[HPforGrownups]"other ways of destroying a man . . ."

[amiabledorsai]

No: HPFGUIDX 125979


Theotokos wrote:

>          "You are quite wrong," said Dumbledore, [snip] "Indeed,
your failure to understand that there are things much worse than death
has always been your greatest weakness--"
> 
> This little exchange has always intrigued me--especially the DD's
>comment about LV knowing of other ways to destroy a man.  That whole
>statement seems to me laced with insinuation and history.  Obviously
(I >think) DD and LV have a shared history.  DD has been a foe to LV
from >early.  What, I wonder, did Tom [LV] do to destroy someone close
to DD >for that is what it seems like to me.  I think Tom did
something >horrible that DD knew about or witnessed or learned about
and that is >when Tom became LV and DD began a life set-out to defeat
LV.  I realize >this comment could be a general one acknowledging the
many horrors LV >performed or had a hand in--the Longbottoms come to
mind--but it seems >more personal than that.  DD is almost gruesome
when he says "merely >taking your life would not satisfy me."  


The scene you recounted made me stop and think quite a bit.  It raises
so many questions and possibilities, starting with: What exactly
happened to Grindlewald?  We know that Dumbledore defeated him, but
did he kill him?  

"merely taking your life would not satisfy me." My first thought was
that Dumbledore wants revenge for some of the grief that Riddle
has caused, but the same statement could be made by someone who wants
reparation, rather than revenge.  Could it be that Dumbledore wants 
to use Riddle--or, at least, his power, to in some way heal the 
damage that he's caused?

Alternately, just killing Riddle does not kill his cause--the
exclusion of Muggles and Muggleborns from wizarding society.  
Ideally, Riddle's final defeat would come in such a way as to
discredit the whole movement--perhaps by revealing in a spectacular
way that the followers of this ideology were conned into worshiping
a half-blood. 

A true victory for the forces of light would be to kill not just
Voldemort, but the *idea* of Voldemort.

Amiable Dorsai