Skip to main content

harry potter - Is there any confirmed instance of J.K.Rowling changing her mind about future HP book detail to accomodate fans?


Is there even one confirmed instance of J.K.Rowling changing her mind about HP book detail to accomodate fans?



To be specific, I mean an instance where:




  • Rowling had a plan to write a specific detail in one of books #2-7 in one way.




  • There was a specific fan request/desire to have the detail turn out another way. Either mass-movement, or a few very vocal fans.




  • Rowling changed the detail to accommodate this request/desire.





  • Must be explicitly acknowledged as the cause of the change by Rowling.


    I might be willing to consider nearly-certain circumstantial proof from another source (e.g. documented proof of original draft detail, and correctly-timed highly public pressure to change it) if nobody can give the example that is officially acknowledged, but the proof must be extra-convincing for me to accept the asnwer.




  • Limited to HP books 2-7.




  • Preferably something less than 100% trivial (e.g. color of Hermione's dress would be trivial. Who married whom or increased importance of Neville in latter books would be good example of non-trivial elements).






Answer



I don’t think there are any major instances; certainly none that I can think of or find. This article on Today shares a sentiment that I’ve seen repeated elsewhere:



J.K. Rowling sketched out the deaths in the Harry Potter series years ago, and from that point forward no amount of pleading from fans, friends or even family could convince her to change her mind. The death sentences were set in stone, even though writing her characters into oblivion was often personally painful.



The whole article fleshes out in detail some of the deaths that did (or didn’t) occur. I won’t list names here, to avoid spoilers, but I think it’s worth reading: I certainly learnt things that I didn’t know before.



[Potential minor spoilers]



There’s only one really major change to the preplanned structure of the books that comes to mind. Arthur Weasley was originally due to be killed off in Book 5, but Rowling later changed her mind:



“I think part of the reason for that is there were very few good fathers in the book,” said Rowling. “In fact, you could make a very good case for Arthur Weasley being the only good father in the whole series.”



(quote from the Today article linked above). However, I can’t find any evidence that this was due to fan pressure. (Were there any rumours that Arthur was set up for death before the release of Book 5?).



In summary, I don’t think there are any (confirmed) instances. I’d obviously be happy to be proved wrong, but for now I think I err on the side of caution and claim that no such instances exist.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

harry potter - Do the Kwikspell courses work?

In Harry Potter we are introduced to Kwikspell course in The Chamber of Secrets (and never hear about it again). We see Filch taking courses, presumably by mail. The descriptions of Kwikspell make me think it is for people who are weak in magic (kind of like how Neville was supposed to be when he was younger), but had magic in them nonetheless. However, Ron's comments later in the chapter make it sound like it is mainly for Squibs to learn magic. However, it is strongly implied through out all the books that Squibs are essentially Muggles, and will never be able to do magic. How then is a Kwikspell course supposed to work? Do we have any information to know if it works at all? Is it a scam? An answer from any level of canon is welcome. Answer Kwikspell courses are (probably) useful to some wizards, but not to squibs. The Kwikspell course literature comes with two testimonials. Madam Z. Nettles of Topsham writes: ‘I had no memory for incantations and my potions were a family joke...
Post a Comment
Read more

futurama - How much time is lost in 'Time Keeps on Slippin''

In time Keeps on Slippin' , Farnsworth creates a basketball team which he matures by abusing Chronitons. This leads to time skipping forward by random, but ever increasing amounts. How much time was skipped in this way? Answer Unfortunately, I don't think a good estimate can be made for this, for two reasons: Many of the time skips move forward by an indeterminate amount of time. At one point, the Professor mentions localized regions of space skipping forward much more than others. We then see two young boys on the street below complaining about having to pay social security, only to suddenly become senior citizens and start complaining about wanting their money. Thus, each individual could have experienced a different amount of time skippage.
Post a Comment
Read more

star wars - What "exactly" happens when someone turns to the Dark Side?

When I saw the original Star Wars saga as a kid, the concept of the Dark Side imprinted in me was quite simple. You did a bad thing, so you're a bad person so you go to the Dark Side and keep doing bad things. Now, obviously this doesn't hold true in reality. In my mind it is perfectly reasonable for Luke to kill the Emperor and Vader and then just flee the Death Star and rejoin the Alliance. After all they are at war, those are enemy officers that have captured him and are taunting him by threatening with death of all loved ones and the whole operation was intended to kill the Emperor anyway. The same would hold true for Anakin. He could have killed Mace Windu to save the Chancellor and Padme but that doesn't mean he's going to then go mad and kill all Jedis including children. It doesn't add up from a merely psychological point of view. He had a set of objectives and that made him want to keep the Chancellor alive (quite valid by the way, Mace Windu is quite clums...
Post a Comment
Read more

star trek - Warning regarding forward saucer section in Nemesis?

In Star Trek: Nemesis , just before the Enterprise rams into the Scimitar, Picard sends a text message from his captain's chair arm pad to Troi — who is manning the helm in lieu of the crewman who was just blown out through what was once the view screen — indicating that she should put full impulse on standby. (Literally, if you watch the scene closely, Troi's console prefaces the order with "TXT MSG" !) My question is: Did Picard also somehow warn crew members in the forward saucer section about what was about to happen? The ramming of the Scimitar was a heat of the moment decision. Considering that he also resorted to calling the auto-destruct sequence shortly after (which ended up being offline), he probably was of the mindset that any losses would be acceptable in order to hault Shinzon's march to Earth. Still, I'm curious. Answer The original script indicates that he called for the crew to " brace for impact ". Whether that call (or the comma...
Post a Comment
Read more