Dumbledore's Philosophy (WAS: MAGIC DISHWASHER: Spying Game Philosophy

[adsong16]

No: HPFGUIDX 81595

First, an introduction:

I have been lurking on the list for a couple of weeks now, and my husband 
thinks I'm a total nut, but hey, what are you gonna do. I live in Pennsylvania, I 
am a musician, and I am working on my dissertation. (well, not just now, 
obviously... er... anyway, moving on).  I just want to say that it's WONDERFUL 
to be able to discuss the books in such depth, with such articulate, intelligent 
people, and yes, well, other nutters. *wink*

And now on to the business at hand:

Marie:
> What if Dumbledore HAS worked out another possible interpretation of 
> the prophecy?  What if he believes that the only way for Voldemort to 
> be permanently vanquished is for Harry to be unwilling to kill him, 
> even if not doing so would mean his own death?  If Harry's current 
> anguish about having to become a murderer persists, he might make 
> that choice, even if he believes he can kill Voldemort.  So even if 
> Dumbledore realizes that the outcome of this hypothetical encounter 
> would not be Harry's death, Harry has to believe it would be.  
> Because only then can he make the truly noble choice TO die because 
> to do otherwise would make him someone he doesn't want to be, someone 
> who would see himself as unworthy of love (as his self reflection 
> seems to indicate).  We know (or believe, anyway) that Lily's self-
> sacrificial love of Harry stopped Voldemort the first time and forged 
> a link between Voldemort and Harry.  I think Dumbledore may believe 
> Harry's power that the Dark Lord knows not lies in his unwillingness 
> to kill, but if Dumbledore tells him that directly, it will nullify 
> Harry's choice.  He cannot truly choose to die rather than kill if he 
> thinks that doing so would not actually result in his death, and that 
> is why Dumbledore let him make such a simplistic interpretation of 
> the prophecy.  He respects Harry's right to choose, and more than 
> that, he knows that the choice will have to be genuine to be 
> effective.  

I think you may be up to something here. We know that in the heat of the 
moment Harry has *wanted* to kill people, but has in practice been incapable 
of it. First, he tries to kill Sirius in PoA, before he finds out the truth about the 
Secret-keeping. But he just points at Sirius with his wand and can't bring 
himself to do it. Then of course he prevents Lupin and Sirius from killing Peter, 
who deserves it even more. In OoP he runs after Bellatrix to kill her, but is 
even unable to perform the Cruciatus Curse on her correctly. (Sure, this could 
be because he's never performed it before and has never been taught how to 
do it. But it could also be because he is in fact *incapable* --read: too pure of 
heart-- of performing an Unforgivable curse).

We also know that JKR tends to lead us in one direction and then do a 180 
degree turnaround. For example, in Chapter 12 of GoF Harry envisions 
himself wining the Triwizard Cup and everyone cheering for him. And at this 
point, I for one was thinking "well, the hero always wins so he probably will 
get the cup at the end, somehow". But it was a trick, and although he does 
win, the scene of him holding the cup in front of the school after coming back 
from the graveyard could not be more diametrically different than what he had 
imagined.

All of the above leads me to this: it's too obvious for Harry to *literally* kill LV, 
besides the fact that he may not actually be *able* to do it. Some people have 
suggested other ways in which LV could be defeated (being stripped of his 
magical powers, being somehow reedemed ala Darth Vader, etc.) Marie's 
suggestion above that Harry might choose to die, rather than kill, might hit 
close to target. 

OTOH,  I somehow don't envision Harry sacrificing himself unless someone 
else was on the line (his friends, the WW, take your pick). It is also true that 
according to the prophecy, only Harry has *the power* to vanquish LV. So 
allowing himself to be killed by LV would only ensure LV's success, wouldn't 
it? 

Marie's suggestion that Harry's mercy will vanquish LV is brilliant. But in order 
to do it, Harry would have to *know* that it would vanquish him, otherwise 
he'd be handing LV the WW in a silver platter. Quite a little cunundrum. 

Of course, how JKR is going to bring Harry out of the whole ordeal without 
some blood in his hands (which IMHO is the only way to bring Harry out, 
otherwise the point of the story --about the power of love-- would be lost) is 
the crux of the question, isn't it?

I hope that made sense... 

Gorda