Villains in potterverse

[Lisa (Jennings) Mamula]

No: HPFGUIDX 116230


Alla writes:
> 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.

LisaMarie agrees:
Voldemort doesn't really make my blood run cold, either.  He's just not very
scary!  I do hate him, though, mostly because he is the evil bastard that has 
made Harry's (and Neville's, and Sirius', etc) life so hard. 

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

LisaMarie agrees again:
Too true.  In fact, her most interesting characters, IMO, are the "good guys" with their character flaws.  I love them, though it is frustrating to do so!Reckless!Sirius, Inactive!Lupin, IrrationallyAngry!Harry, Jealous/Envious!Ron... There are just so many moral conundrums that are JKR's characters!! I
think it's what makes us (or, "me") able to so closely identify: they are so
human.

Alla:
> Personally, I find Umbridge or Snape to be MUCH scarier people than 
> Voldemort ever managed to be.
<snip>
> 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.

LisaMarie:
I disagree about Snape being scary; I am suspicious of him, but I (maybe naively) believe that his loyalty ultimately lies with DD and that he's working to bring about LV's downfall. 

Umbridge is another story altogether.  While I don't think she'd ever join up with the DE, I think she's definitely got a very twisted view of the way things should be, and the means that are allowed to bring about the desired ends are highly creepy, in my book.  Setting the Dementors on Harry in Little Whinging? That nasty quill that cuts the back of the writer's hand? Preventing students from meeting freely, and from learning to defend themselves? The INQUISITORIAL SQUAD, for Pete's sake???  Yeah, she's definitely scary in my book, though not the most frightening of all.  That post is reserved for dear Bella.

IMO, Bellatrix Lestrange is the scariest figure in the Potterverse as we know it. 
She is obsessed; she worships Voldemort and seems to be willing to go to all ends to help him back into power. There seems to be nothing she won't do, and that is the most frightening thing about her. (I hate to make this comparison, but it works: the Manson murders in the late 60s/early70s seem to be born of this same insane loyalty; Manson himself did not do most of the killing. He just brainwashed his cronies and they acted for him.  Sounds an awful lot like LV to me.)

LisaMarie