Why are wizards so incompetent? /Evil Overlords/ Some LOTR

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 140475

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "dumbledore11214"
<dumbledore11214 at y...>  
> Alla:
> 
> I beg to differ, Pippin. Of course I am not asking for reality
based  Evil Overlord. That indeed would be asking too much. :-)
> 
> What I AM asking for though is smarter, scarier, more Evil Evil 
> Overlord and I don't think this is out of realm of possibility at 
> all. JMO of course.
> 
<snip>
> The obvious example would be of course Graveyard. to my mind  there 
> is no justification of him not killing Harry right away. Zero, none

Pippin:
LOL!
Of course Sauron is scarier than Voldemort. Sauron is an
age old entity that was never human, Voldemort is a tinpot dictator
with a magic wand.

But with far less excuse Sauron makes the exact same mistake in LOTR. 
Imrahil even comments on it --

"So might a child threaten a mail-clad knight with a bow of 
string and green willow! If the Dark Lord knows as much as you
say, Mithrandir, will he not rather smile than fear, and with his
little finger crush us like a fly that tries to sting him?

"No, he will try to trap the fly and take the sting," said Gandalf.
"And there are names among us that are worth more than a
thousand mail-clad knights apiece. No, he will not smile."
--
Sauron didn't have to take Aragorn's challenge seriously.

Voldemort didn't have to give Harry back his wand.

Their fear drove them to it -- it's hard to explain to a
sane person, but Aragorn tried: "He is not so mighty yet
that he is above fear; nay, doubt ever gnaws him"

As did Dumbledore: "Have you any idea how much tyrants
fear the people they oppress? All of them realize that, one
day, among their many victims, there is sure to be one
who rises against them and strikes back! Voldemort is
no different."

Voldemort, like Sauron, knows only fear. He cannot truly
conquer his fear, he can only deny it.  In denial of that
fear, he hands his enemy weapons. It is not just a plot
device in fantasy novels, it is the way tyrants have actually 
destroyed themselves. It's not stupidity that makes them
underestimate their enemies. It's fear. 

Pippin