What did Voldemort do that was so great?

[cathubodva_raven]

No: HPFGUIDX 41685

Jenny from Ravenclaw wrote:

>I also wanted to add a comment about using "Voldemort did great 
>things" as an example of what Draco may turn out to be.  When 
>Ollivander made that comment, just like Harry, I became 
>uncomfortable.  I wondered what JKR meant by that.  I would never, 
>ever think to use the word 'great' in relation to Voldemort.  He's 
>not great.  He may be smart, he may be resourceful, he may be a 
>powerful leader, but he ain't great.  He's evil.  I would say the 
>same for Hitler.  There wasn't a great bone in that man's body, no 
>matter what brilliant, horrifying and devastatingly successful plan 
>he had at the time.  

Hitler may or may not have been great.  This isn't the forum for that 
argument.  However, I don't think anyone can deny that he *did great 
things*.  After WWI, Germany was broke and broken.  No economy, no 
army, no spirit.  Hitler got the country back on its feet, 
resurrected the economy, and built an army from scratch - in spite of 
Versailles.  He also convinced an amazing number of good, ordinary 
people to support his (undeniably evil) ideals.  That Germany was in 
a position to not only defend itself, but actually launch WWII, is 
testament to the fact that Hitler was capable of doing great things.

But this begs the question: What did Voldemort do that Ollivander 
considered 'great'?  We've heard only that he terrorised and killed - 
but swarms of wasps, wild bears, they also terrorise and kill, and we 
hardly consider them great.  

The only 'great' thing I can think of is that he didn't die after 
attacking Harry.  He claims that it was the result of his own 
dabbling with immortality - but we don't know that.  (Do we?  
Amanda?  LOONs?)  He wasn't directly AK'd, so maybe his vapour state 
was because it was a reflected AK, or maybe there were complications 
caused by Harry's protection that prevented it from working 
properly.  But even if he is telling the truth, it's hardly a 
fantastic success, is it?  Not what you'd call 'great'?  Instead of 
dying, he ends up as a lonely, friendless, rodent-inhabiting gas for 
over a decade.  Not what I'd call great, anyway.

On the whole, although I think we mean different things by it, I 
agree with Jenny that Voldemort isn't great.  Unless new information 
comes to light that makes the Reign of Terror a lot more terrible, 
I'll be forced to assume that Ollivander was only trying to spook 
Harry, and his words bore little resemblance to the truth.

That, or he's a secret DE who has a biased view of his master's 
prowess.  ;-D

Cathubodva.