Aw, fuck - shame she didn't go through with her plan.

Wish she'd of spared Tonks, though.

 

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Hold on now.

Witticisms is a word?

 

...yes, it is.


Anyway: I'm torn. On one hand, that would mean no Ron. On the other, this would mean no Rupert Grint (which is a bad thing). I don't think the article specified where she was planning to kill him off, did it?

 

The article said she was thinking about killing him "halfway through the series."

Maybe she was considering killing Ron instead of Cedric at the climax of GoF? I have to admit Harry suddenly seeing his best friend casually killed off because he just happened to be inconvenient to Voldemort, that would have been a great wham-moment for heralding the darker turn in the series. "Wormtail kills Ron" would have replaced "Snape kills Dumbledore."

 

Damn, that would actually be really awesome. And believable, too.

EDIT: Though it just occurred to me that you'd have to find a believable way of getting Ron into the Tournament and thus into the maze to touch the cup.

 

*cough*Plot Device*cough* Fan Fic *cough*

Sorry, cold.

 

I like Ron—at least until HBP, when all three main characters line up for their lobotomies—but this would have been pretty startling. And as an HHr guy I can't deny that at my basest fanfiction-reading levels I'd be happy with it rendering the epilogue irrelevant.

 

I believe that Rowling fucked up here. She should have went with her gut. I can truly say that Ron is the least favorite character of mine. I was upset that all three made it through till the end. She obviously had no problem killing off 'main' characters, so why did all of them live through it?

Instead of providing the catalyst that Harry needs to forge his way to greatness, Ron ends up with the best deal out of everyone. He gets to help George with the shop and gets to sit back while Hermione ends up being a barrister for the MLE, taking all the money home while he emulates his mother. Hermione and Harry both have careers and deal with reshaping the Ministry, Ron gets to play Exploding Snap and help George develop new pranks.

Out of everything that's what angers me the most. Ron doesn't change, at all. Yes there was some bravery in book 7 but really, he ends up living his dream, if not being a Quidditch player. He's lazy, self centered, jealous, and idiotic. And Rowling would have done the whole series a favor by killing him with fire. But no, apparently the best friend gets the girl.

And yes I was a Harmony fan back in the day but only because Ron's character put me off even then. And not much has changed.

 

I bet this would give the Harmonians the inspiration to write even more stories, and this time around they wouldn't turn Ron into some jealous evil git, but a poor friend that sacrificed his life for his friends.

 

Well, Harry and Hermoine hooking up after Ron's tragic/heroic death would make a fair bit sense; the two remaining members of the Trio pulling in extra-close after Ron's death would be natural, and then throw in the combination of teenage hormones, grief, and the terror that inevitably accompanies someone's first real brush with mortality...

At the very least, it'll knock the Harmonians off from playing Ron The Death Eater, which is probably a good thing.

 

Damn you for linking to TV Tropes. There goes my whole day...

OT: This would have been awesome for the series. It's a pity Rowling is such a pussy - ten bucks says she only didn't kill him because of what the fans reaction would be like.

 

Likewise. Am now running late for work.

Funny, I've never actually read a fic with Ron turning out to be a Death Eater. Ginny several times, though only once was not due to something with the diary (possession, brainwashing, etc.).

 

So Ron dying, huh? Would've been awesome! Definitely could've pushed Harry over the edge to do something 'nasty' which prompted Dumbledore to express his displeasure and give him a second chance with a pat on the head and push into Voldemort's Killing Curse.

So let's see where Ron could have bought it.
Well, a bit too early than halfway, at the end of third year Pettigrew could have done something. Or he could have been ripped to ribbons by Wolf!Remus. Maybe even had a Dementor suck his soul out.
He could have gotten mortally wounded at the Quidditch World Cup after the Death Eaters showed up. Or he could have fallen of the Top Box when entranced by the Veela. That would've been funny as hell.
He could have drowned in the Second Task or been eaten by Grindylows.
Kretcher could have poisoned him through food at Grimmauld Place or he could've touched something with a nasty Dark curse on it. Then again he could have been suffocated by clothes or disembowelled by Doxies.
Could have been done in by a DA member by accident.
Ministry would've been just too easy. HBP and DH too for that matter.

Oh well, guess we still have to put up with Ron Weasley and his table manners. Maybe someone could off him in Pottermore... with Spattergroit.

 

I think PoA is way too early for Ron to die. Killing 13 year old main characters doesn't fit in this series. And PoA wasn't dark enough yet. I'd say Rowling at least had to wait until GoF and then probably the end. At that point nobody had died yet though and starting of with Ron would be too much of a turn around. Killing off a friendly side character for starters was a good choice.

So, the earliest Ron could logically die was in OotP. Now I like to think Ron's death would have sort of pushed Harry over the edge for the moment and made him much more violent towards Death Eaters and the like. This needs some time to develop, so Ron should probably die before HBP to really show some effect.

I personally would have liked to see him die somewhere during the middle of OotP. I don't really know how, but it must have been under the direct influence of Voldemort and it must have been gruesome. Maybe involve Nagini somehow. Giving Harry a first person view of the death of his best friend is all kinds of awesome. Or maybe somehow make it Umbridge's fault as well. Either way, this basically escalates everything in Harry's life. He confronts Umbridge more and more, the DA classes become more violent and, well, probably a lot of angry brooding. This result in a vengeful Harry entering DoM and slaughtering one of the Death Eaters (Lucius?). For a moment, Harry is on top of the world, finally getting his revenge. And then Bellatrix kills Sirius and he really tortures her. This would probably make the scene in Dumbledore's office a little different, letting Harry stew on his choices in life for the rest of the summer.

Book Six would basically be about Harry struggling with violence, justice, guilt, revenge, morality, ect, while all that other crap is going on as well. Romance doesn't really have a place in that, even though I actually like Ginny. The whole Draco plot feels a little petty at this point, although a more violent stand off between the two might work. And meanwhile Dumbledore is trying to keep things calm, while making sure Harry's anger is aimed at the right people and doesn't consume him. The death of Dumbledore would mean the loss of Harry's last real moral anchor, so that he truly only has himself too look upon for guidance. He continues to struggle with his new found adulthood and responsibilities as a hero in a war torn world during book seven, while probably having some wild sex with Hermione on the side. That would just be a side dish though, as romance still doesn't feel right in this, so it would finish before the end of the book.

Book seven would finish with Harry finding a way to be a good man in a bad world, killing Voldemort and becoming a hero of his people. The epilogue would simply show how far Harry's philosophy brought him in life, which would probably still be Head Auror.

You know, I really would have liked to see something like this. It seems like a much better way to transform the books from a children series to something for young (and old) adults. I'm not sure if it changes canon enough (at first) to really make a fanfiction about it though, seeing as most major plot points would stay largely the same.

 

You asked for it.

Possible attempt at getting Ron into the tournament:

"Hey Harry, you forgot to sign your homework for Defence."
*Ron being responsible for once in his life*

"Yea, can you get that for me, kinda busy"
*Harry being a pimp (this is why I don't post the crap I write online btw)*

(I'm building this off the idea that the Goblet would recognize WHO wrote the name, not necessarily who's name was on the paper)

Thoughts?

 

I think your bias is showing. From Wikipedia.

Anyway. I don't have anything against Ron, but equally I don't think I would have been too devestated if Rowling had killed him off. Ultimately though, I don't think the series would have gone too far from the direction it had already, both because of Rowling's aims and the limitations of them being kids books.

 

If you want to kill off Ron in 4th year, getting him in the tournament works. But I think that for sheer shock value, it's best to have Barty Crouch do it.

After Voldemort's resurrection, Harry escapes back to Hogwarts and gets escorted away from the 3rd task by polyjuiced Crouch, like in canon. Ron and Hermione immediately break away from the crowd to go look for him. They split up inside the castle.

Ron finds polyjuiced Crouch and Harry just outside the door to Moody's office. Ron asks what's going on, and Harry/Crouch turn around. Crouch petrifies Harry, and then hits Ron with the Killing Curse. He hides the body, and takes Harry the rest of the way into the classroom.

I just love the "WHAM" effect of it. The reader thinks he's past the darkest part of the novel - unlike the canon version, nobody died in the resurrection scene - and then Crouch just cold cocks Ron with his muthafuckin' AK.

 

Really? *looks down* Oh crap. *ziiiip* There is that better?

I didn't see that he ended up being an Auror after he ran the business. I just thought he ended up with George. And in the interview all she said was that he helped George and that Harry redid the whole Ministry with 'help from good ol' Ron'. I also took issue with the fact that George needed Ron to continue his business. Yes, they are family and it makes sense that he would work there. But she made it seem like it would fail without him. I remember thinking that it was already a successful business WITHOUT Ron if the twins attitude and dragonskin jackets were to be of any clue. I remember posting something along the lines of it's not like WWW was competing with Zonko's during book 6. Oh wait it was.

My original point stands, I think she saved Ron because of all the now canon fans reaction would have been if Ron had died and Harry and Hermione ended up together. Because lord knows that would be delusional.

 

I dislike the thought of HARMONY as much as the next guy, but I doubt fan reaction was what stayed Rowling's hand. Killing off the best friend to 'spur the hero onward in his quest' is one of the worst things an author can do when writing adolescent fiction. It creates melodramatic drama that most readers aren't going to be able to identify with.

Killing the father figures (Dumbledore and Sirius) was a much more logical choice to achieve the same dramatic conflict. It reinforces the whole 'Harry has to learn to fight on his own / choose to do what's right, rather than what's easy' theme, which, whether we like it or not, is an important part of all seven books.

 

The more I think about having Ron in the tournament, being forced to mature, learn, and, if written well, beginning to show signs of becoming a decent well rounded character, and then BAM. Right at his very best he's struck down with Harry forced to watch through his scar connection.