Chances of Being Alive at the End of Book Seven

[fourjays22]

No: HPFGUIDX 82552

Bohcoo <sydenmill at m...> wrote:
> > By the way, is there something to this "What's worse than death" 
> > question that might point to books 6 and 7?  Not only did Ron 
> > say it, but the idea played prominently in the fight between 
> > Dumbledore and Voldemort in the MoM.  As Dumbledore said, 
> > ". . .your failure to understand that there are things much 
> > worse than death has always been your greatest weakness. . ."  


I always felt that what Dumbledore was referring to here as worse 
than death was living under tyranny (ie the tyranny of Voldemort).  
Voldemort's weakness is that he doesn't realize that people are 
willing to die for their cause (ie, the cause of good, of keeping the 
world (WW/MW) free from the likes of Voldemort, etc.). People are 
willing to -- over and over again -- risk their lives, against 
incredible odds, to fight the good fight.  Because Voldemort doesn't 
truly understand that his enemies fear living under his control more 
than they fear death, he doesn't realize the lengths people are 
willing to go to in order to fight him and prevent his return to 
power.  

I don't have Book 5 with me, but I believe one of the portraits in 
Dumbledore's office (the relative of Sirius) says at one point that 
Slytherin's are brave, but if given the choice they will always save 
their own skins first (I apologize if this is the wrong attribution).  
When I read that, I immediately thought of Dumbledore's statement to 
Voldemort -- those who are fighting the good fight WON'T save their 
own skins first, precisely because there ARE fates worse than death.  
Voldemort doesn't understand this.  (Aside -- I've just read Granger's 
book (Hidden Key to Harry Potter) and he reads the books as Christian 
allegory and statements like this as reference to a Christian afterlife.)

That said, I do think for Voldemort there is a fate worse than death -
- a life w/out power or any hope of regaining it.  As he said (again 
paraphrasing) -- there is no good or evil, there is only power and 
those too weak to claim it.  

Julie