Blog 3

I was pleased with the end of the series. Although bittersweet, the series ended in a way that was relatively acceptable. As an avid reader, I am never fully happy with an end of the series, mainly because I don’t want the story to end. With this being said, there were certain aspects of the last few chapters that gratified me more than others. I remember being confused the first time I read the end of this book because Rowling ties up numerous loose ends. A great example of this would be Chapter 33. In this chapter, we learn why Snape has acted the way he has throughout the series. First, we see how close of a friendship Lily Evans and Severus Snape had during their years at Hogwarts, “…thought we were supposed to be friends? Best friends” (Chapter 33). We also see the start of Snape’s change in loyalty, from Voldemort to Dumbledore, because of Severus’ love for Lily Evans. “Hide them all, then. Keep her- them- safe. Please” (Chapter 33).

Unfortunately, Rowling apparently loves to kill off integral characters, which is a pretty important part of this book and of this series as a whole. As I remember becoming confused the first time I read this book, I also remember bawling like a giant baby, while becoming angry at the same time. Of course we were all upset about Hedwig and Moody dying in the beginning, but at the end of Chapter 31, we lose our first key character, Fred Weasley. “And Percy was shaking his brother and Ron was kneeling beside them, and Fred’s eyes stared without seeing, the ghost of his last laugh still etched upon his face” (Chapter 31). Rowling apparently thought that one key death wasn’t enough, so she decided to kill off numerous others including Ted Tonks, Vincent Crabbe, Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks, Lavender Brown, Colin Creevy, Severus Snape, among others. A word to sum this up: devastating. Did the deaths change my thoughts about the series as a whole? No, but that doesn’t mean I wasn’t incredibly upset because of them.

Rowling takes our emotions for a whirlpool throughout this last book. She ties up loose ends, kills our favorite people, and writes an epilogue none of us will soon forget. Again, I enjoyed how she ended the book and I hope there will always be new information about the boy who lived for years to come. I ended this book with a heavy heart, but I have an immense feeling of satisfaction, which only comes from a one of a kind story.