Dumbledore asking Harry to kill (Was: High Noon for OFH!Snape)

[Jen Reese]

No: HPFGUIDX 149507

Carol:
> But nevertheless, regardless of what I want to happen, it looks as 
> if Dumbledore is asking Harry to take upon himself the burden of 
> killing for the common good. 

Nora: 
> And that's part of why many listies, including myself, have 
> speculated that the end of the series will NOT involve flat-out 
> killing of Voldemort, but something different and somehow 
> thematically appropriate.  When Dumbledore was completely "Yes,
> you have to kill", it set off my warning bells of that being 
> precisely what is not going to happen.
 
> After all, very often in stories of this sort there comes a time
> when the Hero must do the deed, and frequently has some kind of 
> culminating realization as to what precisely he must do--and it's 
> often very different from what he thought he had to do, or what
> his mentor told him his task was.  

> So if that ends up being the case, I think it's clear why the 
> thematic objection which Alla made could be a very strong one.

Jen: That side-steps the point, though. The point is Dumbledore 
seems to believe there are times when a person should be killed for 
the greater good. His beliefs may be relevant to what happened on 
the tower whether they are relevant to what Harry ends up having to 
do or not. In fact, I'm almost certain killing *won't* be what Harry 
has to do after JKR said the things we learn about Lily in books 
five and seven 'are very important in what Harry ends up having to 
do'. (Connection, 1999) 

Back to the point, Dumbledore didn't tell Harry "killing is never an 
option" or "I would never ask you to kill someone" or "killing rips 
the soul so you shouldn't do it Harry, no matter what the prophecy 
says." He agreed with Harry's statement that one of them would have 
to kill the other in the end. Now I don't think Dumbledore believes 
in his heart of hearts that Harry is capable of killing Voldemort, I 
think we saw that on the tower in his speech to Draco and in his 
musings about Harry's untarnished soul. It was likely a weight he 
carried around with him and was the true reason why he waited so 
long to reveal the prophecy to Harry. Nevertheless, he has to tell 
Harry what he believes to be true, he can't sugar-coat it. But if he 
*really* believed Harry was going to kill Voldemort in the end, he 
would have prepared him for that eventuality.

He got his message across though, what he personally believes about 
killing, and his beliefs are the important ones here: There are 
times when it serves a greater purpose. 

Jen, off for a rare night out of dinner and a movie with her dh. :)