J.K. Rowling Regret: Which ‘Harry Potter’ Character Death Does The Author Regret?
There is a new J.K. Rowling regret that the Harry Potter author is revealing, but this one will surely come as a surprise. After a wildly successful book and movie series, Rowling is now admitting that there is one character she regrets killing off. Was it Fred Weasley or Sirius Black? As it happens, it’s neither of those character, and it’s not Dobby either. Fans likely will be a bit taken aback by Rowling’s latest admission.
As Us Weekly notes, J.K. Rowling’s regret admission comes via a new essay on the author’s Pottermore site. Rowling says that killing Florean Fortescue, the Diagon Alley ice cream parlor owner, is the one that makes her feel guilty. She says that she kidnapped and killed him for no reason, and it’s the only one she feels guilty about.
As fans of the movie series know, Fortescue’s death wasn’t considered significant enough to make it onto the big screen, so many who only saw the movies and never read the books won’t even been familiar with this component of the story. Rowling shares that she intended to have Florean be the conduit for Harry, Ron, and Hermione to find the horcruxes in her final book.
The plan to utilize Fortescue is why Rowling introduced him early in the series. However, when she got to the key sections of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, she changed course and decided that using Phineas Niguellus Black in that role was more satisfying.
This isn’t the first time the Harry Potter author has opened up about a regret regarding her series. J.K. Rowling’s regret about Florean Flortescue may be a minor one in the grand scheme of the full story, but she’s previously indicated that she also has some regret regarding how she put Hermione and Ron together. Rowling has admitted that she made the choice to pair Hermione and Ron for personal reasons. She says that, in retrospect, she perhaps should have done things differently in that regard.
In a series that spanned so many books and generated a very passionate following, it doesn’t come as a surprise that the author may look back and see some things she wishes she had done differently. In terms of J.K. Rowling’s regrets, however, learning she feels guilt over Florean Fortescue’s death seems fairly minor in comparison to many other plot points that generate heated discussions.
[Image via Toledo Blade]
