Evil and Stuff (was: seeking...)

[Melody <Malady579@hotmail.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 48317

I wrote:
>Voldemort is rotten to the core, I can't help but remember he *is*
>human.  Well, a part of him I'm sure is somewhere in there.  While I
>may kid around with Voldie becoming redeemed at the end, I do believe
>it is a viable option because he is still human.

CK wrote:
>>I'm not sure. First the wisp-o-mort, then the back of someone else's
>>head and unicorn's blood, then the ugly baby, then Flatface... I
>>think Rowling has done a pretty good job of dehumanizing Voldemort.
>>I'm not saying that it's completely impossible to redeem him. In
>>theory, it's still a possibility. I just wouldn't put too many eggs
>>in that basket.


Yes, JKR has painted a rather ugly picture.  A picture of a man that
is barely seen as a man.  Seems that is what pure evil does to a
person in fiction.  It consumes them first in the heart and bleeds out
in appearance to the point that they are as ugly outside as in.  Well,
that is what happens in cartoons anyway.  And like cartoons, the evil
bad guy is just that.  Evil drawn ugly so that we are repulsed by it.
 Is this what JKR wants?  Us to see Voldemort as this ugly shell of a
person that is not really human so that we hate despise evil more and
rejoin in its demise?  Seems that is a rather shallow way create a bad
guy.

I firmly believe in Voldemort having a human soul that is not on a
one-way ticket to hell.  He most likely is, but that is just an
assumption based on my previous dealings with evil overlords in
fiction.  They rarely turn a 180.  However, no matter what happens to
his shell, he is a human being.  He puts his robe on a sleeve at the
time like the rest of them.  He just had to pretend for a while there.

To rob Voldemort of his humanity creates a beast who's death is not a
moral decision to be made.  I think the *worst*, absolute *worst*
thing, Harry could do is forget Voldemort is in fact human.  No matter
what he looks like, Voldemort is equal to Harry in the realm of being
born and growing up and making decisions.  If Harry decides that
Voldemort is no longer a man, then Harry decides that Voldemort is not
subject to the same checks and balances of morality as the rest.  This
is the fault Crouch Sr. made.  He thought the DE's were not longer
human, and thus they are not subject to the same privileges.  They are
just a pest that needs to be exterminated....quickly.

To dehumanized Voldemort would make killing him easier for all, but
defeat the point of the lessons learned so far in the series.


Melody