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Accio Quote Uncovers Canon in Old J. K. Rowling Interview

Books
Posted by: Edward
June 30, 2007, 05:10 PM

Following up on The Herald piece we told you about yesterday, where reporter Anne Johnstone looked back on the past ten years and previous interviews with Harry Potter author J. K. Rowling, our Floo partner Accio Quote now has the June 2000 interview cited in the article included in their collection. Not only is this interview an addition to the resource’s archive, it also provides us with further canon detail on the topic of death. The original article expands on the notation made by Miss Johnstone in her latest article about the title characters fate in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. As cited on the Accio Quote News Blog, Jo says in the original article from 2000:

One of her fundamentals is that you can’t reverse death: “That’s a given. Without it the plot would fall apart, though in Book Seven you’ll see just how close you can get to the dead. You can be brought back from being petrified and from injuries that in the real world are mortal, depending on the degree of skill that a particular wizard possesses. You can’t go to any wizard and say ‘Will you cure my terminally ill relative?’ It’s a mirror image of the real world in that sense.”

Also from the article, Jo also remarks of Professor Snape as a ‘compendium of all the bullying teachers she ever encountered,’ and relates a particular event with a previous book editor and a ‘particularly violent bishop.’

“In Philosopher’s Stone I had a game of chess between Harry and Ron which Ron won by using a particularly violent bishop. My editor made me take it out. He didn’t want me to have a bad bishop. Well, he’s back, I have a different editor now.” [This refers to GoF23, where Ron beats Harry at chess with the bishop.]

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will be published on July 21st.

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Comments (38) | Average 3.2 (316 votes) Browse all Recent Books News
1  2 
Amy S

Wow! What an excellent find :)

Posted by Amy S on June 30, 2007 @ 05:21 PM
Colleen

Interesting, very interesting. I wonder exactly what JKR means by what she said about death exactly and how will we see this played out in the book?

Posted by Colleen on June 30, 2007 @ 05:29 PM
Steve K

“Five and six will be shorter!” Well, I guess that was a little bit of wishful thinking.

Posted by Steve K on June 30, 2007 @ 05:42 PM
Steve K

Wishful for her; I like them long.

Posted by Steve K on June 30, 2007 @ 05:43 PM
Sitemaster

...mmmm i like this…20 days left…(yn)

Posted by Sitemaster on June 30, 2007 @ 06:02 PM
Naria

”...though in Book Seven you’ll see just how close you can get to the dead.” She’s got to be referring to going beyond the veil there. July 21 is too far away!!

Posted by Naria on June 30, 2007 @ 06:02 PM
ania

Snape is so going to end evil.

Posted by ania on June 30, 2007 @ 06:09 PM
Potterdämmerung

Super! End to all the return-from dead theories concerning Dumbledore and Sirius, I hope. Not that I’m saying Harry won’t see them again, or that they won’t ‘reappear’ in the books… just: they are DEAD. sniff

Posted by Potterdämmerung on June 30, 2007 @ 06:13 PM
Mrs. de Mimsy Porpington

V-E-R-Y interesting…. I am now 100% sure that they go beyond the veil; it seems almost a given.

Posted by Mrs. de Mimsy Porpington on June 30, 2007 @ 06:19 PM
Frits

Very interesting! I can’t wait! It’s already July here in the Netherlands!

Posted by Frits on June 30, 2007 @ 06:23 PM
jensenly

Draught of the Living Death, anyone? I think someone will be brewing up a batch of this and they will need the HBP potions book to do it…..

Back to the Room Of Requirement we go!

Great find Accio Quote!

Posted by jensenly on June 30, 2007 @ 06:28 PM
Nastiya

Guys, we’re definitely going behind the veil.

Posted by Nastiya on June 30, 2007 @ 06:52 PM
Billy

I knew it! Those shadows in the background of the US cover just have to be those beyond the veil.

Posted by Billy on June 30, 2007 @ 06:54 PM
loopy

Snape is going to bring someone back from the brink of death, possibly Harry. He’s the one with the most talent, we saw it with Draco and then again when Dd said he needed Snape’s help after the potion, and then again when Harry notes that Snape might have done more for Bill than Madam Pomfrey… his skills in healing and remedies are totally being emphasised. it’s obviously leading to something.

Posted by loopy on June 30, 2007 @ 06:56 PM
Danny N

OMG!!! Drought of the living dead, i completly forgot about that. Although i think we can rule out sirius and dd being alive.

I hope we see whats behind the veil, they said in the book that there wasnt a body for sirius, why not? Avada Kevada kills you with no harm to the body, but wait, its not explained which spell bellatrix fired at sirius. I think that was deliberate.

Posted by Danny N on June 30, 2007 @ 07:03 PM
Alba

yaaaaaaaaaaaaay!!!!!!! Godric Gryffindor!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted by Alba on June 30, 2007 @ 07:03 PM
padfootrocksmysocks

great find you guys! and it has rekindled my hope that my dear Sirius may still be alive!!!!

i hope beyond hope!!!!

<3padfootrocksmysocks>

Posted by padfootrocksmysocks on June 30, 2007 @ 07:15 PM
MissHagrid

Definitely a beyond the veil reference. And I hadn’t thought about it before reading these comments, but I do now see that as possibly a reference to Snape’s healing skills too. Also, didn’t Dumbledore say something to the effect that those we love never truly leave us? And didn’t Harry, at the end of HBP, without really understanding why he was saying it, say something to the effect of “he’s not as gone as you might think” about Dumbledore? On the back of the UK children’s cover, in the light streaming out of Hogwarts, if you turn the cover upsidedown, an image of possibly Dumbledore can be seen in the light. Note that no previous headmaster/mistress of Hogwarts was ever buries at Hogwarts, but Dumbledore specificly requested it. I think that some form of his “presence” will be in action to some degree at Hogwarts.

Posted by MissHagrid on June 30, 2007 @ 08:08 PM
dobby_rocks

Sirius is awesome! we are definitly going to find out what’s behind the veil and it’s hopefully going to be a living sirius!

Posted by dobby_rocks on June 30, 2007 @ 10:44 PM
Serge Gingras

Sirius was kill by the fall beyon the veil, not by a curse.

We hear voices comming from behind the veil. Who knows what JKR will do with that…

It is not without intentions that when Snape was introduced, his powers as a potion maker were listed. I believe JKR has something up her sleeve.

Posted by Serge Gingras on June 30, 2007 @ 10:48 PM
1  2 



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