Villains in potterverse

[meriaugust]

No: HPFGUIDX 116079


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "dumbledore11214" 
<dumbledore11214 at y...> wrote:
> 
> I had been thinking. As some posters probably know, I don't find 
> Voldemort to be a very convincing villain. Oh, sure , I hate what 
he 
> stands for , because JKR tells us so, but as a character I don't 
> have strong feelings about him.

Meri now: 
I can agree with that to some extent. LV is the big baddie. The mind 
behind it all, and barely any of the muscle. He's evil pure and 
simple. He wants to rule the world, conquer death, yada yada yada. 
(Though I don't just hate what he stands for because JKR tells us 
so, I disagree with what he stands for cause he's plain wrong ;)) 
One thing that always bothered me (and sorry to get a bit OT here) 
is that some people seem to like to compare LV to Star Wars' Darth 
Vader. But I don't see that. What we know about Darth Vader is that 
he is redeemed in the end, and while that can surely happen with LV 
(and while they also seem to have similar backgrounds) I would more 
easily compare LV to Star Wars' Emperor, or Lord of the Rings' 
Sauron. He pulls the strings, and he is, at this point in time, 
fairly uncomplicated. He knows what he wants, the Dark Side (or 
whatever) has possessed him and there's v. little chance of 
conscience coming to haunt him. 

> I believe that JKR writes grey or good guys with "partially evil 
> personalities" MUCH more convincingly that she writes villains.

Meri: I would definately agreee with this as well. While there are 
moments when LV can be seen as scary (I was never scared of him 
myself, but then again I was sixteen when I read GoF!) it is his 
minions that are really frightening. Because lets face it, we 
haven't all (hopefully none of us) encountered an LV, but surely 
we've met people like the Malfoys (racists) or DU (tyrannical 
bueraucrats). The minions are always at least a little scarier 
because they're the ones doing the dirty work. 
 
> Do you guys find that JKR's villains or I should qualify, Death 
> Eaters are scary?

Meri: Well, I was pretty freaked out during that MoM battle scene, 
but I don't have any excuses for that, I was nineteen at the time! 
 
> Personally, I find Umbridge or Snape to be MUCH scarier people 
than 
> Voldemort ever managed to be.

Meri: Quite so. 

> I find Graveyard scene to be quite chilling, but that is because I 
> think that Harry's suffering is masterfully conveyed. Voldemort is 
> still rather cartoonish there.
> 
> 
> Bellatrix Lestrange I could find scary upon proper reflection, I 
> guess, because she is sooo crazy and because we finally saw WHAT 
she 
> did to Longbottoms, but besides her, I don't know.

Meri: Like I said above, the minions are the ones that are 
frightening, and also interesting. I always thought that Denethor 
and Boromir in LotR were far more compelling vilians than Sauron, 
just because they were so human, just like I can care about Darth 
Vader's fall and redemption. I just can't see LV having a Vader like 
redemtion scene, but then again JK has surprised us before!

Meri