Independence, power and loneliness

[Iris FT]

No: HPFGUIDX 44718


  
Anne wrote:

“Finally, to take things just one step further, I
sincerely hope that Harry does continue to work _with_
these other wonderful characters.  I would hate it if
Harry turned out to be a "god" among wizards and too
high above any of them.  I _want_ to see the strengths
of Ron, Hermione, Lupin, Sirius, and especially
NEVILLE combined with Harry's to defeat Voldemort.”

 

I agree with you. It would not be very interesting if Harry “turned to be a god among wizards and too high above any of them”. First, it would not be an original ending. It would remind too much the destiny of characters like Luke Skywalker or more especially Paul Atreides (I don’t remember who wrote about a parallelism between Harry and the Kwizatz Haderach). As the keeper of a power no one else has, Paul is doomed to loneliness. The Dune series is, actually, a reflection about power, and an illustration of the idea according to which power is always synonym of loneliness.

Putting Harry in a situation of “god among the wizards” would imply giving him absolute power. I sincerely don’t believe JKR’s project is making him the forthcoming Minister of Magic, the “Wizard of the Wizards”, even if the way she writes his adventures reminds the classical schema of “the hidden prince” or “the hidden heir”, so would mean he’s got a strong relationship with power. It is obvious that the boy has powers no one else has, just like Paul Atreides, that he has a mission too, but I don’t think this implies that will have to rule the WW, for a reason or another, at the end of the series. Those books deserve a more original conclusion.

 

The second reason why Harry probably won’t turn out to be a “god” or a “wizarding Kwizatz Haderach” is he would become at the time a new Voldemort. The Dark Lord’s behaviour is despotic, and as a despot, he considers himself as a kind of a god. The Death Eaters bow low before him as if he were an idol; he can decide who is to live and who is to die, who is to be rewarded and who is to be punished, just as if he were a god making a final judgement. This has to be taken as a representation of a dictatorial behaviour, which combines absolute power and personality worship. I don’t think Harry has any predisposition for that. He doesn’t take advantage of his own celebrity, doesn’t boast he defeated Voldemort. He remains humble and reserved. This is probably the result of eleven years at the Dursleys. Moreover, even if the Sorting Hat said about him «I see a nice thirst to prove yourself”, Harry never tries to outclass the other kids, this is not his purpose. He doesn’t think he’s the best among Hogwarts students. He just wants to be one of them, and no more. He felt too lonely during eleven years to make anything that would put him apart. He needs friends, to be with them, not to rule them. He’s very different on this point from Draco Malfoy, who doesn’t accept Hermione to be have better marks than him, who is ready to buy his playing in Slytherin quidditch team, and who considers Crabbe and Goyle are here to bring him out. If Draco were in Harry’s shoes, he surely wouldn’t be reserved and would tell everyone about his own achievements. Harry is not proud of himself, and that’s what preserves him.

Nevertheless, we can’t dismiss the possibility of Harry being tempted by power. JKR seems to give us some clues about this possible orientation in GoF, when she shows Harry fantasying. He imagines he plays the Quidditch Wolrd Cup, wins the Triwizard Tournament and deserves admiration and honours.

These are merely teen fantasies, but they imply a possible future thirst for power and fame.

Moreover, it seems that this is one of JKR’s questioning, for it appears several times in the series. We can for example consider Gilderoy Lockhart and Crouch Sr as two representations of the thirst for power and fame, and of the perversions it can cause. Lockhart is ready to every kind of meanness, even to attack two kids, to be famous,then powerful. As to Crouch Sr, Sirius Black explains clearly he went to become worst than Voldemort himself when he was fighting the Dark Side: he fought evil with evil weapons, and didn’t hesitate to turn himself in a kind of a dictator, who was able to send a man to Azkaban without a trial.

IMO there are few possibilities that Harry would become a second Lockhart, for he doesn’t have a clear pretension to fame. However, he could be tempted with power just like Crouch, he could believe there’s no other way of fighting the Dark Lord. Will he perform the Unforgivable Charms? Will he answer hatred with hatred? Will he lose himself to save the others? Will love go on protecting him until the end of the story? Well I don’t know. Neither do my potterfans’ friends. Most of the ladies hope Harry won’t die. So, do I.

 

Iris



---------------------------------
Yahoo! Mail -- Une adresse @yahoo.fr gratuite et en français !


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]