Eye Roll

[fourfuries at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 24702

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Amber ?" <inviziblegirl at h...> wrote:
> >From: prefectmarcus at y...
> > Amber said:
> > >
> > > > My biggest eye roll? At this exact line in GOF 33, pg658 USed:
> > > > "Now untie him, Wormtail, and give him back his wand."

>And instead of quickly killing him and getting on with the 
>whole "Taking Over The World" bit (I'm assuming that this is  
>Voldemort's goal), he decides that he needs to "impress" his 
>followers. He threw away all that planning and work. Incredibly 
>shortsighted in my opinion.

Voldemort, like other megalomaniacs, is less concerned with actually 
taking over the world than with being revered by it, albeit revered 
for the cruelty he is capable of dishing out.  Remember from CS, Tom 
Riddle devised the anagram  Voldemeort to be a name that "wizards 
would fear".  His primary motivation is what others think of him.
 
>The goal is "get all the opposition out of the way", not "impress my 
>followers".  He shouldn't feel the need to prove anything. And if 
>he does, well it's a serious character flaw for an Evil Dark Lord. 
>Evil Dark Lords shouldn't care what others think of them, 

The very problem with Evil Dark Lords is that they are vain, narrow 
minded, prideful, self indulgent and have a sizable blind spot.  Why? 
because their ascendence is built on a lie that they tell themselves 
every day, namely, that the world deserves whatever the EDL is doing 
to it, that the EDL is worthy of everyones adulation, etc.  That is 
all that most evil people think about, particularly the one's who 
suffer from the evil of pride or arrogance.

> How about this for another stupid mistake. Instead of destroying 
>the portkey after Harry arrives, it is left where Harry can get to 
>it again. Tchah. Somebody should've either 1)Destroyed it or 2)
>Nullified it so it couldn't be used as a portkey any longer. I hope 
>Wormtail got a good yelling at later...

Brilliant conjecture has been made on several HP fan sites that 
Voldemort intended to use the portkey to return to Hogwarts with his 
Death Eaters and the dead Harry Potter, and attack Dumbledore and 
company by surprise.  Remember, you cannot apparate into Hogwarts, 
and it has other divers protections.  What a coup it would have been.

> I do realize that Voldemort is not perfect. He has to make 
>mistakes, fatal mistakes that bring about his downfall. However, I 
>just don't like it when Villains make ridiculous mistakes. And 
>untying Harry and giving his wand back was a ridiculous mistake in 
>my mind.

If villains, whether real or imagined, did not make ridiculous 
mistakes, we good guys could never beat them.  They are invariably 
more focused on doing evil than the rest of the world is on doing 
good; they plan meticulously, conserve resources, and exact 
discipline among their troops for years.

Good guys generally do these things only in the face of the danger 
realized.  They depend on luck (HP), God's will (henry V), good 
fortune (LOTR), human nature (Holmes), etc. to fill in the gaps of 
their unpreparedness.  Believing that one's cause is "just" is 
evidently worth two or three armies.

Bad guys, OTOH, believe that they are capable of figuring every 
possibility themselves.  It is a damnable arrogance, and the heart of 
every plan to defeat them.  If Voldemort were actually as great as he 
thinks he is, there would not be a story, because Harry would be dead.

4FR