My thoughts

[maccaj]

Welcome again, everyone

Comments

[lupinsmoon12391]

I seem to find that the hardcore Remus fans (like myself) were a bit more willing to understand his initial fear of staying with Tonks. Everyone was saying he was so OOC, and I was worried, and then I read the book, and I thought. Oh. Well that's how the Remus in my head would react. His self-loathing just brought my beauty to his character, and really, more depth.

His death was, I agree, a disgrace, and I can't believe Jo thought that that would satisfy the masses or that that was worthy of Remus. How dare she? I just wish I knew what she was thinking when she wrote that; I really don't know.

[lupinsmoon12391]

'more' beauty to his character.

[maccaj]

yeah. I think people who were just casual remus fans saw him as this tragic hero who would always do the right thing... they missed the inner struggles he was going through... and those inner struggles are exactly what made him so appealing to me... without them, he would have been horribly one-dimensional.

I just wish I knew what she was thinking when she wrote that; I really don't know.I'm simultaneously and hoping for and dreading answers in interviews. I desperately want to hear her rationalize it in some way that makes sense (although I'd still be pissed about how it was presented in the book - if you're a writer and you need to give interviews to make the events in your book make sense, well... ), and at the same time, I'm afraid she'll just be "eh, whatever," about it, which would just... break me, quite honestly. I'm a writer myself (despite total lack of evidence in these posts, lol); I've been working on a novel for six years, and I cannot *imagine* killing off one of my characters in such a blase way. I truly do not

[lupinsmoon12391]

See, I'm a writer myself (which is not evident from my inability to edit these little comments before they post), and I couldn't do it either. I'm thinking she probably feared that if Harry stopped to mourn then it would've slowed down the momentum of the scene; which I disagree with, she could've handled it and actually made it work in her favor by increasing the tension, but that's the only thing I could think. I hope she explains it, and I hope she doesn't underestimate the intensity of Remus's fanbase.

I've a question for you: Do you think Remus really loved Tonks?

[littlepunkryo]

You know what I always liked about Remus? I always saw him, even though he was a werewolf, as the most approachable of the Marauders. I mean, James was this massively talented sports player; Sirius was the gorgeous playboy; and Peter was someone I only ever felt pity for, because he was never really developed for me beyond being evil. So, I always identified with Remus, who was probably awkward and shy and so wonderfully sweet. I always liked him the most, and I loved the potential for the relationship he could have had with Harry, because Remus wasn't like Sirius. He knew Harry for Harry, not James' son, which I know Sirius didn't try to do but he still did too often. Remus seemed like the bridge between Harry and his parents.

And it really makes me mad because Remus did seem to die for no reason. That means Harry lost the last link to his parents, and it's like, "Oh well." WTF? It just doesn't seem to make much sense, like JK couldn't bear to have too many people live happily ever after because she wanted to "introduce death to

[maccaj]

I totally agree with everything you said. I thought JK might let Remus live out the rest of his days *with* Harry... give *him* a family, too. And instead we got "oh well, he's dead" in the interest of... what, Mr. Rogers for 10 year olds? Honestly, if kids weren't "introduced to death" after James, Lily, Cedric, Sirius... they were never going to grasp it (in the context of the books). Then we got Mad-Eye, Dobby... all in the context of having lost their lives in a *meaningful* way, while *doing* something, and a big grief scene... and the Remus got neither. We don't know how he died, so it's not meaningful. Harry has no reaction (physical *or* emotional, at *any* point), so there's no grief *there*... and then, when we *see* Remus, all we get is a trite line about how his son will know he died for something. Died for what? How did he die? Who killed him? Was another life saved when Remus sacrificed his? We'll never know

[thewlisian_afer]

Personally, I choose to see Remus' (and Tonks') pointless death(s) as rather poignant. It was a war. Sometimes good, brave, deserving people die these utterly pointless and anticlimactic deaths. It's not satisfying. There isn't a silver lining. It's just heartbreaking and tragic.

(And I must tack on a WOOHOO, RIGHT ON! in response to some of the above comments about how people who don't really get Remus think he was all OOC, but those of us who understand him from personal experience [though obviously not with being werewolves, but ... you know what I mean] or through well-developed abilities to empathize realize that he really wasn't.)

[maccaj]

I said this in another comment to this thread, but I have a feeling it'll get buried shortly as more people find us; my problem isn't so much that he died. War is war, and it's unforgiving and lives are wasted. That's just the fact of the matter. My problem has a lot more to do with the fact that *Harry* at no point processes Remus' death, so by extension, the reader never gets a chance to, either. I don't think Harry should have fallen to his knees and cradled Remus' head in his lap - time was of the essence, and he couldn't spare time *or* (quite possibly) much emotion at that moment... I can buy the idea that when he first saw Remus' body, he was so *numb* that he just couldn't process it. The problem is, at no point *does* he process it. Not when Remus comes out of the stone, not when he talks to Dumbledore at King's Cross, not after the battle... at no point does he think, "my last link to my parents is dead." We see no funeral, we don't know what happens to the body (fine, that's war). But next thing we see is 19 years later

[lupinsmoon12391]

It irked me that Dobby's death brought a tear to my eye and Remus's didn't, and I've been (obsessive) emotionally attached to the character the whole series. I think Jo was going for what you said: that that stuff happens in war, but the way she worded it made it sound like their deaths were just a sucky product of the fight, not characters we know very well and happen to care about.

"...And Lupin and Tonks were dead, too."

Boom! And then no exploration of how that really makes Harry feel and the readers (who don't read spoilers) will be blindsided and still dwelling on their deaths when Harry goes onto the next scene.

[duckgirlie]

That's what I thought. War is futile, good people die, but it doesn't matter, because when the battle's still raging, you can't let yourself be distracted.

[sea_thoughts]

I don't think she will be 'eh' about it because she made Remus the kind of teacher she always wanted and spoke about how much she loved him. I also thought that Remus's death was very sudden and just... meh. Why not Draco or Hagrid? Why?

[carboni]

Excellent points. Though i do have something to add.

I dont think Harry was completely emotionless when he saw the bodies. As far as i remember, he took a moment to like cry or something for all those people who've died for him.

idk. But i still agree with you.