[HPforGrownups] Re: What Came First: Task or Cabinet? - The Plan v1 &

[Jordan Abel]

No: HPFGUIDX 157773

> Alla:
> Um, let me ask you the variation of the question I asked earlier in
> the thread. Does it really matter whether some of us "too
> emotionally invested" in the theory or not if canon based arguments
> in favor of this theory are being presented?

Random832:
"Narcissa has some special insight into Voldemort's actions therefore
she must be right" is not canon based - the _only_ canon basis IMO for
believing her 'explanation' is if you've not read far enough to see
that Draco _does_ have a chance at accomplishing his task (and
therefore the idea that it was intended as a suicide mission,
regardless of who went to whom otherwise, is unequivocally _sunk_). I
think that anyone who has finished the book and still thinks that
Voldemort initiated this as a way to get Draco killed is _necessarily_
too emotionally invested in the idea that Narcissa's right (even when
she's been PROVEN wrong) to give anything else a chance.

Alla:
> I think I can venture a pretty safe bet that great deal of many list
> members ( totally including myself) are emotionally invested in the
> characters and/or theories. It is just seems to me as strange
> argument against the theory - that its proponents are too
> emotionally invested in it to take a look at the changed facts.

Random832:
I was trying to point out the most likely explanation for people
refusing to accept the idea that Narcissa might be wrong even though
it's clearly shown that she doesn't have some _very_ important pieces
of information - the fact that this revelation comes so much later
than Narcissa's original statement - after people have made up their
mind to accept her explanation when at the time no credible
alternative was presented.

Alla:
> Seems to me that proponents of this theory ( and I cannot speak for
> Magpie and Betsy) argue precisely that - that facts did **not**
> change,

Random832
I meant the facts [as we knew them] changed _in the course of the
book_. In the chapter Spinner's End, there is nothing about a
vanishing cabinet, and no other hint that Draco has any chance of
accomplishing the task, therefore the most logical conclusion is that
it's intended as a suicide mission - which Draco certainly would not
initiate.

> Alla:
> For the longest time I was also thinking that Draco chose Voldemort,

Random832:
"Draco chose Voldemort" implies a lot of things that, as far as I can
tell, nobody's arguing for. It's an attempt to play games with words
to make the "cabinet first" theory look as unappealing as possible.

> Alla:
> I am afraid that I am wavering on this one, since Magpie's
> explanation of why indeed "Cabinet comes first" does poke some big
> holes in the theme is getting to me :)

Random832:
Can you explain, clearly and in one place (one of my problems with
arguing against it has been that it's not been clearly presented)
exactly what holes it supposedly pokes in the theme and why?

-- 
Random832