I'm still not quite at the end of Deathly Hallows (edit: well, I wasn't when I first posted, but as of an hour later I am, so I'll be talking about the ending too), but I have to say just one little thing. Don't read this post if you've not finished the book, because it's a major, MASSIVE SPOILER. If there are comments, which I expect there to be, obviously those will be spoilers too. (hear that, commenters? Speak freely, and that's an order)
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NOT THEM! NOT THEM! NOT MY BELOVED TONKS AND LUPIN! NO! NO! NO! THIS IS THE ONE, THE ONE THING I PLEADED FOR YOU NOT TO WRITE, THE ONE THING! I TOLD YOU YOU WERE WELCOME TO DO ANY OTHER HORRIBLE AND/OR CRACKPOT THING YOU LIKED; YOU COULD OFF RON AND LEAVE HERMIONE ALONE, MURDER THE TWINS, MAKE SNAPE IN LOVE WITH LILY, RAISE DUMBLEDORE FROM THE DEAD, DESTROY HOGWARTS, OR EVEN LEAVE HARRY ALIVE AT THE END - BUT NOT TO KILL TONKS AND LUPIN.
And then you DID and my heart feels like it has been ripped to pieces and God, I knew I should have stopped reading after the happy news on page 10; obviously I had to keep going, but...and then a little further on, I begged you not to make Teddy the next generation Neville, and you DID...
I hate you. So. Much.
Ironically, this is exactly how it went with Half-Blood Prince - I eagerly raced through the book and then all of a sudden Dumbledore died, and I stopped cold in shock, and tried to figure out ways it was just a trick, and then when I realized it wasn't, I threw the book aside in rage and refused to keep reading, couldn't keep reading until the next day, thanks to the horrible huge hole in my heart...
AND YOU KNOW WHAT? THIS IS A HUNDRED TIMES MORE PAINFUL. *is totally unashamed to admit crying real tears right now* Also, I feel vaguely like I might be about to throw up.
I mean, remember that stuff I said about not wanting a nauseating fanfic ending full of marriages and babies? That did not apply to Tonks and Lupin, damn it!
And I can't even go rage about it anywhere but here, because I haven't read past that point, see, and don't want the ending spoiled for me. RAR.
6:22 PM Edit: I have finished the book, though I must say that the last 100 pages or so pretty much meant nothing to me given how fast I whipped through them and how I skipped half the words, and I would like to snarl about the fact that in addition to killing Tonks and Lupin, she made 2.5 of the other horrible things happen (Snape loved Lily? Fred's dead? HARRY LIVES?) as well, and she made it disgustingly happy and full of marriages and kids. Which I totally would have loved if Teddy's parents were in there too, but instead it just pisses me off.
I expect I'll be in a horrible mood all weekend.
6:44 PM Edit: And what, you just needed bodies on your Great Hall Death Pile? There was no description of their deaths or of them fighting at all, so I gather you just needed big, recognizable names? Here, I'll give you two - Kingsley and McGonagall. There, now you've got two Order members, and they're even an Auror and professor. Wouldn't that have been so much nicer than the ones you chose? *hisses*
Although I was paying so little attention, one of them might have died at some point later on and I wouldn't have noticed
And then you DID and my heart feels like it has been ripped to pieces and God, I knew I should have stopped reading after the happy news on page 10; obviously I had to keep going, but...and then a little further on, I begged you not to make Teddy the next generation Neville, and you DID...
I hate you. So. Much.
Ironically, this is exactly how it went with Half-Blood Prince - I eagerly raced through the book and then all of a sudden Dumbledore died, and I stopped cold in shock, and tried to figure out ways it was just a trick, and then when I realized it wasn't, I threw the book aside in rage and refused to keep reading, couldn't keep reading until the next day, thanks to the horrible huge hole in my heart...
AND YOU KNOW WHAT? THIS IS A HUNDRED TIMES MORE PAINFUL. *is totally unashamed to admit crying real tears right now* Also, I feel vaguely like I might be about to throw up.
I mean, remember that stuff I said about not wanting a nauseating fanfic ending full of marriages and babies? That did not apply to Tonks and Lupin, damn it!
6:22 PM Edit: I have finished the book, though I must say that the last 100 pages or so pretty much meant nothing to me given how fast I whipped through them and how I skipped half the words, and I would like to snarl about the fact that in addition to killing Tonks and Lupin, she made 2.5 of the other horrible things happen (Snape loved Lily? Fred's dead? HARRY LIVES?) as well, and she made it disgustingly happy and full of marriages and kids. Which I totally would have loved if Teddy's parents were in there too, but instead it just pisses me off.
I expect I'll be in a horrible mood all weekend.
6:44 PM Edit: And what, you just needed bodies on your Great Hall Death Pile? There was no description of their deaths or of them fighting at all, so I gather you just needed big, recognizable names? Here, I'll give you two - Kingsley and McGonagall. There, now you've got two Order members, and they're even an Auror and professor. Wouldn't that have been so much nicer than the ones you chose? *hisses*
Although I was paying so little attention, one of them might have died at some point later on and I wouldn't have noticed
Comments
I would have liked some more description, at least for Lupin. And I'm kind of mad that they BOTH were out there fighting when they had a child at home. Someone should have stayed home with Teddy. Or, I don't know, waited till after the war to get pregnant. Or maybe even used some sort of birth control - especially since Lupin had doubts about being a father.
I don't know; maybe their deaths would be easier to take if it weren't like... triple character assassination.
The epilogue makes me want to vomit. Everyone married with 8000 kids named James and Lily? I would think that, given what they've all seen, being happy would be harder than JKR makes it look. And more than that, I don't even feel like she told us what we would want to know. Like there are other things that a fan wants to know other than how many brats did the women pop out! ;-)
Someone should have stayed home with Teddy.
Well, frankly I'm glad they at least died together; I had enough of the "raising our son alone" crap from Pirates of the Caribbean. The other stuff doesn't really bother me; I can rationalize it. But yes, they did totally get the shaft on their death scene(s), and I'm kind of annoyed that Lupin is the only Marauder who just gets written out of the picture offscreen. Even the stupid cowardly Wormtail got a more detailed exit, gruesome thought it was.
As for the epilogue, I want to know why Harry isn't totally messed up for life. Other than the fact it's a children's series, I mean.
WTF JK!!!! I am mostly crushed about Lupin because he has been almost my favourite character since he appeared, but I loved Tonks and her crazy hair. But seriously, they were the LAST people I thought she would kill because TONKS JUST HAD A BABY OMG WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT TO US????? *wibble* My poor, poor Remus.
But, I am just imagining that Neville has ended up with Luna and they are Remus/Tonks V2.0 minus werewolf-ish tendencies.
ALSO? She had to kill one of the twins, didn't she... *WAILS*
I never really went in for Neville/Luna, but if it makes you happy, go for it. I am currently concentrating hard on believing that Lupin & Tonks managed to miraculously survive the Hogwarts Battle of Death. *clings to cheerful thoughts before blackness can suck her down again*
And then, BOOM! Out of nowhere Remus and Tonks are lying dead in the great hall. AAAAHHH!!! HOW COULD SHE? That was the only part of the book that had me properly bawling. She only devoted like, what? One line to them? Not even? I never knew a children's author could get away by being such a homicidal maniac. Boom, this person dies. Boom, this person dies. Boom, even Harry's bloody owl dies.
*sigh* It has been a draining experience......
--(insert here) will be the Deathofme
P.S.
Hi. *waves* I didn't realize you had an LJ until I saw you on La Guera's. Congrats on the CSI award win.
Second of all...
I never knew a children's author could get away by being such a homicidal maniac.
XD No kidding. (That could be an icon: "J.K. Rowling - Respected children's author...or HOMICIDAL MANIAC?") My favorite theory right now is that she rolled a cup of Yahtzee dice to see how many deaths she was going to put in this book, and then went about merrily filling her quota.
She only devoted like, what? One line to them? Not even?
Exactly! I think that lack of attention is really what has people in an uproar, even moreso than the deaths themselves. I really, really, really hope she addresses her reasons for that in an interview at some point. I demand to know why every other death, including the owl, got more description than a pair of well-known Order members.
I've been surfing around and reading peoples' thoughts on the deaths, because first of all, the whole Remus/Tonks ships have been in an uproar, and I can see the reasoning behind some people's thoughts. Seeing as it's the time of war, every death happens quickly and unexpectedly and there's overall too much for someone to be able to process all at once. So boom, boom, boom, people fall down dead however inexplicable it may seem. She glossed over a lot of stuff in that final battle, I suppose, to strive for realism.
BUT WHY DIDN'T SHE GO BACK??! Why, instead, did she leave that stupid epilogue instead of going back and telling us what happened after, what happened in the world...????
Well, they better do it properly in the movie. Oh David Thewlis.....oh Alan Rickman.......
Oh, hell, I could even have dealt with the death of Tonks and Remus if she had given them more than a single damn line. I mean, even DOBBY got more of a send-off then they did. But Tonks and Remus? No, all we get is "Oh, and by the way, they're dead." What the HELL, JKR. FAIL.
EVEN MORE FAIL = killing Fred. And writing a stupid fanfic-y epilogue. And why would anybody name their kids Albus Severus if they were going to be around any Muggles at all? That's social suicide, right there.
As for Fred, I'm still mad at Rowling that I can't properly care about his death. Any other time, really, I'd have been howling, but in the wake of my two favorites, nobody else even matters. Not even Hedwig.