Dumbledore and the Prophecy that was

[Wanda Sherratt]

No: HPFGUIDX 74132

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Steve" <bboy_mn at y...> wrote:
> So the choices are, smash the prophecy so Voldemort will forget 
about
> it and go on about his business of killing people and taking over 
the
> world, OR guard the prophecy for as long as possible, and keep
> Voldemort obsessed with getting it, thereby distracting him from 
his
> plan to take over the world. 
> 
> Personally, I think the second option, Dumbledore's course of 
action,
> is the much better choice. It makes more sense to keep Voldemort
> distracted and causing as little trouble as possible, and in the
> process perhaps saving a few lives, and delaying Voldemort, 
hopefully,
> long enough that they can come up with a plan to stop him.
>  
Actually, that is a good explanation for Dumbledore's actions in the 
book.  About the only good one I've read.  The trouble is, it's up 
to Rowling to come up with plausible reasons for the plot she's set 
in motion, and she doesn't.  There's NO explanation for why 
Dumbledore chose this path instead of the straightforward one 
described above, of just destroying the prophecy outright.  If he's 
going to tell Harry "everything", as he promises at the end of OotP, 
he'd have to say it there.  Something like, "Yes, I decided that the 
risk of using you as bait was worth it, so we could delay Voldemort 
long enough to get in a position where we could defeat him.  As long 
as he was concentrating on getting the prophecy, he wasn't doing 
anything else.  It all depended on you holding out as long as 
possible."  Sure, he could apologize, and realize now that it was a 
bad plan, but at least it would have been a PLAN.  As the book is, 
though, there's no hint of any such reasoning.  The whole plot just 
sits there, as if no justification is necessary, and so none is 
offered.  This is why I find OotP unsatisfactory - the writer seems 
to think that the reason behind all the action we've witnessed is 
self-evident, and it's just illogical.  It taints the whole book 
from the root.

Wanda