Eye Roll

[rainy_lilac at yahoo.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 24744

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Alexandra Y. Kwan" <litalex at y...> wrote:
> 
> Dammit, for once I'd like to see a villain who's sane,
> intelligent, and doesn't make ridiculous mistakes.  He
> will *win*, for gods' sakes.  And if he did not, it's
> because the hero defeated the villain in some sort of
> a competition/mindgame, not because the villain made
> some appallingly stupid mistake.  Like...John
> Travolta's character in Swordfish or something.
> 
> After all, what's the fun in beating something so
> apparently inferior than you are?  Only the fight
> between equals is worth watching for.


Here! Here!

One of my disappointments about HP (which believe me does not 
interfere too much with the otehr pleasures I find in the series) is 
that I am still not convinced by ol' Moldy Voldy.

He is too monsterous and snakelike on the one hand (not enough "like 
us" to give me real shivers) and he keeps making really dumb 
mistakes. I deeply wish that we could see his more human side, and 
see the complexity that would drive a man into such evil. I think we 
had a glimpse of that in CoS when we got to see him as Tom Riddle, a 
handsome young man who went completely wrong, but JKR seems to be 
moving him more toward the cartoon version of evil.

Someone else commented that Lucius Malfoy is in fact scarier that V. 
I have to agree. It isn't beause he is "sane" exactly, but because he 
is cold, calculating, and knows a bit better when to hold 'em and 
when to fold 'em-- all of which makes him a more formidable opponent. 
I would NOT want to have to contend with Malfoy in any context. I 
think he does more damge with his sleight of hand than anyone could 
do with the Cruciatus curse.

Look at what he did with Ginny. Sorry, but that is just zero at the 
bone, as Emily Dickinson phrased it. Cold, heartless, really scary 
and sinister. Mad all the more scary because he was in the shadows 
setting the whole thing in motion just by leaving the dairy in her 
book. Hisssssssssssssssssssssss.

Is anyone else less than convinced by the Imperio and Cruciatus 
curses btw? They seem a bit mechanical to me. They actually don't 
make me fear the bad guys as much as, say, Malfoy's actions do.

My two knuts,

Suzanne