I agree. I haven't read any comments (until now!) on the Potter book, having just finished it, but I can well imagine people saying such things. It always surprises me just how demanding and critical fandom can be. They're so often people who follow a particular creation obsessively, yet they are also the harshest critics. Whether this is usually indicative of their overall world view and way of dealing with life I'm not sure, but the levels of negativity involved are sometimes stunning.

I confess I was shocked that he really died (and cried), but it certainly gave the story a hard punch it would have lacked otherwise. Death is so difficult; it's always seemed to me that people so callous that they can jeer or cheer at someone's death (even of a fictional character) have probably never had anyone they cared about die. Or perhaps they're incapable of feeling loss. Or something. But hearing others treat death in a light and callous way never fails to make me angry and disappointed in them.