Who's the baddest of them all?

[Shauna <wind3213@hotmail.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 47992

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Caius Marcius 
<coriolan_cmc at h...>" <coriolan_cmc at h...> wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Amy Z 
<lupinesque at y...>" 
> <lupinesque at y...> wrote:
> > Actually, it's just who's the badder of the two, but that doesn't 
> > sound right.
> > 
> > I was in a class yesterday where one of the kids was 
explaining to 
> > the rest that Sauron is even worse than Voldemort.  She said 
that 
> her 
> > father (who has read her HP and is reading her LoTR) said 
so, and 
> > seemed to think that settled it.  What do you all think?  I 
promise 
> I 
> > won't spoil her illusions of paternal infallibility if the 
> consensus 
> > here is that Voldemort gets the Most Evil prize.


Voldemort, although probably as near to 'evil' as a human can 
get, is still human.  Some say there's "not enough human left in 
him" to die, but the fact of the matter is, he was once a child, he 
was capable of love - even if he never actually did love - and for a 
little while, at least, he was deserving of sympathy.

Sauron is a god.  He has been 'evil' for well over 10,000 years.  
He is responsible for the corruption and/or demise of several 
civilizations.  We see plenty of examples of Saruman's evil - 
imprisoning Gandalf, ordering the murder of the Fellowship 
sans hobbits, his dictatorship of the shire - but Saruman is pure 
peanuts to Sauron.  If you're interested in details, read about how 
Sauron corrupted the kings of Numenor and caused the 
country's utter destruction.  Read about how he disguised 
himself to Celebrimbor when making the rings, and how he 
tortured the poor elf when he stood against him.  You think 
Voldemort is bad form Imperio'ing people?  When Sauron turns 
the lesser ring-bearers into wraiths, he not only controls them, 
but he does so completely.  He tortures and seduces them into 
*wanting* to be enslaved by him.

There's a difference, yes, in that JRRT and JKR each set up 
different moral universes, but really, there's no question that 
Sauron is the 'bigger baddie'.

~ Shauna