OoTP: Voldemort and Death

[stephen6341]

No: HPFGUIDX 66435

OK, I've been kind of lurking here for a long time and thought I 
should finally post (I actually have something intelligent to add--
maybe).  But first, just wanted to thank everyone here.  This list is 
great, and it has just fueled my love for Harry Potter.  Everyone 
here is ridiculously cool.  

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OK then, on to my thoughts.  First, just like everyone else, I have 
not been able to keep up on everything here so if I'm repeating, I 
apologize.  Also, you guys know a lot more about all this stuff than 
I do, so please shoot holes in all this, I'm just going to babble a 
bit.

Anyway, as I read the book and have been reading some of the messages 
I've had a bunch of thoughts.  First some real quick ones.  
Everyone's debated Harry's use of the Cruciatus Curse and DD's 
failings.  Personally, this is what gives the book it's flavor to me 
and is not a problem.  I love that Harry is not necessarily perfect 
and is put in a morally murky position and doesn't always choose what 
people view as the right thing.  And DD is not perfect.  And both of 
these two were not perfect and made mistakes because they 
loved...Harry loved Sirius enough to use the curse (and it was 
probably b/c the curse was made out of love that it wasn't that 
effective) and DD made his mistake b/c he loved Harry.  Those to me 
will always be forgivable mistakes b/c they are not driven by self-
gain, but by intense emotions...exactly what DD says seperates HP 
from LV.  

OK, second quick point.  When Hermione mentioned you can't hurt a 
baby (with the baby DE), did anyone else think that has anything to 
do with why Harry wasn't harmed by LV when he was a baby?  I know 
it's a long shot and it probably has more to do with Lily's love for 
Harry, but just a thought.

OK, last point and this is my major one (kind of realizing this 
should have been 2 posts now so I'll try to keep it short).  While I 
don't think anyone would argue that the overriding theme of these 
books is love (i.e., Lily's love saved Harry, Harry's heart is 
exactly what LV doesn't have), I think that needs to be expanded one 
more step.  

One of JKR's big things to me is death is not the worst thing in the 
world.  Already she has "killed" Harry's parents, Sirius, and 
Cedric.  The last few chapters had DD pointing out that LV's biggest 
fault is that he views death as the worst possible outcome.  I don't 
think LV and DD had a specific understanding of what would be worse 
than death when that whole conversation was going on.  I think DD 
knew that things like being without love, not having friends/family, 
etc were all a fate worse than death.  LV can't even begin to grasp 
this.  He doesn't realize if that he hadn't feared death so much, he 
would have never gone after Harry as a baby and then fallen out of 
power.  His fear of death in that instance led to his demise.

Death to DD is not something to be feared b/c if you spend your life 
fearing death, you never live (e.g., LV).  And if you start looking 
back on some of the books you see this theme a bit.  In PS/SS, the 
guy (can't remember his name) gave up eternal life to have the stone 
destroyed and DD didn't seem very fazed by it.  In PoA, Harry spares 
Wormtail even though he clearly deserved to die.  In OoTP DD doesn't 
even contemplate killing the DE's he captures knowing full well they 
are likely to escape.  Also, in OoTP, when LV possessed Harry at the 
end what forced him out of Harry's body?  Was it Harry's love for 
Sirius?  Probably.  But even more so, it was Harry's lack of fear 
about death.  He wanted DD to kill him.  He knew his death wouldn't 
be the worst thing that can possibly happen and that LV's death would 
be worth his own death and that there is some life after death (he 
knew he would see Sirius).  That, in my mind, scared LV out of Harry.

All of this is confirmed (again, at least to me!) in the end when 
Harry asks Nick those questions.  Nick tells him that he is weak and 
that's why he chose being a ghost.  That some wizards need to leave 
their imprint on the earth with former shells of themselves.  What he 
didn't say, but what I implied is that the brave wizards understand 
that they will live imprints on this earth with the memories of their 
actions after they are gone and there is no need to stick around to 
constantly remind people that they were once here.  Finally, when 
Luna mentions to Harry that she will see her mom again (the voices 
behind the veil) it also confirms that death is not the end (at least 
to JKR).

Now, after all this, what does it mean for the rest of the series?  
Unfortunately I think it means more deaths, potentially many more.  
JKR is going to illustrate that the idea that valuing love, 
friendship, honor and compassion more than fearing death is what 
separates good from bad.  So, I fear there will be many sacrifices at 
the end to prove this point.  Of course, a lot of me hopes I'm wrong.

Sorry to be so long winded, I would love to get other opinions and I 
hope this makes some sense.

Steve