What Came First: Task or Cabinet? - The Plan v1 & v2

[sistermagpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 157644

> bboyminn:
> 
> And I quote - (post#157523)
> 
> "No, he DID NOT. I'm sorry to be so vehement but I can't 
> stand having this presented as canon. Voldemort discovered
> Lucius had destroyed the Horcrux. His anger was terrible 
> to behold. He gave Draco the task of killing Dumbledore 
> as a response. ..."
> 
> Sorry, but that sounds pretty 'absolute' and 'indisputable'
> to me, and it is centered in the Diary Horcrux. You repeat
> this assertion again later.

Magpie:
Sorry, I guess I was being careless about that aspect (whether his 
anger came primarily from the MoM fiasco or the diary) since I 
honestly didn't think that was a central issue.  The actual thing I 
was being vehement was not that Voldemort may only be angry about 
the Diary, but that it is Voldemort's anger at Lucius that leads him 
to give Draco the task of killing Dumbledore.  

bboyminn:
> I still say that basing everything strictly on anger is 
> a completely pointless plan and a waste of time. Why not
> just torture Draco? Why not a dozen other ways to 'hurt'
> him and his family? Why a wacky pointless scheme?
> 
> In my scenario, Voldemort has a real plan with a worth-
> while strategic objective, and a high likelihood of 
> working. And the 'I'm angry at your father' aspect 
> doesn't change in either case. Yet in the the STRICTLY 
> 'I'm angry at your father' scheme, I see nothing of any 
> worth or strategic value. Nothing but a pointless waste 
> of time. 

Magpie:
And I think that's a perfectly valid criticism of Voldemort as a 
villain to have. If it's just a case of saying, "Isn't it stupid of 
Voldemort to have access to a secret entrance into Hogwarts and not 
use it to more devestating advantage?" Sure I think that's a logical 
thing to say.  I don't think I'd do it if I were Voldemort.  I think 
the plan in GoF is far more silly on that score.  But strategic 
value is secondary priority for the series from what I've read.   
It's great when what sets up the right emotional story is also 
strategically most sensible for Voldemort, but it it's not, it's 
out.  

So looking at the plot I'm not primarily thinking about what's most 
efficient in the long term for Voldemort but what we're given as 
written in the story.  It's not that I want to go around and tell 
people they can't respond to the story the way they want--though I 
know I'm probably come across that way here, admittedly more so 
because I like this story a lot and think it's really important to 
the series.  I usually stay away from Theory threads for that 
reason.  Even if I think the theory is wrong or bad I do think 
people should be able to enjoy talking about it.

It's just when we're talking about the way the story's happened in a 
book I do get more vehement (of course fearing that the more 
vehement I am the more likely the next book will come along and 
prove me exactly wrong).  And when I look at stories, I might be 
affected by the fact that stories are what I do for a living.  Which 
is not to suggest that you need some sort of professional credential 
to read a book and talk about it insightfully or anything like 
that.  It's more like if someone was talking to a carpenter who 
builds houses for a living and he says, "I'm going to build a house 
and here's what I'm doing."  And the carpenter's saying, "If you 
take this support beam out the house will fall down."  And the other 
person is saying, "It looks fine without it to me.  It's just as 
good."  But the carpenter looks at the structure of the house 
because his job is building houses himself and learning what makes 
them stand. 

-m