I was just thinking today (well actually I'm lying, I can't remember the last time I actually had working braincells) - what was the motive for JK to kill Cedric Diggory in the GOF?

Was it just to give her a reason to make Harry an Emo-wanker in OotP?

I just don't get it - having Harry grab the cup alone wouldn't have changed the story-line, and it's not like Diggory even survived to back up his story.

Your thoughts?

(Not seen a thread on this so far, so if this has already been discussed tell me.)

 

I always thought it was just to emphasize that the war had gotten serious, and to open the way to H/C Harry/Cho in OotP.

 

To highlight the severity of Voldemorts rebirth. Up until that point, we had only heard glimpses of Voldemorts power, and even though it was Wormtail that did it, it highlightes Voldemorts disregard for human life in his goal of immortality and power. It was also vital for one of the main themes in OotP. If Diggory had returned, it would have made the whole issue of the ministy ingnoring Harry and Dumbledore and the need for Umbridge and the D.A. pointless.

 

That doesn't make sense. If Diggory wasn't present at Voldemort's rebirth, that particular issue wouldn't have changed--he would have come back as a raving lunatic, spouting off at the mouth about Voldemort, and he wouldn't even have Diggory's body to show as proof. He'd just look like a nutcase.

I always thought JK killed Diggory because she's stupid. He had a thousand percent more potential to become great (and thus teaching Harry to be great along the way) than Ron or even Hermione--I guess that goes along with her "zero to hero" theme.

 

He knew too much.

 

Diggory was killed because, completely by accident, JK had written another likeable character and she really, really didn't want to do the work associated with writing a god character. So she nipped that particular flower in the bud.

 

Lol
She probably wanted to prove to people that she wasn't spineless and that she could kill off characters. It didn't work because nobody cared about Diggory.

 

Agreed.
Cedric was like one of those nameless crewmen in Star Trek with the red uniforms. They always die within ten minutes to show that the situation is serious.

 

I love Voldemort! Why did he have to kill Diggory? I mean... couldn't he have imperioed the guy?

 

underachiever, thanks for yet another masterful display of your unmatched command of the english language. Do the entire board a favor and shut the fuck up.

Personally, I found Cedric boring. Too cleancut, too wholesome, too damn Hufflepuffish to be an interesting character. I did find it strange that Harry had a greater reaction to Cedric's death then to Sirius's.

 

Leave it, he's asking to be banned. You should see his other posts.

 

Diggory died for several reasons.

The first and most important is that, no matter how (un-)likable he was, he was a throw away character. He was created for the purpose of dying at that exact minute.

Deeper meaning behind it is as simple as has already been posted: To highlight several of the factors of Voldemort and his rebirth.

Now to the point of this post: underachiever, you are an idiot. Please stop raping my eyes and don't post anymore.

 

Well, the first person you see killed in front of you is going to have a bigger impact, generally.

Anyway, yeah, Cedric was quite boring. Every Hufflepuff was. Some authors try to pretend otherwise, but Hufflepuff really is the consolation house, filled with people who will never become anything more than average members of the Ministry beaurocracy. Admittedly, Gryffindor isn't much better, but at least it'll produce a decent moron hero, or two when there's a need. That, and Dumbledore, but I always believed that he was like Harry: should've been in Slytherin, but chose otherwise for some reason.

Let's face it, Diggory was lucky to have been killed. He had no future worth living. Regardless of whether or not he thought otherwise. Further proof that Lord Voldemort is, as he claims, merciful.

That said, there was little point in developing him into a throw-away character. It would've been much better, particularly after Ron's tantrum earlier in the year and the subsequent reconciliation, to have Ron killed instead.

Narion

 

I've always heard that book 4 was the climax of her story line. Before that it was all building plots and having Harry learn magic and develop himself.

After the graveyard, it's all downhill. The story became war centric and people started dying, getting more and more important with every book. Cedric kicked it off by not only showing that this is a war and people are going to die, it showed that Voldemort was unbelievably cruel. He never even gave Cedric the chance to say a word. Voldemort came around the corner said kill the spare and Cedric was gone in the span of a few seconds. Without thought, without mercy, without consequence.

Cedric's whole purpose was showing that sometime in war, people die that are 100% innocent. He wasn't a fighter, he didn't speak out against Voldemort, at least actively. He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

 

Diggory was a martyr for the cause of war. Throughout the book his innocence and sense of righteousness is proclaimed loudly. He wanted the game where Harry lost to be counted as null and void, his wand utilizes a unicorn hair core (Innocent creature -- Crime to kill), and it is said (By Hagrid, I think?) That the innocent die first.

He was a character made for one purpose. To die. A symbol for the 'heartlessness' of Voldemort, and to reveal the fate of those who impede his path to success. Much like the deaths of the two Weasleys, JKR wanted to show that all parties are affected.

 

I always thought it was the quote about how monstrous it was to slay a unicorn spoken through Firenze. That the price of doing so will lead you to having a cursed life, a half life. In book 1, Voldemort!Quirrel killed the unicorn with unbelievable cruelty, in book 4, the process was repeated with Diggory, who had a unicorn hair wand.


Nice one JKR. About as subtle as dropping a piano from a ten story building. As soon as the weighing of the wands happened with Ollivander I knew that Diggory was going to die, either in that book or later.

 

I did like how Diggory got killed off, right in his prime, but I hated how Harry dealt with it. Nightmares, fine. Nightmares about a guy you hardly knew, and screaming like he was your fucking boyfriend? Not fine.

What? No, no, no. Don't reconcile with Ron, kill him off in the Second Task or something. He's, say, Krum's captive. Explains why he went for the lonely girl in the library that spent all her time sticking her nose into books.

 

In all fairness, I was talking about canon, where they do, in fact, reconcile - that's just a character flaw of canon!Harry.

That said, I wouldn't expect Ron to be killed in the Third Task.

Narion

 

Cedric was another missed opportunity for JKR.
It would have been a nice plot twist if Amos Diggory, who has been portrayed as strongly Light, blamed Harry for Cedric's death. Amos could have allowed his resentment that Harry was alive - again! - while someone else was sacrificed to Voldemort's purposes - to affect his actions. This actually makes more sense than what JKR actually did; have Diggory ignore the entire issue. After all, if Snape can abuse a little boy for injuries committed by someone else long before, then Diggory can dislike Harry for surviving while Cedric died.

 

And what would that have accomplished? Furthered Harry's guilt? I think OOTP was angsty enough.