I will be the first to admit that I am a huge Potterhead. My family read all the books together as a bonding activity, and many a dinner conversation revolved around whether Snape was good or evil (Neither-Go JK and her ability to write complex characters!). I might even admit that I am a little more into the universe than the average fan. My sister and I knew the books so well that at some point in time, we were able to know the book, the speaker, and the context of any Harry Potter quote.
And because of all of this, I refuse to read "The Cursed Child."
Harry Potter was my childhood obsession. I loved all the characters! I loved all the movies! I don’t think that I was ever as distraught as I was when I realized the series had to end. But it did. At the tune when "The Deathly Hallows" came out, I had just caught up with all the books and had to actually wait to hear more about the universe.
The fact that I had to wait finally let my imagination finish the book for me. I started picturing all the possible endings. Of course, Harry would defeat Voldemort, but how really? Would he use an unforgivable curse or would he stick to his morals? The anticipation created an unattainable amount of hype.
Reading the final book was wonderment; finishing it was grief. All the endings, all the work, all the characters in my mind were only in my mind now. The actual ending was written. The project I had for years was finally done and I didn’t know what to do.
However, my disappointment was never because of Rowling. Over time I learned to love her ending as much as I loved mine. The ending fit all of the character’s arcs very well (Neville being the best arc in my opinion). The Harry Potter generation learned to accept the loss of the characters and move on to new stories.
The fact that we are opening up our old vault of childhood nostalgia, only to invariably disagree with the ending, is cruel to ourselves. "The Cursed Child" cannot possibly live up to the hype and still contain our favorite characters. How can we love a new character while our favorites are background characters in the same story?
If Rowling wanted to continue writing in the same universe, she could have recreated the same magic (forgive the pun) with a new set of characters. And that would have been amazing! Imagine a buddy cop drama about Aurors cleaning up post-Voldemort streets! We could have learned to love new characters and remained invested in the universe. Instead, we’re given a continuation where we draw out the same story that we worked so hard to leave behind.
My fifth-grade reading teacher had this to say about ending any piece, and I think it summarizes what I am trying to say: “Let it close with a click. Then let it close”.
