May 2, 2017: J.K. Rowling Apologizes For the Wrong Harry Potter Death
It’s now a yearly tradition. Author J.K. Rowling apologizes via Twitter for killing off one of her Harry Potter characters. She already told us not to get into a flame war over her new choice.
May 2nd, the anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts, where lots and lots of your beloved Harry Potter characters bit the dust. Considering she can’t use a Time-Turner to undo any of them, Rowling has made an annual promise to apologize for one of those deaths but her choices have been interesting.
Back in 2014, but not actually coinciding with the Battle, she said she regretted killing Florean Fortescue which was an odd choice considering no one had shed any tears over him. In 2015 fans were relieved to hear her apologize for killing Fred Weasley. Yeah, that one had hurt a lot. She also mentioned then that this would be a yearly thing and admitted Fred had been the worst for her.
But every year we thought to ourselves, “WHAT ABOUT REMUS AND TONKS?” Last year she gave us some relief as she chose Remus Lupin and most probably would have guessed Tonks to be the follow-up i 2017. Not so.
She just apologized for Severus Snape.
In case the police are reading my notifications, there’s a Battle of Hogwarts anniversary tradition going on. I am not on a murder spree. https://t.co/urrUYAMe72
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) May 2, 2017
OK, here it is. Please don’t start flame wars over it, but this year I’d like to apologise for killing (whispers)… Snape. *runs for cover*
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) May 2, 2017
Yeah, she knows this one is going to make some people upset because… SNAPE WAS A BAD PERSON!
It’s unclear if there’s rhyme or reason to which names Rowling gives out each year. She mentioned Fred was the most difficult so she started with him but it’s unclear if she continued in that order or just chooses whomever comes to mind on the morning of May 2. Needless to say I would have personally preferred Tonks, or Colin Creevey, or Lavender Brown, or anyone else besides Snape. His death was fitting and does not need to be apologized for. By the way, there’s currently a Battle of Hogwarts quiz up on Pottermore if you’d like to bring back even more traumatic memories!
In other recent Wizarding World news, Jude Law was cast as a young version of Albus Dumbledore for the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them films. I’m still coming to terms with it as it means skipping over some very interesting times in Dumbledore’s life unless they film a ton of flashbacks. I didn’t report on it but Newt Scamander’s older brother is close to being cast in the film series. Pottermore says Theseus Scamander is likely to be played by actor Callum Turner. They write:
Theseus Scamander was referenced in the first film as a famous war hero. Representatives of the International Confederation of Wizards recognised the name ‘Scamander’, so his reputation clearly precedes him. He might be on the Ministry of Magic’s radar but Theseus is still something of an enigma.
Johnny Depp is still, regrettably, on track to play Gridelwald in the sequel.
I don’t see Snape as a bad guy.
As I see him, he wasn’t /evil/, but he was not a good person. He let his heartbreak fester and became a bully to whomever he could get away with bullying. On the other hand, he made great sacrifices for the good of everyone, including his own life. Sooo… not evil. On the side of good. But not a good person. Deeply broken and bitter.
I’m still sorry we never got a moment where Harry acknowledged that his dad had been a total jock and Snape’s attitude toward him made a lot of sense as a result.
Yeah… Snape kept his obsessing on his crush for this girl after she rejected him, married another guy, had a kid, and then died… for nearly twenty years. I’m not saying he deserved to die, but I certainly wasn’t shedding any tears when it happened.
Someone should have pointed him to a therapist…
I desperately wanted it to turn out that Snape had spent his entire life having to atone for what he’d done by being a jerk to Harry. Spoiled on Snape’s feelings for Lily ahead of time, I spent Deathly Hallows waiting for the reveal that he loved Harry dearly because he was Lily’s son, but had to convince himself that he hated Harry to avoid Voldemort detecting that ultimate betrayal, and it had secretly been killing him through the whole series to be such an ass.
I was deeply disappointed when it turned out Snape was just a jerk.
Yeah, don’t apologize for killing Snape. That death makes a lot of sense and was pretty much inevitable. I have a lot of conflicted feels for Snape, but not about his death.