Sirius is alive
I hated to see it but was convinced Sirius was dead. It was after a talk about this with a person that has read loads of mystery books that we started to find clues that Sirius could be alive, and now the list is so long that I´d have to make groups in order to make better sense.
Reasons based on the books:
*There´s a surprise-twist per book except in OotP, (or more like this time it´s hidden): Quirrell, Ginny/Tom, Sirius/Peter/Moony, Crouch/Moody. JKR has played a huge joke in book 5. In fact I think she has played the oldest trick: we´ve been brainwashed by publicity. The joke is that we´ve been told we´re going to witness a death, biasing us to think that a man that falls behind a courtain is dead, without further explanations about his body, no mention about burial ceremony, or funeral. We have been told, warned, notified by all press, publicity and the author time and time again until exhaustion, making it the central and favourite point of fan conjecture and obsession, that there was going to be "a killin´" . Well, let´s face it. We have been "programmed", so every time someone was in danger we thought the character could die. At least, while reading OotP I felt like this for a moment with Dudley, McGonagall, Arthur and Hermione. And then goes the tall man, receives an stunning spell (which doesn´t kill) and falls behind a courtain.
*Veil and stunning spell: the spell he receives is red, that doesn´t kill, and the veil isn´t explained sufficiently. Conveniently, Harry doesn´t ask how the veil works.
*Bode: JKR´s character names mean something. Bode is almost Body, and can be the very promised and publicited death, I mean he´s the body that dies in this story. (See below *the Body)
*Hermione: used by JKR to give reliable info, and what happens to Hermione at the shootout? She doesn´t witness Sirius death so she has no own opinion and POV of it. This is a way of JKR of being honest and coherent with the character and not ruining the plot at the same time, as we know now that Hermione always is mostly right, she´d better don´t talk about Sirius´death.
*Phineas Nigellus: His words at Dumbledore´s office were the first thing that made me think that Sirius was not dead. It seems to me a clear hint. We get Harry´s biased POV about what can Phineas be doing going out of the portrait. Maybe he doesn´t believe it because he has heard or seen something contradicting it.
*There´s no Sirius ghost or photoSirius: because he´s not dead. I take Nick´s words about Sirius as a way of saying he won´t be a ghost in future books (but he will appear, as JKR hinted at the chat -see below-), and a way of fuelling Harry´s sadness, but I wouldn´t take him as a source of information.
Literary reasons:
*Sirius is not a Gandalf -wizard that relives-, he´s an Edmond Dantés: imprisoned for long years, without fair trial and for a crime they didn´t commit, betrayed by their friends, both escaped from the island (swimming)-prison looking for revenge, now they all believe he´s dead.
*Own subplots: there are many characters in this series, but few have own subplots. The silliness of killing a character with own subplots is clear for anyone who writes. Literature isn´t like life, if you leave loose ends, it doesn´t show the impredictability of life. It shows your (lack of) skill as writer, specially with important subplots. Sirius still has to clear his name and has to reach some kind of respect for Snape.
*General plot: Sirius is useless for the plot imprisoned either in Azkaban, in a cave near Hogwarts or in his house. He isn´t the hero, so he hasn´t to move the plot forwards, but you can pretend he dies, and have a new mysterious character that moves the plot a bit forward.
*Sirius as the hero´s reward: Harry, as the proper hero, has suffered too much. At the end of the series, a free world is not enough, you need something personal to make the story personal: you can´t relive Lily&James, but you can have a godfather. If you already had it at the end of book 3 and 4, then make him dissapear and take him out again at 7, and it will be a huge reward.
*the body: in classical detective stories you need a body to claim a killing has taken place. We don´t see Sirius´ body. JKR didn´t need to write a poetic death in order not to scare the readers because she had already made a tough one with Cedric´s. We have seen Cedric´s body and ghost, so the audience was prepared. Why hide Sirius then?
*Death as a theme: JKR is keeping her promise of treating death seriously. She has said (more or less) that no one will return from death, not that she won´t write a set-up or that a character can´t fake his death. In fact, in PoA, Peter fakes his death as a rat, as he did 12 years before when he cut his finger. It would be the 3rd time a character fakes his death.
*JKR&Sirius: she said she was very fond of Sirius (& Lupin). This series, as hero series, ask at least for character´s blood and protagonist´s pain. But keeping him alive in this fashion, not only gives blood &pain, you can have also a good plot twist and a reward for the hero, plus you don´t feel so bad. And she estated she writes to have fun.
Hints on the chat:
When I read these answers, I thought none of them was in contradiction with my theory:
++SiriuslyLovinSirius: If we ever see Sirius again, what form will he be in?
JK Rowling replies -> I couldn't possibly answer that for fear of incriminating myself.
*Wouldn´t you think that saying he will be a ghost or a talking-photo is a quite safe answer? Unnecessarily mysterious
++Kyla: What made Sirius decide to send Snape to the Willow?
JK Rowling replies -> Because Sirius loathed Snape (and the feeling was entirely mutual). You'll find out more about this in due course.
*The subplot will develop, then. We needen´t to know more about Sirius loathing, unless to come over it.
++Cookie246122: Why did you kill Sirius? It made me very sad
JK Rowling replies -> I'm really, really sorry. I didn't want to do it, but there was a reason. If you think you can forgive me, keep reading, you'll find out. [I feel really guilty now].
*I think she´s talking about a good consistent reason, not the "JKR killed him for no reason to show war is tough, death is unfair and unexpected and inflict Harry more suffering" reason. She says "you´ll find out", and that means it has meaning plot-wise, and not psicologically for the hero. It´s not a “war is tough and heroes must suffer and not have mentors to be heroes” psychological reason. It means real action and happenings. I really think this one is quite clear.
Hint on the movie:
I just have seen it once, but I think I can rely on my memory:
Knowing that there were hints, as Cuaron and Rowling said, I jumped on my seat when:
*Sirius talks about being free in the future living in a cottage. It´s quite important that he does this after Peter escapes, because this is not in the books. He´s spoiling his name will be cleared.
*Can I say here how convenient a cottage would be for Lupin´s transformations and how the movie is saying plainly that they are an old married couple? Is not me! It´s the script! Sorry, I´m going off topic.
Personal experience:
Since I read the book I´ve been looking for reactions regarding Sirius´s death. It turns out that the people that didn´t know there was going to be a death in OotP weren´t convinced he was dead. The reaction was “but he´s alive, isn´t he?”. These people are adults away from the HP fan world.
Unanswered questions regarding the plot:
Being Sirius alive, why let Harry think he´s dead? I guess it has to do with occlumency, as it would ruin the set up if TomR finds out. Why Dumbledore thinks he´s dead? I assume he´s not lying, as his scene would be too cruel. His not knowing can be conveniently removed in any moment. My guess is that probably it´s a Marauders thing, or a Sirius thing, so Remus knows at the time, or will be the first to know. Remember that we don´t know what he does for the order, so anything can be written. It wouldn´t be the first time they hide things from Dumbledore.
I don´t think there´s anything of pivotal importance that can´t let this twist be. There´s enough room in the plot and the characters.
Final note: if you are JKR and this makes you want to kill Sirius once and for all, forget this...I was just joking!
Reasons based on the books:
*There´s a surprise-twist per book except in OotP, (or more like this time it´s hidden): Quirrell, Ginny/Tom, Sirius/Peter/Moony, Crouch/Moody. JKR has played a huge joke in book 5. In fact I think she has played the oldest trick: we´ve been brainwashed by publicity. The joke is that we´ve been told we´re going to witness a death, biasing us to think that a man that falls behind a courtain is dead, without further explanations about his body, no mention about burial ceremony, or funeral. We have been told, warned, notified by all press, publicity and the author time and time again until exhaustion, making it the central and favourite point of fan conjecture and obsession, that there was going to be "a killin´" . Well, let´s face it. We have been "programmed", so every time someone was in danger we thought the character could die. At least, while reading OotP I felt like this for a moment with Dudley, McGonagall, Arthur and Hermione. And then goes the tall man, receives an stunning spell (which doesn´t kill) and falls behind a courtain.
*Veil and stunning spell: the spell he receives is red, that doesn´t kill, and the veil isn´t explained sufficiently. Conveniently, Harry doesn´t ask how the veil works.
*Bode: JKR´s character names mean something. Bode is almost Body, and can be the very promised and publicited death, I mean he´s the body that dies in this story. (See below *the Body)
*Hermione: used by JKR to give reliable info, and what happens to Hermione at the shootout? She doesn´t witness Sirius death so she has no own opinion and POV of it. This is a way of JKR of being honest and coherent with the character and not ruining the plot at the same time, as we know now that Hermione always is mostly right, she´d better don´t talk about Sirius´death.
*Phineas Nigellus: His words at Dumbledore´s office were the first thing that made me think that Sirius was not dead. It seems to me a clear hint. We get Harry´s biased POV about what can Phineas be doing going out of the portrait. Maybe he doesn´t believe it because he has heard or seen something contradicting it.
*There´s no Sirius ghost or photoSirius: because he´s not dead. I take Nick´s words about Sirius as a way of saying he won´t be a ghost in future books (but he will appear, as JKR hinted at the chat -see below-), and a way of fuelling Harry´s sadness, but I wouldn´t take him as a source of information.
Literary reasons:
*Sirius is not a Gandalf -wizard that relives-, he´s an Edmond Dantés: imprisoned for long years, without fair trial and for a crime they didn´t commit, betrayed by their friends, both escaped from the island (swimming)-prison looking for revenge, now they all believe he´s dead.
*Own subplots: there are many characters in this series, but few have own subplots. The silliness of killing a character with own subplots is clear for anyone who writes. Literature isn´t like life, if you leave loose ends, it doesn´t show the impredictability of life. It shows your (lack of) skill as writer, specially with important subplots. Sirius still has to clear his name and has to reach some kind of respect for Snape.
*General plot: Sirius is useless for the plot imprisoned either in Azkaban, in a cave near Hogwarts or in his house. He isn´t the hero, so he hasn´t to move the plot forwards, but you can pretend he dies, and have a new mysterious character that moves the plot a bit forward.
*Sirius as the hero´s reward: Harry, as the proper hero, has suffered too much. At the end of the series, a free world is not enough, you need something personal to make the story personal: you can´t relive Lily&James, but you can have a godfather. If you already had it at the end of book 3 and 4, then make him dissapear and take him out again at 7, and it will be a huge reward.
*the body: in classical detective stories you need a body to claim a killing has taken place. We don´t see Sirius´ body. JKR didn´t need to write a poetic death in order not to scare the readers because she had already made a tough one with Cedric´s. We have seen Cedric´s body and ghost, so the audience was prepared. Why hide Sirius then?
*Death as a theme: JKR is keeping her promise of treating death seriously. She has said (more or less) that no one will return from death, not that she won´t write a set-up or that a character can´t fake his death. In fact, in PoA, Peter fakes his death as a rat, as he did 12 years before when he cut his finger. It would be the 3rd time a character fakes his death.
*JKR&Sirius: she said she was very fond of Sirius (& Lupin). This series, as hero series, ask at least for character´s blood and protagonist´s pain. But keeping him alive in this fashion, not only gives blood &pain, you can have also a good plot twist and a reward for the hero, plus you don´t feel so bad. And she estated she writes to have fun.
Hints on the chat:
When I read these answers, I thought none of them was in contradiction with my theory:
++SiriuslyLovinSirius: If we ever see Sirius again, what form will he be in?
JK Rowling replies -> I couldn't possibly answer that for fear of incriminating myself.
*Wouldn´t you think that saying he will be a ghost or a talking-photo is a quite safe answer? Unnecessarily mysterious
++Kyla: What made Sirius decide to send Snape to the Willow?
JK Rowling replies -> Because Sirius loathed Snape (and the feeling was entirely mutual). You'll find out more about this in due course.
*The subplot will develop, then. We needen´t to know more about Sirius loathing, unless to come over it.
++Cookie246122: Why did you kill Sirius? It made me very sad
JK Rowling replies -> I'm really, really sorry. I didn't want to do it, but there was a reason. If you think you can forgive me, keep reading, you'll find out. [I feel really guilty now].
*I think she´s talking about a good consistent reason, not the "JKR killed him for no reason to show war is tough, death is unfair and unexpected and inflict Harry more suffering" reason. She says "you´ll find out", and that means it has meaning plot-wise, and not psicologically for the hero. It´s not a “war is tough and heroes must suffer and not have mentors to be heroes” psychological reason. It means real action and happenings. I really think this one is quite clear.
Hint on the movie:
I just have seen it once, but I think I can rely on my memory:
Knowing that there were hints, as Cuaron and Rowling said, I jumped on my seat when:
*Sirius talks about being free in the future living in a cottage. It´s quite important that he does this after Peter escapes, because this is not in the books. He´s spoiling his name will be cleared.
*Can I say here how convenient a cottage would be for Lupin´s transformations and how the movie is saying plainly that they are an old married couple? Is not me! It´s the script! Sorry, I´m going off topic.
Personal experience:
Since I read the book I´ve been looking for reactions regarding Sirius´s death. It turns out that the people that didn´t know there was going to be a death in OotP weren´t convinced he was dead. The reaction was “but he´s alive, isn´t he?”. These people are adults away from the HP fan world.
Unanswered questions regarding the plot:
Being Sirius alive, why let Harry think he´s dead? I guess it has to do with occlumency, as it would ruin the set up if TomR finds out. Why Dumbledore thinks he´s dead? I assume he´s not lying, as his scene would be too cruel. His not knowing can be conveniently removed in any moment. My guess is that probably it´s a Marauders thing, or a Sirius thing, so Remus knows at the time, or will be the first to know. Remember that we don´t know what he does for the order, so anything can be written. It wouldn´t be the first time they hide things from Dumbledore.
I don´t think there´s anything of pivotal importance that can´t let this twist be. There´s enough room in the plot and the characters.
Final note: if you are JKR and this makes you want to kill Sirius once and for all, forget this...I was just joking!