LV's Evil: "Gift for Spreading Discord and Enmity..."

[Jen Reese]

No: HPFGUIDX 80749

In post 80718, Whimsyflower was musing about the scene in COS where 
Riddle grows stronger as Ginny grows weaker. She related that to the 
prophecy and said:

"For a while now LV has been putting parts of himself into Harry,
first with the AK curse when Harry was one-year old (Parseltongue and 
what else?) and more recently with the thoughts or images he planted 
in Harry's brain in OOTP. Maybe LV will put more into Harry in Books 
6 & 7. He's also taken parts of Harry into himself, most noteably 
Harry's blood in LV's rebirthing scene in GOF. <snip> 

This idea has been rolling around in my head and I finally realized 
it could answer a question bothering me since reading OOTP:  How can 
I believe Lord Voldemort is a great villian and Evil Overlord when he 
comes across as a powerful-but-poor leader at best, and a fool at 
worst? (All IMO, of course).

Yet Dumbledore, Snape, the Weasley's and other powerful wizards speak 
of him with a certain awe, referring to the pure evil of the First 
War and the fear LV engendered in the hearts of all.  And in OOTP, 
even Dumbledore appears to show fear for the first time in his duel 
with Voldemort at the MOM.

Piecing all this together for myself, I ended up back at DD's speech 
at the feast in GOF and the title of my post--how does Voldemort 
spread discord and emnity to such a degree that even the best Wizards 
can quake before him?

Then it came to me, thanks to Whimsyflower's idea--Perhaps the 
Darkest Magic of all is what we see happening in OOTP, the dark, 
bleak world where our favorite characters are at odds with each 
other. We see Sirius slip down into a vortex of misery; we see Snape 
uncharacteristically fearful when discussing LV with Harry; we even 
see Dumbledore make mistakes and poor choices that indirectly 
contribute to Sirius's death. 

Perhaps Voldemort is The Ultimate Dementor, sucking all the good 
thoughts and memories of all who try to fight him, and he and his 
followers feed off them.  People like Umbridge, Fudge and Percy 
knowingly or unknowingly contribute to their power by thwarting the 
Power of Good and feeding the Power of Evil.

And Harry, with the most direct link to Voldemort, is the most 
affected, disturbed and distraught of them all. The Wizard World 
Harry has learned to count on and trust in is no more--Voldemort is 
slowly trying to take him and the world over, spreading a dark 
blanket of fear and evil, like poison, as he gains power.

The only way out will be the unity Dumbledore espouses in GOF, both 
in the hospital wing and at the feast (and through the sorting hat in 
OOTP). Otherwise, LV will be given a "second chance to destroy the 
world we have tried to rebuild...."

Jen Reese, who wasn't scared of LV after OOTP, but is quaking now...