Harry as Murderer?

[Miles]

No: HPFGUIDX 158147

Bruce Alan Wilson wrote:
> My legal dictionary defines murder as the 'unlawful killing of a
> human being
> with malice aforethought.'

Miles:
I doubt that legal definitions are the most important issue in this
discussion. Besides, whatever "muggle" law your definition is taken from, we
do not know whether it or something similar is WW law as well.
Another point: "murder" is used in different ways. It's not only a term in
law, it's in everyday language as well, and there it's definition is much
wider.
The most important issue concerning the "Harry as murderer" discussion IMO
is not the legal one, but the ethical/moral one.

Bruce Alan Wilson wrote:
> 'Human Being'--Voldemort is hardly human any more.

Miles:
Dumbledore disagrees IMO. He insists addressing Voldemort as "Tom", with his
old name from a past Voldemort tries to make everyone forget about. He
reminds him that he is both human and mortal. The Horcrux making and
resurrection obviously changed Voldemort - but he is still Tom Riddle, with
some piece of Tom Riddle's soul, so he is still a human being.
So killing Voldemort would make Harry a "killer" - or murderer in a everyday
meaning of the word.

Now, we could discuss at length whether or not such a killing would be
justified, in what ways it would be appropriate etc. The question I'm
interested in is whether JKR would like to make Harry a killer. This I doubt
very much.

When in PoA Harry decided not to kill Wormtail, both Sirius and Remus
disagreed - but Dumbledore praised him for letting him live. The most evil
thing about creating Horcruxes is that it's necessary to murder to create
it. When the Ministry ordered that Sirius should be soul-sucked (which is
even worse than killed), Dumbledore objected it as vehemently as he did when
Crouch jr was killed in that way. The execution of Buckbeak (yes, he is not
a human being) is presented as cruel and wrong (not only because he was
"innocent").

What I want to express with these examples: I really don't think that JKR
does in any way approve killing, not in war and not in peace, that she does
not approve any form of death penalty or 'malicide'. There is no way to
"prove" this with canon, but I think the above mentioned examples support
this estimation.

And I'm quite sure, that she will not make her hero Harry doing something so
important she herself thinks is wrong in terms of ethics.

Miles