Harry Potter Main Theme by Johnny Williams
Before it's in everyone's hands, I feel the need to go out on a limb and speculate. But even before I do that, I think I have an observation to make about the more recent fruits of Ms. Rowling's endeavors. When I read the first three books, I had this feeling of wonder, of joy, of being able to read a book like a kid again, plunging into it like a cold swimming pool on a hot day, complete immersion that I haven't felt since Hitchhiker's, or more recently, Sewer, Gas & Electric, or the Cryptonomicon. Since about halfway through Goblet of Fire, though, I have getting through these just to get through them. It's not that they are not well written, because they certainly are, it's just that - and this is harsh, considering the subject - the magic is gone. There is certainly a modicum of what was once there, but - like what has been happening in comic books recently - the need to tell edgier stories to keep paid-for pages in the hands of your readers seems to push J.K. into ever-darkening territory, where the sense of wonder is dulled a bit by blackness. Reading Rowling of late is a bit like knowing a manic-depressive. No more is this evident than in the 5th movie, either, with moodswings like doing a construction project with my dad. More on that later. The movie, not construction projects with my dad.
Since I am a fanboy, however, I hold out a thin, tenuous candle of hope that Book 7 will redeem all of this, will make it all have been worth it, will tie things up with a bit of frontier/jungle justice - death to balance the scales, not to sell books. This whole "who dies this time" thing smacks a bit of the Rocky movies, to be frank, and it's cheap. It's very, very cheap. I am hoping for a final confrontation where the sacrifices that have been made will be rendered meaningful, and where the end result returns us to a world of wonder and majesty, where we can feel good about the characters. A resolution, not a bloody and violent end for it's own sake. That - would be disgusting.
And I think I'll get my wish, because it doesn't make sense for her to kill Harry. It's like killing Frodo or Luke Skywalker or Spider Jerusalem or goddamn Dorothy from Kansas - you'd leave the reader sitting there going, "Well, why the fuck did I sit through this?!?" Not only is it not nice to do to the readers and fans, the people who support you, but it's not kosher in a literary sense. You want to write a tragedy - fine, write one, but warn us first, and don't expect your sales numbers to stay up in the kid's section if you fucking kill everyone at the end. The average kid doesn't care for stories where heroes die - it's wrong, and they know it. Additionally, it seems it would be bad marketing mojo for the 6th and 7th films: good luck sustaining that "must see" vibe when everyone knows the shit ending you've got planned.
That said, C sent me an email Tuesday with potential spoilers in it - viral theft and frauds are everywhere, you know. I don't know if it's genuine or not, but I can tell you I will be skipping to the end of my copy of Deathly Hallows before I decide if I'm going to spend my time this way. And if even if J.K. fucks up, there's still Crooked Little Vein three days later.