Potter fans fury

[Scoobie Newbie]

'Harry Potter' creator JK Rowling has been attacked by furious fans angry over her threat to kill off the boy wizard.
 
(BANG) - JK Rowling has been attacked by 'Harry Potter' fans who are furious she is planning to kill off one of the main characters.

The author of the bestselling series, which follows the adventures of boy wizard Harry, revealed last week she intends to kill off two characters in the seventh and final Potter novel.

The mum-of-three refused to reveal the victims' identities for fear of reprisals, but didn't rule out Harry's demise.

She said: "I'm not going to commit myself, because I don't want the hate mail or anything else. I've never been tempted to kill him, Harry, off before the end of book seven, because I always planned seven books.

"I can understand, however, the mentality of an author who thinks, 'I'm going to kill them off because that means there can be no non-author-written sequels'."

However, fans of the series have reacted furiously to Rowling's decision and have slammed her on several websites.

On bloggingharrypotter.com, one enraged fan wrote: "I truly feel that for Rowling to kill off any of the trio would reflect a callousness towards children I don't wish to contemplate."

Another infuriated Potter devotee wrote on the-leaky-cauldron.org site: "JKR is a Sadistic Enchantress."

So far, the Harry Potter books have sold over 300 million copies worldwide and been turned into a hugely successful movie franchise.

(C) BANG Media International

 

[Scoobie Newbie]

If I was her I'd never write another Potter book ever.  Ungrateful bitches.

 

[Pea]

It's a freaking book series that SHE wrote. She can do as she pleases. Yeesh, people feel the need to complain about everything these days. I for one, as a reader of the series, will be fulfilled however it turns out.

 

[Kat Stevens]

I'd quietly put the legal machinery in place whereby I owned the rights, solely, to any and all Potter crap.  I'd then refuse to write the last book, leave all those millions of little ritalin junkies hanging.  Good call, Quag  >

 

[Kat Stevens]

Or better yet, a one page last book:
  "The Tommohawk cruise missile flew undetected through the early morning sky, and dipped in a leisurely arc toward its final target.  The gyros made their final course corrections, and Hogwarts disappeared in a blinding flash, killing every one of those infuriating little two dimensional bastards inside.

  THE END

 

[medicineman]

It's really odd that people would be freaking out about this sort of thing, in the UK especially.  Ever watch British TV or movies or read British novels - the writers are less than afraid to knock off main characters - why should this series be any different?  

The last couple of books she wrote are definately not kids books - they are very dark and Harry has turned into a poster child for PTSD.  They are also setting people up for something pretty nasty IMHO.  If he gets knocked off, I'd say it's a good way of letting people know that for something good to come of bad, sometimes the good die young.

My bit of copper.

MM

 

[HItorMiss]

Kat can't we have a Allied SOF team hit the building first?

 

[paracowboy]

I'd quietly put the legal machinery in place whereby I owned the rights, solely, to any and all Potter crap.  I'd then refuse to write the last book, leave all those millions of little ritalin junkies hanging. 

I like it, Kat.

 

[Enzo]

Kids are eating crap in the schools, multi-nationals pay to advertise their products in schools as well; all sorts of issues are felt around the globe for whatever reasons that deserve public outcry... and this is what gets the soccer moms upset?!?  :

Wow...

 

[Springroll]

As a mom, the Harry Potter series of books has brought back the excitement of reading, at least in my home.
That could be why so many are upset about this.

I just hope that by her doing this, that it doesn't turn children off of reading completely.

 

[Pea]

As a mom, the Harry Potter series of books has brought back the excitement of reading, at least in my home.
That could be why so many are upset about this.

I just hope that by her doing this, that it doesn't turn children off of reading completely.

Why would a character dieing in a book turn people/kids off of reading? Death is a fact of life that we will all experience at some point. Sheltering kids from the idea of someone dieing is not a good plan.

This reminds me of how as a child my Mom wouldn't take me to any funerals because she said death wasn't pleasant. Then at 13 my Dad died, and I had no clue what a funeral should be like and was experiencing way too many emotions all at once. I guess I am way off topic here, but I just don't think sheltering is a great idea.

 

[TMM]

The latest Potter books are not for kids, at least the younger ones! The books are designed for readers of Harry's age.

People died in fairy tales and religious texts but they still get read!

It doesn't take much to turn kids into readers. I'd rather have Rowling end things once and for all to avoid the plethora of poorly written Star Wars type novellas.

If parents have kids who don't read they ought to blame themselves not some author who has no day to day contact with their kids.

 

[Kat Stevens]

As a mom, the Harry Potter series of books has brought back the excitement of reading, at least in my home.
That could be why so many are upset about this.

I just hope that by her doing this, that it doesn't turn children off of reading completely.

Oh, please.  Wayne Rooney and Rinaldo ruined a perfectly good world cup for me.  Doesn't mean I stop watching football.  If the only reason your kids read is to see what improbable situations await our intrepid little band, well, that's just sad.  There are a Brazilian (my new astronomical number fave)  better written children's books out there, Narnia being one of them, The Once and Future King by TH White being another.  Shoving Potter down your kids throat is the literary equivalent of Supersize Me for kids.... Happy Meals all around....

Whew, rant off, sorry...

 

[Springroll]

Why would a character dieing in a book turn people/kids off of reading? Death is a fact of life that we will all experience at some point. Sheltering kids from the idea of someone dieing is not a good plan.

The Harry Potter series has spark many children, who would otherwise not be reading, to read on their own time. They fell in love with the characters of the books. The adventures that they have encountered. The whole idea of witches and sorcerers is a pretty cool one. Many kids have idolized them like many adults of our time have idolized Star Wars or whatever their chosen series was.

It is her choice to do whatever she is going to do to the characters, but like I said I hope it doesn't turn kids from reading other series.
My oldest has moved on from Harry and quite enjoys the Lemony Snicket series, my daughter is starting the Junie B Jone's series, so I don't see this affecting them the way it may affect many other kids.

edited to add: We have already started the Narnia series as a family, so don't assume that all my kids read is Harry Potter. Harry was out of our home last year.

 

[paracowboy]

why would the death of the character stop children from reading? The very same things that drew kids to the books in the first place are still there for new readers to discover. The deaths of Robin Hood and King Arthur didn't prevent me from reading those stories, nor did the death of Orlando at Ronancesville, the death of Cuchulainn, and Ragnarok.

 

[Michael Dorosh]

On the contrary, my dad used to watch The Bridge on the River Kwai every time it came on TV (before VCRs were available for home use) because he was convinced that if he watched it often enough, William Holden would get lucky and not die at the end.

 

[paracowboy]

Cmdr. (did I abbreviate that properly?) Shears' death didn't prevent him from watching, though, did it?

 

[Michael Dorosh]

Cmdr. (did I abbreviate that properly?) Shears' death didn't prevent him from watching, though, did it?

I could have sworn that was my entire point.

 

[paracowboy]

I could have sworn from your post, that it was entirely 'contrary'.

AH! Never mind, when taken into the context of the entire thread after Springroll's post, it becomes clear.

(Oh, look! There I go admitting a mistake. How unlike me!)
BWAAahahahaa!

 

[Trooper Hale]

This is a bit loserish for a 19 yr old to say but I cant wait for the last book to come out. How can you compare these books to junk food? (Super Size Me).
My take on it as someone who has younger siblings (bit young for my own kids!) is that any reading is healthy and if you can find a book that kids, teens and adults agree is brilliant how can you fault it? I was sceptical too before reading them as to how good they actually were but the series has been the most entertaining bunch of books I've ever read. Sure, they'r not high brow, intellectual, "Ponder the universe and figure out the meaning of life" sort of books but they'r brilliant fun and while the reaction of fans is extreme in some cases it is understandble because of the passion's these books arouse.
I have a theory that if you can get a kid hooked on good books from a young age the potential is endless. From "Harry Potter" to "Midsummer Nights Dream" isnt that much of a jump.
The death of a character is something JK Rowlings is doing on purpose to not only immortalise these books but also finish them once and for all. She's said more then once that she's sick of Harry as i understand it.
Perents ought to capitalise on this whole thing and after them and their kids come out of mourning get them onto something new, like the witch and wardrobe.
It cant do any harm to read.