Category: Hermione

JK Rowling’s own clues

You may know what you think will happen, but J.K. Rowling knows. Here are some hints she has dropped that may shatter your illusions:

–Harry’s grandparents are all dead, and they aren’t important to the plot. Rowling calls that part of her backstory “mundane territory.” She said she thought it was more interesting, plot-wise, if Harry was completely alone. James’ parents, she said in an interview, “succumbed to a wizarding illness. That’s as far as it goes. There’s nothing serious or sinister about those deaths. I just needed them out of the way so I killed them.”

–That means, she said, Harry is not the heir of Gryffindor.

–The gum wrappers that Alice Longbottom gives to her son, Neville, at St. Mungo’s in Book 5 (Phoenix) are just gum wrappers, a sad depiction of how an insane mother tries to offer something to her son.

—Dumbledore’s death was always planned to happen. (That has to mean it must be integral to the outcome.)– More about Dumbledore: “I think it has been demonstrated, particularly in Books 5 and 6 that immense brainpower does not protect you from emotional mistakes, and I think Dumbledore really exemplifies that.”

–Ron’s eyes are blue. Hermione’s are brown. Ron’s Patronus is a small dog. (Those aren’t necessarily clues, but just small details that haven’t been revealed yet.)

–The color of Harry’s eyes (green, like his mother) is significant and important.

–In Book 4 (Goblet) the “gleam of triumph” on Dumbledore’s face when Harry tells him what happened with Voldemort is, Rowling said, “enormously significant.” And, she points out, “I haven’t told you that much is enormously significant, so you can let your imaginations run free there.”

–Question: Why did Voldemort offer Lily so many chances to live? Would he actually have let her live? JKR: “Mhm. … [silence] Can’t tell you.”

—Umbridge will reappear. Rowling: “She’s a pretty evil character … It’s too much fun to torture her not to have another little bit more, before I finish.”

–If Dumbledore looked in the mirror of Erised, what would he see? Rowling: “I can’t answer that.”

–What would Dumbledore’s boggart be? JKR: “I can’t answer that either, but for theories you should read Book 6 again.”

–Bellatrix Lestrange will play a significant role. See the article in today’s Observer about what JKR told actress Helena Bonham Carter, who plays Lestrange in the movie that opens today.