I monitor my blog’s traffic regularly. Don’t be alarmed. While I could see where you all come from, what you’re looking for, and all that good stuff, I just don’t care to spend the time. I look at a few stats: 1. Keywords, 2. Country of Origin, and 3. Browser & Platform. I mention this because I spend most of my time analysing keywords to see what interests my readers.
If you’ve read my previous posts, you know that: Crazy Frog v Coldplay (French and Brazilians), Led Zeppelin v Pink Floyd (Americans and Brits), and Daniel Radcliffe’s Penis (Brits) are the most popular topics here (and the matching countries showing an unhealthy disinterest in same). I’m sure that says a great deal about the world community, but we’ll not dwell on that in this post.
So, all of a sudden I have noticed a HUGE spike in some very specific queries the past few days. And they are all forms of “Snape kills Voldemort” and permutations thereof. I just really think it’s odd that this has suddenly cropped up and that my blog is the destination of choice for these searches because I really don’t discuss this. We know Snape killed Dumbledore, possibly at Dumbledore’s request. We also are beginning to accept that Snape may be a good guy. It would be most interesting to see if Snape does indeed kill Dumbledore, but I’ve seen no hint in any of the books or any of the mainstream Potter sites about this. So I find it very odd that this exact combination of related search terms is leading people from all over the planet to my Blog on which, until now, I’ve never even discuss that. What gives? Is there some sort of rumour or spoiler out there I’m unaware of? Seriously — if you know, let’s have out with it.
I’ve also held a long-standing theory about Dumbledore which I’ve refused to detail but I’ve decided to go ahead and throw it out now in advance of the book. Dumbledore is dead and of that make no mistake. However, I’ve got a theory that we will see some form of Dumbledore in the forthcoming penultimate book. Why? Dumbledore’s familiar is Fawkes, a phoenix. And there’s one thing we know a phoenix does, that is rise from the dead. Now, Rowling is in love with symbolism in her books and what, I ask you, is more symbolic than a phoenix. And, in fact, is significant enough to call one book “Order of the Phoenix” after the group of good guys. Historically, a familiar and its master are related on several levels. I firmly believe we will see Dumbledore, or perhaps a disembodied soul or spirit, in the final book. Harry will get one last bit of help from Dumbledore in the Final Battle we know is coming. And I am also speculating it will involve that mirror Harry became so fond of because it showed him his parents.
6-21-07: I am getting 30 to 40 hits per day based on this Voldemort Kills Snape search term. WTF is going on with this? Really?