Harry using Crucio.

[eggplant107]

No: HPFGUIDX 174389

 "sneeboy2" <sneeboy2 at ...> wrote:

> Both times Harry tries to use UCs,
> it appears to be a mistake he makes
> out of anger; it's at the very least
> a tactical error. They don't work. 

The very first time Harry tried it in book 5 it did work well enough
to make Bellatrix scream and stop her from using that stupid baby
talk, granted it wasn't at full power but practice makes perfect.

> his failure was only because he wasn't
> feeling it enough.

Yes, he was even angrier by book 7 because he had suffered even more.
And I'll bet the curse wasn't at full power the very first time even
Voldemort tried it. 

> ("Use your anger, Harry!") Perhaps
> you see this as a good development. 

I do, Anger is an emotion as legitimate as any other. Yes, at times it
can be inappropriate but that is true for any emotion.  I think it is
entirely appropriate to be angry at someone who killed and tortured
your friends and is trying to kill you; and it is entirely appropriate
to use every resource you have to defeat that person. This isn't Star
Wars, George Lukas would not have had Harry use his anger but JKR
doesn't work for the man and can do what she wants. I mean, before you
didn't like it when she borrowed something from a movie and now you
want her to do it.  

> Are you trying to imply that my desire 
> for the character to take the moral high
> ground is childish? 

Assuming you have not changed your mind since your last post and your
complaint is not with Harry but with JKR then the answer is yes, it's
childish. A fictional character has no duty to take the moral high
ground, his only duty is to be interesting. I don't happen to like
Saturday morning cartoons but if you do that's fine, there is no
disputing matters of taste. 

> Perhaps you think that books or movies that
> appeal to our base desires for revenge or
> frontier justice are more grown-up or "realistic."

Of course it's more realistic! If a writer insist that her characters
behave emotionally in ways no flesh and blood person ever would it
wrenches a reader out of an alternate reality and makes them remember
that they are just reading words printed on a dead tree; and that's no
fun. And besides, a story with a little gratuitous sex and violence in
it is just more interesting than the further adventures of Goody Two
Shoes.

> Call him WAR!Harry. Strap a bandolier full 
> of wands to his chest and send him out to
> kill some VC, I mean, DE's. 

If JKR ever decides to write such a book I will buy it in a heartbeat.

> Or maybe DIRTY! Harry 

Voldemort: This is the Deathstick the most powerful wand in the
universe and will blow your head clean off!

Harry: But I know what you're thinking, am I the true master of the
Elder Wand or is Harry? Well, to tell you the truth in all the
confusion I've sort of lost track myself, so you've got to ask
yourself one question, "do I feel lucky today?" Well do you punk? Come
on Riddle, MAKE MY DAY!

> Sigh. 

Yawn. 

Eggplant Gellert Grindelwald