At some point after Harry finds the Mirror,
we realize that Erised = desirE. It's a mirror thing.
In the second book, we learn that Tom Marvolo Riddle = i aM loRd voldemorT. Not a clean, simple mirror image, but scrambled. His personality is in pieces, his mind is in twisted, his very soul is in fragments.
Just a little observation, irrelevant to the rest of this post, but cool.
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The Mirror of Erised.
While sketching out the "Fellowship of the Thing"
(see fan fiction, "Shacklebolt" thread, Post #12) I didn't realize where the story was going until I wrote the last word, "never." I thought I was just having fun combining bits and pieces of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" with bits and pieces of "Harry Potter."
When I hit that last period, I realized that it was half-consciously inspired by the popular notion that the series can not end until JKR kills Harry Potter, and that his demise will, by some unexplained magic, prevent any possible continuation. This notion is delusional.
What does JKR see in the Mirror of Erised? Dumbledore explains that the mirror
"...shows us nothing more and nothing less than the deepest, most desperate desires of our hearts." (need to check precise quote.)
Harry, who has never known his family, sees himself surrounded by them. Ron, who has always been overshadowed by his many brothers, sees himself alone, the greatest of all. Dumbledore, whose friends insist on giving him books for Christmas, sees himself holding a pair of warm, woolen socks. (Socks, if you follow the Ron = Dumbledore theory, represent a mother's love that can be unappreciated until it is too late.)
What does JKR see in the Mirror of Erised? A quiet, simple retirement in the bosom of her family, cushioned by a nice, fluffy bank account?
Stop me before I write again! JKR has always been very clear on the point that the Harry Potter series will end with the seventh book. This is not difficult to understand: the series will have ruled her life for seventeen years. The rumors are flying that she will not be able to resist the pressure to continue; that, like Michael in the Godfather ("...but they keep pulling me back!") JKR will find no peace while Harry survives. For this shabby reason, she needs to kill The Boy Who Lived. She has even hinted at this in an interview.
(http://www.mugglenet.com/jkrinterview.shtml)
However, unlike Michael, JKR will never be able to say that "they gave me an offer I couldn't refuse." No one is going to hold a wand to her head. Also, she has a few galleons to tide her over, and I think we can trust her to "exercise self-control not to spend the whole lot at once."
To respawn, or not to respawn? Someone once said that, if you build a ten-foot wall around the entire country, it will take the smugglers about five seconds to figure out that they need an eleven-foot ladder.
In fiction, no good character stays dead forever. When Dumbledore "died," how long did it take YOU to think of Gandalf? From there, it's only spittin' distance to Obi Wan Kanobe. The Search for Spoc. Freddy Kruger (spell?). Dune's Paul Atredes. Duncan Idaho. The X-File's Marlboro Man. Jason (Fri 13th).
Probably every soap opera has at least one fake or presumed death every year.
The Guiding Light: Sonny/Celeta and, especially, Roger Thorpe (my personal favorite).
All My Children: Dixie Cooney, Maria Santos
Help me out, guys, and lets see how long we can make this list. Think of every bad guy who has ever died and then jumped out from behind a shower curtain a few pages later.
Where there's a will, there's a way to respawn.
Death is nothing. Killing the boy in his seventh book will not guarantee the end of the series.
But JKR will have a power the rumor mongers know not: next year, as the seventh month dies, she, and only she, will have the power to just put down the pen and walk away. If ending the series is "the deepest, most despirate desire of her heart," then doing so will require "nothing more and nothing less" than her resolve to do so. Slartybartfast not withstanding, when she ends the series, it will remain retired until the day she dies.
Unless...
But she would never! International copywrite law is good for the life of the author plus 75 years, after which the property will enter the public domain. That's how it usually works. Maybe JKR won't sell-out. But...
Barbie ® has found that she cannot sue people who make offensive parodies. The Barbie phenomenon has become so deeply a part of our common culture that it already is, in a way, in the public domain. The judge said that, "With Barbie, Mattel created not just a toy but a cultural icon," that "With fame often comes unwanted attention," that social commentary is protected by the U.S. constitution, and that "The parties are advised to chill."
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/2150432.stm)
How might the Barbie case law be relevant to Harry Potter? Has, or will, Harry become as much a part of our culture as Barbie?
The Unfinished Tales: Ok, so let's say she gets a really good bunch of lawyers during her lifetime who have a power that the Mattel company knew not.
Frank Herbet stopped after six volumes of "Dune," but son Brian has published at least as many post-mortom episodes (they're actually pretty good) and seems likely to continue. J.R.Tolkien
(spell?) wrote a truckload of background info for "Lord of the Rings," which were sold by an heir and published with titles like "The Unfinished Tales." I do hope that he got a little more for it than Merope. Forget the heir of Slytherin and the heir of Griffindor; I wanna be the heir of Rowling.
Never say never. So, getting back to "The Fellowship of the Thing," I realized afterward that it was half-consciously inspired by the shabby reason above to kill Harry. It's not gonna work. Killing Harry will not end the series. Putting down the pen will. Nothing more and nothing less.
Linear Mode
