( EW.com ) -- `` Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows '' features one of the more soul-destroying death orgies in Fantasy-lit history , with a whole cavalcade of Potter supporting players winding up as casualties in the climactic wizard battle . The series never shrank from death -- Books 4 through 6 each end with a major character dying , and the whole saga begins with Harry as a newly orphaned baby . But in a new special feature on the `` Deathly Hallows 2 '' DVD , author J. K. Rowling notes that she 'd planned one fatality that would have probably scarred a generation of young readers . As reported by the Guardian , Rowling says , `` I did seriously consider killing Ron . '' Apparently , she briefly thought about killing off Harry 's red-headed sidekick around the middle of the series , when she `` was n't in a very happy place . '' It 's an interesting piece of what-might-have-been trivia . In some ways , it reminds me a little bit of the mythic notion that Han Solo was supposed to die in Return of the Jedi -- an idea which was supported by original Star Wars producer Gary Kurtz and Harrison Ford . Kurtz told the Hollywood Reporter that Solo lived because George Lucas did n't want to kill off any of his main characters . It 's hard to accuse Rowling of any such anxiety , given the `` Deathly Hallows '' bloodbath . Still , it 's fun to speculate on how such a major change would have altered the book series . Rowling does n't specify in what context she was picturing Ron 's death , but it 's easy to imagine that he might have bit the dust relatively early . Lots of people were shocked when Rowling killed off Cedric Diggory in `` Goblet of Fire , '' but Diggory was a minor character who , in hindsight , was always kind of a handsome readymade corpse -- think of how much freakier the latter Potters would have felt without good ol ' Ron around to relieve the tension . Conversely , imagine if Ron had sacrificed himself in Deathly Hallows ' climax . It certainly would have changed the tone of the ending , which was a pretty upbeat Happily Ever After , all considering . See the full article at EW.com . CLICK HERE to Try 2 RISK FREE issues of Entertainment Weekly . © 2011 Entertainment Weekly and Time Inc. All rights reserved .
` ` I did seriously consider killing Ron , '' Rowling said . It 's easy to imagine that he would have bit the dust relatively early . How much freakier the latter scenario would have felt without good ol ' Ron around .