem to recall some mention of DD himself being a Gryffindor, although I'm less sure of that and that means less in the context.
[ August 16, 2004, 07:33 PM: Message edited by: Sanity or Madness? ]
Posted by STU on :
If Rowling kills Harry off in the seventh book, she'd better prepare her house to be stormed by irate preteen girls with mad crushes for Daniel Radcliffe...
Posted by Sanity or Madness? on :
Heh.
Just thinking though - if Harry makes it through Book 7 alive, there's going to be a lot of pressure on her to do Adult Harry tales from her publisher, for whom Potter is their #1 cash cow, IIRC.
Now, she's made a pile of Potter herself - and with two books and (at least) four more movies (maybe more if the single-film version of Goblet of Fire gets bad reviews for being too crushed), she's set for life already.
Just a thought - might be easier on her that way too if she kills him off...
Posted by STU on :
quote:Originally posted by Sanity or Madness?: Just thinking though - if Harry makes it through Book 7 alive, there's going to be a lot of pressure on her to do Adult Harry tales from her publisher, for whom Potter is their #1 cash cow, IIRC.
There are already plenty of Adult Harry tales on the internet... Posted by Kid Prime on :
Links?
(I feel so... so... dirty)
Posted by Lightning Lad on :
Scott dear, you came up with that list FAR too quickly Posted by Sanity or Madness? on :
quote:Originally posted by STU:
quote:Originally posted by Sanity or Madness?: Just thinking though - if Harry makes it through Book 7 alive, there's going to be a lot of pressure on her to do Adult Harry tales from her publisher, for whom Potter is their #1 cash cow, IIRC.
There are already plenty of Adult Harry tales on the internet...
NOT what I meant and you know it!
And I have to agree with Bindy - Scott, waaaaay too quickly Posted by rickshaw1 on :
Just a guess, but who says the line is in dumbledore's family? A squibb back in time, and the genes get passed down to the dad. He marries Dumbledore's sister, they produce Tom Riddle.
Not saying that is it, but she does like those tricky little things.
Eh, its a possibility, but a longshot.
Posted by rickshaw1 on :
Wow, didn't mean to kill the thread.
Posted by STU on :
quote:Originally posted by rickshaw1: A squibb back in time, and the genes get passed down to the dad. He marries Dumbledore's sister, they produce Tom Riddle.
[James Earl Jones]
Voldemort... I am your father!
[/James Earl Jones]
Posted by Sanity or Madness? on :
quote:Originally posted by rickshaw1: Just a guess, but who says the line is in dumbledore's family? A squibb back in time, and the genes get passed down to the dad. He marries Dumbledore's sister, they produce Tom Riddle.
Not saying that is it, but she does like those tricky little things.
Eh, its a possibility, but a longshot.
Voldemort/Riddle specifically said it was in his mum's lineage @ one point. (I think it was the "memory" Riddle from Chamber, but it could have been from the end of Goblet)
[ August 17, 2004, 08:40 PM: Message edited by: Sanity or Madness? ]
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