BADD ANGST TBAY, Part II

[boyd_smythe]

No: HPFGUIDX 81644

>>Remnant wrote:
>> I continue to wait for canon that there has been a long line of 
evil wizards or Dark Lords who tried to take over the WW. (snip)<<

> Pip!Squeak remarked:
> Since Professor Binns is so deadly boring that Harry and Ron have to 
rely on Hermione's notes to pass History of Magic, it's a little 
difficult to tell *what* he's said.
> Funny, that. ;-)
> But the bits of relevant canon which have sneaked in are:
> `particularly famous for his defeat of the dark wizard Grindelwald 
in 1945' PS/SS Ch 6 p. 77,  
> Everyone knows that one - but note that Dumbledore is *particularly* 
famous for defeating Grindelwald, implying that it was something of an 
event.
> `scribbled down names and dates and got Emeric the Evil and Uric the 
Oddball mixed up' PS/SS p. 99 Ch. 8
> Emeric, which is often spelt Emerick or Emerich is from Old German; 
it was sometimes used in England. It is a human, not a Goblin name. 
Emeric and Uric were both used around the 12th Century, so we're 
probably talking early Middle Ages. Whoever Emeric the Evil was, he 
was a) important enough to be included in history lessons and b) a 
seriously not-nice wizard.
> In CoS Voldemort is described as the `greatest dark sorcerer of all 
time' CoS Ch 1. p.9. 'Greatest' is a comparitive. It implies others.
> And in PoA the implication of other Dark wizards is made clearer: 
Lord Voldemort is `the most feared Dark wizard for a hundred years'. 
Ch. 1 p. 10 – 11. This is repeated in GoF. `most powerful Dark wizard 
for a century' Ch. 2 p.23.
> Grindelwald was around in 1945; the repeated use of 'for a century' 
implies that there were other dark wizards *before* Grindelwald (i.e. 
more than a century before Voldemort came on the scene). Either that, 
or Grindelwald was the most feared and most powerful Dark wizard for 
one heck of a long time ;-)
> And in OOP we have – Urquhart Rackharrow 1612 – 1697, Inventor of 
the Entrail-expelling Curse. He gets a portrait in St Mungo's. He is 
described as looking a bit vicious. The names also bring to mind 
'being harrowed on the rack' (ie tortured) and Sir Francis Urquhart, 
one of the UK's great fictional villains of recent times ('you may 
think so, but I couldn't possibly comment').
> So the inventor of a rather nasty sounding curse gets a portrait in 
St Mungo's, hey?
> (snip)
> So canon gives us three named Dark Wizards. One is important 
enough to get his name and dates into a history lesson, and has a name 
that suggests 'Middle Ages'. One is important enough to get a mention 
on Chocolate Frog cards, and his 1945 defeat is what Dumbledore is 
'particularly' famous for. One is Lord Voldemort.
> In addition, another 17th Century magician has his painting in St 
Mungo's for inventing a curse. Meanwhile, Voldemort is described in 
ways that imply other, earlier 'great' Dark wizards. The greatEST. 
Most feared for a hundred years. Most powerful for a century.
> So, there is a line. Middle Ages, 17th Century, early 20th Century, 
late 20th Century. Dark wizards who get into history books, or have 
their portraits hanging in hospitals.
> And even Ollivander in PS/SS speaks of Voldemort in a way that 
suggests the WW is rather ambiguous in the way it sees Dark wizards. 
'He Who Must Not Be Named did great things - terrible, yes, but 
great'. PS/SS Ch. 5, p.65
> Pip!Squeak <


P!S, thanks for the bits of canon.

Now let me get this straight. JKR's been building us up for 5 books 
now to the *great* revelation that Dumbledore's *great* goal, and 
Harry's super-terrific *singular* power, is to stop the parade of 
evil, dictatorial wizards. And how has she done this?

By mentioning LV about a thousand times. By mentioning other evil 
wizards at best 3 times??? Huh? Let's list your baddies again.

1. Grindelwald, check.
2. Emeric the evil, maybe (one passing reference and we have no idea 
whether he was human or in what way he was evil).
3. Rackharrow, maybe (a reference to his portrait and that he created 
an evil curse).
And we don't know whether any of these were racist. Or pure-blood 
prejudiced. Or tried to take over the WW. Or anything.

And as for the references to LV being the strongest in a century, 
isn't it more likely that there's just no one around who could tell 
whether he was the strongest *ever*? Almost no one has lived long 
enough to say more than that he is the strongest in their 
lifetime of about a century.

And yes, there have been other evil wizards. Just as there are evil 
people in the real world. So the fact that there were others is just a 
reflection of the real world. But did they do what LV is trying to do? 
Never mentioned. IMO, he is unique, the perfect storm of unparallelled 
evil, power, and intelligence. Or does prejudice in the WW somehow 
breed super-powers and genius into its evil wizards? No, as far as we 
know, LV is just a superfreak. (Eeew, no, not that way, slashers!)

And if the whole point of the books is to get Harry to break the 
cycle, then would JKR really have left us so in the dark about this 
cycle for so long? Doubtful. She could have had Binns mention it. She 
could have had Hermione mention it (from all her reading). She could 
have had Dumbledore or another teacher mention it. Or perhaps there 
would have been some discussion via Arthur or Percy of a time when the 
MoM was destroyed in the dark ages by the evil wizard Bandicoot or 
something. Or that attack in 1573 on Hogwarts. But nothing like that 
has happened in canon. So it seems unlikely.

Instead, we have been led to believe that the WW is an imperfect 
society with an imperfect government in much the same way that modern 
society and government are imperfect. Some wizards are bad just as 
some people are bad. Sometimes unfair things happen in the WW as in 
our world. And how we handle these real-world failings is our choice, 
just as they are Harry's choice in the WW. JKR is just teaching life 
lessons drawn from the real world, IMHO. Since the real world will 
likely always have prejudice and evil, why suddenly in two books tell 
the reader that it's possible for Harry to set everything right in the 
WW?

Nope, there will always be bad guys (this one is Voldemort), and 
sometimes it's up to you to stop them.

-Remnant