As fans eagerly await the release of the seventh book in the series, they are engaged in frenzied speculation over the fate of the characters.
NEW DELHI: As Harry Potter fans eagerly await the release of the seventh instalment of the tales of the boy wizard, they are engaged in frenzied speculation over the fate of the main characters, with popular theories ranging from the probable to the most extraordinary.
The "muggles", as humans without magic powers are known in Potter's world, are using the internet to spell out their ideas on what could happen in the final book in the series, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows", and -- gory as it may sound -- most predictions centre around the characters who are likely to be killed.
With author J K Rowling herself setting the ball rolling by saying that two characters will die in the final instalment, due out on July 21, and in view of the fact that she has never shied away from killing her main and much-loved creations, the worst fear of Potter fans is that the boy-hero may meet his end.
Such a conclusion may fit well in the scheme of things for Rowling as it stops any chances of the series being resurrected by her or any other writer, but as readers point
out in discussion boards on various sites, it would not be in keeping with the tradition of good triumphing over evil.
Though Rowling says the seventh book will be the last, there is a clamour among readers for more. Bookseller Waterstones launched an online "Save Harry" petition last
week, getting thousands of signatures for an appeal that she extend the series "no matter what happens" in book seven.
Apart from Potter, the others whose deaths are being dreaded by readers are his best friends Ron and Hermione. As one netizen put it, "Heroes do not die at the end of the
quest. Their best friends do."
The names of Potter's "biggest friend", half-giant Rebeus Hagrid, and his "least favourite person" in the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Severus Snape, are also doing the rounds as those most likely to fall due to a killing curse.
Readers are engrossed in discussions on the net about whether Snape, who killed Harry's mentor and Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore in book six, is good or evil.
A large number of people seem to think that Snape will turn out to be working against evil wizard Lord Voldemort, that he killed the professor to keep his double agent role
intact, and will sacrifice himself to bring the downfall of Voldemort and save Potter's life.
Another widely and wildly speculated theory on the popular Potter portal, mugglenet.com, and other websites is that both Potter and Voldemort will die in the end.
This theory is based on a bizarre idea that Potter is a "horcrux", an object that holds part of an evil wizard's soul.
Book six reveals that Voldemort may have split his soul into seven parts and Potter will have to destroy all six objects that have pieces of his soul to vanquish the dark
wizard. Some Potter-crazy fans believe that part of Voldemort's soul was transferred to the boy-wizard when he tried to kill him as a baby and foresee an ending not unlike a
popular Bollywood flick, where the hero sacrifices himself to rid the world of evil.
Theories about the upcoming book are aplenty, but, as one media reports pointed out, Rowling has been "rather good at second-guessing the second-guessers".
Who knows what magical surprises are in waiting for the Potter-mad?
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