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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.


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