So much of this is an coming of age story (to me), anyhow.

I have no personal disconnect between coming of age and choosing to sacrifice for the greater good.

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There's a certain speculative plot point out there, based on HBP, that I absolutely love and REALLy want to happen.

You mean the one where Harry is a Horcrux? Because I love that idea too. I think I came up with it myself, and then I found out everyone else did too.

(There was no need to whitefont that, but since Gris was vague, I followed his lead.)

I still don't know whether Rowling would really have Harry die at the end. Yes, the books have been getting darker, but as Cindy said, they're still kid-lit. I don't even know if she would kill Ron or Hermione.

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There's a certain speculative plot point out there, based on HBP, that I absolutely love and REALLy want to happen.

Do you mean the speculation that he's the last Horcrux? I don't see how that's possible. Dumbledore said that even the possibility of Nagini being a Horcrux was stretching the bounds of Horcruxes. I can't see a human Horcrux as being a legitimate option. It's a very popular theory in fandom, though.

Edited to vague things up a bit.

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Do we think that soldiers who died in World War II stopping Hitler had meaningless deaths? I don't.

Wow, I've never seen zero-to-Godwin happen that fast before.

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Who's Godwin?

t /probably uncultured

Also, I don't go that quickly to such cliches, usually, but the Voldemort/Hitler comparisons are so rampant in the world of HP discussion that my thoughts are totally colored.

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I think Harry will live purely because I don't think JKR is a mature enough writer to pull off his death. And I say that with as much love as I can muster. (I've been disappointed in her writing since GoF -- I just don't think she's good at teens and adults the way she was at children, and the books have been suffering for it.)

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And who said anything about a meaningless death?

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to imply that, and I realize now I did with the 'everything is meaningless'. What I meant is, to me, the whole story would be meaningless, even were his death to be meaningful (for the greater good, in service to the noble cause), it would just negate his story for me.

Do we think that soldiers who died in World War II stopping Hitler had meaningless deaths? I don't.

Of course not. Really, David? What kind of question is that? How would I—how would anyone answer that? Sadly, Hitler is the kind of monster you meet in this world.

I just don't think Harry's death would serve the story, and I don't think one thing (finding some deaths too meaningful to ever express) has anything to do with the other (an abused orphan's coming of age story).

I would hate it if they had him go into some deadly situation without getting a scratch because he is The Hero.

Only I have to add "for the tenth time." to that sentence. At some point, his danger has to catch up to him because, while HP is kid-lit fantasy, it's not really a fairy tale.

I do agree with the above. I actually expect some scratches on his soul, as well.

I have no personal disconnect between coming of age and choosing to sacrifice for the greater good.

How would you make sense of the narrative? Not a challenge, I just really don't understand it. I'd need some big middle steps from JKR, that I don't expect I'll get.

I still don't know whether Rowling would really have Harry die at the end. Yes, the books have been getting darker, but as Cindy said, they're still kid-lit. I don't even know if she would kill Ron or Hermione.

I think Ron's a goner.

I actually thought there was a good chance Harry would die earlier in the series, and then come back though, so what do I know?

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Who's Godwin?

Godwin's Law.

I think Ron's a goner.

Maybe. If I were to choose, I would actually pick Hermione because Rowling loves her the most.

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Godwin's Law

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I could see the scar being a horcrux, though.

hee, Strega.

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