Who else felt shortchanged with Lupin and Tonk's death? Did I miss something?

Question

Is it just my copy or was the revelation of death of the couple went like, " oh by the way, lupin and tonks are dead"? After devoting pages upon pages on the evolution of their relationship, their unfortunate end happened with hardly any narration/detail -- it was just casually mentioned that their corpses were on the long tables. What happened? Why no closure?

Answer 1

A lot of readers were greatly saddened when Lupin and Tonk's deaths were confirmed even without actually reading how they died and at whose hands. Jo Rowlling didn't need to go into details of each death, even major characters like Lupin and Tonks. Just the confirmation of their deaths had that much impact. We should also remember that the entire series was from Harry's point of view. Harry cannot be all over the place to witness every death of every person he cared about. Just imagine if he saw Lupin or Tonks falling, he would have tore after the Death Eater who killed them. Frankly, after reading how Fred died, I was really thankful for JKR for sparing me the details of the other deaths. I could only feel so much shock.

Answer 2

I certainly felt a bit cheated in that aspect. I felt that, if a major character was going to be killed, they should at least have a death scene. Otherwise, it seems like they are being killed for no reason. I know the author explained why she killed Lupin and Tonks in interviews, but I still would have liked to see them die fighting or something. It would have been much more satisifying if they had died in a scene of some kind instead of off page and in some unknown manner.

Answer 3

I agree totally. The book should have had about 200 less pages of Harry and friends camping in the woods and arguing and Hermoine's magic pocketbook. She could also have left out that absurd epilogue. Then, she would have had the luxury of giving her characters decent death scenes. Sure, not everyone has a dramatic death, but this was a case when death should have been dramatic. They were deaths in battle. After writing about these characters through 7 books, she owed it to her characters to end their lives with some kind of dignity instead of throwing them on tables in Hogwarts like so much meat. It would also have been a very good growth experience for her readers to read well handled death scenes. I would never have handled those deaths in that fashion. It was cheating her readers. Too much of that book was complete fluff. Pax - C

Answer 4

Yeah, I loved Lupin and Tonks as a couple and it was incredibly sad for it to be like "Oh wait Harry! Before you go, Lupin and Tonks are dead but go beat Voldemort!" I HATED it. I know they're just characters, but I think that they and the readers deserved better.

Answer 5

I didn't feel shortchanged by the deaths, or the way they were presented. It is a battle, and in battles, people die. JKR does write of Harry's shock a sadness and guilt over the deaths, and does have him speak to Lupin about it.

He doesn't have to witness every death, that would not be realistic at all.

wl

Answer 6

I felt that way too originally. After a few rereads, she talks about Harry really suffering with their death, questioning Lupin when he has the Hallow stone and then Teddy at the end.

Answer 7

Their deaths happened off screen, so to speak. In the July 30th online interview she does explain who killed each of them (Tonks killed by her cousin Bellatrixs and Dolohov killed Lupin), but in the book she doesn't describe how exactly they died.

Answer 8

I felt that she wrote it like that because not everyone has a big, dramatic death. Sometimes it just comes suddenly and without much pomp or ceremony. It often happens like that in war.

Answer 9

maybe they were killed by the killing curse and that happens so fast that its hard to go into detail-just a flash of green light and BAM! you're dead.

Answer 10

I feel like you do. Maybe JK will go public about this.