DD : an appreciation. (Was Re: Snape, A Murderer?)

[nkafkafi]

No: HPFGUIDX 95461

Kneasy wrote:
<snip>
Yes. I think DD is a cold, calculating old bastard with ice-water in 
his veins. <snip> Lily and James had to die to provide the necessary 
protection for Harry. <snip> DD is sitting in the pub listening to 
the putative Prophecy. <snip> It doesn't need a genius to figure out 
that DD immediately starts to calculate who the Prophesy might apply 
to; it doesn't need many more brains to figure out that they are in 
danger from a Voldy pre-emptive strike. But if their protection is 
ensured, what would that mean? James and Lily live, Harry is not 
protected, Harry is not marked, Harry does not receive some of 
Voldy's power in the subsequent mental transfer. No Weapon!Harry to 
eventually bring down Voldemort. But the Prophecy intimates that 
Weapon!Harry is the best bet for achieving that aim, indeed it might 
be the only way. Sorry Jim! Sorry Lil; but you've got to go. <snip>


Neri:
I have several problems with the scenario of DD as the ruthless, 
grand puppet master:

1. This assumes that by the end of Book 7, when we'll have that scene 
when finally all is revealed, DD will say to Harry: "oh yes, and I 
could have prevented your parent's death but didn't. In fact I kind 
of planned it. So sorry, Harry". Personally I can't imagine such a 
scene.

2. Puppet-master!DD means that Harry was a puppet all his life. This 
would make the moral of the whole HP saga: "stupid annoying teenagers 
don't know what's good for them or for society. They can only be 
useful when they are manipulated by ruthless old men". Somehow I 
don't think this is the moral JKR meant.

3. You are allowing DD an incredible foresight. The words of the 
prophecy are "and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he 
will have a power the Dark Lord knows not". This is extremely vogue. 
There is no mention here of any protection that "the one" will have, 
no mention of his parents killed by the Dark Lord, no mention what is 
the "mark". How would DD know in advance that the AK will rebound but 
leave a scar? How would he predict that Voldy's powers will be 
transferred to Harry during this? How could he be so sure that James, 
Lily and Voldy will all act the way they acted? All this sounds like 
crazy risk taking to me. In fact, the actions of teenager Harry seem 
by comparison quite reasonable and well-calculated. If I were a 
puppet master I'd play my cards much safer.

4. If you still insist on giving DD so much credit, then it seems 
much more strange how he made several glaring mistakes in OotP. He 
admitted to two of them by the end: failing to tell Harry sooner 
about the prophecy and failing to realize that Snape won't be able to 
teach Harry Occlumency (there are several more obvious mistakes, but 
for the purpose of the discussion lets stay with those he admitted 
to). So is the grand puppet master really getting senile, or are you 
saying that he lied to Harry and us in this confession, and he 
actually planed Sirius death also? The end-of-Book-7-confession-scene 
now seems even less believable. Or is Sirius' death faked? The Sirius 
fans will be thankful, but this means DD had also foresaw all the mad 
events of the DoM battle. It also means Harry is even more 
manipulated, emotionally and physically. He is really a complete 
puppet. Again, this does not strike me as the moral of the books.  

Neri