[HPforGrownups] Slytherin

[Alexander]

No: HPFGUIDX 33606

  Greetings!

> mlfrasher wrote to us in his (her?) wisdom:

mac> Hello All!
mac> Catching up on a few things that caught my eye.....

mac> Well, I think it has something to do with the fine line between 'dark' and 
mac> 'light'.  Looking at Gryffindor and Slytherin and opposite sides of the same 
mac> coin.  Your argument on the DA almost seems like the "ends justifies the 
mac> means".  I just believe that there are more than meets the eye in the GH/SH 
mac> relationship, foregoing what the hat says in a few stanzas.

  Ahh, interesting. Does the end justifies the means or not?
I could talk LONG about it - after all I was raised in the
country that considered the only possible answer as
"YES!"... :)
  About Dark and Light, I can do nothing but cite one of my
neighbours - "And remember! We are the forces of Light - but
not necessarily Good!".

mac> I do not think that the Unforgivable curses could be used by a Gryffindor or 
mac> anyone else for that matter for noble ends.  They're the UN-forgivable curses 
mac> for a reason.  Someone could use many many other counter curses for self 
mac> defense or to save another's life without resorting to any one of those.  I 
mac> think Harry understood that when he stopped Sirius and Lupin from killing 
mac> Wormtail.  Something that Dubmledore praised him for, and also stated that 
mac> James would have approved of Harry's decision.  As much as I would have liked 
mac> to see them zap Pettigrew with some green light, it doesn't justify it 
mac> (although I would want some death if I'd been stuck in Azkaban for that long) 
mac> they could have put the immobilization spell on him and that would have 
mac> alleviated any chances of him turning to the rat and running away.  A better 
mac> chance of bringing him to justice and proving Sirius' innocence.

  Still from what I have read so far, Avada is the most
potent combat spell in Potterverse. From purely historical
point of view, it's strange it was forbidden at all - I
cannot remember any examples in history of peoples declaring
a potent weapon illegal. Perhaps Wizards have stronger sense
of ethics than we mere humans... unlikely.
  The fact that they are "unforgivable" curses doesn't mean
the least for me - that's just the term in Wizard's Law to
describe them, IMHO nothing more.
  Indeed could any of these three be used in a situation
where negative results would be aither absent or minimal?

  CRUCIO - Highly unlikely. At least I cannot imagine such
situation. Maybe someone else does?

  IMPERIO - Powerful thing, but with lots of negative
psychological consequences (for both caster and victim).
Difficult to tell anything here.

  KEDAVRA - A useful combat spell, unless it has some
aspects Rowling didn't explain to us so far (does the caster
receives actual pleasure while casting this spell? or maybe
something else in similar evil vein?).

  Don't forget that on the war, some of ethical laws cease
to function (primarily the taboo to kill).

  All right, handling this topic to others in the group,
more skilled in the questions of ethics.

Sincerely yours,
Alexander Lomski,
(Gryffindor/Slytherin crossbreed),
always happy to throw weird ideas into the community.