Harry Potter moment of the week is a meme hosted over at uncorkedthoughts!
There are a lot of deaths in Harry Potter. There's a whole list of all the deaths in the books over here. I interpreted this week's moment in two ways: one) the character that had the worst way of dying or two) the character whose death I handled the worst.
For the first, I think the worst way of dying would be to be burned alive. So Crabbe's death from the seventh book is horrible. It's also a little ironic how he was the one who caste the Fiendfyre curse and the only person it consumed was himself. Death by fire is in my opinion, terribly painful. Apparently with drowning, you get a moment of serenity right before death. I don't know how true that is but I would pick drowning over being burned alive. Did I mention Crabbe was alive before the fire got him? Yeah, he was.
On the other hand, for the character whose death I handled the worst is Hedwig tied with Cedric.
God JK Rowling didn't even dramatise Hedwig's death. Maybe she wanted to make it seem like Hedwig's death happened really fast and it was really fast. It made me really sad. I was like 'wait, Hedwig HEDWIG HEDWIG got hit!?!?!'. When I realised what it meant that Hedwig got hit by a killing curse I was sobbing so hard. Hedwig wasn't just an owl, she was also Harry's friend. Hedwig's death symbolised the end of Harry's and also in a way mine, because I was turning into a teenager when I read it. I just get very emotional about Hedwig, okay?
Now on to Cedric Diggory. There were deaths before Cedric but the one who died were always the 'bad guys'. For example, Quirrel and Diary!Tom Riddle. Cedric was the first character who was good and who died. It makes no sense that Cedric had to die. He was such a good guy. He was never mean to Harry and he even tried to get people to stop being mean to Harry. It was then that little me realised that sometimes good people die for no good reason. That epiphany hit me hard.
I like your picks here because I feel they are different, and you have very good reasons for picking them. Hedwig dying had me shaking my head and asking, 'was that necessary?'. I get that Harry would've had a hard time toting her around when he was looking for horcruxes all over the place, but she could've easily just have gone and stayed with the Weasleys. With Cedric, you're completely right. This was the first time that we saw the good people die on the pages and not just heard about them dying. It was fast too. Jaclyn @ JC's Book Haven.
ReplyDeleteYes, Hedwig could have been so easily incorporated into the story. She could've just flown around by herself, she always came back to Harry!
DeleteHedwig was one that completely shocked me to my core. I couldn't believe how senseless it was for her to be struck down that way :( And Cedric was another shock because he wouldn't have even been brought to the graveyard if Harry hadn't tried to be such a fair, nice guy! Seriously though, soooo many deaths in this series, so sad!
ReplyDeleteI agree. Out of all the characters, I never would have thought that Hedwig would die. I just thought it was a given that Hedwig was there with Harry from the start that she would also be there in the end.
DeleteThose are pretty good picks, and I absolutely see where you're coming from on both. I never considered the worst death meaning worst way to die, and you're right, Crabbe's death is incredibly horrific in the manner that it happens in. *shudders* Definitely not how I'd want to go...
ReplyDeleteHere's my HP MOTW...
yes i know right! being roasted alive? no thanks.
DeleteYou're right Cedric's the first death that had me thinking why?! There was no reason for his death other than he was at the wrong place at the wrong time and Voldemort didn't care. It chills me to the bone and it's so unbelievable sad.
ReplyDeleteExactly!!! But it also showed just how cold and how little Voldemort cares about the lives of others.
DeleteOh those are some good picks! Definitely made me think. Totally agree about Hedwig, it just...HAPPENED. Very fast without time for us - or Harry - to process really. It did it's job of setting up the tone of "this shit is getting very real very fast" for the last book, but it was terribly hard to read.
ReplyDeletethe seventh book makes me sad too. we can cry together...
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