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

[slgazit]

No: HPFGUIDX 81823

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Iggy McSnurd" 
<coyoteschild at p...> wrote:
> (Still don't understand, then, where the look of triumph in AD's 
eye was
> from ...)

We'll have to wait until book 7 to understand that, I am afraid. My 
guess is, as I said, that the essence of the protection (love and 
sacrifice) is so foreign to Voldemort's nature, that he will somehow 
be weakened by it.

> I don't agree there.  From what we're told, I get more of an 
impression that
> he became what he is because he feels he was greatly betrayed by 
the world
> at large.  (Or else, why would he specifically seek out his 
parents and
> grandparents to kill them.  If he was simply evil, he wouldn't 
have cared
> enough about them.  He killed them in revenge for what they did to 
him and
> his mother.)

That was a choice that he did not have to make. The fact that he 
chose to kill them in revenge shows who he truly is. Compare that to 
Harry who, despite having been bullied and mistreated by Dudley, 
still goes out of his way to save his life, or protects the life of 
Wormtail. I think the key to understanding Harry Potter lies in 
Dumbledore's statement in CoS "It is not our abilities that show who 
we truly are, it is our choices" (paraphrased). Riddle has shows who 
he *truly* is by his choices - and he has shown himself to be evil 
to his core.

> The greatest evil is love turned to hatred.  I feel that Tom was 
loved by
> his mother and loved her back, yet she was taken from him at a 
very early
> age, which turned him bitter.  That bitterness about his lot in 
life
> festered, and he saw his father and grandparents as the first 
cause of his
> life being so terrible.  He no longer had anyone in his life, as a 
young
> boy, who cared about him...

Harry grew up in a family that hated him and treated him as a 
worthless burden. He had been told that his parents were useless 
bums who died in a car accident. Yet he chose a completely different 
path than Riddle has. Trying to understand why an evil person made 
the choices he made can be entertaining but they always had other 
options. Hitler had a loving mother and abusive father, yet there 
are many others who've had similar or worse home environment but did 
not turn out into the monster that he became. I think Voldemort is 
modeled in some way after Hitler, and like him, he has gone well 
beyond the point of redemption, thus the only satisfying conclusion 
for him is permanent death.

> Like I said, that was after Riddle had made his decision to become 
LV.

But that is the whole point, isn't it? He *made* the decision, then 
acted on it. He has made his choice.

>  As I
> also said, it's entirely possible that the boy who was Tom when he 
was still
> with (and loved by) his mother can very well be buried deep inside 
LV.

I think that the boy who was Tom is no different than Voldemort.

> Harry met the memory of Riddle, not the real Tom... Even Tom 
himself admits
> that.  What was infused into the book was what LV WANTED to be 
infused into
> the book, not necessarilly every part of himself.

Perhaps, but the only version of Tom Riddle that remains is the 
adult Voldemort.

> Add to that the other ingredients, and you have an interesting mix.
> 
> Harry:  Blood which contains a mother's love...
> 
> Peter:  The hand of a wizard who owes a life debt to Harry.  A 
debd which,
> as AD says, creates a very powerful bond between them. 
(paraphrasing, of
> course.)
> 
> Tom Riddle Sr.:  The bones of a man who cast out his son and hated 
him for
> what he was.
> 
> (Lessee... 1/3 love, 1/3 debt to Harry, and 1/3 hatred of wizards, 
and LV in
> particular.  Should be interesting to see if this is significant 
at all.)

Hard to say, to me it seems that the *soul* is what matters most and 
that one is still 100% Voldemort...

> I am a strong believer that NOBODY is inherently evil.  If someone 
becomes
> evil to that degree, there was a reason for it.

No one is born evil, that is true. But when they have made the 
choice and remorselessly acted on it, they have just that. Hitler 
was inherently evil. Discovering his inner child would not have 
changed that.

In my mind the only satisfying ending to the story of Harry Potter 
is with Voldemort destroyed. Any other ending will be lacking. I 
*hope* that Harry survives, but that is not a requirement. The only 
thing I am certain of in how the series will end is that Voldemort 
will die permanently. Anything else means that evil can win and that 
will not fit in with the story as I see it. Voldemort transformed 
into a good guy just does not cut it.

Of course, that's just my opinion. The only one whose choices matter 
here is JKR. :-)

Salit