Will Harry Potter Live or Die? British Literature Professor Says Beloved Character Will Survive Book 7

Harry Potter will survive past July 21, 2007, the publication date of J.K. Rowling's final Potter book, predicts a British literature expert at the University of New Hampshire.

Rowling said on a British television talk show last summer (when the book was not yet completed), that she had decided to kill off two more characters in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows than she originally planned, while another got a reprieve. She also said she would be willing to kill off Harry to prevent other authors from writing sequels.

UNH Professor James Krasner says, however, that Harry will make it to the end of Book 7. "There's no way Harry will die," he says. "Harry won't die largely because these are comic stories, like Dickens' novels, in which good has to win."

Rowling has threatened to kill off major characters before. According to Krasner, Rowling caused a media sensation when she said a "major character" would die in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Rumors targeted Harry's best friend, Ron Weasley, but in the end, it was Sirius Black, who Krasner says "was an important supporting character, but not really a major character like Ron."

If at least two characters are dead by the end of Book 7, who will it be?

"Lord Voldemort has to die," says Krasner. "And Snape, who is really fighting for good despite all appearances, will likely die. Neville Longbottom is really the chosen one, so I suspect he'll die," he says.

And readers shouldn't be surprised if the much-loved Professor Dumbledore, who died in the last book, returns. "Obi-Wan Kenobi, Gandalf-type paternal wise man mentor characters always die. This is a multi-genre convention, turning up in war stories, medieval romances, fantasy, adventure, cop movies, martial arts films. They come back as ghosts," Krasner says.

Other fans agree Harry will make it

According to an ongoing poll at HPANA.com, the Harry Potter Automatic News Aggregator, in which more than 83,000 fans have voted, more than 60 percent believe Harry will survive the last book of the series.

This differs markedly from the poll that took place back in 2005, when 53 percent believed Harry would be killed off.

On the television program, the Rich & Judy Show, Rowling noted that she wrote the final chapter of the series back in 1990.

Sources:

UNH Media Relations, press release posted February 1, 2007, (http://www.unh.edu/news/cj_nr/2007/feb/lw01potter.cfm)

HPANA.com, The Harry Potter Automatic News Aggregator, (http://www.hpana.com/news.18526.html), (http://www.hpana.com/news.19467.html)