Rowling spins web of intrigue with prophesies of Harry Potter's doom

Websites dedicated to the bespectacled hero have been buzzing with theories about what fate might befall the teenage magician in the last chapter of Rowling's seventh and final book.

Many fans have attacked the Edinburgh-based writer after she said she intended to sacrifice two main characters in the final chapter of the book during a televised interview last week.

She even went as far as suggesting she would kill off Harry himself, by saying other leading authors such as Agatha Christie had killed of their lead characters to prevent other writers from hijacking their creations.

Devastated fans of the books have accused the millionaire writer of crimes as extreme as "sadism" and "outright cruelty" for even considering killing her fictional creation.

On one site, bloggingharrypotter.com, a fan called RavenclawWit said: "I truly feel that for Rowling to kill off any of the trio would reflect a callousness towards children I don't wish to contemplate."

Rowling, 40, who has become one of Britain's richest women thanks to the popularity of the boy wizard, is putting the finishing touches to the final novel.

She has remained silent about the potential twists in the plot, and which characters will survive the final confrontation with the evil Lord Voldemort.

But last week Rowling gave the strongest hint yet that Potter may not survive the end of the final book in an interview on the daytime television show Richard and Judy.

Rowling said two main characters would meet their end in the last novel, and another would be given a reprieve. But she refused to reveal who the characters were for fear of receiving hate mail.

Rowling said: "I can completely understand, however, the mentality of an author who thinks, 'well, I'm gonna kill them off because that means there can be no non-author written sequels' as they call them.

"So it will end with me and after I'm dead and gone they won't be able to bring back the character."

On the leakycauldron.com discussion site, the interpretation of her comments is bleak, with many posters predicting Rowling has signalled the death of their hero. A blogger with the name Vendella wrote: "If she intended Harry to live all along, there would certainly be no fear of hate mail on her part. This simple statement has been enlightening, yet depressing, for me."

Another, Elladora Black, agonises over the tantalising nature of Rowling's comments. She says: "Evil cannot prevail. I just can't work out if Harry is going to die. I can't work out how it's going to end. I can't see that he can live, but at the same time, he can't die."

The astonishing outpouring of anger, grief and speculation on the hundreds of fan sites around the world have given an indication of just what the series means to them.

JohnB writes on the leakycauldron site: "JKR is a Sadistic Enchantress."

Another states that Rowling would be "crossing the line from realism to outright cruelty" if she killed off a leading character.

But others are more positive, insisting the author will not let her precious creation be killed off.

On another popular site called Mugglenet, Rupertrox writes: "Harry won't die. Remember when JK said she would finish the seventh book by telling us about what the three did with the rest of their lives?"

At the official site, HarryPotter.com, others point to a chilling prophecy from an earlier book about Harry and his arch-enemy Voldemort. It states: "Neither can live while the other survives."