Horrible to Write?

[naamagatus]

No: HPFGUIDX 41540

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "nplyon" <nplyon at y...> wrote:

> I support the theory that Dumbledore is going to die.  I also 
> consider the repeated references to his being the only wizard 
> Voldemort fears as being foreshadowing.  I also think that he has 
> to die in order for Harry to come into himself and his powers.  
> Right now, Harry has Dumbledore's protection.  

So far, each book shows us Dumbledore as *less* powerful than in the 
previous book. In PS, Dumbledore really seems almost omnipotent and 
omniscient. At the crucial moment, he arrives in the nick of time to 
save Harry and the stone. In CoS, Dumbledore is ousted by Malfoy and 
when Harry needs his help, he simply isn't there. It is by proxy, 
Fawkes, that one can say that Dumbledore helps Harry, and although 
Harry couldn't have made it without Fawkes, it is Harry who finally 
strikes Riddle down. In PoA, Dumbledore is shown as fallible (failing 
to know about the Marauders) and powerless against the ministry. He 
turns to Harry and Hermione for *their* help to save Sirius. True, it 
is he who makes the plan, but he needs them to carry it out. And in 
GoF? Dumbledore was duped for a whole year by an imposter. Under his 
very nose, Harry is manipulated into the Tournament and then into 
winning it. He is kidnapped and used to restore Voldemort to his 
body. In the graveyard, Harry faces Voldemort completely on his own. 
Dumbledore has absolutely no power to help him. Harry is there 
against Dumbledore's wishes and plans (MAGIC DISHWASHERS 
notwithstanding <g>), and he is beyond Dumbldore's power to help him. 
Nonetheless, with only himself to rely on, Harry defeats Voldemort 
spectacularly. 
So, how is it not possible to have both Dumbledore alive and Harry 
"come into himself and his powers"? We see it happening before our 
eyes, and I don't think any of us feels that Dumbledore being alive 
somewhere in the background makes Harry's feat the less impressive 
for it. 

>I personally think that 
> Dumbledore's death would give Harry the determination and strength 
> he needs to overcome Voldemort.  

Again, when Harry faced Voldemort in the graveyard, did he lack any 
determination or strength? He was taxed to the limits of his 
strength, and beyond, and he was not found wanting. I really don't 
see what reason you have (other than Hollywood cliches, where the 
death of a loved one (often a brother, I've noticed) gives the hero 
the motivation to go after the baddie) to think that Harry needs any 
additional push to overcome Voldemort. He seems perfectly capable of 
doing it with Dumbledore alive.

> I also get the feeling that Harry will have to take on the role of 
> leader and protector and that this is why he's so central to the > 
books.  If Dumbledore really were the one who was going to defeat > 
Voldemort, there is no need for Harry's presence.  Harry is the > 
"Chosen One" and to me this means that he has to be the person to > 
lead the resistence against Voldemort.  

At the end of book seven, Harry is going to be eighteen. That's a 
*very* young age for anybody, even a Harry Potter, to become what 
amounts to a national leader. Harry won't have the political know 
how, the wisdom, the farsightedness and the patience to be a good 
leader at that age. Nobody does. 

> Right now, he's a follower of Dumbledore's and I don't think that  
> this role allows him to live up to his full potential.  To draw 
> parallels to Star Wars, it's through the deaths of their mentors 
> that Obi Wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker are able to mature and grow 
> into themselves.  

Since I'm not a great fan of Star Wars (sorry) and find it's plot 
line simplistic, forgive me for hoping that the Harry Potter series 
will *not* parallel Star Wars. 
If you want to draw parallels, why not look at LOTR? There, Frodo is 
the "Chosen One", the Ring Bearer, yet it is Gandalf who is, and 
remains to the end of the story, the leader of the Light Side. 
He lives to see Frodo succeed (well, in a way), save him and 
see the story wrapped up. Tolkien managed to have Frodo arrive to his 
full heroic height without killing Gandalf. I say JKR can do the 
same.


Naama