I don't get it WAS Re: Death in the Wizarding World

[inkling108]

No: HPFGUIDX 129880

Katherine Coble wrote:
 

(snip) 
> I don't understand why there seem to be so many people so hopeful 
to 
> see the "bad" guys--ie. Snape, Malfoy, even fargin' LV--as 
Potentially 
> Good, while there seem to be at the same time many people 
advancing the 
> idea that "good guys" (ie. Lupin, Ron, Dumbledore) are really on 
the 
> verge of turning into some flesh-eating bacteria.
> 
(Snip)
 
I think that JKR intends for us to be fairly sure of the dichotomy 
> of parties in the WW.  There are good things and bad things.

Inkling now:

Generally speaking, I agree.  I don't expect any of the main good 
guys to turn evil, nor do I expect the main bad guys to be 
redeemed.  The one exception is Voldemort himself, for reasons I'll 
explain below.

If there are to be any big surprises about the true nature of 
characters, I expect them to concern those characters who are 
already in the murky middle, like Peter and Snape.

(another big snip)


> Lastly, as far as LV goes, I don't see how you can say he's not 
painted 
> as badly as other characters.   He looks like a snake, he subsists 
off 
> of snake venom, he advocates the murder of anyone that crosses his 
> path, he drives others to committ crimes--even going so far as to 
> possess an 11 year old girl.   He is so wicked that fully 99% of 
the WW 
> is afraid to even mention his name.   I'd think the boat has 
sailed on 
> this guy.   Besides which, the means don't justify the end.


I would agree, except for one thing Voldy has that none of the other 
baddies has, which is his connection with Harry.  That changes 
everything.

Tom Riddle was born alone and abandoned and aspired to a state of 
absolute power, which means absolute aloneness.  He loves nobody, he 
trusts nobody, he is an island.  Then he encountered Harry, 
inadvertantly created the scar connection, and now, against his 
will, he is intimately bound to another human being.  This is the 
*last* thing he wanted but he is stuck with it.

Moreover by his own actions, Voldemort "marked him (Harry) as his 
equal" an orphan with his own burden of aloneness (as the only one 
who can fulfill the prophecy).  So he has created a kind of twin, 
and he is fascinated in spite of himself.  

I can't imagine Rowling creating such a situation without there 
being the possibility of redemption for Tom Riddle -- whatever is 
left of him within Lord V, and there must be a little bit, or 
Dumbledore would not have called him "Tom."    I don't know 
what "neither can live while the other survives" means, but I think 
it has to do with the mystery inherent in Harry and Lord V being 
sealed within this house of mirrors.   In a strange way, they are 
the only ones who can really understand each other.

But the redemption of Tom Riddle would probably mean the death of 
Lord Voldemort -- with a return to humanity would come a return to 
mortality.  (this is where the prophecy language gets so slippery -- 
is it talking about Harry and Voldemort, or the split being that 
calls himself Voldemort?)  And, if the future of the world depends 
on Voldemort being vanquished, does that mean Tom Riddle *must* be 
redeemed?

Inkling