Voldemort the Cartoon and Cliches? (was Re: Draco = Evil?)

[northsouth17]

No: HPFGUIDX 124844


Pippin:
> 
<snip>  There are no real evil overlords, but there  
> are real paranoid bloodthirsty dictators, and guess what...they 
> gloat, they get sidetracked by their obsessions, and they're 
totally 
> without pity, love or remorse. That part of their brain is broken, 
> just like some people can't see or speak.
> 
> Voldemort is hard to take seriously, and that's one of the scary 
> things about him. People couldn't take Hitler seriously either, 
> once.
 
<snip>
> Voldemort's monstrous appearance may reveal what he is to 
> human beings. But does he look like a monster to goblins or 
> giants? His non human appearance might be a plus with them. I 
> wouldn't be so quick to say that he'd sacrificed  his ability to 
> charm.


Voldemort is human though. I just typed and deleted "or was", because 
IMO he is human, whether he, and Hagrid and Harry and us, for that 
matter, like it or not. It's disturbing, to me, that he chose to 
disfigure himself, whether as a sacrifice to his quest for 
immortality, an attempt to erase his own humanity, or something else. 

But if all we knew about LV was his present incarnation, he'd be 
laughable, because he so neatly fits the typical Evil Overlord of 
Bond Movies and such - snakes, laughter, pointification at 
inopportune moments, etc. But that's us. Wizards apparently don't 
watch Bond Movies. They take Voldemort perfectly seriously, on every 
level - they have cause to, they've already been through one war with 
him. For all we know, when he first surfaced he was derided as weird 
looking extremist who gave weird speeches and no one took seriously. 
Much like Hitler, except that the WW Hitler has been ressurected, and 
they know he's dangerous. Making Voldemort silly looking isn't going 
to help in drawing any parallels with silly looking 1920's Hitler. 

And for what it's worth, I disagree that dictators and their ilk are 
in some way "broken". All attempts to diagnose Hitler (or Stalin or 
whoever) with this or other psychological or physiological illness 
aside, I believe for the most part you can be a perfectly healthy 
human being, and still do unspeakable, terrible things. 

Northsouth