Significance of the term "Dark Lord" (Was:: The Prophecy and Its Reference to LV

[a_svirn]

No: HPFGUIDX 148032

> Ceridwen:
> 
> The term 'Dark Lord' could just be a designation, as 
> in 'dictator', 'president', 'CEO', 'clerk'.  I'm not sure if 
> Grindelwald is referred to as a Dark Lord, or a Dark Wizard, but 
> either one would be the same, I think.  Like Hitler's 'Fuhrer' was 
a 
> generic sort of term that he apparently liked and had people use.  
> Or, more to my taste, 'Fearless Leader' in the Rocky and 
Bullwinkle 
> cartoons.  That can't be his name, and he wasn't 
truly 'fearless'.  
> But it's what he liked his minions to call him.  We know what 
> a 'fearless leader' is, it's generic.  But we know 'Fearless 
Leader' 
> as a specific character in a cartoon as well.
> 

a_svirn:
Well, certainly it's generic, but this is a kind of accretion that 
raises more questions than it answers. To what kind of context this 
generic name refers? Does it mean that there has been a long line of 
Dark Lords to whom Voldemort succeeded? If so, were they all trying 
to achieve immortality (and failed)? If they didn't try to achieve 
immortality, then what were they about?  Does the term "Dark" imply 
that there is also a "Light Lord" somewhere? Does the term "Lord" 
imply that his Death Eaters are bound to him by some sort of feudal 
allegiance? Or does it mean that they regard him as a supernatural 
being they worship (a kind of Satanist cult)? Or both?