The Fundamental Message.../ Heroes...

[Jen Reese]

No: HPFGUIDX 176319

BetsyHp:
> The US Constitution, the Bill of Rights. Those are two guiding
> principles set up without connection to a specific leader or a
> specific deity. They were purposefully written that way because the
> Founding Fathers *knew* how easily corrupted a personal leader could
> be.

Jen:  Dumbledore must have agreed with that reasoning about 
government since he continually refused the MOM position, cognizant 
of his own weakness.  

BetsyHp:
> I know I've read stories with personal leaders that succeed in 
> making that leader a stand-in for a certain principle.  (I 
> suppose "The Return of the King" could be an example?  Maybe some 
> King Arthur tales?)  But by having the principles of Dumbledore 
> (and therefore the Order) be so malleable JKR really does make it 
> person *rather than* principle.  Which is just... bizarre.

Jen:  Apparently Dumbledore was one of the most incompetent cult-of-
personalities ever. <g>

Dumbledore and the Order, a very small portion of the WW population, 
had a pretty limited goal in both wars: set out to recruit followers 
who were willing to oppose Voldemort and his ideology.  Harry and a 
handful of students were part of the cause but that was pretty much 
it until the very end;  many of the rest of the witches and wizards, 
werewolves, giants, centaurs, and goblins refused to join (and 
weren't forced to join, the tactic of the enemy).  The opposition 
force expanded from Voldemort and the DEs to include the MOM, first 
by choice and then by force, the Dementors, the giants, the hangers-
on who hoped to make a profit, Inferi, etc.

As more and more groups were infiltrated or sided with Voldemort, the 
WW ground to a halt - the government was under the control of 
Voldemort and those who took advantage, like Umbridge;  Gringotts was 
taken away from the Goblins;  The wandmaker for the area was held 
hostage and tortured so no replacement wands were made for those 
attempting to defend friends and family....there wasn't even any *ice 
cream* anymore for crying out loud!   

Interestingly, one of the largest groups fighting at the end were the 
school-age children, people who'd spent a year living under 
Voldemort's regime and watching classmates tortured or learning to 
torture each other, wondering why other students disappeared.  They 
fought for the simple reason that they'd experienced what life would 
be like if they didn't. 

Jen