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

[Barry Arrowsmith]

No: HPFGUIDX 95581


 >
Carolyn:
The whole plot makes a lot more sense if you agree with the theory that 
DD is simply the current incarnation, and leader of the forces
for 'good', and Harry is the one who will have to pick up that baton 
eventually - the chosen one (Merlin, Godric Gryffindor etc could have
been other incarnations). The fact that DD has Fawkes as a pet is a big 
clue to the reincarnation theme IMO, and that Harry was able to call up 
Fawkes in the Chamber. I think this is more believable than your 
'possession' idea (but see below), but also, of course, slightly
hackneyed.
 >

Kneasy:
There's a variation on this theory that I muse about occasionally. I 
posted on it last year (79455 & 79546 plus others not to hand) but 
responses were few.

It starts by asking what happened to Grindelwald; he was defeated, but 
no mention that he was destroyed or otherwise removed from the scene 
permanently. Mix in hints like Fawkes (a phoenix is supposed to 
immolate itself every 100 years yet DD hints that he has seen it happen 
often), then notice other little snippets (McGonagall is frail at 70, 
yet DD is active and when necessary vigorous at 150). Then wonder what 
the hell DD and Flamel wanted with a Philosophers Stone in the first 
place, they certainly haven't used it to produce riches. DD was a 
*partner* not just an associate or helper. Flamel is over 600, DD is 
150 - how can he be a partner? The Stone must have been made long 
before he was born, unless he's a lot older and 150 refers to *this* 
re-incarnation. Fawkes could well be a clue to his true nature.
My antennae twitch. 2+2 = 5.7.

There is a possibility that HP is just an episode in a centuries long 
battle between good and evil, as you also point out, and that DD and 
Voldy may be re-incarnated manifestations of the original combatants 
(Gryffindor? Slytherin?) that return to fight again and again 
generation after  generation. This could make Harry very small beer 
indeed, a transient character in a long running saga.

Posters have pointed out that there are no representations (pictures or 
statues of the Founders) and nobody knows what happened to them, a 
surprising ommision in the books.
And why has no-one asked how DD came to have Gryffindor's sword?

I admit that I've never really thought of Harry as DD's successor, 
(though that is a possibility), more as a possible means to actually 
destroy the source of evil, which in my musings is based in the Chamber 
of Secrets. If true this would be the final showdown, Ragnarok in 
suburbia.

It's a theme that has been used often in books and films, could even be 
considered trite, but it sits there at the back of my mind and refuses 
to go away.


 >
Carolyn:
In this respect, we may have had a version of the temptation scene 
already. I think it was no accident that DD sought out Nicholas Flamel 
when he was younger, and worked with him on the Philosopher's Stone. DD 
was as tempted as Voldy in his own way - think of the kudos of being 
the ultimate administrator of 'good' for ever and ever. All that was 
before Harry, or even Harry's parents, had even been born - he must 
have been wondering how the succession was to be maintained.
snip
 >

Kneasy:
Again a possibility, but I was wondering when *Harry* is going to be 
tempted; he is the putative hero after all and he is in a situation 
that he doesn't like. He wants out. He is vulnerable to seductive 
whispers from someone who is well-meaning on the surface but inimical 
beneath.
DD's temptation would have to be played as a reminiscence; Harry's we 
could experience in real time. Before OoP I'd slotted Sirius into the 
tempter role, now I'll have to find someone else. Damn.

 >
Carolyn:
DD's protection charm on the Mirror of Erised was pretty double-edged 
in this respect, no wonder he thought of it as one of his better
ideas. I wonder if even DD could have retrieved that stone, once he'd 
put it there, if it could only be obtained by someone who didn't want
to use it for themselves ?
 >

Kneasy:
DD and that bloody mirror. I've got thoughts about that which I'll post 
soon, work permitting. These long posts are fun, but clients get upset 
when deadlines are missed. No sense of priority, some people.

 >
Carolyn:
It seems to me that DD has now held the job for a very long time, and 
like a lot of very old people, his outlook has simplified and become
very black and white over the years, especially now he knows he's on 
the last straight. He's not exactly a cruel man for the sake of it, but 
essentially he sees Harry as a chesspiece that must at all costs be 
protected in order to win the game. Fluff like Harry's mental state 
isn't what preoccupies him most of the time.
 >

Kneasy:
We agree 100%, except that I'd replace 'simplified' with 
'concentrated'. Plus chess can involve sacrificing a piece to win the 
game. It wouldn't be the first time in HP - Ron sacrifices himself on 
the chessboard in PS/SS with not certain that he would survive, but 
winning was more important than living but maybe losing. And yes, Harry 
is a piece, but DD is the player; he decides the moves, he plans the 
strategy.


 >
Carolyn:
Instead, he's locked in a mental battle with the forces of evil in the 
same way as Gandalf and Sauron were. DD's own big assignment turned out 
to be Grindewald; he knows Voldy is someone else's job, but he also 
seems to know that for some reason the time is not yet right for that 
confrontation, even though his own time is running out fast. I also 
think his chances of reaching the end of Book 7 alive are nil because 
of this, and JKR will finish him off at the most
dramatic moment possible - maybe at the end of Book 6, and then leave 
us hanging in suspense for another couple of years..
 >

Kneasy:
Here I take a different line.
More fanciful ideas from Kneasy's fevered imagination. Grindelwald was 
defeated in 1945, 50 years before the HP saga. Tom's diary was written 
50 years before Harry read it.
Is there a connection?
Did Tom become the next re-incarnation of evil at the defeat of 
Grindelwald? Did entering the Chamber make him the next candidate? 
Perhaps now you can see why I'm so interested in the 'possession' 
theme.
It's also interesting to note that 50 years ago (in book time) when DD  
was beating Grinny to a pulp, he was apparently teaching at Hogwarts, 
not prancing round some Teutonic forest, as some have assumed. Really 
teaching, not being Headmaster and able to slope off when he felt like 
it.
(It's that name that does it - oh, he's German. Maybe, maybe not.) Of 
course, he could have done it in his holidays, but how likely is that?

Hogwarts  seems to be the centre, the nexus of the conflict. It's the 
Chamber! The Chamber, I tell you!

Sure, there's holes in the theory, but when has that ever stopped a 
committed if paranoid poster?


 >
Carolyn:
I think JKR's solution will involve some rapprochement between the two 
worlds (if only from the WW POV), and some way of getting round a 
simple good/evil clash, because its an endless battle and she couldn't 
really suggest evil can be overcome for good - not in today's political 
climate.
 >

Kneasy:
Hmm. Sorry, but JKR (in the recent webcast) said that "the breach was 
final" which is a pretty unequivocal statement and doesn't allow for 
much manipulation.
As to how she will resolve it all, I can't come up with more than a 
final showdown, which doesn't really do more than remove one or two 
characters. There'll be more to it than just that, I'm sure.


 >
Carolyn:
Voldie-in-a-turban. I have seen no convincing explanation as to why 
supposedly all-powerful DD did not notice what had happened to Quirrell 
in PS, when Snape was highly suspicious and even the kids noticed the 
funny smell. Either DD really is a 'silly old codger', or I suppose 
your argument is that he DID know, and let the situation develop 
deliberately into a necessary confrontation ?

It was a fantastic risk..and the protections on the stone were 
extremely equivocal. They seemed to suggest that anyone bright enough 
to work them out, deserved to get the stone...
snip
 >

Kneasy:
I think he knew.
I also think that the safeguards we saw weren't the only ones present. 
I'll explain my thinking in my post on the Mirror.

Watch this space!







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