It's likely that JK Rowling plans to kill off Harry Potter in Book 7 (title still unknown):
Harry, others may die in the end, J.K. Rowling saysThat will drive tens of millions of people in developed countries into deep depression. They won't buy anything, won't work nearly as hard, and the shock to the demand side will cause the global economic system to go unstable.
Author J.K. Rowling said two characters will die in the last installment of her boy wizard series, and hinted Harry Potter may not survive, either.
"I have never been tempted to kill him off before the final because I've always planned seven books, and I want to finish seven books," Rowling said Monday on London TV.
"I can completely understand, however, the mentality of an author who thinks, 'Well, I'm gonna 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.' "
Rowling declined to commit herself about Harry, saying she doesn't want to receive hate mail.
I've seen this effect in person with my nine (almost ten) year old daughter. In the very excellent Bartimaeus trilogy, a beloved character dies in the last paragraph. My daughter was significantly depressed for a long time. She kept reading the last chapter over and over again hoping it would turn out different.
The problem with Harry Potter is that ten to twenty million people will read it during the 72 hour period after it comes out. The overall depression of that large a group of people all at once will have a profound impact on the economy.
4 comments:
...it will end with me, and after I'm dead and gone they won't be able to bring back the character.
Problem with killing off a magical boy, one who survived the greatest malignant power in existence while only a babe, is that it's easy as pie to bring him back.
Rowling herself has brought back the supposedly-dead Voldemort many times, with no apparent loss of readership.
Even only semi-magical characters can be brought back from death:
"The financial success and popularity were pleasant, but Doyle began to feel that all his energies were devoted to writing Holmes stories, diverting him from writing serious fiction...
"Doyle decided to kill Sherlock Holmes. In "The Final Problem," published in December 1893 but set in 1891, Holmes encountered Professor Moriarty, the Napoleon of crime, in a mutually fatal showdown at Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland.
"There was a huge public outcry--Doyle received letters from readers who wept and from men who went to work wearing black mourning bands...
"In 1903, Doyle surrendered to the public demand for more Holmes stories. He resurrected Holmes in "The Empty House," set in 1894, with an explanation of how Holmes hadn't really plunged off the waterfall after all." -
http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/msherlock.html
Oroborous,
Sure, he can come back, but people will still be depressed in the meantime.
I'm mostly kidding of course, but after seeing my daughter and Bartimaeus, I wouldn't be shocked if it had a little impact on the economy.
Bret:
My just turned 13 daughter is precisely the same way.
I'll recommend the Bartimeus trilogy to her, but if she ends up so bereft as to raise questions of child abuse, I'll just point at you.
Bret:
Thanks for teh suggestion -- my daughter loves the series.
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