Rainy Day Rowling Rumors from Reuters

(Yes, I am going nuts with the rain, and cannot help but rhyme and alliterate compulsively)

Ahh, Katja just sent me an email about Rowling's plans for Book 7 of the Harry Potter saga. I'll quote it from Reuters:

Rowling says 2 characters die in final Potter book Mon Jun 26, 2006 3:19pm ET LONDON (Reuters) - Children's author J.K. Rowling has revealed that at least two characters will die in the seventh and final installment of her bestselling Harry Potter series, but was careful not to say who. Children and adults are expected to rush and buy the final Harry Potter novel in their tens of millions when it is complete, and if the publication of the sixth book is anything to go by, secrecy surrounding the plot will be tight. Rowling has already said that the final chapter of the seventh book was written long ago. "The final chapter is hidden away, although it's now changed very slightly," she said in an interview broadcast on Monday on Britain's Channel 4. "One character got a reprieve, but I have to say two die that I didn't intend to die." When asked to be more specific, she added: "No, I'm not going to commit myself, because I don't want the hate mail or anything else." She did explain that she understood an author's desire to kill off the main character of a successful series. "I've never been tempted to kill him (Harry) off before the end of book seven, because I always planned seven books and that's where I want to go. "I can completely understand, however, the mentality of an author who thinks 'Well, I'm going to kill them off because that means there can be no non-author-written sequels ... so it will end with me, and after I'm dead and gone they won't be able to bring back the character'."

So, naturally Katja and I feel that Harry is one of the ones to go... I mean, c'mon, she loves the idea of the epic, and the epic hero always dies heroically at the end, right? Following the Campbellian formula, you need the apotheosis of the hero to really kick some epic butt.  But who is the other? I'm going to vote on Hagrid... that way she'll have everyone weeping for weeks. I have to admit here and now that when Dumbledore died, I cried intermittently for about two weeks. Every once in a while, out of nowhere. Similarly, I do so miss Richard Harris in the movie role — Michael Gambon is a pale mockery of Dumbledore compared to the great wisdom and heart of Richard Harris.

That said, for those of you wanting to read previous news items and speculation on the contents of Book 7, visit this Wikipedia page.

*Sigh* Betcha there's a spell for making this rain STOP! Witches, wizards, warlocks, if you know one, do send an owl.

~A