The question I'm sure is on
everyone's minds (or maybe it isn't, I dunno, I'm not a mind reader) is
WHY? Well, I'll tell you, so listen up.
When I first "met" Cedric
in Book III, I didn't really feel one way or another towards him.
Well, who really did? He only appeared for that one Quidditch match
and then (as far as I can recall) never again. JK Rowling, I think,
gives mention to a minor detail in one book and then brings it out as a
main plot in the next (which is why I'm wary of the "triumphant" look on
Dumbledore's face when Harry told him that Voldemort could touch him again).
In this case, the "minor detail(s)" were Cedric and Cho, I think (and possibly
more, but I need to reread Book III again), to be mentioned once and brought
out in greater detail in the next book. Particularly Cedric, how
he competed with Harry once in Book III and then Book IV was basically
a repeat of the Quidditch match, on a larger scale, but with Cedric and
Harry helping each other along the way.
They made a good team, really,
and it seemed like they were always accompanying each other...somewhere.
The first example was when they left the Great Hall together after the
champions were chosen. It was weird how during the last task they
worked together against Krum and then once Krum was out of the way they
were rivals again. You know, if Harry hadn't insisted on them both
taking the cup, Cedric would have lived. But you know what else?
I don't blame Harry. How could he have known, after all?
When I saw Cedric again
in the next book, with his father bragging all over the place about how
he beat Harry, I liked him a little, but only because he tried to stop
his father from making Harry feel bad (with futility). After that,
well, he didn't really do much for me. I thought he was talented
as a wizard, of course, because he is. Although I disliked him a
bit when Cho said she was going to the Yule Ball with him, because I wanted
her for Harry. But Cedric deserves her, I suppose...maybe not as
much as Harry, but I think he deserved to go to the ball with her because
he's basically a good guy. And now that he's dead, maybe Harry will
get Cho (or maybe Cho will be too upset to take another boyfriend right
away).
Maybe that's why Rowling
decided to kill him: because he's too perfect. It seems like he's
just good at everything, and kind, generous, self-sacrificing, AND modest!
Perfect characters tend to be boring, but Cedric's rivalry and at the same
time partnership with Harry is what made him interesting. Whatever
Harry does, Cedric goes one better or just barely beats him to it (Cho,
the Quidditch match, the tasks, and eventually the Cup). He was a
direct rival to Harry because they were both the Hogwarts champions, and
maybe Rowling decided that there could only be one Hogwarts champion after
all, and she obviously couldn't let Harry lose, and since it was a draw
between him and Cedric guess who had to go? And you know what, I
really started to like him during the maze part, and then it turns out
that he dies. A shame, huh? Which is why I have to reread the
book now and pay special attention to Cedric, and reread the Quidditch
scene of the third book too. I was slightly depressed after I finished
reading the book (and my choice of music reflected that, nonstop "Pilgrim"
by Eric Clapton ^^;;) and when they came back from the graveyard and everyone
saw Cedric dead I actually cried. :..( And I don't usually cry easily
either.
Although maybe I just sympathized
with him because he died, you know? Maybe if someone else had died,
say...Fred and George, I would have liked them more too. Or maybe
not. But whatever the reason, I felt I should pay tribute to this
great character and not "insult his memory", instead let it live on honorably.
(I better shut up now, I'm getting really cheesy. ^^;;;)
