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More Harry Potter
March 24, 2008 by Kyle BradyTags: Books, Harry Potter
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Why do I bring this up? Why is it worth mentioning? Because it provides a giant opportunity for the series to not "die" with the 7th and final book, without it seeming to "sell out" or become cliche. What am I talking about?
Parallel Stories
The development of the story, with the focus on another, but no less important, character is something rarely attempted by authors... probably because it is so difficult to align the two plots, and provide enough detail from the other perspective(s) to make it worth reading. But I've seen it done successfully, once: Orson Scott Card. The "Ender's Game" series was (and still is) one of the most loved SciFi events of all time... but instead of ending the series when it was obviously over, the story got revitalized. Many times. And made it even more endearing to it's fanatic following.
The Obvious
Like I said earlier, it would probably be a terrible idea to extend the Harry Potter series past the 7th book, in a chronological sense, because of the all-inclusive ending, and the terrible excuse for an Epilogue. Even worse would be another series, following someone else set in the future, distanced from the current series... following a child of Harry & Ginny, perhaps.
But the obvious way to expand the Harry Potter Universe would be parallel stories: one series centered on Luna Lovegood, and another on Neville Longbottom.
Character Choice
If parallel series are ever written, the character choice would be crucial. An entire book (or series) focused on Ron, Hermione, or their families would not work. The trio, and by extension, their families, are already a very significant part of the book, too much to be "spun off" themselves. Luna and Neville, however, are exactly the opposite.
Glimpses of Neville are seen from the beginning, and as the series progresses, we see him grow more confidant and capable, but also become closer to Harry, and becoming an integral part of the anti-Voldemort movement.
Luna doesn't even appear until about halfway through the series, and even then she only appears to help explain a weird situation, or provide some unintentional humor. It's not until the 6th book that we really see Luna grow into her own, but by the end of the series, I can't help but feel like she didn't have as much "face time" as she deserved.
Added Value
Imagine these two parallel series are written. The added value potential is huge... through Neville we would have more light on the backstory of Voldemort and Harry's parents, not to mention his own, and through Luna we would see more of the quirky wizarding world that slowly fades from sight as the current books progress.
But more than just adding details to pre-existing storylines, these would have the chance to do even more: expand the Harry Potter Universe itself. All those times when Neville and Luna disappear would be a perfect chance to have epic stories of their own. The biggest chance of all would come towards the end... having not hidden in the forest, this would be a rare chance to re-tell the epic battle (and it's precursors) from a perspective that was closer to the action for longer periods of time.
Wishful Thinking
Realistically, this will probably never happen. If anything, we'd probably see a book or two written in a pre-Harry world, but nothing as expansive or impressive as what I've just described.
But that doesn't mean I can't hope for it...
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Update (7/17/2009): Over a year later, I wrote something similar for the Inquisitr.
Kyle can be found on Twitter and MySpace, or reached via email.
