July 26, 2007 3:13
Rowling Speaks, Again
This time to USA Today. I wish they'd gotten her to talk more about Deathly Hallows. This is probably the most interesting quote:
"I'm sort of writing two things at the moment," she says. "One is for children and the other is not for children. The weird thing is that this is exactly the way I started writing Harry. I was writing two things simultaneously for a year before Harry took over. So one will oust the other in due course, and I'll know that's my next thing."
Update: OK, I'm just catching up with the stuff that came out on the Today show, thanks to commenter Matt S. Official version here on MSNBC, Wikipedia version here. She says:
“Harry and Ron utterly revolutionized the Auror Department,” Rowling said. “They are now the experts. It doesn’t matter how old they are or what else they’ve done.”
Personally I don't see how Ron and Harry could have become Aurors without finishing another year at Hogwarts, given the rigorous academic requirements. So I'm going to assume they went back. I'm a little impressed that Ron squeaked in even with that final year, and a letter of recommendation from Kingsley Shacklebolt.
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Lev Grossman blogs about anything and everything that could be plausibly labeled geeky--science fiction, fantasy, video games, comic books, tech stuff, and so on. If it could get you beaten up in junior high, it's fair game. About the Author
Matt Selman
Matt Selman has worked on eleven seasons and over two hundred episodes of The Simpsons. He currently serves as an Executive Producer. About the Author
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Reader Comments
Posted by Daverus
July 26, 2007
She did confirm that Fred was supposed to die, and Lupin and Tonks died because Mr. Weasley didn't.
It's also good to hear how firm she is about not writing any more HP novels. She also confirmed why she wrote the Epilogue how she did... Harry got what he wanted most deeply.
Posted by Matt S
July 26, 2007
There is more information about what happened to the characters over at wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter_and_the_Deathly_Hallows#Further_Epilogue-Related_Information
Posted by Anonymous
July 26, 2007
*spoilers for those who are trying to steer clear of them!*
She also said that Harry and Ron are aurors. That Harry is actually head of the department. Hermione is "pretty high up" in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.
Luna is travelling the world and looking for different sorts of creatures (though she's grown up and knows that some of the things her dad talked about weren't always real).
As for Luna and Neville, Rowling said that she never meant for them to get together in the end, but they sort of just migrated towards each other as she wrote. So she left their relationship open at the end because doing otherwise would have "felt too neat"
Anyway, looking forward to seeing some of the future interviews with her!
Posted by Matt S
July 26, 2007
source article is here
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19959323/
Posted by Molly
July 26, 2007
I have to say, I feel much more at peace with the ending knowing what career paths Harry, Ron, and Hermione chose. I understand why she didn't put it in the epilogue, but I just felt there was a little piece of the puzzle missing. It's funny, but now that I know the information, I don't even mind that it's not actually in the book. I just like that the picture in my head is complete.
Posted by Ella
July 26, 2007
I think they did go back. At least that's the feeling I got at the end, when the last scene before the epilogue shows Harry dreaming of the four-poster bed waiting for him at Gryffindor Tower. He was looking forward to returning to school and picking up where he left off. What should have been his last year there just suffered an interruption, that's all. Some things just had to be urgently attended to first.
Personally, I'm glad the epilogue wasn't long. She practically put enough there for an extra two books, if you want the background info to be really complete. But we all know that all along number 7 was going to be "it". After saying that for 17 years, I doubt she'll change her mind now.
Posted by Louise
July 26, 2007
To be honest, I'm in the "if-it's-important-put-it-in-the-book" camp, and am not particularly interested in the extra info. I actually liked the epilogue, and thought the point was that it didn't matter what Harry did for a living, but that he was content. I suppose that the author is making a lot of readers happy by giving extra tidbits, but I think it's cheating, in a way.
Unfortunately for me, I also read elsewhere about a comment the author made (on video) about Professor Snape, who has been my favorite character from the start. She made a comment about his not being a hero. Freaked out after I read it, as I think he is most definitely a hero, and kind of resent an author telling me what to think. Bad enough she killed him so cruelly, now she has to insult the guy. Geez! I don't understand how an author can end up not appreciating a character that she has created. (I wrote an essay about this and sent it into one of the fan sites a few days ago, but I doubt it will see the light of day.)
Thanks for letting me vent; it's very hard to do so on the Potter fan sites as they have an author-can-do-no-wrong attitude that makes me cranky.
Leverus is a lovely name, by the way!
Posted by Sully
July 27, 2007
I'd like to point out that her for adult/for children dichotomy she started on before HP kind of got blown away as she kept writing. I'm in my early 20's which kind puts an interesting perspective as I've been reading the books since they came out. He's grown up along with me and I can't imagine the scenes of horror from #7 being the same character I read when I was 12 years old.
I'd also like to point out, that in extreme cases qualifications don't matter. A computer engineer most definitely needs a college degree, that doesn't mean Bill Gates doesn't qualify.
Posted by Molly
July 27, 2007
Sully, I was thinking that myself about the qualifications. I mean, if there was ever a case for experience outweighing education, I think the quest for the Horcruxes and the defeat of Voldemort would be it. Who wouldn't let them into Auror training after that? And Hermione, of course, could have walked into her NEWT exams the day after the battle and aced them all before going on to do whatever she wanted.