The Gleam in more detail (was Re: The Gleam - Joy/Pain of Love)

[Shaun Hately]

No: HPFGUIDX 126158

On 16 Mar 2005 at 8:18, Steve wrote:

> bboyminn:
>
> So, the only ammendment to what you said that I would make, is that
> Voldemort's downfall will not come from an understanding of love, but
> somehow from experiencing it. Ironically, for Voldemort, that will
> probably not be a pleasant experience with a pleasant outcome.

Shaun:

Yes, that would make a lot of sense to me. In saying Voldemort can now 'understand' 
love, I didn't really mean he'd understand it in the clear and open sense. Rather I meant 
that now it is something of relevance to him - when before it was not.

bboyminn:
> So, I think the solution will come in the heart, not the mind. But
> what that resolution will be, how it will play out, I don't have a
> clue. The heartwrenching sight of a fallen comrade? Sudden compassion
> for a worthy adversary? A sudden realization of the horrible emotional
> emptiness his life and choices have created? The sudden swelling of
> emotion upon expriencing the compassion and mercy extended by an
> enemy? Sudden compassion for all his victims? ...???

Shaun:

I've also got no idea of how JKR would use this. I just have a very real feeling that this is 
something she will use.

I finished a reread of Order of the Phoenix today, and near its end found another couple 
of potentially relevant quotes. Page numbers refer to British editions.

"'There is nothing worse than death, Dumbledore!' snarled Voldemort.  

'You are quite wrong,' said Dumbledore, still closing in upon Voldemort and speaking as 
lightly as though they were discussing the matter over drinks. Harry felt scared to see 
him walking along, undefended, shieldless; he wanted to cry out a warning, but his 
headless guard kept shunting him backwards towards the wall, blocking his every 
attempt to get out from behind it. 'Indeed, your failure to understand that there are things 
much worse than death has always been your greatest weakness -'" (OotP, p.718)

Contrast that with this.

"Harry turned his back on Dumbledore and stared determinedly out of the window. He 
could see the Quidditch stadium in the distance. Sirius had appeared there once, 
disguised as the shaggy black dog, so he could watch Harry play 
 he had probably 
come to see whether Harry was as good as James had been
 Harry had never asked 
him 
  

'There is no shame in what you are feeling, Harry,' said Dumbledore's voice. 'On the 
contrary
 the fact that you can feel pain like this is your greatest strength.'  

Harry felt the white-hot anger lick his insides, blazing in the terrible emptiness, filling him 
with the desire to hurt Dumbledore for his calmness and his empty words.  

'My greatest strength, is it?' said Harry, his voice shaking as he stared out at the 
Quidditch stadium, no longer seeing it. 'You haven't got a clue
 you don't know
'  

'What don't I know?' asked Dumbledore calmly.  

It was too much. Harry turned around, shaking with rage.  

'I don't want to talk about how I feel, all right?'  

'Harry, suffering like this proves you are still a man! This pain is part of being human -'" 
(OotP, p.726)

The two most relevant lines (in my view):

"'Indeed, your failure to understand that there are things much worse than death has 
always been your greatest weakness -'" (on Voldemort)

"'the fact that you can feel pain like this is your greatest strength.'" (to Harry)

Voldemort's greatest weakness is that he cannot conceive of something worse than 
death.

Harry's greatest strength is that he can.

And what that thing is, painful as it is, comes from love. Harry can love so he feels the 
pain of death intensely. Voldemort cannot love, and so he cannot conceive of that pain 
worse than death of grieving for someone you love.

"'You do care... You care so much you feel as though you will bleed to death with the 
pain of it... You have now lost your mother, father, and the closest thing to a parent you 
have ever known. Of course you care.'" (OotP, p. 726 (extracted quote).

This is what Harry can conceive that Voldemort cannot - or could not.

And, I think, that some fraction of that is now within Lord Voldemort. He took it when he 
took Harry's blood laced with the love of his mother as a protection.

Harry's greatest strength now sits within the blood of his darkest enemy.

"'`I cared about you too much,' said Dumbledore simply. 'I cared more for your 
happiness than your knowing the truth, more for your peace of mind than my plan, more 
for your life than the lives that might be lost if the plan failed. In other words, I acted 
exactly as Voldemort expects we fools who love to act.'" (OotP, p. 739)

'we fools who love' - Dumbledore's insight into what Voldemort thinks of those who are 
capable of loving.

How will he deal with this if it's now a part of him? To him it's a weakness, so he will fight 
it. It can't aid him if he fights it, it would seem to me.

Perhaps Voldemort will fall - will be destroyed - because he rejects as weakness that 
that could make him stronger. He embraces his greatest weakness and disdains Harry's 
greatest strength.

Yours Without Wax, Dreadnought
Shaun Hately | www.alphalink.com.au/~drednort/thelab.html
(ISTJ)       | drednort at alphalink.com.au | ICQ: 6898200 
"You know the very powerful and the very stupid have one
thing in common. They don't alter their views to fit the 
facts. They alter the facts to fit the views. Which can be 
uncomfortable if you happen to be one of the facts that 
need altering." The Doctor - Doctor Who: The Face of Evil
Where am I: Frankston, Victoria, Australia