Why Leave Harry at HW at the End of HBP?

[dungrollin]

No: HPFGUIDX 148381

Dung, previously:
> See, I reckon Voldemort's been reading the evil overlord handbook
> in the holidays. No "bring him to me so I can challenge him to a
> duel and have the pleasure of proving myself to be the stronger",
> no "give him a long and painful death (from which he can
> heroically
> escape) so the old fool can really appreciate just how much I hate
> him"... Just a nice and simple "get the job done and I won't kill
> you and your family" to Draco, and a "you'd better be on my side
> after all Snape, or you're dead," via Bella and Cissy.
> Neat, no?

Jen: Neat, yes. I like. I like any plot which incorporates Voldemort
more in Spinner's End. To me that would follow what we're supposed
to believe about Voldemort, that he is the master behind all these
plans and is incorporating his 'gift for spreading discord and
enmity' among his DE's here. That the DE's, even Snape, are pawns in
his game.

Dung, now:
Pawns, exactly. Except that Snape's fighting back. It's Wizard's 
Chess between Voldy and DD, and DD has the upper hand because he 
knows trusts and loves his pieces, whereas Voldy's trying to treat 
his pieces as though they're a Muggle set and not alive at all. 

> Dung, previously:
Fixations, certainly, but has he not shown
> that he can be remarkably patient? Got any good canon for the
> irrationality? Not that I think you haven't, I just think that
> given his goals, his fixations and obsessions are really quite
> rational, but he's cunning enough not to let them obscure his
> other goals

Jen: I meant that his plans fail because they are based on
irrational fixations to begin with. Like going to the MOM or
attempting to kill Harry as a baby. Both plans were likely well
thought out and carefully organized, but in each case his basis for
making the plan is due to an obsessive fixation with faulty wiring:
He must kill Harry because the prophecy is true; he must obtain the
prophecy to find out why he can't kill Harry; he must have Harry and
only Harry sent to the graveyard to be reborn; he must be the one to
kill Harry even though he's failed four times. Do you know what I
mean, even if you don't agree?

Dung, now:
Yeah, I know what you mean... but I'm not sure if I agree. 
Attempting to kill Harry as a baby was following Evil Overlord rule 
no. 47: If I learn that a callow youth has begun a quest to destroy 
me, I will slay him while he is still a callow youth instead of 
waiting for him to mature. He even tried it before the callow youth 
was old enough to understand what was going on. Though, granted, 
he's guilty of violating no. 117: No matter how much I want revenge, 
I will never order an underling "Leave him. He's mine!"

The thing is, we don't know whether Voldy really is greater and more 
terrible than before because he used Harry's blood in the graveyard. 
All we've got to counter it is that blasted gleam. But he might be, 
for all we know, even if DD's gleam is a hint that having used 
Harry's blood could lead to his downfall eventually. In fact, I'd 
say that since he's managed to get rid of DD this time round, and he 
wasn't able to do that last time round, he probably *is* greater and 
more terrible than before, which doesn't mean he's any more 
invulnerable.

Characterising his attempts to kill Harry as an obsession with 
faulty wiring's a bit harsh... I suspect that his major problem is 
that he believes in fate (JKR doesn't, she believes in hard work), 
rather than in making choices. Being Slytherin's heir and all that 
will do that to a chap, though, won't it? I think DD is pretty clear 
that if Voldy hadn't acted on the prophecy, he would have been a lot 
better off. All his current obsessions come back to that, really, 
that he believes the prophecy. 

Jen:
For this reason I tend to think killing Dumbledore will *not* serve
the purpose Voldemort thinks it will. There will be something about
DD's death he is overlooking as he did with Lily or with taking
Harry's blood, etc. And it might be as simple as he's made a mortal
enemy out of Snape who will do anything to defeat him even if it
means siding with Harry (not amicably of course). Or it could be
something more magical at work which will come back to haunt him.

Dung:
Or it could be that he thinks with the chess-player out of the way, 
the pieces won't know what to do – his lot certainly wouldn't, 
they've demonstrated that before. 

Dungrollin