Sunday, July 03, 2005
3. 
Alone against the threat
The million-dollar question is: so which character will die in Book Six? Fans all over the world have been wondering that for ages. The smart money has been on Dumbledore for a long time and we must concur with this conclusion. His ultimate demise is first mooted when he describes death as being “like going to bed after a very, very long day”: the implication is that he knows how it feels to be old and in expectation of death. For the good of the story (Harry vs Voldemort) Dumbledore needs to give way to Harry in order to allow him to stand unaided against his foe. Consider how Dumbledore has rescued the situation—sometimes directly preventing Harry’s death— in all of the previous five books: He tells him how the mirror works and saves him from Quirrel in Book One, provides him with Fawkes in Book Two, instructs Harry and Hermione how to save Sirius and Buckbeak in Book Three, saves Harry from the fake Moody in Book Four and turns up in the nick of time at the Ministry in Book Five.
There is good precedent for Dumbledore’s death in other well-known stories of good and evil. In Lord of the Rings, for example, Dumbledore’s direct counterpart, Gandalf, falls in the Mines of Moria during his fight with the Balrog, thereby indirectly enabling Aragorn to develop as a leader.
For reasons that will become clear in postings over the next few days, we believe that the death of Dumbledore will result in the reappearance and rehabilitation of his brother Aberforth - alleged goat charmer(!) and currently barman at the Hog’s Head - and that Harry will receive some sort of help from Aberforth in the absence of Albus.
Alone against the threatThe million-dollar question is: so which character will die in Book Six? Fans all over the world have been wondering that for ages. The smart money has been on Dumbledore for a long time and we must concur with this conclusion. His ultimate demise is first mooted when he describes death as being “like going to bed after a very, very long day”: the implication is that he knows how it feels to be old and in expectation of death. For the good of the story (Harry vs Voldemort) Dumbledore needs to give way to Harry in order to allow him to stand unaided against his foe. Consider how Dumbledore has rescued the situation—sometimes directly preventing Harry’s death— in all of the previous five books: He tells him how the mirror works and saves him from Quirrel in Book One, provides him with Fawkes in Book Two, instructs Harry and Hermione how to save Sirius and Buckbeak in Book Three, saves Harry from the fake Moody in Book Four and turns up in the nick of time at the Ministry in Book Five.
There is good precedent for Dumbledore’s death in other well-known stories of good and evil. In Lord of the Rings, for example, Dumbledore’s direct counterpart, Gandalf, falls in the Mines of Moria during his fight with the Balrog, thereby indirectly enabling Aragorn to develop as a leader.
For reasons that will become clear in postings over the next few days, we believe that the death of Dumbledore will result in the reappearance and rehabilitation of his brother Aberforth - alleged goat charmer(!) and currently barman at the Hog’s Head - and that Harry will receive some sort of help from Aberforth in the absence of Albus.
# posted by Nahs & Nai @ 12:25 PM 
