J.K. Rowling Pleads for No Spoilers
Posted on May 15, 2007
J.K. Rowling is pleading with readers not to spoil the ending of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows which hits bookshelves July 21st. Everytime a new Potter book comes out, some jerk gets ahold of a copy and spoils the ending for people. This time, Jo is asking that people not do that: not because it would hurt book sales (it won't), but because it ruins the enjoyment for longtime fans who have waited years to see how Harry's story turns out.
A couple of weeks ago (April 28th, if you want to go and search the archive) the Potter fansite The Leaky Cauldron posted an editorial on potential spoilers for "Deathly Hallows". It made me laugh, but I was also incredibly moved and grateful.Ah, the Giant Squid. We just knew there was something odd about him...We're a little under three months away, now, and the first distant rumblings of the weirdness that usually precedes a Harry Potter publication can be heard on the horizon. The Leaky Cauldron's early mission statement on spoilers (ie, don't, and we're not putting them up if you do) is deeply appreciated by yours truly.
I add my own plea to Melissa's for one reason, and one only: I want the readers who have, in many instances, grown up with Harry, to embark on the last adventure they will share with him without knowing where they are they going.
Some, perhaps, will read this and take the view that all publicity is good publicity, that spoilers are part of hype, and that I am trying to protect sales rather than my readership. However, spoilers won't stop people buying the book, they never have - all it will do is diminish their pleasure in the book.
There will always be sad individuals who get their kicks from ruining other people's fun, but while sites like Leaky take such an active stance against them, we may yet win. Even if the biggest secret gets out - even if somebody discovers the Giant Squid is actually the world's largest Animagus, which rises from the lake at the eleventh hour, transforms into Godric Gryffindor and... well, I wouldn't like to spoil it.
