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Why JK Rowling?! WHY??

...actually I can tell you why. She wanted to recreate the 'TRAGEDY' of Harry's becoming an orphan. To quote her:

"Well, I swapped him for someone else, and I don't want to say who for the people who haven't-- read.
But I-- I made a decision as I went into writing Phoenix that I was going to reprieve Mr. Weasley and I was going to kill someone else.
And if you finish the book, I-- I expect you probably know and someone else who is a father. And I wanted there to be an echo of-- of Harry's loss of parents.
And you probably know who I'm talking about if you've finished the book. But-- so there are two characters who are killed in (book) Seven.
So Mr. Weasley did get attacked, as you know, in Five. But he would have died if I'd have stuck to the original plan. But he survived.
I had to keep him alive partly-- partly because I couldn't bear to kill him."

"I wanted there to be an echo of what happened to Harry just to show the absolute evil of what Voldemort's doing.
The fact that you leave orphans and you leave children who then have to make their way in the world uncared for and unprotected.
And-- so that's why I killed the two that, you know, you know about in this book. Which I hated, hated doing because I love them both as characters."

Am I a horrible person to wish Arthur was the one who died instead?

I'm pathetic. I mourned for days after reading his death... Then in an angry rampage searched the internet for a reason and who killed him [it was Dolohov by the way].