BookOpinion

With the release of the final book of the Harry Potter series just days away, millions of Potter fans wonder who will die? Author J.K. Rowling has said that some characters will die. Will one be Harry Potter himself?

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution tackles this question:

Our bushy-haired protagonist faces his evil nemesis Voldemort in “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” the final installment of the seven-book series, to be released Friday at midnight.

Anticipation is even more feverish than usual, for two reasons: The book caps a 10-year journey for Harry Potter, the “boy who lived.”

And the boy who lived might die.

A worldwide audience, promised dire events by enigmatic author J.K. Rowling, waits on tenterhooks to see who survives. Web sites are churning with theories.

Evil conquers good?

Some readers say that the death of Harry would violate a basic principle of the story. If Harry died in the finale, “I would be devastated,” said Sharyn Briscoe, 35, assistant principal at Morningside Elementary School. On Monday, Briscoe was rereading Book 6 (”Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”) to be better prepared when she buys Book 7 at midnight Friday.

If she discovers that Harry perishes, “I would feel that evil had won over good,” she said. For that reason, she doesn’t think it’s going to happen.

A fit ending

Some readers think that death is the proper coda in the Harry Potter symphony. “It will be the best for the plot,” said Jessica Smith, 25, who has planned a Friday devoted to Pottering. Once she gets the book at the Mall at Stonecrest, “I won’t go to sleep.”

Younger readers are also prepared for a less-than-happy resolution. “I think it would be a nice tie-up for the story if he died,” said Cristy Stovall, 14, of Roswell. “It would be final; it wouldn’t leave room for more stories afterward.”

That sort of finality appeals to those who feel cheated when others have cobbled sequels to books that never should have had sequels.

Durable heroes

Historically, the hero often outlives the tale.

Odysseus survived “The Odyssey.” Beowulf lived into old age.

Since readers are expecting Harry to triumph, marry Ginny Weasley and sire numerous offspring, perhaps Rowling will let them have that cake and eat it too.

“It would be interesting if she cheated the system,” said Megan Linehan, a Borders bookstore employee in Silver Spring, Md.

Linehan wrote her thesis at American University on themes in the Harry Potter series. She suggests Rowling may allow Potter to beat the bad guy, then tack on a last chapter in which he ages and dies happily, in bed, with plenty of dark-haired children around him.

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