The 7th Results

!WARNING! This article is full of spoiler info if you are not caught up on the books or are just watching the movies. Read at your own peril. Mild as it may be.

This is my old Post. I'll put the results and my comments in blue.

What are the odds on who will die in book 7? After some searching on the "net" I found little information. No one in my home town has any odds on it, so as a "Las Veegan" I'm making my own. (Send check or money orders to me to place bets - j/k). I'll go through the major characters and then discuss what I think will happen in book 7.Before that gets rolling, I had to check up on what odds actually meant. (Despite my Stat 221 class). If I say the odds are 4 to 1 (4:1) the odds of the event happening are 4 chances for the event to happen compared to 1 chance that it won't. In this case 4:1 is 80% in favor of the event happening (4/(4+1)). Good Grief. On to the predictions that I made with my crystal ball and tea leaves (Don't call my Bishop). Most are just my hunches; I don't do hours of research in the books for this so don't send me a howler. Part of the reason I'm doing this is to go on the record with my predictions and for posterity's sake.

Hairless Potter: 1:10 - There is a popular theory that J.K. will kill Harry off so no one can use him in the future, but I don't buy it. I know the prophecy says "one can't live without the other" but I just don't see the books ending on such a dark note. Rowling said Harry may die and mentioned that a character got a "reprieve", but I doubt its Harry. I'm banking on "kids books" Happy ending.

BAM!!! 1 for 1. Off to a good start. Clearly Harry was never meant to die and was not the reprive.

Ron & Hermione: 1:10 - Once again, I think there is a very low chance of the "Big 3" being killed off. These books are "triumph over evil" tales, not Greek tragedy or some other high-brow stuff where you feel cool for reading something that was "real". This franchise will sacrifice some secondary characters, but not THE main characters. Besides, these guys are set to propagate the future Order of the Phoenix crew (which will be necessary - read on) and no Dark Lord or pesky blond haired bully is going to get in their way.

BAM BAM!!! 2 for 2. And after reading the last chapter, I was quite prophetic in my predictions about propegating the future.

Ginny Weasley: 50:1 - You heard it here. Ginny is TOAST. Burnt Toast. I see her as the classic girlfriend gets murdered and drives the hero to victory. Harry just gets to survive this book. If you have a vision of Ginny and Harry flying into the sun-set on a broom forget it. Ginny has not been a major character in the majority of the books and is easily expendable. She was already used by Voldermort and will get hosed again. SHE IS NOT THE REPRIEVE.

SPLUT!! I knew this was a risky prediciton, but thought it might work. Even in this book, she didn't have much letter time. Oh well...

Voldermort: 375:1 - This is a no-brainer. I won't even explain. Death & Taxes. By the way - these are the odds R2-D2 gave Luke and Han to survive on Hoth when shut out of the base at night.

[New Year's Whitle Blows] I'm a genius!!!

Snape: 4:1 - If he is good, then he's a worthy sacrifice to get rid of V-Mort. If he is bad then he deserves to die and most likely will. I leave in the 20% chance he could survive, just to cover my big ol white butt.

4 of 5. I'm feelin it!!!

Order of the Phoenix Characters: 1:1 - Hagrid, Lupin, Tonks, Fred, George, Bill, Fleur, Mr. & Mrs. Weasley and any other contenders. I lump them all together because I'm not sure about any of them. 50% on any of them. If its the twins, I say they both die. YOU JUST DON'T SEPARATE TWINS OKAY? As for RAB - I think he is dead. If I had to pick one to get waxed, I'd say Lupin in a steel cage werewolf death-match with Greyback.

R.A.B? - bam. Twins? - Reprive. I think George was the reprieve. Lupin- pop. I was right, but the manner of death was not as I predicted.

Death Eaters: 3:1 I think the casualties for these guys are likely to be heavier. In this sort of story, more bad guys die than good ones if there are to be casualties on both sides. Wormtail, LeStrange, Lucius, Mrs. Malfoy, Draco, Crabe, Goyle, etc. All on the chopping block. Most likely to die: Wormtail. Harry saved his life and he will re-pay Harry with his life (as is the Wizard code or whatever). Least likely to die: Draco. Just feels wrong. Aint gonna happen. Mark my words fool!

I'm getting tired of being "generally" right. Draco lives on to propegate the next great pro-wrester of the modern era - SCORPIO!!!

Dursleys: 1:1,000 - What would be the point? Dud-ums and his family are going to continue their life in suburbia - a fate worse than hell.The reprieve: I think this went to Ron. He and Ginny were going to both die, but that was a bit much. Harry would have hooked-up with H-Money in their grief and loneliness, but that would have been too much drama. After all, this is witchcraft, not a day time soap opera.

Darth Vader says: All too easy... The Dudley thing was a bit of a shock. The reprieve could still have been Ron... I'll have to look this up.

Predictions (Quick & Dirty): Dumbledore is going to give Obi-wan type assistance to Harry through fawkes. RAB is dead and was Regulus Black. Harry is not a Horcrux - You don't try to originally kill something you are putting your soul into. Harry will get hosed throughout the whole book, will not gain much in the ways of skills, abilities or powers, but will win on sheer luck and LOVE. Wormtail will kill Voldermort to settle his mystical bond with Harry for saving his life. (If you read LOTR this is going to be a disappointing rip-off of 'WORM-TONGUE' and Saruman -- GOSH! They can't even change the names up! Good thing Voldermort and Saruman don't sound similar.) Bellatrix will be killed by Neville. Lupin and Tonks will get together (although it will be temporary). Snape is good and will die tying to kill V-Mort. (I know, call me if you want that explanation).

OK. This is where I got lit up. Harry was a horcrux. But - BAM! Harry got hosed, no significant new powers, and won due to LOVE. - DO I HAVE A BEARD AND SOME SEER STONES??? (no). Wormtail? I was close. Bellatrix was killed by her antithesis in the book. Not forseen by me. Ouch. BAM!!! LUPIN AND TONKS TOGETHER temporarily AND THEN DEAD!!! WOO-HOOO!!! And I was right about the HPB.

This was easily my favorite of the books. Probably becuase it was outside of school and loaded with action. The one thing I really wanted when the 6th was over was to see a 7th book about a long quest out of Hogwarts to destroy the Horcuxes and my wish was grated. I was very pleased with that. The reminising feeling was appropriate, but never over-bearing. Just right. The resolution was well thought out and meaningful on different levels. Fantastic way to end such good books. And the door is wide open for more...