Why Fret About Voldemort Considering Riddle?

meriaugust meriaugust at yahoo.com
Tue Jul 13 17:55:20 UTC 2004


No: HPFGUIDX 106012

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Louis Badalament" 
<lb140900 at y...> wrote:
> 
> Alright, here's something I don't understand...
> 
>    In Book 5, Harry feels guilty about the possibility that he'll 
> kill Voldemort;
> 
> ---
> "It was very hard to believe as he sat here that his life must 
> include, or end in, murder..."
> 
> ---
> 
> But my question is... why?  Why does he even *feel* this guilt?  
> Remember book 2?  He killed Tom Riddle easily enough.  He was, in 
> fact, rather proud of the accomplishment, even years later...
> 
> ---
> 
> "WHO SAVED THE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE?  WHO GOT RID OF RIDDLE?"  
> 
> ---
> 
> No one, no where, in any the books, has ever suggested that ending 
> Riddle's strange quasi-life was the slightest bit dishonorable.  
> True... Riddle was something of a ghost (a 'memory' for all you 
> nitpickers,) but Voldermort's not exactly a human being either, no 
> matter whether we're speaking figuratively or literally, either.  
> 
> My question, then, stands as such: why can't Harry, at that 
pivotal 
> moment when he's finally faced with Voldemort for the ultimate Big 
> Showdown just treat the matter as though he's facing an older, 
> uglier Tom Riddle, (which he is), and just do away with him, as 
you 
> or I would do away with any cockroach - free of guilt?  Voldemort 
> certainly isn't worth any prickle  of shame - except in regards of 
> failure to act.   
> 
> -  Louis Badalament 
> 
> P.S.:  Harry also didn't seem to have any qualms about ending 
> Bellatrix Lestrange's life, either;
> 
> ---
> 
> 'SHE KILLED SIRIUS!' bellowed Harry. 'SHE KILLED HIM, I'LL KILL 
HER!'
> And he was off, scrambling up the stone benches...
> 
> ---
> 
> No sympathy for the one who killed his godfather, and yet Harry 
> feels regrets about killing the one who murdered his father and 
> mother?  It's all very weird to me. 

Meri now: Well, can we all just agree that Harry's pretty warped 
emotionally during the end of Order? No? Okay, we'll here's my 
musings on the subject. 

First off, if it counts as "killing" Riddle in CoS (which I don't 
think it does because he wasn't technically alive) that is 
definately defensible as self-defense. Riddle was slowly killing 
Ginny and was advancing on Harry with a drawn wand. Harry had no 
choice but to do what he did, or he and Ginny would have been dead 
instead. 

Secondly, look what Harry was dealing with at the end of Order. He 
had spent the entire year being hounded by the WW, called crazy and 
an attention seeking prat. He had been forced into weekly torture 
sessions (Occlumency lessons) with a man who hates him. He was 
having massive relationship problems, was haunted by guilt, and he 
had just led five of his classmates into a life or death battle. 
Then he watches his big brother/godfather/father figure/best friend 
die at the hands of a psycho DE. So I think Harry's a little 
entitled to freak out and want to go after Bellatrix. My point being 
in all this is that he doesn't actually kill her.

Thirdly, and here's the thing, when Harry makes that statement about 
killing LV being murder, he's had a few days to calm down. He's not 
nescessarily faced with a self-defense situation, nor one in which 
someone he cares about is directly in danger. IMHO, in Harry's mind 
at this point the prophecy doesn't mean that he'll have to face LV 
in battle, but might perhaps have to go after LV like an assassin. 
Harry could possibly have to attack first, and Harry not being a 
terribly violent guy, is probably slightly repulsed at that. I think 
that this shows that Harry, despite what he's been through has a 
pretty solid moral compass. How many people do you think will try to 
convince him that killing LV, the one who killed James and Lily and 
Cedric and all those other people, wouldn't be murder but a 
justifiable act? Ron for one, I think. And that's fine for them, but 
remember, Harry's the one who has to pull the triger, so to speak, 
and live with the fact that he ended someone else's life, as 
despicable as that person's life has been. After all, Harry couldn't 
even kill Sirius or Pettigrew. So, that's just my two knuts. Sorry 
for the rambling. 

Meri - who if she could would be desperately trying to convince 
Harry that killing LV wouldn't be murder, and hoping ferverently 
that she would be unsuccessful...





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