Holding Court With Voldemorte

[prep0strus]

No: HPFGUIDX 175884

There's been some talk of Voldemorte's motivation to not kill Lily
recently, and I just wanted to make the comment that since book 4,
I've found Voldy to be a fairly interesting villain.

He starts out as this paragon of evil.  This complete, irredeemable,
incomprehensible, ruling by fear, crazed sociopath villain.  And, in a
lot of senses, that's how he winds up – from his dispatching of Snape,
his death, even the creepy baby-thing, depending on how you interpret
that scene.

But he doesn't always fit the stereotype I had in my head.  I guess I
was just thinking of a Sauron from LOTR or some other superpowerful
villain, almost removed from humanity.  As it turns out, Voldemorte is
often quite human.  He can be gracious, forgiving.  He certainly has a
tendency to even be loquacious – sometimes he's downright a chatty cathy!

I suppose it comes from that he wasn't always their twisted, soul
shattered leader of evil.  In his youth, first he was isolated, but
then he was something else entirely.  Early on, he was charismatic,
attractive, intelligent.  He could flatter when he needed to and make
others feel good about joining him.  Towards the end, he ruled by
fear, but at first, he had to rule, if not by inspiring love, at least
inspiring a desire to follow him.  For their own benefit, because of
the force of his personality
 it wasn't all fear.  And I think we see
that in some of his actions.  It was horrid the way Peter loses a
hand.  But the gift he gets in return is rather spectacular – and it
makes a point to the other DE too.  It is the carrot to the stick
Voldy so often shows.  And this, to me, is interesting (maybe not to
everyone else).  I never pictured him HAVING carrots.  Just big
sticks.  He doesn't instantly eliminate any DE who he thinks may have
faltered, as I picture many supreme evil rulers doing – he has a
modicum of patience, of forgiveness, of willing to give second chances.

This is why attempting to spare Lily fits for me.  I mean, he's not
going to do it if she becomes even a minor nuisance
 but to offer her
that chance, multiple times, this mudblood who has defied him before,
and stands in his way now
 that is really something, considering who
we know Voldemorte to be.  And, at this point, his soul already is
fragmented.  But I think he is willing to reward his followers.  I
don't think his party line is all hype – He doesn't say anything for
power.  I think he really does mean to create a world that he rules,
where his captains have power and luxury.  And he is willing to reward
them on the way, to entice them with what he can give them, and not
just keep them afraid of what happens if they defy him.

I do see that Voldemorte appears even more shattered, more crazy,
after his first attempt on Harry's life.  His beauty is gone, his
temper shortened.  But he doesn't become a recluse – he still holds
what seemed like a legion of villains board meeting at the beginning
of the book, and he still chats up his followers (and the Hogwarts
defense) more than I would expect.

Which is why I was SO disappointed in the way he dispatched Snape.  I
guess doing it alone, where his other followers couldn't see, was a
good move, but, it wasn't what I wanted.  Besides my desire to see
Snape throw off the mantle of secrecy in front of other people –
betray Voldemorte publicly, perhaps save a life, or kill a villain, I
didn't like how it immediately reverted Voldemorte in my mind to what
I guess he was always supposed to be.

I liked the slight slight duality that allowed him to be almost
generous with his followers.  How one could almost, just barely,
understand Bella's infatuation.  See how a charismatic, attractive,
talented, but ultimately amoral man could have this impact on his
followers.  And dispatching his `most loyal' servant, while making the
point very strongly how Voldy really does care for no one, and will do
whatever it takes to win, took a little of that from me.  I liked that
he played both sides – continuing to offer something to those who he
wanted to follow him as well as threatening to take it all away.

Or maybe I just wanted to see the look on his face when he learned
that someone really had betrayed him, completely and totally, and he
had no idea.  I think that would have been a nice shock to this crazed
man, who, for all his initial cautiousness, had eventually become
overconfident and prideful, obsessed with his own superiority and
infallibility, which really led to his downfall, more, I think, than
any lack of ability to `love'.  A trait he shares with many villains –
and also, many tragic heroes.


I know Voldy is no Snape, no lightening rod for controversy – he's
definitely evil.  But maybe because there isn't as much interest,
maybe because JKR did give him more layers than I expected, I really
did find him to be an interesting character.

We talk of the afterlife, and it's never more interesting than
wondering what happens to voldy when all his soul pieces are torn from
this world.  An orphan, with potential out the wazoo, who becomes the
worst creature imaginable.  What waits for him, and is he truly
relegated to that state forever?

~Adam (Prep0strus), who is sure that his finding Voldy more
interesting than Snape is more a product of so many people finding
Snape so interesting than Voldy actually being written as a more
interesting character, but nonetheless is more intrigued by the real
villain than by Sadsack Severus