Would Lucius have gone on a Voldy hunt?

[ssk7882]

No: HPFGUIDX 35345

Tabouli wrote:

> Then again, would Lucius want to rule the world? (What do people 
> think?) I wonder if Lucius has had life too easy to build up the 
> sort of vicious, ruthless ambition he'd need to drive him to such 
> lengths. 

It sort of begs the question of why he cast his lot in with Voldemort 
the first time around, doesn't it?  Presumably he's always had life 
easy.

> Tom Riddle was fuelled by hatred of his Muggle father and 
> orphanage; what would fuel Lucius? A disdain for Mudbloods? Ha.

A sense of wounded entitlement?  In spite of the fact that he has 
wealth and power and prestige and respect, he does seem to feel that 
he still isn't quite getting all that he is *owed.*  Wizarding blood 
is counting for less everywhere, you know, and although the Malfoy 
name still commands *some* respect...  And all that.

<Elkins contemplates a rant about a certain terribly privileged class 
of people who in her experience do far too much whining about their 
own loss of entitlement, but then rejects it as unduly political and 
*far* too inflammatory>

Also, Lucius Malfoy would seem to be fairly vicious by nature.

But is all that sufficient to make him want to *rule* the world, 
rather than merely support someone who might give him what he wants?

I don't think so.  Ruling the world is an awful lot of *work,* and 
you'd probably be too busy doing it to enjoy the privileges and 
entitlements that it would afford you.

So no.  I don't think that Lucius would want to rule the world at 
all, really.  If he does try to seize the reins of power away from 
Voldemort, I think it will be more an act of self-preservation than a 
reflection of any real desire to hold that sort of power.


Uncmark wrote:

> [He gave Ginny the diary, so...] This begs the question: why does 
> he seem to have pretty cold feet about the whole idea of Voldemort 
> coming back at any other time?

Well, because Voldemort is a nutter.  And not only is he a nutter, 
but he wasn't even a terribly *effective* nutter the last time 
around.  As far as I can tell, members of Lucius Malfoy's social 
class are actually in worse shape now than they were before 
Voldemort's bid for power.  And none of the Death Eaters got eternal 
life, either.  In fact, a lot of them got killed.

I think that if I'd been promised power, and the opportunity to 
indulge myself in viciousness, and the restoration of all of my 
ancient class privileges, and eternal life on *top* of all of that, 
and then got what Lucius Malfoy and all of the other Death Eaters got 
out of the whole deal, I wouldn't be at all pleased to see Voldemort 
back again either.

Sixteen-year-old ghost-diary Tom Riddle, though, is a different 
matter.  Even assuming that Lucius knew precisely what the diary 
would do (which I don't think that he did at all), a ghostly teenaged 
Riddle wandering around might not be such a bad thing.  Maybe he 
could prove useful.  At any rate, he's not at all the same as red-eye-
glowing, mad-as-a-hatter, didn't-give-us-squat-the-last-time-around, 
minion-abusing Snake-faced Evil Death Lord guy.


Jo Ellen wrote:

> I think Lucius, since he collects articles related to the dark arts
> and keeps them hidden under his dining room in a secret room, just 
> happened to come across the TR diary.

I don't think that I agree.  At the end of CoS, Dumbledore warns him 
against handing out any more of Riddle's old school things, which 
would seem to imply that Lucius didn't just come across the diary by 
chance.

Like Ancarette, I strongly suspect that the Malfoys are the 
mysterious owners of the Riddle estate.  But I'm certainly hoping 
that there's a much more involved backstory than only *that* to 
account for the Malfoys' possession of a bunch of Riddle's strange 
old things.

Oh, I so *desperately* want a peek beneath that drawing room floor!


Eileen wrote:

> Lucius didn't want Voldemort back at all, imho. After all, how 
> would Voldemort look at a party? 

Death of the party.  No question.  His presence would cast an absolute
*pall* over the proceedings: no one would speak, the food and drink 
would go completely untouched...  It would be an utter social 
disaster.

> Lucius was living the good life, chumming it up with Fudge,
> donating to worthy causes, and suddenly, Voldie's come back, and 
> wants to go all Snidely Whiplash. I'm looking to Lucius to betray 
> Voldie when the time comes, and can't see why Voldemort isn't 
> expecting it. Much as I hated Voldemort, I'm secretly hoping that 
> the plan backfires on Lucius. 

Yes.  It's curious that, isn't it?  Why *is* the notion of Lucius 
Malfoy being embarrassed or discomfited or thwarted or just plain 
terrorized so very appealing, even to those of us who don't 
ordinarily go in much for that sort of thing?  He's really no worse 
than many of the other venal characters in the books.  So why is it 
that the idea of plans backfiring on Lucius in particular should be 
so very...appetizing?

I certainly hope that it's not a matter of class-envy.  Because that 
would be just plain *embarrassing.*


-- Elkins