JKR And Dante

[Eric Oppen]

No: HPFGUIDX 174365

In some ways, the chapter "King's Cross" reminded me of Dante's _Inferno,_ 
which I have read in English translation, as well as Niven and Pournelle's 
updated SF/Fantasy version.

In both versions, the narrators are at first horrified at the fates of the 
damned, and try to help them, but their guides (Virgil and Benito) warn them 
that there's nothing they can do, and they eventually accept that the damned 
have earned their punishments, and leave them to their fates.

JKR's take on Voldemort-as-flayed-baby is a very Dantesque idea.  The whole 
theme of _Inferno_ (both versions) is "Let the punishment fit the crime." 
Voldemort has torn his soul to pieces in a vain quest for immortality; 
therefore, he must spend eternity as a flayed piece of a soul.  He has 
misused the great power given to him in many, terrible ways; he must spend 
eternity powerless and helpless and in pain.  He threw away his handsome 
original form in his quest for power, so now he's horrible to look upon. 
The Dante parallel would also explain why Dumbledore, who is presented as a 
compassionate person who is big on second chances, won't touch the flayed 
baby or let Harry do anything about it.

Voldemort's damnation is doubly sad and ironic, or so it seems to me, 
because he could have had what he thought he wanted through strictly 
legitimate means.  Handsome, charismatic and almost universally liked, he 
could have become Minister of Magic; an extremely talented wizard, he could 
have been tapped to help Nicolas Flamel and either been given the secret of 
the Philosopher's Stone, or figured out how to reverse-engineer one. 
Instead, he took stupid shortcuts, meddled with Things Man Was Not Meant To 
Know, and literally damned himself.

--Eric Oppen (who wonders where Cornelius Fudge would end up in Dante's 
version of the afterlife, and where the Trio would be.  Hermione, at least, 
would have some serious penance to do before she got to Heaven---I'm NOT 
pleased with her treatment of her parents, although I'm sure she meant 
well.)