[HPforGrownups] Harry Beats Voldemort: Actual talent or sheer dumb luck

[Barb]

No: HPFGUIDX 47792


greg_a126 <grega126 at aol.com> wrote:

Rereading GoF, it becomes all sorts of apparent during the duel that Voldemort is a much better wizard than Harry is.  By which I mean he's what, 60, 70 years old?  He had about 40 years to study magic before he disappeared, Harry by the end of book 7 will have had 7 years.  Everytime he's escaped from Voldemort thus far I'd chock it up to dumb luck: his mother's protection, using the Basilisk fang on the diary, using the summoning charm to run away.  


 Me:
You make a good point about Voldemort's age and experience, but you also missed a few.  Harry has not escaped each time entirely by sheer dumb luck.  He has made choices, important choices, which is what Dumbledore says is the difference between him and Voldemort, despite similar childhoods.  That seems to be the theme running through the books; history doesn't HAVE to repeat itself, we can make choices and overcome what seem to be insurmountable odds or a sure path in a particular direction.  As long as you're Harry.  There are other characters that don't seem to have the potential or desire to change--the Dursleys, the Malfoys, etc.  I don't expect JKR to change that.  Sadly, that contradicts her main message somewhat and waters it down.
 
Still, to get back to it--Harry made certain choices, and sometimes the consequences of those choices were "lucky" developments that led him out of danger, but I still maintain that if he hadn't made those choices, those developments wouldn't have occurred, so calling it "luck" is something of a potato/potahto argument.
 
Was it luck for him to refuse to give the stone to Quirrell?  Or was it amazingly gutsy for an eleven-year-old to refuse to give in to an adult wizard with the kind of power Quirrell had at that time?  Quirrell could have crushed him like a bug, but Harry stood up to him anyway.
 
Was it luck for him to have the nerve to go into the Chamber to begin with?  Luck for him to be loyal to Dumbledore?  No; that's just who he is.  Ginny was down there, a girl who idolized him and who was his best friend's sister.  He felt a responsibility, even at the age of twelve.  He was a Parselmouth and had the ability to open the chamber (that might be called luck, if you like, but he didn't HAVE to use this ability--he could have run away, like Lockhart wanted to).  Was it luck for him to have the presence of mind to stab the diary with the fang?  I find that the least plausible thing to call luck--that came out of the blue for me, frankly.  I thought it was very clever.  Perhaps he's letting Hermione intimidate him and he'd get better marks if he had more confidence.
 
Was it luck for him to conjure the Patronus in PoA?  No, it was complex, advanced magic that he'd worked hard to perfect.  He was showing his future power with this, IMO.  Even Hermione was impressed, and that's not easy.
 
Was it luck for him to perform the summoning charm to get the cup and escape with Cedric's body?  Not at all; first of all, when faced with the problem of having Cedric's heavy body already and the cup rather distant, his brain lit upon the solution of the summoning charm to solve the problem.  That's his quick thinking, not luck.  Then there's the fact that, once again, a spell that he worked long and hard to perfect served him well.  Another sign of his future power--a good wizard can think on his feet and select the right spell for the occasion, and he's practiced so that he can perform it competantly.  Harry comfortably fulfills this criteria, more so, in fact, than the other Champions, who frequently made bad decisions about how to approach the tasks.
 
The real difference between Harry and the assorted villains (Quirrell, Malfoy, Voldemort/Riddle, Crouch and Pettigrew) is that they made certain choices and he made different choices.  The villains are very competant, even Pettigrew, who mastered the Animagus Transfiguration while still in school, avoided detection for years and performed the ritual to reembody his master.  But while Voldemort and his servants (especially Crouch) have an eye on glory and power, Harry is not full of himself and does not wish for anything but a nice, quiet life.  
 
While all of the villains' mistakes can basically be boiled down to hubris, the one that stands out the most is Voldemort's fall, when he was almost destroyed by the protection Harry received from his mother.  In stark contrast, Harry is remarkably lacking in hubris; it almost makes him a little unreal right now, but hopefully JKR will explore his character a little more and he will be a little better rounded and less perfect.  
 
--Barb
 


http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Psychic_Serpent
http://www.schnoogle.com/authorLinks/Barb


---------------------------------
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]