[HPforGrownups] Harry sparing V'mort

[Richard Thorp]

No: HPFGUIDX 46420

Sunday, November 10, 2002, 6:50:36 AM, Eric, wrote:

EO> In the first place, I do _not_ think for one second that for Harry to kill
EO> Voldemort would make him as bad as Voldemort!  Just think about it for a
EO> second.  Voldemort killed and harmed many, many people, a large number of
EO> whom he had nothing rational against, no real reason to hate, and could have
EO> spared perfectly easily.  Harry, on the other hand, has excellent reasons to
EO> hate and fear Lord Voldemort---or doesn't killing Harry's parents and
EO> dooming him to growing up chez Dursley qualify?  (If not, I'd honestly
EO> appreciate hearing about just what _would!_)  Unlike Voldemort, Harry is
EO> quite gentle and compassionate (his behavior, again and again, whether to
EO> the other kidnappees in the second Triwizard task, Buckbeak, Hagrid, or
EO> others, shows this clearly) and, were it not for Voldemort, would certainly
EO> never kill anyone.

All a case of stooping to the level of the killers... Would it be
right for us to torture and kill prisoners purely because that was
what the enemy did to us? I say no...

Also, to use a Star Wars stance (and Im sure, some other series/worlds
with concepts similar to the force-duality sorta thing), taking up the
weapons of the evil people will taint yourself with evil, leading you
to a path of evil. Though HP seems to work in a much more black and
white world, where people seem not to have many flaws... (Can anyone
see a speck of darkness on Harry? Probably.. Id like to know what that
is, tho :)

EO> Harry killing V'mort would be more along the lines of killing a mad dog than
EO> an actual murder.  V'mort has demonstrated, again and again, that when given
EO> a choice to be or not be evil, that he will always choose evil.  Like Alex,
EO> the "hero" of _A Clockwork Orange,_ he "goes to the other shop."  He didn't
EO> _need_ to kill Cedric Diggory---or Frank Bryce, the old Muggle caretaker of
EO> the Riddle House, or a lot of the other people he's killed.  A wizard of his
EO> skill and talent could have Memory Charmed Frank Bryce, and Imperiused or
EO> Petrified Cedric perfectly easily.  Even "talentless" Wormtail could have
EO> handled those jobs easily enough, had he been allowed to by V'mort.

Hrm, making a good argument, but Voldie is still a human being (well,
part of him is) and killing him by his own means (Harry performing an
AK on him for instance) would still be wrong, morally.. I don't know
of many people who could live with themselves if they killed someone,
even if they *really* deserved it.

EO> As long as V'mort lives, he is a terrible threat to the Wizard and Muggle
EO> worlds alike.  Since he's stated for the record that the Dementors will join
EO> him, even Azkaban would probably not be enough to hold him.  I don't think
EO> he can be safely shorn of his powers, and he's demonstrated incredible grit
EO> and determination to come back after HP defeated him so decisively once
EO> before.  Killing him, or something equivalent (remember Hagrid's statement
EO> that V'mort "didn't have enough human left in him to die?"  Maybe a Dementor
EO> snog-fest is what's called for here?) is the only way to deal with him, and
EO> remove an incorrigible, sociopathic serial murderer who happens to have
EO> incredible power from society.

This (for me) brings up the question of how Wossisname (sorry Im tired
and can't remember the name of Voldemorts predecessor as Evil Wizard
of the Age) was defeated by Dumbledore.... Is D'dore tainted by an
evil act?

EO> And, in the second place, it _isn't_ the worst thing they could do.  If they
EO> _could_ strip V'mort of his powers, they could give him to Filch as an
EO> assistant and understudy.  Or send him to live with the Dursleys...

Hehe, a punishment of making him into the thing he most hates could be
described as needlessly cruel, or poetically ironic.. Hum :)

-Rich
msn: obbles at hotmail.com