JK Rowling Considered Killing Harry Potter's Best Friend, Ron Weasley

Before the July 2007 release of JK Rowling's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, one of the major points of discussion was which characters the author would kill. Would Harry make it through? Which side characters would be offed? In the end, though Rowling did kill a handful of name characters, she was mostly merciful. Especially with her leads. However, in a new interview, she admitted she was toying with the idea of killing Ron Weasley. Read more after the jump.

The Telegraph (via Geekologie) first reported Rowling's intentions, which are part of an interview between Daniel Radcliffe, who plays Harry, and the author on the new Blu-ray. If you haven't seen the movies or read the books, this is all spoilers:

Funnily enough, I planned from the start that none of them would die. Then midway through, which I think is a reflection of the fact that I wasn't in a very happy place, I started thinking I might polish one of them off. Out of sheer spite. 'There, now you definitely can't have him any more.' But I think in my absolute heart of heart of hearts, although I did seriously consider killing Ron, I wouldn't have done it.

Now that the book is four years removed and the movie is several months old, this news is interesting purely from a trivia standpoint. We all know that not only did Ron live, he marries Hermione. But let's play the what if game. What if Ron died? You have to assume it would have happened after he had his part to play finding the horcruxes, possibly during the final battle at Hogwarts. If it was any earlier, everything would have been different. But if it was in the final battle, Harry was pretty much on his own for most of it. Ron, from a purely plot perspective, isn't that important.

But, as a character with an effect on Harry's mindset, it was imperative that he live. Harry has lost his parents, his uncle, Dumbledore, everyone. After sacrificing everything to save the world from Voldemort, Rowling had to give him a reward and lifelong friendship was it.

What are you thoughts on this?