Power vs Morality (was LV never loved anyone)

[delwynmarch]

No: HPFGUIDX 110349

I, Del, wrote :
"We know Tm Riddle could *pretend* to be a good person while at
Hogwarts : everyone (except DD) was impressed by him, he was made
Prefect and Head Boy, he received an award, and so on." 

AmanitaMuscaria replied :
"Hmmm - who else do we know of who doesn't even pretend to be good,
and yet was made a prefect? Draco doesn't even have the excuse of
being in an orphanage to excuse his spite. Admittedly, he's not shown
himself to be particularly evil, as far as we know, just spiteful."

Del replies :
Draco is another interesting parallel to Tom.

First, Draco *does* pretend to be good, just not all the time and
definitely not to Harry. He's perfectly nice with Snape and Umbridge,
for example. Right from PS/SS, he tells on Harry for being out of bed
after hours, which in his mind is pretending to be good.

Second, Draco didn't go to an orphanage, but we don't know what his
situation was in his family. His father doesn't seem to be exactly
loving. But I do think his mother must love him at least a little bit,
since she didn't want him to go to Durmstrang because it was too far
away, and she sends him all those sweets. But one could argue that
maybe the Malfoys love Draco the way the Dursleys love Dudley : in a
wrong way that sure doesn't teach about things like compassion.

Third, as you've pointed out, Draco hasn't shown himself to be truly
evil. He's spiteful and nasty, but not evil. Tom Riddle in CoS doesn't
seem to be truly evil either, just very angry and resentful.

Fourth, just like Tom, Draco is after *power*, and he fears those more
powerful than he. He doesn't care about right and wrong, only about
who is most powerful and how he himself can gain more power.

There is one big difference between Draco and Tom though : greatness.
Tom was presumably much more talented and intelligent than Draco. That
greatness, coupled with his power and a lack of a strong morality, is
what led him to become an evil overlord, when Draco would make a poor
DE (one remarkably like Peter Pettigrew IMO).

Del, who shudders to think of what could have happened if Harry had
turned bitter and resentful too : so much greatness, used for selfish
goals...