I'm putting this entire post in spoiler tags because if someone hasn't heard this quote, well, I don't want to be the one to ruin it...




Okay, now that I've rambled, what say you? Do you have other theories???

I think thats just JKR being JKR...
I think the book is gunna be amazing, just like every other one.
she hasnt let me down yet... i think shes just trying to throw us off.

She's probably referring to the deaths. Obviously, if your favourite character dies, you're going to hate the book. Or legions of shippers are going to be at war again when it turns out that Harry is actually a girl, he's really in love with Ron, they go off and get married, Ginny and Hermione die of broken hearts, Voldemort resurrects Dumbledore and they dance together slowly in the moonlight on a hill overlooking the smoking remnants of a Hogwarts destroyed by one of Hagrid's cooking experiments

There are bound to be people who don't like the way it turned out, that's just the nature of things. To paraphrase Lincoln, you can't please everyone all the time

It can't get any worse than HBP, so I'm hopeful

What did you mean by that?
It ' cant get any worse than HBP '
did you not like the book? or was it just DD's Death...

You're probably right, especially considering that the bulk of the fan-base is 14-20. I would have identified with the characters in a far different way at 16 than I did at 25 and now 32... And, I'd have identified with different characters...

Agree with Louise there. If your favourite is bumped off in the book, it's obvious that enthusiasm is diminished only to be replaced with frustration, disappointment and ultimately anger. If we recall how many fans reacted to Order of the Phoenix and Half Blood Prince because of the two major character deaths. The number of deaths are likely to be proportionately higher in this one, so it's natural the disappointment may increase manifold as well.

Harry a girl...Hmm... Why didn't I think of that

Tom resurrecting Dumbledore and then both doing a tango over a smouldering Hogwarts... You are a riot... How about adding Fawkes and the basilisk snoggin' in the background



I am not so sure about that Louise, I had the same thoughts after OotP, it can't get worse than this and HBP didn't exactly set my spirits soaring. So I must admit I am not too hopeful of being too enamoured by JKR in her "final" offering. She's gonna do something that I would not appreciate and then it wold be a disappointment all over again. I am prepared for the worst

See, my favorite of the books was OoTP and I think I like HBP nearly as well.

POA is by far my least favorite, although I do appreciate getting to meet Sirius as a good guy. That was the only really high point of that novel, for me.

It's interesting to see that because it really sheds light on how we all view the characters, based on how we view the books.

I thought OOTP would be my fa book no doubt when i started reading HBP... and it still is.. in HBP there wasnt as much going on.. It was just a stepping stone for the 7th book.. Thats why im so excited for Deathly Hallows.

And there will be worse things then DD's Death.. im sure of it..

Exactly, many seem to view the books based on how the preferred characters are treated in there. So what JKR says is actually not surprising or anything new. In fact the same can be said for any work of art-movie, play, book, painting, creation etc. Some will love it and some will loath it, some will be neutral. Human response is rarely uniform across the spectrum. All the books in Harry Potter series have had their share or supporters and baiters and Deathly Hallows should be no different.

I absolutely loathed HBP, and no, not because of DD's death - I saw that coming a mile off. I hated it for so many reasons that I couldn't possibly list them all here, but if you're interested, I did my ranting here

I know what you mean, mayfair, but to be honest, the worst, for me, has already happened in Snape going bad because it up-ended so many other aspects of the books - from Dumbledore's reliability and credibility to Harry's 'I'm always right and everyone else is always wrong' thing (something I have always hated, and is the main reason why I'm about to hurl the book I'm reading now, 'Crime School' by Carol O Connell through the window - because Kathy Mallory is *never* wrong either )

I think I'm really past caring much who lives and who dies now, so the only thing I'm really fearful of is that the ending is lame and contrived - like Harry has to defeat Voldmort by hugging him or something like that.

Wow thats a huge suprise... i didnt think anyone would be able to hate that book.
It wasnt up to par with the rest because it was a lot of explaining... the horcrux's and the memories were kind of boring but they were necassary. If DD hadnt bored us there pretty much would be no hope in the 7th book. But now that she set everything... this 784 page book will be all adventure and excitement.

LMAO! The most romantic death in all of books... xD
That would be a freakin hilarious movie ending.

That's true. I mean it's been all over the place for so long. Every interview with JKR, with actors who play the characters in the movie, at book readings, in discussions etc. that it's accepted that there will be deaths. So like you, I am not concerned about JKR bumping off people. It's about whether she can salvage some of those characters from the depths they sunk to in HBP. Harry and Hermione come to mind big time. My first impression of Harry in HBP was, "Wow this is better than the last one" but subsequent readings belied my faith. He actually turned out to be worse in many ways-pathetically weak and even more distracted. At least in OoTP he showed backbone and strength of character, in HBP .... what can I say? Ginny, never really hated her before HBP, but now I can't stand her. I am sure when I get my hands on DH, I'll skip over the parts where Ginny is mentioned. There were several disappointments in HBP and I am not sure even a fraction of that would be redeemed in DH (again in my perception) so it's best not to have too many expectations. It's more like bring it on.

I guess this is my biggest fear, and sort of what I meant with what could make us actually "loathe" the book. I wouldn't loathe it if various characters I loved got bumped off, but I will loathe it if the Snape resolution (good or bad) isn't well-thought out. He has to have more motivation than saving his own butt. Death-Eater or Order-Member, his reasoning for what he did has to be well-plotted.

It would take something much bigger than JKR killing Ron, Hermione, Hagrid, Lupin, McGonagall, Neville, Luna and the twins to make me loathe it. I guess that was the point of my post. (Note: I'm not predicting all of those deaths, I have no inside information, they're just the characters I love most. I left Harry out, because it would disappoint me on a level above losing them, but it wouldn't surprise me, either...)

But, a lot of people will loathe it if their favorite character dies - as we saw with both OoTP and HBP. Good point. (Not that everyone who dislikes either of them dislikes them for Sirius and Dumbledore's death, either.)

Exactly.. if after all the drama in the previous six books, Snape's actions are not satisfactorily explained, then it makes no sense for building it up to the point where expectations were sky high only for the expected fireworks display to turn out to be a damp squib.

That's absolutely hilarious! You are quite the creative thinker. I especially liked DD and LV dancing in the moonlight.

Anyways, I agree with most people on here. JKR is probably referring to the deaths that are immenent in DH. She had made a comment a while back about not wanting to disclose Harry's fate because she was not ready for the hatemail that will follow. I had wondered if this was a foreshadowing of Harry's death in DH. This may very well be what she meant about some people loathing the final book. All those people who want Harry and someone to live a long happy life together won't happen if he dies and that will lead to loathing and hatemail.

Not to mention some of our other favorite characters that may die and not have the happy ending we are hoping for them. But, like she said, we are dealing with pure evil and they don't just go after the minor characters but the main characters as well. We are just going to have to take the good with the bad. I'm sure there will be a few happy endings. Just not as many as we would like.

Personally, it is a book and not real life. The author has the right to do what she wants within her books. So, no matter what happens, I will not loathe the book because the journey along the way has been a good one that I've thoroughly enjoyed. If others choose to loathe it because of how she decides to end the series, that is their loss.

It's actually nobody's loss. Many of us have enjoyed the journey and if the end is not as satisfying. Big deal. Fans have every right to differ with her perceptions, her portrayals and her choices. Harry Potter has transcended the books into the hearts of millions around the world, who have embraced the character as their own. For many like me it's immaterial how JKR chooses to end it all because Harry Potter the phenomenon shall live on. People have their own views on the series and some of them choose to express themselves in form of fan fictions that are enjoyed by many others. The sheer volume, diversity of these fics and the cult following enjoyed by many of them makes it amply clear that Harry Potter has become more than the 9 books JKR has written so far on the subject or the 7 movies on the franchise. Irrespective of how the final book turns out, Harry Potter will continue to evolve in fan fictions, on discussion boards where fans may tune the events or the series more in line with their (an like minded readers) views. It's not a loss for them, rather they may consider it as an opportunity to undo what they might perceive as JKRs harakiri.

In response to mayfair, I just meant it is a loss for those who decide to loathe the Harry Potter series because it doesn't turn out how they would like or expect it to and no longer decide to read and enjoy the books. It would be their loss for deciding to never enjoy the wonderful world of Harry Potter again.

For the majority of us, the ending will be unexpected yet we will still enjoy it and continue to enjoy the series as a whole for years to come. In that respect, no it isn't anyones loss. I too don't care how the book ends because, like I said before, I have enjoyed the journey the books have taken me on. I look forward to finally getting to see how it all ends in just a few more days!!

That will always be the way with JKR. She will always make someone mad. She can't please everyone it is inhumanly possible.

That's true. I do not believe that people will entirely love or loathe her book. Like all others it's likely to have portions that some people would love and other loathe or then some loved by a different set of readers, but loathed by others. It's been like that with all her books, or maybe it's my opinion, because I have never loved or hated any of her books entirely. Like discussed above, it might turn out to people seeing their favourite characters die (Sirius, Dumbledore in the last two books) or how they are portrayed (Hermione in HBP, Harry in OotP, HBP etc.). But one things for certain, there'll be many things in there that people would have never imagined or even thought of (horcruxes for example) and that's JKRs magic. Like it or don't you can never ignore it. I often find myself disagreeing with what JKR has done in her books, but looking forward to the final installment as much as most out there.

I've only read the quote and well i quess it makes sense. We are all attacher to different characters so it's obvious some of us may just feel an oh god no i hare J.k moment. When of course we don't because she obviously does everything for a reason. We've not got longh what so ever no like a day and a bit. So let's just see...

I heard tell that JKR has had the ending planned out for years. I wonder if she changed her script all that much? We know she changed her mind about who she was going to kill off and who she was going to give a reprieve to. So, I wonder if she changed anything else?

We might never know unless she decides to reveal all of it sometime in the near future. All we have are her statements about tweaking things around a bit, but we may never know how she actually tweaked around. But if she does leave the doors open for another book (she said Never say never), she might let go of a few of her secrets in there. It all boils down to what she would like to reveal.