Bang! You're Dead. (was:Voldemorts animus...)

[catherinemckiernan]

No: HPFGUIDX 85891

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Berit Jakobsen" <belijako at o...>
wrote:
> Kneazy wrote:
> 
> Oh, dear.
> > As  an enthusiastic afficianado of gore-splattered mayhem I am 
> under-
> > whelmed, nay, distressed by the current  outbreak of touchy-feely
> > new age 'don't let's be nasty to Voldemort.' It seems that
although 
> he
> > and his enthusiastic band of supremacist murderers have
slaughtered
> > uncounted innocents over the years, all his sins will  be wiped
out 
> by
> > the goodness in Harry's heart. Arrrgh!
> 
> Berit wrote:
> 
> Hehe, Kneazy: I never said Voldemort is not going to be destroyed!
I 
> just don't think it will happen in a frenzy of hatred from 
> Harry; "Take that!" *splash* and "take this" *the breaking of
bones* 
> and "serves you right" *splat; tearing out Voldemort's eyes*...
This 
> is hard. I am not denying book 5-Harry seems to harbour a lot of 
> hatred in his heart (at the end of book five a lot of it is
directed 
> against Snape). But you must admit the way Rowling writes, she
opens 
> up for another way of defeating Voldemort than just doing it the 
> Voldemort way? There's too much talk and insinuations about that 
> mysterious force, the thing Harry has that Voldie hasn't. 

Then me:
What if the mysterious force were actually a mysterious lack of force?
The power of inadequacy rather than the power of love. Oh, love's
easily assumed, because that's just the sort of touchy-feely thing Dd
would go for (especially if it involved socks), and of course it's a
song. But the force that can defeat Voldemort might be some other
emotion. 

Voldemort is the archetypal Evil Overlord, believing himself
righteous, all-powerful, etc. etc. So what if he didn't leave Harry's
body in the MoM due to the pain of inhabiting such a hunk of burnin'
love, but because he couldn't bear Harry's feeling of failure. Of
inadequacy. Of guilt. Surely these, as much as love, overwhelm him at
the loss of Sirius (when the children are walking through the Prophecy
Room isn't there a line in the narration about Harry feeling really
embarrassed that he's led them their on a fool's errand?). Perhaps it
is Harry's weakness that is, related to V., his strength. V. has
devoted his life to overcoming what he perceives as the most
unbearable human weakness, that of mortality. Harry's overwhelming
sense of failure is dangerous to V. because having survived for so
long on will-power alone, he can't cope with the possibility of this
sort of inadequacy and vulnerability. You could bring Snape in here,
surely a man battling conflicting feelings of superiority and
inadequacy if ever there were one.

Although personally, I would prefer the triumph of Muggle technology
combined with magic, ie. Wingardium Leviosa and a cement mixer.

Catherine McK