[HPforGrownups] Re: Harry the martyr/Harry the killer

[Horst or Rebecca J. Bohner]

No: HPFGUIDX 14104

> How about this: Snape dies in the middle of BK. 7 to help Harry to
> escape back to Hogwarts; (thus giving Harry (and JKR) plenty of time
> to milk all possible angst out of it) Harry blame himself because if
> only he had used the killing curse on V, Snape would have been saved;
> big V attacks Hogwarts; tries to use the killing curse on either Ron
> or Hermione and this time Harry seizes the chance ...

Except by using the Avada Kedavra curse on Voldemort, Harry would be no
better than V. himself.  Using the Dark Arts (and that *is* what Avada
Kedavra is, no question of it) to defeat the enemy would be unthinkable,
both in terms of the moral framework of JKR's story and also in terms of the
legal ramifications in the wizarding world (after all, they are called the
*unforgivable* curses, and we've already been told that using them on a
human is grounds for immediate incarceration in Azkaban).  I could see
Philip Pullman telling the reader that it's OK to fight evil with evil:  but
not JKR.

I can see Harry being strongly tempted at one point to use Avada Kedavra
against V. and even knowing in his heart that he *could* do it, but in the
end deciding not to (even though it is a terribly hard decision to make) and
fighting against him with more honest means.  In the end I think that one
way or an other, V.'s own evil is going to turn against him and destroy him.
It will not be a cliched "cackling villain takes one too many steps backward
and conveniently falls off cliff" sort of thing, it will be a direct and
inevitable consequence of something V. does, rebounding on him and
destroying him.

That's the only kind of ending I can see really fitting in with the moral
framework JKR has constructed up to this point.  She's already taken pains
to point out to us in several places that love is stronger than evil and
that forgiveness and mercy are powerful things -- I can't see her suddenly
turning around in Book VI and saying, "But hey, it's OK for Harry to kill
Voldemort because V.'s a really bad guy."
--
The Marauder's Map
rebeccaj at pobox.com