[HPforGrownups] Re: Harry using Crucio

[Maeg]

No: HPFGUIDX 174147

Mus wrote:
> I have no problem with a book
> about the battle between bad and worse - there's lots of them
> available, and if JKR were to write one (or seven), I'd have no
> objection at all.  I do, as a reader, have problems with a writer
> who sets up a moral struggle between good and evil, between good
> choices and bad choices, and then discards that arc with no apparent
> reason.

That's exactly what I've been struggling to put into words -- thanks  
for putting it all in a nutshell.

And it isn't only the handling of Unforgivable curses that suffer.  
JKR also drops:
- choices being more important that what we're born to;
- the world is not simply divided into good people and Death Eaters;
- unity of houses is required to triumph over evil;
- sentient beings who are not wizards (e.g., goblins, house elves)  
should be given respect.

I'm not sure she discarded all of this on purpose. I think that the  
writing got distracted by elaborate plot lines and complicated  
backstories. It's simply not well written; it doesn't hang together  
in a sensible way. The latter books of the series had begun to head  
in this direction; I really thought that she'd pull it all back in  
line for the final book. Instead, she shot wide of the mark and  
brought the whole series down with it (imho, as if that needed  
saying). Sigh.

Maeg

My mind isn't always in the gutter -- sometimes it comes out to feed.