ThinkingSkull.com

July 16th, 2005 is a day that muggles are unaware of. It is the day that the sixth Harry Potter book is to be released, one that supposedly carries two secrets: who is the Half-Blood Prince of the title, and which major character will die?

As a writer, plotter, and generally someone who often spends too much time thinking about unimportant things, I have to make a guess. With no actual foreknowledge nor any time spent on any website where actual bets are taking place on the subject, I must make a guess. As my wife can attest (she refers to this as “ruining it”), I can usually discern facts about a story’s conclusion based rather on the way someone writes, the feel of how the prose flows; while this talent is useless in the real world of actual police and detective work, it more often than not scores a bullseye before C.S.I.’s Grissom makes his smart comment about a grissly death (”Of course it’s him because no other characters were introduced and the show ends in five minutes!”).

That said, the following is my wild speculation, who I’d most likely cast or do in myself were my first initials J followed by K and my gender somewhat fairer: Neville Longbottom… for BOTH secrets. Why? He’s the perfect author-controlled device to upset the story without really putting the main characters in jeopardy. Consider that Voldemort once believed (possibly correctly) that Neville was the subject of a prophecy that compelled him to act; since the hand of Dumbledore has already both done terrible things and regretted more than a few of them (see Order of the Phoenix for details), why not believe that Harry Potter is quite possibly as unexceptional as Professor Snape first told him? A few clever spells to throw the Dark Lord off track and keep him occupied with a generation-spanning plot to ensure that if Voldemort had a plan to return and succeeded, he would be too focused on that which he shouldn’t be while pieces were moving against him.

Look at the facts. Harry already knows his father wasn’t the saint he once believed, and it’s possible Snapes very-public hatred of Harry runs so deep because someone (namely the bad guys) need to think Harry’s the real hero; with Snapes once in league with the Dark Lord and possibly still being monitored by him, why not keep up the pretense as a double-spy? Of course, when you push someone to the forefront as a hero, whisper for years about the great (and/or terrible) things they’ve done, then secretly ensure success by providing all the right tools and clues, one must question how deep the conspiracy goes. Is Harry Potter the hero of the books because he simply is, or is he truly the pawn of the Order of the Phoenix long since before the fateful night Voldemort was destroyed by an infant? Keep in mind that what may have been seeded all along wasn’t even suspect until “Order of the Phoenix,” so now we know just how diabolical the author can be.

Which brings us to the Half-Blood Prince and character death. What better way to take the heat of the hero than to find out they are not the champion everyone thought? This isn’t to say that Harry hasn’t risen to the occassion, but his only other choice would have been to fail. Imagine discovering that, as the hero, you were merely the decoy, given enough encouragement, privilage, and special attention to keep up the pretense; the real champion is someone who’s been there all along, suffered greatly, and that few would suspect any longer. Now imagine that when this great secret is discovered or revealed, that secret champion is struck down in a way no one suspected; Voldemort has kept his options open all along, just in case. Now the fallen decoy must really fulfill a destiny thrust upon him while dealing with the knowledge he was actually only a privilaged fraud, one that has managed to overcome before and must do so again.

Okay, so maybe it’s all a bit hopeful or over-thought or whatever, but there it is, and it’s too late to change it now if I just happened to be right. Then again, Dumbledore has been marked for death as Harry’s mentor since actor Richard Harris himself passed away; with only one book remaining of the original seven promised, ol’ Albus has done enough to evoke sympathy but likely has nothing further to give to the cause. But watch that Longbottom character… Prince or no, he’s got a big part to play in what’s coming up.