Posts
"My guess is that Harry doesn't make it. Rowling almost certainly wants to push Harry off Reichenbach Falls to make sure that there's no temptation for her (or, worse yet, her eventual literary executors) to bring him back. But more important ....
"Rowling has stuck pretty close to the basic myth structure Joseph Campbell outlined in the The Hero With a Thousand Faces. All the basic Campbellian archetypes are present in her work. If she sticks to form in Book 7, it will inevitably end in Harry's demise or departure to another realm. After all, the eighth and final stage in the Campbellian hero's evolution is the 'Departure of the Hero.'
"Indeed, most great stories end with the world being redeemed by the hero followed by the death or departure of the hero. Moonglum's sacrificial death to allow Elric to blow the Horn of Fate followed, of course, by Elric's own death. Frodo's departure to the Undying Lands. Anakin Skywalker's redemptive death.
"Yep. Harry's toast."
