Place of Dark Arts in WW (was:Re: Hating Dark Arts (was re James' essence...)

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 154103

> >>Julie:
> > This is possible, but I have to wonder if Dark Arts are directly
> > analogous with evil and with Voldemort. After all, you can kill
> > with plenty of non-Dark spells if that's your desire, and I'd    
> > think certain Dark Arts might be useful outside of their        
> > potential danger. 
> > <snip>

Betsy Hp:
Actually, I think we're told pretty straight up that the Dark Arts 
and Voldemort *do not* go hand in hand.  The Black family is a 
family steeped in Dark Arts.  For generations per Sirius.  And yet 
one of them managed to be headmaster of Hogwarts, and the family 
itself eventually turned on Voldemort.  (Interestingly it's the son 
who *doesn't* turn his back on the Dark Arts that may have given 
Voldermort the bigger raspberry.)

We've got Durmstrang, a school comfortable enough with the Dark Arts 
that they teach it to their students.  And the Durmstrang champion, 
Victor Krum, is a good enough guy to be Hermione's first ever boy-
friend.  Victor Krum doesn't come across as a friend of Voldemort.  
(Neither does the school for that matter.  Karkaroff gets killed by 
Voldemort after all.)

There's dear old Lupin, a "dark" creature.  And we're not supposed 
to hate him (assuming he's not ESE), even though he's a carrier for 
a dark disease.  (That those champions of "light" monthly set free 
upon their world, but that little act of hypocrisy is a different 
discussion, I think. <g>)

Goodness, we even have that discussion in OotP with the revolting 
Dolores arguing the side of "some magic is bad and icky and not 
suitable for polite company".  This is the one person you *don't* 
want on your side in an argument.

To top it all off, apparently (per Dumbledore) the effects of the 
Unforgivable Imperius Curse are the same as those fun and giggly 
love potions.  Which one is dark, again?  No, JKR is not equating 
the Dark Arts with evil.  Or if that's what she meant to do, she did 
a piss poor job of it.

> >>Marion:
> Besides that, the Marauders (and the Golden Trio) have this nasty 
> habit of being selfreferential in there moral code. "We are Good, 
> therefore what we do is Good. They are Bad, therefor what they do 
> is Bad. If they use the same hex as I do, there hex is Dark, but   
> mine is Light. Because they are Dark Wizards and I am a Light     
> Wizard".

Betsy Hp:
Amen to that!  I was pretty surprised (jolted out of the story even) 
when Harry dropped that "He despised Malfoy still for his 
infactuation with Dark Arts..." [HBP scholastic p.640] comment.  He 
*despised* Malfoy??  For his "infactuation" with the Dark Arts?!?  
This from Harry "I Crucio you!" Potter?  Who waded through who's 
blood, again?  Just a tiny wiff of hypocrisy there.  (Plus the 
additional problem of the reader never being shown 
Draco's "infactuation" with the Dark Arts.  Either JKR dropped the 
ball, or we're supposed to look a bit askance at Harry here.)

We've got Ron running around gleefully putting people down whenever 
the opportunity arises.  At one point screwing with Harry's 
detective work to get in a good jab at Moaning Myrtle.  And we've 
got Hermione "Cross me and I'll brand your face.  Forever." Granger, 
who still seems to think she has the right to solve any problem with 
a jinx or two or three.  

That our heroes are not praised for this behavior by the author 
suggests, to me, that these are young kids still figuring out how to 
be good.  Merely avoiding the Dark Arts is obviously not enough to 
make a "good" person.  JKR (I *think*) is not making it that easy.

> >>Marion
> <snip>
> Now, we don't know what makes the Dark Arts 'dark'. I don't think 
> JKR's wizarding world is in a constant fight of good versus evil, 
> Light against Dark.
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
This is the crux of the matter, I think.  After all, the Sorting Hat 
doesn't tell our young heroes to throw the evil Slytherins out of 
their blessed Hogwarts.  It tells them to *embrace* the Slytherins.  
That seems to be the theme, doesn't it?  Unity over division; 
balance and order over chaos and discord.  Voldemort is trying to 
seperate; Dumbledore is trying to unify.

And I suspect (especially after reading that Snape as Death article):
http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/#scribbulus:essay:192
that JKR is going for the more difficult, more interesting, and more 
realistic, idea that there's a place at the table for the Dark 
Arts.  And it's time to bring the poor maligned craft out of the 
cold.

Or at least, that's my opinion. Today. <g>

Betsy Hp