Voldy's "Great" Accomplishments

[aldrea279]

No: HPFGUIDX 41754

Cathubodva:
>>Things Voldemort has done:

1. >come up with ways to defy death
Well, kind of. Maybe. True, he's not dead. But he spent many years 
in a state far short of living, so I wouldn't say he's "Achieved 
Immortality". I'm going to give him a D- in Immortality Studies.>>

Well, did anyone know that at the time of Voldemort's Greatness?
(Whenever I use the word Great in relation to Voldemort in this post, 
I mean to some degree of Greatness- though I think of him more as 
simply powerful, the word Great will do.  One definition of it 
is "remarkable in magnitude, degree, or -effectiveness-", and I think 
that describes old Voldie rather well) Nope, they didn't.  They just 
knew he was definately a force to be reckoned with, one that no one 
seemed to be able to reckon with without ending up dead.  And I don't 
think anyone was saying that NoxiousGas!Voldemort is Great.  When 
Ollivander stated it, he probably didn't know what Voldemort was up 
to, either, just that he was probably, possibly alive.  And he 
seemed, to me atleast, to be referring to what Voldemort was.  And 
Ollivander did he say he "did" terrible but great things, not 
he's "doing" terrible but great things.

Cathubodva:
>>2. >he influenced people to share his beliefs>
The only people who seem to share his beliefs are the DEs, and by all 
accounts they're only a very small percentage of the wizarding 
population. (Even then, their loyalty is a bit suspect) The majority 
of the WW seems to emphatically reject him and his beliefs, and as 
just about everyone wants him dead, I'm giving him an F in Charisma.>>

As someone else has already pointed out(forgive me, because I don't 
remember who), there was a huge crowd gathered around the DE's at the 
QWC.  The MoM officials had to try and *fight* their way through a 
crowd just to get to the inner circle of DE's puppeting the poor 
Muggles.  Which, to me, insinuates that it wasn't that small of a 
group.  And thus, maybe the Voldemort supporters aren't quite the 
minority we like to think they are.

Cathubodva:
>>4.>THe amount of distruction he created was probably a lot>
A hurricane is destructive. A tsunami is destructive. A 14-year old 
in a stolen V8 is destructive. I don't think that just being 
destructive is enough to qualify for Greatness. >>

Hurricanes and tsunamis are not an actual person like Voldemort is, 
they're just a part of nature that happens to be destructive.  And 
such forces of nature are only destructive for what, a few hours, at 
most?  Voldemort was destructive enough to have the WW on it's knees 
for years, to have people, even after a decade of relative peace, 
still afraid to say his name.  So I don't count them as an accurate 
comparison to Voldemort.  A teenager behind the wheel of a V8- also 
not a good comparison.  Voldemort was great without much help- it 
wasn't like he sat behind the wheel of some car and just caused 
destruction by turning the wheel and stomping the gas pedal.  He 
became Great of his own powers, as far as we know.  He was pretty 
much Great in and of himself- he was a very powerful wizard, and that 
takes skill and intelligence.  He didn't become Great because he had 
alot of money and was able to buy weapons and tanks and just go 
around rampaging.  No, he got inside people's heads, inside their 
homes, their families, their lives, and caused destruction and damage 
and hatred.  His main weapon is his psychological warfare, it seems.

And if being destructive is not enough to qualify as Greatness, then 
I think the WW sort of disagrees with you.  It's rather obvious the 
average wizard was/is in awe and fears Voldemort for his magical 
abilities and what he does with them- basically, he destroys things
(houses, people, families, lives).  They seem to think he is atleast 
somewhat Great.  And then, we have Famous Harry Potter.  And what 
made him just so derned famous?  That incident when he wasn't even a 
year old.  And what happened there... Well, he *destroyed* 
Voldemort.  He was the only survivor of his *destroyed* house, for 
both his parents were dead and Voldemort was as good as dead at the 
time.  And Harry didn't do anything, really, right(not that we know 
of, anyways)?  He wasn't even a year old, he just basically sat 
there...and reflected the Killing Curse which caused quite a bit of 
*destructive* damage.  And that is what made him so Great to everyone
(in varying degrees) and what made everyone think that they could 
expect Great things from that young boy.  So I think being able to be 
hugely destructive with your magical abilities does provide some 
respect in the WW. (And I'm not trying to say, with all of that, that 
I believe Voldemort is Great. No, I think there is no doubt in my 
mind that he is Powerful, and that he has acheived some degree of 
Greatness in the WW...but that doesn't mean I think he's Great.)


Speaking of which...it seems that scene in PS/SS, in Ollivander's 
shop, has gone around for discussion.  To quote the misty-eyed 
salesman:  "I think we must expect great things from you, Mr. 
Potter....After all, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did great things- 
terrible, yes, but great."  

Josie(Welcome to the list, btw!), talking about the quote above from 
Mr. Ollivander:
>>Ollivander in this comment is comparing Harry to Voldy, although he 
does not know a lot about Harry's abilities (as far as we know). He 
is comparing Voldy, a person who creates fear and paranoia by the 
simple mention of his name, to the very person in which the wizarding 
world looks as Voldy's downfall. How can Ollivander compare the two 
who are seemingly so different at this point in the story?>>

Mr. Ollivander seems indeed to be similarily comparing young Harry to 
the Dark Lord, doesn't he?(He could just be going off on the basis 
that Harry was just chosen by the brother to Voldie's wand, but 
still...)  Saying that Harry is destined for *great thing*, then 
talking about the *great things* Voldemort did... Well, I wonder, if 
after saying that Ollivander was wondering to 
himself.. "Yes...terrible things...but we shall have to wait and see 
if Mr. Potter's great achievments turn out to be terrible or 
not...".  

Josie:
>>It seems to me that he is assuming 
Harry will be similar to Voldemort, not because he will do dark 
magic, but because Ollivander believes Harry will be *powerful* like 
Voldy.>>

Yes, I agree with you there, in that Ollivander seems to be 
foreshadowing the success Harry will have in the wizarding world.  If 
only the boy had been paying attention, maybe he'd have picked up on 
it and not been so worried about failing at Hogwarts.  =P

And this all comes back to the "choices, not abilities" thing.  If 
Harry had chosen Slytherin, had accepted Draco's hand, he could have 
been walking down the path Voldemort had taken.  But he didn't, and 
he's not; and I do agree that with all the simalarilies between the 
two, Harry will have something big in common with Voldemort: they 
both are/will be immensely *powerful* wizards.


~Aldrea, who will never again forget(because she did, and that's what 
invoked the question- ironic, isn't it?) that in CoS Harry and Ron 
recieved Special Services awards, after having it referred/quoted to 
her about 10 different times.