Love, pining, and magic (was: Women in HBP)

[iris_ft]

No: HPFGUIDX 133642

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "delwynmarch" 
<delwynmarch at y...> wrote:
> anthyroserain wrote:
> "But Merope pines too, and Dumbledore states, "Of course, it is 
also
> possible that her unrequited love and the attendant despair sapped 
her
> of her powers; that can happen." But does it ever happen to *men*? 
The
> idea that a woman's desires get in the way of her professional
> abilities is an old, decidedly anti-feminist one. Surely JKR 
doesn't
> mean to suggest this, so why are her examples all female?"
> 
> Del replies:
> Maybe because in Book 7, it will happen to one terribly important
> male: Harry himself?

> The concept that love is more powerful than any other magic is
> recurrent in the books, and particularly in HBP. So I wouldn't be
> surprised if Harry discovered in Book 7 that he *needs* to have 
*more*
> love in his life, not less, to defeat LV. He might discover that by
> ditching Ginny, he actually cut himself from one of his most 
powerful
> assets: romantic love, and that in order to be at his best, he 
*must*
> experience his love for Ginny, and her love back, *fully*. And in 
the
> meantime, he might have problems practicing any other kind of 
magic,
> because he pines for Ginny.

Iris now:

Very interesting idea, indeed. He was "weak" the first time he 
defeated Voldemort, but full of the love he had received.
It would be beautiful if he happened to loose part of his powers 
because of love, but finally managed to defeat Voldemort again. 

There's much to say about love, men and women in HBP. And I think 
that, although JK Rowling plays apparently with clichés , she 
doesn't necessarily buy on them.
> 
> Random question: what would happen if someone fed LV a Love Potion?
> 
Oooh! Very good question. Maybe he would drow himself in the Mirror 
of Erised, fascinated by his own ego? But on another hand, who would 
dare feed him the Love Potion, knowing its effects? Look at Ron's 
reaction after taking Romilda's Love Potion... Can you imagine a 
similar scene between Voldemort and Harry, or Snape, or Wormtail, or 
Draco, or Hermione? And do you think Voldemort's big red eyes would 
be heart-shaped?

Amicalement,

Iris